Should We Eat Meat Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory

Meat eating is often a contentious subject, whether considering the technical, ethical, environmental, political, or health-related aspects of production and consumption.Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks

This book is a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary examination and critique of meat consumption by humans, throughout their evolution and around the world. Setting the scene with a chapter on meat’s role in human evolution and its growing influence during the development of agricultural practices, the book goes on to examine modern production systems, their efficiencies, outputs, and impacts. The major global trends of meat consumption are described in order to find out what part its consumption plays in changing modern diets in countries around the world. The heart of the book addresses the consequences of the "massive carnivory" of western diets, looking at the inefficiencies of production and at the huge impacts on land, water, and the atmosphere. Health impacts are also covered, both positive and negative. In conclusion, the author looks forward at his vision of “rational meat eating”, where environmental and health impacts are reduced, animals are treated more humanely, and alternative sources of protein make a higher contribution.

Should We Eat Meat? is not an ideological tract for or against carnivorousness but rather a careful evaluation of meat's roles in human diets and the environmental and health consequences of its production and consumption. It will be of interest to a wide readership including professionals and academics in food and agricultural production, human health and nutrition, environmental science, and regulatory and policy making bodies around the world.

Author -

Vaclav Smil is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. He completed his graduate studies at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Carolinum University in Prague and at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences of the Pennsylvania State University. His interdisciplinary research interests encompass a broad area of energy, environmental, food, population, economic, historical and public policy studies, and he had also applied these approaches to energy, food and environmental affairs of China.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Science Academy) and the first non-American to receive the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology. He has been an invited speaker in more than 250 conferences and workshops in the USA, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa, has lectured at many universities in North America, Europe and East Asia and has worked as a consultant for many US, EU and international institutions. His wife Eva is a physician and his son David is an organic synthetic chemist.

Official Website: www.vaslavsmil.com

SAMPLE CUSTOMER REVIEWS –

1) A scientific study - Vaclav Smil sets out to answer the question posed by his book's title, "Should We Eat Meat?" He comes at the question as a scientist without a preconceived answer. He is not trying to justify a personal bias but to discover what the facts reveal. The result is an excruciatingly meticulous analysis of the research (as evidenced by the 33 pages of references). Smil inundates the reader with statistical data. This is not a casual read. However, anyone wanting a definitive answer to the question of whether humans are meant to eat meat should read this book. Smil looks in detail at the nutritional aspects of meat, the role of meat in human evolution, meat in modern societies, and what is involved in the production of meat and the environmental impact. Smil considers the positives and negatives of eating meat within each aspect of his study. Perhaps of most interest to the lay reader is the book's last chapter where Smil outlnes possible futures for the production of meat. Those who have a casual interest in the question posed by the book's title should not attempt to tackle this study. This is a must read, though, for those who are seriously seeking an answer based on fact rather than emotion.

By Mitchell R. Alegre VINE VOICE on July 9, 2013

2) Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory - Smil doesn't tell you to eat meat or to refrain. He does explain his own diet and yes, he does eat meat, but not much and no hamburgers. The beginning of the book for me was a haze of the chemistry of nutrition, I did not understand much. Once he started on meat in human evolution, I found it easier to follow, but who could stay up with Smil? How has he written so many books, absorbed so many facts and figures? I think the key to his remarkable talent is that he treats facts surely but lightly, finds other qualities more important than statistics. As if the Olympic Champion Usain Bolt runs fast for us but usually flies instead of running.

Smil gives exhaustive statistics on meats consumption in different countries with particular attention to, well, every country: Japan, China, Spain, France, Great Britain, the USA, Brazil. The world, especially poor countries, eats more and more meat. Turkeys, chickens, goats, sheep, pigs, beef. Chickens make
up more and more of the meat we eat. The poor things are oh so crowded, they can't turn around in their cages and Smil gets into this. He is very concerned that we make our meat production more humane. He builds no pens or cages, but he is humane for watch how he uses language, no buzz words, he is never glib. "Sustainable" doesn't appear, nor "footprint." He is not sure what they mean. Smil is utterly out of the ordinary and can be read for knowledge or style. Most authors leave their reader with a scientific or political hangover, but not Smil. He does indulge in remote words. None are too long or arcane. Quantities of energy are never translated as they easily could be. Mega joules could be represented by gallons (excuse me, liters) of diesel, if we are discussing tractors. Should we eat meat? He does dwell, as he might, on kg/yr of chicken, beef, pork. Could Smil be converted from the uncomfortable metric to our more humane English system?
Smil gives us a wonderful peek at his diet, when he was young in Czechoslovakia, and we can only hope for a memoir. He is an untiring booster for the USA, which is easy to understand from a European, particularly one who has lived outside of the USA these last decades.

By Stephen C. Baer on May 29, 2013

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