No they won't save the planet. What could save the planet is a population cap but all the experts made sure there's legislation against common sense. So the answer to your question from me is nothing will save the planet unless people get educated to think & not to be consumers only. From my personal observations I found the greater majority of vegetarians to be from another planet anyway.

This one is commonly discussed in the press these days, by
people who throw all kinds of farming into one heap and don't
think things through.

Lets say no sheep or cows grazed all that grass, what would
happen?

Its not hard to figure out really, we see it around us often
enough. All that growth would accumulate, there would be huge
loads of dead grass, along comes a lightning strike and the
whole lot goes up in flames. Only if this was everywhere,
the fires that followed would make the Victorian fires look
like a Sunday school picnic!

All those mouths chomping dead grass and turning it into
delicious lamb roasts etc, not only are of huge benefit
as fire break creators, those chops and roast taste pretty
good too :)

If it could actually be proven beyond doubt that farming beef is contributing to ecological damage in a major way then I guess being a vegetarian would help.

BUT don't forget there are other forms of meat in fish, chicken, game birds, deer, sheep, rabbits (there aplenty, shellfish etc. I am not sure if sheep are the same in terms of impacts ie. methane production and soil impaction etc.

The thing is humans need to eat something and vegies, grain, pulses, fruit and nuts still take up space and cause some ecological degradation particularly if not farmed organically (or close to), particularly in a mono-culture set up.

Yabby,
Sorry old mate, that's a load of self interested justification.

The concern I have about your stance is that you are comparing extremes.
Hanrahan is doing much the same.

I don't know about your specifics so I can only generalize.

The problem in my mind is the EXCESS and inappropriate practices.
The whole system as it is practiced encourages the same. In many ways we are over exploiting our resources to make money now. It means that in the future in some places the law of diminishing returns will apply.

There are options like no till farming that is now subject to carbon trading in in the states.

We need a new monetary system one that doesn't depend on the unsustainable magic pudding scenario in a finite world. We are currently consuming our economic future in a monetary sense.
Sooner or later the system is doomed to collapse under its own weight of debt (future demands).

*Sorry old mate, that's a load of self interested justification.*

Examinator, once again you drift off in all sorts of directions,
ignoring what I actually wrote. You sound like an ADHD case :)

Now what part of my argument do you deny?

If no cows, sheep etc ate that grass, it would not grow, ready
to burn in a big way?

Do you know what happens each year up in the NW station country,
after alot of rain and long grass everywhere?

Do you even know that alot of the Australian outback is unsuitable
for cropping?

If you are going to have a go at my point, show me where it is wrong,
not waft off on the clouds, as you normally do.

This thread is proof that meat is required for brain development.

Maybe we could eat the vegetarians. (tastes like chicken?)