I only rarely eat beef anymore anyway. It's just too heavy for my tastes; I'm a chicken guy. (Dick, that's your cue.)

The environmental impact of cattle goes further and deeper than their flatulence, though; there's also the water they consume, and the pasture land they require, which if it came to it, would need to be put to feeding humans if population growth doesn't subside.

Against that, one must balance the nutrients that meat alone provides; amino acids and proteins. Some of those proteins can be provided by soy, but soy has toxic side effects of its own, and itself requires heavy agricultural inputs to produce in abundance.

The voluntary human extinction movement is the best way to minimize your environmental impact.

Now Ender, can you please justify the impact chickens have on the environment? Why don't you get rid of your car also and take public transportation?

That's more of a range; at one end, you've got the massive factory farms, where the environmental issues are pretty clear; at the other you've got the radical free-rangers. I kinda wish those two sides would meet in the middle.

There used to be a factory egg farm near a town I used to live in. Believe you me, their operation was disgusting. (And I mean that even before you consider the treatment of the chickens.)

"I kinda wish those two sides would meet in the middle."

I find it sad that you wish to compromise on your beliefs, but hey, it's your life.

"There used to be a factory egg farm near a town I used to live in. Believe you me, their operation was disgusting."

I suggest you work on getting those practices banned. That way the farm, its jobs, and its profits will be moved offshore. Of course the same problems will exist for the same number of chickens, but at least we'll be able to claim victory!

Hey, I just want clean, wholesome food, and if that can be accomplished while giving the animals I eat a somewhat more humane existence, then so much the better.

Trust me as to the cleanliness of this egg farm: We're talking inches of excrement on the floor, and clouds of flies within one mile in all directions of the place. That filthy. It's been a controversy for years.

"Hey, I just want clean, wholesome food, and if that can be accomplished while giving the animals I eat a somewhat more humane existence, then so much the better."

And the big question is, how much more % are you willing to pay to get what you want?

It would be cool if animal waste could be transformed into fuel.

And the answer to that question would be, somewhat more than bargain-basement mass-production prices, and somewhat less than the total free-range put-them-up-in-chicken-condos approach. Thus bringing this sub-discussion full-circle: I wish they'd meet in the middle.

I believe animal waste of the avian sort (guano) can be made into fuel.

Well, myself, I'm willing to pay 1% more price, and I expect all my concerns to be addressed.

I don't eat meat that much and my doctor is trying to up my meat intake. I have to eat low oxalate food for my kidneys. That means no nuts, no soy, no dark leafy greens, no strawberries. I'm trying to work out a way to eat more fruit and vegies without upping my oxalates.