Trying to Connect the Dinner Plate to Climate Change - PETA calls out Al Gore, the climate champion

[Kolesar]

EVER since “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore has been the darling of environmentalists, but that movie hardly endeared him to the animal rights folks. According to them, the most inconvenient truth of all is that raising animals for meat contributes more to global warming than all the sport utility vehicles combined.



The biggest animal rights groups do not always overlap in their missions, but now they have coalesced around a message that eating meat is worse for the environment than driving. They and smaller groups have started advertising campaigns that try to equate vegetarianism with curbing greenhouse gases.

Some backlash against this position is inevitable, the groups acknowledge, but they do have scientific ammunition. In late November, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization issued a report stating that the livestock business generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transportation combined.

When that report came out, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other groups expected their environmental counterparts to immediately hop on the “Go Veggie!” bandwagon, but that did not happen. “Environmentalists are still pointing their fingers at Hummers and S.U.V.’s when they should be pointing at the dinner plate,” said Matt A. Prescott, manager of vegan campaigns for PETA.

So the animal rights groups are mobilizing on their own. PETA is outfitting a Hummer with a driver in a chicken suit and a vinyl banner proclaiming meat as the top cause of global warming. It will send the vehicle to the start of the climate forum the White House is sponsoring in Washington on Sept. 27, “and to headquarters of environmental groups, if they don’t start shaping up,” Mr. Prescott warned.

He said that PETA had written to more than 700 environmental groups, asking them to promote vegetarianism, and that it would soon distribute leaflets that highlight the impact of eating meat on global warming.

“You just cannot be a meat-eating environmentalist,” said Mr. Prescott, whose group also plans to send billboard-toting trucks to the Colorado Convention Center in Denver when Mr. Gore lectures there on Oct. 2. The billboards will feature a cartoon image of Mr. Gore eating a drumstick next to the tagline: “Too Chicken to Go Vegetarian? Meat Is the No. 1 Cause of Global Warming.”
...snip...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/business/media/29adco.html?ref=science

[Dora]

1. It's not the act of eating meat. It's the practices associated with how the meat is raised.

I think that's an important distinction.

[wake.up.america]

2. I don't eat meat. Feel great.

[Dora]

6. Cool! I eat meat, and I feel great too!

I'm glad we met! :hi:

[wake.up.america]

16. Great! Take a seat!

[kestrel91316]

7. THANK YOU. And leave it to the PETA freaks to attack Al Gore for this,

rather than the factory farms.

[Kolesar]

17. Let me tell you what is going on here--this is just a trademark PETA publicity gimmick

Naked actresses and models, harassing theater patrons, scary posters, and now Al with a greasy chicken leg in hand--this is how PETA leverages their influence. I think they are clever.

[YOY]

3. He'd gain more popularity if he told them to go stuff it.

Absolutely the truth whether you like it or not.

[Larkspur]

4. No way I'm giving up my BBQ baby back ribs

It's my favorite dish. Not a fan of veggies. Eat them only because I have to.

[melody]

5. PETA has gone stark raving insane

I used to belong. Now they're attacking Al for being fat -- it has nothing to do with meat-eating. They don't
give a damn that he eats meat.

I'm a vegetarian and I'm fat.

The "hypocrisy" they sense is merely a bunch of zealots trying to make everyone live their way without reference
to reason.

[kestrel91316]

8. PETA is a bunch of religious fundamentalist whackos no different

than Fred Phelps and Falwell and such. Their religion is animal "rights". IMHO they don't give a damn about the environment. They have no concept of how ecosystems work - IIRC they oppose ecosystem restoration if it involves any deaths of nonnative species, even if native species are adversely affected.

Bunch of nuts.

[melody]

10. exactly n/t

[RestoreGore]

9. I wonder who put them up to this?

If they truly gave a damn about meat and its effect on the environment they would look more credible if they stated their views reasonably on the topic in context without attacking just one person. And of course, all the land that is razed for cattle ranching is Al Gore's fault too...Why aren't they going after corporations that profit from slash and burn in South America? THAT causes more global warming. Matter of fact DEFORESTATION is the main cause of global warming in my view. They really have jumped the shark on this. Sounds like a La Rouche tactic to me.

[phantom power]

11. Why Gore, of all possible targets?

He's not even a politician anymore, in the sense of holding any legislative power, or holding an elected position, etc.

[NNadir]

12. Really? How interesting. I hear all the time about how cow shit based

methane from cool methane shit disgesters are going to save the world.

I've always found that a little disgusting - but I haven't eaten a cow parts since 1976.

In fact the same people who talk up cow shit and drive around to "cow shit will save us" festivals in their hydrogen hypercar SUV's generally will try to avoid facing the fact that the cause of the cow/car culture is dangerous fossil fuels.

Without Al Gore climate change would not be a political issue. Mr. Gore doesn't have to be perfect to be better than half of the navel gazers who spend their days contemplating their navel lint.

PETA should remove its head from its asshole if that's where it's looking for poop to digest. Probably half of PETA voted for the Ralph Nader any way. While people were being blown to pieces in Iraq, Nader was picking lint out of his navel worrying about NBA officiating.

I don't eat cows or pigs or dogs or chickens which is why I have such low regard for chickenshit approaches to climate change. In fact, most of the people who muse all day about chickenshit and cowshit couldn't care less about the cause of climate change. It's a side interest associated with pushing their private agendas.

[phantom power]

14. It would be interesting to see a Venn diagram of PETA, Greenpeace and Nader voters.

[appal_jack]

13. in many regions, meat is more sustainable...

However much PETA may whine about it, there are many regions in this world where raising animals on pasture is far more sustainable and carbon-sequestering than vegan food items could ever be, particularly in hilly regions. Where I am in the southern Appalachians, a successive rotation of grazers (cows or sheep), browsers (goats), and poultry of any kind can manage noxious weeds (multiflora rose, kudzu, etc.), and build soil organic matter (i.e.- sequester carbon) far better than anyone could by raising soybeans or corn (which, on hills, causes much more erosion than a grass cover). While I garden to raise vegetables on some flatter patches of land, I rely on pasture-raised meats for a bulk of my diet.

As my neighbor to the north & pastured-livestock pioneer Joel Salatin likes to say, ex-vegans are some of the most ardent believers in pasture raised meats, once they realize that the all-soy diet is a scam of epic proportions.

The organizers of PETA should so much as aspire to have a similar impact on the global environment as Al Gore does, rather than slinging shite his way...

-app

[razzleberry]

15. caloric burden on the environment, an issue ...

in addition to source of calories.

both areas need improvement.