In my opinion, the best argument for vegetarianism (or at least ethical omnivorism) is not an appeal to what is "natural", nor that meat is murder, but that the modern meat industry is appalling in its abuses. Factory farming is a hideous practice that subjects animals to the kind of suffering that would probably remove your appetite immediately if you had to witness it.
If you are not concerned with even the most basic levels of welfare for animals (fair enough, you ogre), consider the incredible over-use of antibiotics by the meat industry. Industry livestock receive more than 8 times the amount of antibiotics that human beings receive, and the vast majority of this is used on animals that are not yet sick. As a result, antibiotic resistance is spiraling out of control and for the first time in decades doctors are faced with human infections that simply cannot be controlled.
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Originally Posted by Abacab *****h
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Not really.
You'd have to raze thousands upon thousands of acres of land to feed this nation alone based on a vegetarian diet. To put it in something that would make sense, to feed the world on a vegetarian staple we'd have to destroy the entire rain forest to produce enough legumes, grains, fruits, and vegetables to feed everyone meagerly.
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I'm interested in knowing where you're getting this from. Livestock are themselves (mostly) vegetarian, and consume much, much more energy and water than they yield in the form of meat (thermodynamics and all). They are fed mostly corn, which while edible by humans, could also be replaced by other, more nutritious crops.