On 5/14/2010 6:39 PM, Mr.Smartypants wrote:
> On May 14, 2:26 pm, "Fred C. >
> wrote:
>> On 5/14/2010 1:16 PM, Rupert wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On May 15, 6:15 am, "Fred C. >
>>> wrote:
>>>> On 5/14/2010 1:06 PM, Rupert wrote:
>>
>>>>> On May 15, 5:40 am, "Fred C. >
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> The "vegan" pseudo-argument on "inefficiency" is that
>>>>>> the resources used to produce a given amount of meat
>>>>>> could produce a much greater amount of vegetable food
>>>>>> for direct human consumption, due to the loss of energy
>>>>>> that results from feeding grain and other feeds to
>>>>>> livestock.
>>
>>>>>> In order to examine the efficiency of some process,
>>>>>> there must be agreement on what the end product is
>>>>>> whose efficiency of production you are examining. If
>>>>>> you're looking at the production of consumer
>>>>>> electronics, for example, then the output is
>>>>>> televisions, stereo receivers, DVD players, etc.
>>>>>> Rather obviously, you need to get specific. No
>>>>>> sensible person is going to suggest that we ought to
>>>>>> discontinue the production of television sets, because
>>>>>> they require more resources to produce (which they do),
>>>>>> and produce more DVD players instead. (For the
>>>>>> cave-dwellers, an extremely high quality DVD player may
>>>>>> be bought for under US$100, while a comparable quality
>>>>>> television set is going to cost several hundred
>>>>>> dollars. $500 for a DVD player is astronomical - I'm
>>>>>> not even sure there are any that expensive - while you
>>>>>> can easily pay $3000 or more for a large plasma TV
>>>>>> monitor, which will require a separate TV receiver.)
>>
>>>>>> What are the "vegans" doing with their misuse of
>>>>>> "inefficiency"? They're clearly saying that the end
>>>>>> product whose efficiency of production we want to
>>>>>> consider is "food", i.e., undifferentiated food
>>>>>> calories. Just as clearly, they are wrong. Humans
>>>>>> don't consider all foods equal, and hence equally
>>>>>> substitutable. As in debunking so much of "veganism",
>>>>>> we can see this easily - laughably easily - by
>>>>>> restricting our view to a strictly vegetarian diet,
>>>>>> without introducing meat into the discussion at all.
>>>>>> If "vegans" REALLY were interested in food production
>>>>>> efficiency, they would be advocating the production of
>>>>>> only a very small number of vegetable crops, as it is
>>>>>> obvious that some crops are more efficient to produce -
>>>>>> use less resources per nutritional unit of output -
>>>>>> than others.
>>
>>>>>> But how do "vegans" actually behave? Why, they buy
>>>>>> some fruits and vegetables that are resource-efficient,
>>>>>> and they buy some fruits and vegetables that are
>>>>>> relatively resource-INefficient. You know this by
>>>>>> looking at retail prices: higher priced goods ARE
>>>>>> higher priced because they use more resources to
>>>>>> produce. If "vegans" REALLY were interested in food
>>>>>> production efficiency, they would only be buying the
>>>>>> absolutely cheapest fruit or vegetable for any given
>>>>>> nutritional requirement. This would necessarily mean
>>>>>> there would be ONLY one kind of leafy green vegetable,
>>>>>> one kind of grain, one variety of fruit, and so on.
>>
>>>>>> If "vegans" were to extend this misuse of "efficiency"
>>>>>> into other consumer goods, say clothing, then there
>>>>>> would be only one kind of shoe produced (and thus only
>>>>>> one brand). The same would hold for every conceivable
>>>>>> garment. A button-front shirt with collars costs more
>>>>>> to produce - uses more resources - than does a T-shirt,
>>>>>> so everyone "ought" to wear only T-shirts, if we're
>>>>>> going to focus on the efficiency of shirt production.
>>>>>> You don't "need" any button front shirts, just as you
>>>>>> don't "need" meat. But look in any "vegan's" wardrobe,
>>>>>> and you'll see a variety of different kinds of clothing
>>>>>> (all natural fiber, of course.) "vegans" aren't
>>>>>> advocating that only the most "efficient" clothing be
>>>>>> produced, as their own behavior clearly indicates.
>>
>>>>>> The correct way to analyze efficiency of production is
>>>>>> to focus as narrowly as possible on the end product,
>>>>>> then see if that product can be produced using fewer
>>>>>> resources. It is important to note that the consumer's
>>>>>> view of products as distinct things is crucial. A
>>>>>> radio can be produced far more "efficiently", in terms
>>>>>> of resource use, than a television; but consumers don't
>>>>>> view radios and televisions as generic entertainment
>>>>>> devices.
>>
>>>>>> The critical mistake, the UNBELIEVABLY stupid mistake,
>>>>>> that "vegans" who misconceive of "inefficiency" are
>>>>>> making, is to see "food" as some undifferentiated lump
>>>>>> of calories and other nutritional requirements. Once
>>>>>> one realizes that this is not how ANYONE, including the
>>>>>> "vegans" themselves, views food, then the
>>>>>> "inefficiency" argument against using resources for
>>>>>> meat production falls to the ground.
>>
>>>>>> I hope this helps.
>>
>>>>> What the efficiency argument actually says, on any reasonably
>>>>> intelligent reading, is that by going vegan you can have a diet which
>>>>> is just as tasty and nutritious with a much smaller environmental
>>>>> footprint.
>>
>>>> That's not what it's saying at all, as we already know.
>>
>>> How do you know?
>>
>> I already explained it to you several times over the last couple of
>> years. The issue is *not* about environmental footprint, and you know
>> it. It's about a misconceived and ignorant belief regarding resource
>> allocation.
>>
>
>
> Which translates to environmental footprint


It doesn't.



--
Any more lip out of you and I'll haul off and let you have it...if you
know what's good for you, you won't monkey around with Fred C. Dobbs