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[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Unfortunately, The beef industry isn't going away anytime soon. What do we do with the hides if we don't use them to make Leather boots etc. ?

It's hard to believe that using (likely petroleum based) alternatives, has less of an environmental impact than using something that would have gone into the trash.

Sure leather supports the beef industry, but if it didn't we'd still have the beef industry, and what do we do with that leather?

Edit: I thought about it a bit more, the less people use leather the cheaper it will become. It will still be used, because it's so useful, profits will just go down a lot, so less money for the beef industry. So that's a win.

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[–] troglodyke@lemmy.federate.cc 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

Leather isn't a free byproduct, in many cases less CO2 is emitted by not using the hide and just producing an alternative instead

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[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 1 point 1 year ago

Sure but that leather could have been used to make leather boots, that could last decades. Instead petroleum based alternatives will be used, it needs to be weighed against those emissions.

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[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca [S] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

It will go away sooner if everyone stopped using leather.

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[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 child)

You're right, thanks for the polite discourse. My mind has been changed.

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[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca [S] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

Thousands of people are going vegan every year thus the force of supply and demand would require the beef industry to scale back operations.

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[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 year ago (1 child)

supply and demand is a theory about price discovery. it doesn't dictate production levels

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[–] Honytawk@feddit.nl 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

Of course it does. That is the "supply" side.

Supply is directly linked with demand and price. It is a triangle of commerce. If either of those lowers, then it is prudent to lower supply as well or face overhead.

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[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 1 year ago

supply and demand is a theory about price discovery. it does not dictate production. if you have some other theory, I'll be happy to read it.

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[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 child)

Sure, but global meat consumption is increasing, both overall and per-capita

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[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca [S] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

However meat consumption is increasing in certain segments of the population. There is no guarantee this trend will continue especially since it’s unhealthy to eat so much of it.

The meat industry is heavily subsidized by governments of the world and is not sustainable with our planetary resources, we cannot keep clearing Amazonian forests for cattle ranching.

It’s important to note that the use of fur has dropped dramatically in recent years.

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[–] Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social -1 points 1 year ago

Eating meat is not unhealthy.

Eating too much of anything is unhealthy, but having chicken and eggs in your diet is certainly not unhealthy.

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[–] wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net 1 point 1 year ago

Leather is a co-product, and it directly supports the beef industry. So yes, if leather sales decrease, the beef industry becomes less financially viable without a corresponding increase in government subsidies.