Before I start discussion I want to state I'm not preaching or anything like that - merely interested in opinions. I mean, I can make a reasonable estimation of what they may be, but I'd like to be surprised. Also, I don't know a great deal about this myself, so would like to learn more.
Okay so I guess I should speak about what the thread's about and well, it's a number of things really. I suppose the general theme is the world we inhabit and ethical choices we make. So, my recent choice has been to give being a vegan a go (it's not completely vegan, there's a small amount of free range egg in the quorn I'll be eating but I was struggling for protein without overloading on carbs in all honesty). Initially it's a week-long experiment to see how my body reacts and how I get on with having a much more limited food selection. I'm not making a promise that things will stay this way because I'm realistic enough to realise that I'm not the most strong-willed of people but I'm at least giving it a bash.
So, why am I reconsidering my food consumption choices? Well, this is the main reason;
https://www.youtube....h?v=ibuQ-J04eLQ
I'd say don't watch if you're squeamish - but f**k that, this is something that should be watched to at least make people consider what they're putting into their bodies. This video made me realise that if you're man enough to eat meat you should be man enough to view what can happen in slaughterhouses - I forced myself to watch the entire thing and it was horrific. But it's got me thinking, which is a good thing, even if you could just say that what occurs in the video is only a minority (that's not an opinion I believe in, by the way, as I believe the majority of people who work at slaughterhouses will already have or will develop mental issues or emotional detachment after working there for a while but I can't prove that so we'll leave it). As I watched the video I realised I had been a part of this - an indirect murderer, so to speak, which really got to me. It especially made me feel worse as I am someone who can regularly knock back 4+ chicken breasts a day, tuna, bacon, turkey, milk, eggs - the lot. Now that is a cancerous diet if I've ever seen one - someone who regularly eats red meat has blood up to 8x more carcinogenic than someone who eats an entirely plant-based diet and also increases their risk of heart disease exponentially. That's scary. Even only going vegetarian will mean you're 40% less likely to contract cancer when compared with a meat eater. This is especially apparent when it comes to females - for example, in Japan, breast cancer rates for women are a lot lower than they are in the USA yet even in Japan, women who eat meat regularly are up to 8.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer than women who rarely or never eat meat. I could go on but it's getting preachy isn't it? Here's the link for a lot of what I've just written with reference points to studies made: http://www.pcrm.org/...and-cancer-risk
This isn't even scratching the surface - the dairy industry is insane - I could bang on about how cows are raped (as they obviously have to become pregnant to produce milk) and how that due to genetic manipulation today's cows now produce 12 times more milk than cows "back in the day". Obviously as the cows are almost constantly pregnant they pop out sprogs who are shipped off to the veal/cheap beef industry. Meanwhile, mother cow dies at one third of her predicted life cycle due to the constant abuse on her body (rape/pregnancy/get milk from udder/remove child/rape again) and her carcass is shipped off to become hamburger meat at your favourite fast food joint
![:)](https://www.thecfss.co.uk/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
That's just the animal cruelty part of it - obviously if one wants to broaden their horizons they can look into other documentaries and web sites - I watched a documentary tonight called Cowspiracy (https://www.youtube....h?v=mVOX_5zFD7I) which is someone going to companies like Save the Rainforests & Greenpeace and suchlike and providing them with the fact that animal agriculture is the cause of 18% of greenhouse gas emissions - more than the combined exhaust of all transportation and the companies basically respond with "we can't speak about that" or "that's your opinion, I can't comment" and instead only focus on fossil fuels etc... things aren't adding up, are they?
I've rattled on enough now in what was only supposed to be an introductory post - I'll no doubt add more but what do the posters of Bobs Board think? Do you think about what you put into your body? Do you think about whether things like climate change are basically hidden by those in power or pushed to the side? Can you add anything else to this? Is it easier to live in complete ignorance and hope for the best rather than care about the world you're leaving behind for your children or do you just think "meh, I'm only one person, not like I can do owt"? - I'm truly interested in any responses.