Climate chief: give up meat to save the planet

These people are going to win some day........

People will need to consider turning vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change, according to a leading authority on global warming.

In an interview with The Times, Lord Stern of Brentford said: “Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better.”

Direct emissions of methane from cows and pigs is a significant source of greenhouse gases. Methane is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas.

Lord Stern, the author of the influential 2006 Stern Review on the cost of tackling global warming, said that a successful deal at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December would lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases.
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He predicted that people’s attitudes would evolve until meat eating became unacceptable. “I think it’s important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating,” he said. “I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student. People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food.”

Lord Stern, a former chief economist of the World Bank and now I. G. Patel Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, warned that British taxpayers would need to contribute about £3 billion a year by 2015 to help poor countries to cope with the inevitable impact of climate change.

He also issued a clear message to President Obama that he must attend the meeting in Copenhagen in person in order for an effective deal to be reached. US leadership, he said, was “desperately needed” to secure a deal.

He said that he was deeply concerned that popular opinion had so far failed to grasp the scale of the changes needed to address climate change, or of the importance of the UN meeting in Copenhagen from December 7 to December 18. “I am not sure that people fully understand what we are talking about or the kind of changes that will be necessary,” he added.

Up to 20,000 delegates from 192 countries are due to attend the UN conference in the Danish capital. Its aim is to forge a deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to prevent an increase in global temperatures of more than 2 degrees centigrade. Any increase above this level is expected to trigger runaway climate change, threatening the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

Lord Stern said that Copenhagen presented a unique opportunity for the world to break free from its catastrophic current trajectory. He said that the world needed to agree to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to 25 gigatonnes a year from the current level of 50 gigatonnes.

UN figures suggest that meat production is responsible for about 18 per cent of global carbon emissions, including the destruction of forest land for cattle ranching and the production of animal feeds such as soy.

Lord Stern, who said that he was not a strict vegetarian himself, was speaking on the eve of an all-parliamentary debate on climate change. His remarks provoked anger from the meat industry.

Jonathan Scurlock, of the National Farmers Union, said: “Going vegetarian is not a worldwide solution. It’s not a view shared by the NFU. Farmers in this country are interested in evidence-based policymaking. We don’t have a methane-free cow or pig available to us.”

On average, a British person eats 50g of protein derived from meat each day — the equivalent of a chicken breast or a lamb chop. This is a relatively low level for a wealthy country but between 25 per cent and 50 per cent higher than the amount recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Su Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Vegetarian Society, welcomed Lord Stern’s remarks. “What we choose to eat is one of the biggest factors in our personal impact on the environment,” she said. “Meat uses up a lot of resources and a vegetarian diet consumes a lot less land and water. One of the best things you can do about climate change is reduce the amount of meat in your diet.”

The UN has warned that meat consumption is on course to double by the middle of the century.

IMO, we will long be destroyed before we reach this level of insanity.

I am helping the cause. Eating all the pork and beef I can.

Man as always ate meat. That's who we are.

Curbside Grill


I am helping the cause. Eating all the pork and beef I can.

Thanks Mike.  I'll try to step it up myself!

My question: How much greenhouse gas will 20,000 delegates create by flying or driving to and from the conference? Wouldn't an internet symposium be more effective for the message?

As always, I am a proud member of PETA (People for the Eating of Tasty Animals)!

Amen. I will always eat meat. Just depends on how hungry I am as to what or whom

The only way they will win is if the nutjobs let them.  I suspect most people on this site or who live in the good old USA have eaten some chicken, pork or perhaps a steak or two?  Please reply if you have not so I can send a psychiatric doctor to help you! Where is Al Gore these days who made his millions while he lived in a mansion that sucked more power than all of springfield?  I just moved from Wisconsin that just had its coldest damn summer on record and they still continue to try to convince us that "global warming" is going to kill us all and we should all save the poor polar bears as al gore laughs all the way to the bank.  I worked for GE Medical as a contractor.  They own NBC who continues to push this BS down our throats 24/7!!!!! And isn't it funny how they now changed "Global warming" to now "Climate Change?"   I had a couple of years in college where I loved weather and once wanted to be a meteorologist.....guess what idiots out there....the climate has been changing for millions of years and it started long before humans were here and it will continue long after we are gone.  People are so stupid and shortsighted to think that we are the reason this is going on...not only that but just try to convince China and India to do the same as us but that is another subject for another day....

The treehuggers will not continue to push there so called environmental hippie love down our throat.  But I will always eat my steaks, BBQ, hotdogs, hamburgers, seafood you name it....and guess what tree huggers out there reading this.....I love eating a great salad as well.  And this is prior to my 20 mile training runs for a marathon which I finish in under 3 hours.

The people pushing these agendas need to get a life and more likely a non-government job.

If my cow eats grass, and I eat the cow. that doesn't make me a Vegetarian. I'm going to to bring up this discussion at family dinner over a juicy prime rib..........................

You know I agreed with all the posters until Al Gore got thrown into this discussion about some nut case's opinion in Britain. I think that was highly inflamatory and waaaay out of line. We all sort of agreed that they many of us disagree when it comes to politics and so this was off limits. Fwiw, I think Al Gore was our unelected President. So what? I'm sure Al Gore is a meat eater and I'm surprised that NC Cheesehead wants to limit any ones use of electric power.
Now I find NC Cheesehead to be one of my favorite posters and I look forward to his or her posts but I wish this one post was edited to remove unnecessary commentary. Please? Pretty please with bacon on it?

Oh, please. Gore knows his life's work is phoney, and he proves it every time he refuses to debate his cause, and every time he has his critics silenced at his appearances.

Michael, your opinion and fifty cents won't buy me a coffee. Why do you right wingers keep injecting politics in a food message board?

The guy is a dumb ass.

MilwFoodlovers


Michael, your opinion and fifty cents won't buy me a coffee. Why do you right wingers keep injecting politics in a food message board?

If you really need money for a cup of coffee I'll be glad to help you out. By the way, your description of my politics is funnier than changing the name of government option to consumer option in order to keep people from being unhappy with it. Oh, and I didn't begin this thread with the copyrighted political story about global warming.

I like Michael Stern waaay more than Lord Stern.  And BTW, what kind of name is Lord Stern?  Lord my...........

Oh mercy!  Went to work and all hell broke loose.  Time to end the political commentary guys.

Doc,
Lord Stern is an economist, not an expert on global warming.
He obviously is a vegan and so he bloviates on things he wasn't schooled in but would like to pretend he was.
I'd like to pretend that fruitloops like him will just go away but the slippery slope started by anti-tobacco folks
 (I don't smoke, no one in my house smokes, no one in my immediate family smokes, I own no tobacco stock, although my wife once worked at a company purchased by a tobacco giant corporation, I can't stand the smell of smoke) is now becoming more vertical and can be seen on increased taxes on fats, sugar and alcohol; most with the "theory" that it is also good if we use less of those things so lets tax them. So we should remain vigilant. And like winning the foie gras battle, be ready to stand up and be counted when idiots with agendas pontificate. Here is part of a response to Lord Stern by Madson Pirie in the UK Telegraph~
If we give up animal husbandry and eat the vegetarian diet Lord Stern advocates, it would be one devoid of milk, cheese and butter, and the world would have to get along without leather for its shoes or jackets, or wool for its clothes. This is not going to happen, any more than the other 'essential' changes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/6445930/Lord-Stern-is-wrong-giving-up-meat-is-no-way-to-save-the-planet.html

Do any proud carnivorous friends know how many slices of deep-fried bacon are in an order and the going price in your local area?
 
 
 

In yesterday's paper:

PopsDogHouse


Oh mercy!  Went to work and all hell broke loose.  Time to end the political commentary guys.

Steve
If you want delete the entire post. No big deal with me.  In fact I didn't think it was a big deal when I sent it just thought it might get an exchange going,..... not a war. But I think it's pretty good for the forum to have a strong exchange now and then. But again If you want delete the entire post. No big deal with me.

Your the Boss
Jack