meathead

Just read an editorial on the issue of food shortage around the world, specifically related to meat (in response to this piece of news). The author makes some interesting points about the amount of food being eaten by farm animals that become our steaks, including the fact that the grain could be used for biofuels. That statement in and of itself assumes that biofuels are something we should be striving for. I feel that at this point, we should be investing our efforts in solar, wind, wave, and other renewable energies, not on alternative fuels. The transformation of these plants into usage-ready fuel does create its own pollution; biofuels are not a panacea.
Another point of contention is that the food used to feed these animals could help feed the hungry in all over the world, and that people from rich countries, specifically America, throw away much of their food. While those contentions are technically true, they fail to consider for the transportation and preservation costs of moving this food across continents and oceans. Work should be done on improving the living conditions of people in their own country, not on giving people handouts that will not improve their long-term situation in the least. Second, the wastefulness of Americans and other rich peoples is an issue of its own, it seems to me irrelevant to the discussion of the harnessing of food for cattle.
So I don't necessarily disagree with the main issue at hand: we eat too much meat. But I do think it is part of most people's diet, and if eaten in moderation could remain so. I also think the author of the editorial really does not investigate the issue much or at least fails to educate the reader on the context of the issue at hand. This simplistic look at crucial issues of our times really angers me, especially if one is writing about it in public. I really expected a real argument full of intricacies, but all I got was a rant, like this one.
Activists need to be informers, not just propaganda-screaming cogs. Or else they are merely putting themselves at the same level as their "rivals".

But I could be wrong; maybe it's all the methane and fat in my brain, from my beef and pork-rich diet...