Ditching meat for a vegan diet risks 'dumbing down' the next generation,

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I don’t mean that planet Earth is going to disappear. I mean that our planet is undergoing physical changes. It’s not just the threat to living species, it goes back to a more fundamental stage where our planet is now measurably physically different to how it was before. The most obvious example I could think of was the one cited, namely, melting ice and rising sea levels. I don’t think it’s alarmist to say that that is a very serious threat to all forms of life on this planet.
 
Well, if choline is the main nutrient needed for brain power, I’d argue eating beans would be the biggest brain power food! The vegan bean diet likely has unpleasant side effects for most though. 😋 Don’t invite your vegan friend over who is looking to boost brain power if hoping for a quite meal!

Most choline sold comes from lecithin, which is made from soy, and which is an additive added to many foods. Lecithin is also the main active ingredient for non stick cooking sprays.
 
Roselle said:
The vegan bean diet likely has unpleasant side effects for most though.
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While we’re vegetarians rather than vegans, inevitably a lot of the time we’re vegan in practice. There are no equivalents to ‘Blazing Saddles’ campfire scenes, though.
 
Londoner said:
It’s not just the threat to living species, it goes back to a more fundamental stage where our planet is now measurably physically different to how it was before.
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Our planet has gone through many periods where the climate was measurably different than what it was before. It’s not an unusual occurrence, having happened several times in recorded history.
 
You may like to read WWF’s 10 myths about climate change.

www.wwf.org.uk

Here are 10 myths about climate change

We've tried to clear up some of the most frequently heard myths about climate change.
www.wwf.org.uk www.wwf.org.uk

1. THE EARTH’S CLIMATE HAS ALWAYS CHANGED​

Over the course of the Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history, the climate has changed a lot. This is true. But the rapid warming we’re seeing now can’t be explained by natural cycles of warming and cooling. The kind of changes that would normally happen over hundreds of thousands of years are happening in decades.

Global temperatures are now at their highest since records began. In fact, 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have all taken place since 2001.

This much faster warming corresponds with levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which have been increasing since the industrial revolution. So, when people talk about climate change today, they mean anthropogenic (man-made) climate change. This is the warming of Earth’s average temperature as a result of human activity, such as burning coal, oil and gas to produce energy to fuel our homes and transport and cutting down trees to produce the food we eat.
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Londoner said:
Global temperatures are now at their highest since records began. In fact, 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have all taken place since 2001.
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Reliable temperature records go back barely a century, arguably half a century. A century ago we were coming out of a multi-century cooling period called the “Little Ice Age”, so it’s not surprising that since we’ve entered a warming period, the our warmest recorded years (which started from a low point) would be back loaded. In another hundred years, absent a major catastrophic event (massive volcano eruption, meteor strike, etc) these temps will be seen as normal, until we hit another cooling period.
 
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This is a succinct rebuttal of that argument:
While it is true that there have been cyclical patterns of temperature changes throughout our planet’s history, this does not mean that causes are unknown, unknowable, or all the same.[ citation needed ] The application of the scientific method is great for working out cause/effect relationships. Scientists have managed to link several warming and cooling cycles in the geologic history to specific causes.[55] They have also shown that the modern warming is due to the added output of humans burning fossil fuels and destroying carbon sinks.[56]In addition, the current climate change is happening fast — over a period of decades rather than millennia. Past natural climatic patterns that were destructive were associated with cool periods while the projected future catastrophe from AGW is going to be associated with warming; this makes man-made climate change much worse than naturally occurring climate change.[57]

The existence of previous warming cycles does not negate the seriousness of the current one. These previous cycles destroyed a great deal of life on the planet, and if similar effects occurred today they would probably destroy all of human civilization, along with the humanity that created it. This does mean that the earth itself will survive, but that no denialist would be around to gloat.

Global warming - RationalWiki
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Londoner said:
This is a succinct rebuttal of that argument:
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I don’t find the rebuttal all that compelling. They make a lot of assumptions not based on evidence, such as:
Londoner said:
In addition, the current climate change is happening fast — over a period of decades rather than millennia.
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We don’t have accurate temperature readings from millennia ago, so how how do they know how fast it’s happening or if it’s unusual?
Londoner said:
Past natural climatic patterns that were destructive were associated with cool periods
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And past climatic patterns that were the opposite were associated with warming periods, which makes me wonder why we’re so concerned with a little bit of warming.
 
Personally, I am prepared to accept the overwhelming consensus of scientific opinion, namely, that the instance of global warming that we are currently experiencing is occurring to a greater extent and with more rapidity than previous instances and that the global warming that we are currently experiencing is caused by human activity. I am not sure what your investment is in denying something that is almost universally accepted among experts in the field or what your qualifications are for asserting the opposite.
 
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