Topic > Analysis of Rachel Nuwer's article What if... argument. Although his argument is not entirely valid because he introduces several flaws in his article by using sources in his article who discuss the disadvantages of eliminating livestock and eliminating meat for everyone from sources who think it would be a mistake if this were to be done. For example, Ben Phalan, a researcher who works on the balance between food demand and biodiversity at the University of Cambridge. states that “There are over 3.5 billion domestic ruminants on the earth and tens of billions of chickens produced and killed for food every year” and that “We would be talking about an enormous amount of economic disruption.” Phalan also states that “Without livestock, life in certain environments would likely become impossible for some people”, for example Phalan states that “The cultural impact of completely giving up meat would be very large, which is why efforts to reduce meat consumption meat have often failed,” Phalan highlights well how meat is an important part of history, tradition and cultural identity, for example in the way other cultures use meat in their daily lives. Phalan says numerous groups around the world offer gifts to livestock during weeding, celebratory dinners such as Christmas ones centered around turkey or roast beef, and meat-based dishes. Overall Phalan has a very strong argument why he