mhornberger t1_iwvvfzq wrote on November 18, 2022 at 7:12 PM

Sustainable compared to what? Cultured meat is less sustainable or environmentally friendly than just eating plants, but vastly more sustainable than conventional meat production.

Is a steakhouse sustainable? A BBQ joint? A churrascaria? Not really, not at scale. But moving to cultured meat, as the technology and prices improve, will make meat production vastly more sustainable. It will reduce the land and water use of meat production, reduce the need for antibiotics, reduce agricultural runoff, plus of course reduce animal suffering.

DiscoveryOV t1_iwxrajr wrote on November 19, 2022 at 3:53 AM

How do you know cultured meat is less sustainable than plants? It still takes a ton of resources to grow plants.

streamofbsness t1_iwybj2i wrote on November 19, 2022 at 7:47 AM

The meat doesn’t just photosynthesize itself new meat. You need to grow cells on media, i.e. organic nutrients. Those have to come from somewhere. Some of that can be generated from plants (sugar), some you might be able to generate in vats of E. coli or yeast (note these microbes consume media as well), some of that (hormones) is most commonly derived from butchered animals (see FBS). In all cases though, you’re refining a larger mass of organic material into a smaller mass of (more nutrient dense or otherwise preferable) organic material.

mhornberger t1_ix92uw4 wrote on November 21, 2022 at 6:09 PM

Because the feedstock for the cultured meat comes from plants. Eating plants is going to be more efficient than using plants as feedstock and using energy to turn that feedstock into meat. Cultured meat will be more efficient than raising the whole animal, but it can't be more efficient than its own feedstock.

There is one way cultured meat could be more efficient, but I think it's a ways off. Companies like Solar Foods and Air Protein are using hydrogenotrophs to make proteins and carbohydrates from CO2, with no need for plants as input. So zero need for arable land. The process will still need energy, but on every other metric I think it'll be more efficient than even plants. And per Jim Mellon's book Moo's Law, they'll be able to make feedstock for cultured meat as well. But neither of these companies are to market yet. It'll be interesting to watch play out.