I loved the documentary Cowspiracy, and of course I 100% support the vegan message.
But here are a few question I was left with after watching Cowspiracy:
Are cows, under any condition, always bad for the environment? If not, under which conditions are they bad for the environment?
Many ancient civilizations, like old Indian civilization and old Japanese civilization, would protect their cows, consider them sacred and refrain from slaughtering them. Everyone knows that cows are considered sacred in India, and most Hindus consider it one of the worst sins to kill a cow.
The cow population in India was so massive even up until 1950, that the cow population in India alone was bigger than the entire cow population in the world today, at 1.2 billion cows. Estimates I've found say there are less than 1 billion cattle worldwide today.
Cattle are blamed for being the largest, or among the largest causes of global warming today. If that's true, why didn't large, old cow populations also destroy the environment?
Replies
I got more insight into why wild cows would be better for the environment. If you watch the documentary, Beef State, you will learn that there is a lot of selective breeding of cattle. Wild cows tend to have less meat and can take care of their selves. Just like chickens have been selectively breed for additional meat. See the below ted video for more details.
Links
http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/newsletr/apr08.pdf
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Debunking-the-Paleo-Diet-Christ
There are two main factors at work here for the environment and cows.
1. Greenhouse gas emissions
Cows in ideal conditions produce little greenhouse gas emissions. Properly cared for, free grazing, etc. When, force to fed on industrial quality corn, see King Corn documentary, and live in stressful cramped conditions, greenhouse gas emissions become a problem.
2. Land acreage and deforestation
This comes into play when mass areas of highly dense rain forest are cut down to make room for grass-fed cows. There is only so much space on this Earth and cows need a lot of land to roam. See slaughtering the amazon in the link below.
Links
1. http://www.kingcorn.net/
2. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/reports/sla...