[Gem]

Originally Posted by knightofalbion

We've been here before!

There is chronic over-fishing in the Pacific Region. There is also chronic pollution in the Pacific Region. What fish remains is polluted with toxins like mercury.

The diet of the Pacific Islanders is predominantly imported junk food from Australia! They have the highest levels of obesity and diabetes in the world.
So this 'living off the land' idyll is totally false.

Islander peoples are generally impoverished by Western standards so they buy basics like soap, sugar, rice and cheap meat with high fat content. People of New Guinea who mostly do live off the land don't have the same health problems as you describe, but it is increasing.

What may have happened in the past (though the diet of the New Guinea people for example was predominantly vegan, based on sweet potatoes and the like) is firmly in the past. This 'living off the land' hunting and killing theory may have been viable when earth's population was a fraction of what it is now, but with over 7 billion people heading to 10 billion people by the middle of the century .... All wildlife would be wiped out within a month!

If you actually go live in newguinea you will see how it is, but as it stands you have no idea. I've had the good fortune to travel the region between highlander subsistence farmers to island fishing villages, so I'm pretty well in the know of the cultures and lifestyles of peoples in that area.

Deforestation is predominantly down to land clearance for cattle ranching. Certainly the case in the Amazon.
You can feed many more people using land for crop production than you can meat production.
In any case, a disproportionate amount of annual crop production (i.e. grains, soya) is used for animal feed for livestock.

I don't think you understand the bid picture of diet, culture and poverty, b s I say, there are sound ethical reasons for a vegan diet. It's just that most people, particularly those in remote regions, can't afford diets based on Western incomes.