PETA picks on Al Gore - they make a good point in a bad way

[RiverStone]

The below press release came from PETA on 8/29/07. Though I appreciate the point that raising animals for food contributes to greenhouse gases more than cars; I don't agree with their tactic to target Al Gore with billboards. Chicken in hand or not, Al's education and fight to reduce global warming not only serves to make the world more habitable over the long haul for humans, but animals as well (ask any polar bear). It seems very hypocritical for PETA to attack a man so dedicated to making the world a better place for ALL living things! I do appreciate some of PETA's goals, though here they want to shoot the wrong messenger. I think this billboard tactic will back fire - don't pick on Al!

A few disclaimers: I'm a strong advocate of no-kill cat/dog shelters; I eat meat though try to buy free range and organic fed, and I'd vote for Al Gore in a heartbeat even if he had T-bone steak in one hand, and an entire roasted turkey in the other!


* * * * * * * * * *

From PETA - 8/29/07

Norfolk, Va. - Showing a cartoon of a flabby Al Gore munching on a drumstick next to the tagline "Too Chicken to Go Vegetarian? Meat
Is the #1 Cause of Global Warming," PETA's new billboard will be popping up in cities and towns across the country that will be visited by the outspoken proponent of the fight against global warming. Why is PETA picking on Gore? The meat industry is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, but Gore has repeatedly refused even to discuss the issue.

Consider what scientists are saying:

· In its recent report "Livestock's Long Shadow-Environmental Issues and Options," the United Nations determined that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. The report goes on to say that meat is "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."
· Researchers at the University of Chicago have determined that switching to a vegan diet is more effective in countering global warming than switching from a standard American car to a Toyota Prius.

link:

http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=10208

[Dark]

1. Once again, PETA shoots itself in the foot. n/t

[OneBlueSky]

15. exactly what I was going to say . . . their goals are, for the most part, admirable, but . . .

their tactics leave much to be desired . . . going after Al Gore is just plain foolish, and it won't win them many (if any) new friends . . .

[Mythsaje]

2. Fuck PETA

'nuff said.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Breaking: PETA is full of shit. Film at 11. nt

[sandnsea]

4. God bless the left

Always there to give the right diversions from dealing with the issues.

We can't get people to keep air in their tires, why don't they start with something everybody would be willing to accomplish.

[tabasco]

5. Peta is not "the left."

They're a bunch of kooks.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

29. PETA - LEFT?

Are you kidding me?

I am "left" I am not insane.

PETA is full of nut jobs who give the real left a black eye.

[DemBones DemBones]

6. PETA ALWAYS makes good points in a bad way, it's their modus operandi.

I'd have become a vegetarian probably ten or years earlier than I did if I hadn't been so annoyed by PETA's stupid tactics.

One article I read years ago was a newspaper interview with PETA's national director, president, whatever they call it. After the director talked at length about how deeply committed PETA was to getting people to stop eating meat and stop wearing leather and fur, and how wrong anyone was to disagree with PETA, the interviewer asked him what PETA's position on abortion was.

"Oh," he said, "PETA doesn't have a position on abortion. We don't believe in interfering in people's lives."

Earth to PETA: telling people what to eat and what to wear is interfering in their lives and you do believe in interfering all that you can.

Even my vegan daughter, who's been a vegetarian or vegan for 20 years, and won't eat anything with a microgram of egg, milk, meat broth, etc. in it, thinks PETA is loony.

[Apollo11]

8. WTF?

Why on earth would PETA have a position on abortion?

Does being vegetarian mean that you have to be either pro-choice or pro-life?

PETA is a single-issue lobby group. Last time I checked - there was nothing illegal about that.

[DemBones DemBones]

11. . . .

the point is that the PETA director, when asked by the interviewer if PETA had a position on abortion, said PETA doesn't believe in interfering in people's lives when they DO.

Sure, they can be a single-issue organization and aren't required to have a position on all issues, but the PETA guy had talked about the sacred nature of living things so it was natural for the interviewer to ask him about abortion.

They want everyone to stop eating meat, wearing fur and leather, as I already said. That is interfering in other people's lives, especially considering their tactics.

To them I say:

"If you don't like wearing fur, don't wear fur."

[AlCzervik]

22. i would be an alcoholic if Budweiser commercials were better.

[AlGore-08.com]

7. Actually they did something even dumber recently re: Gore

Their President, Ingrid Newkirk, was quoted in the NYPost saying this about Gore and his family:

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2007/08/17/2007-08-17_roves_dove_hunt_has_feathers_flying.html

"His dad is a cattle rancher," she says. "Gases from raising cattle create so much pollution that it's the No. 1 cause of global warming. We can't believe (the former veep) can't see this massive hypocrisy."

Gore's dad passed away in December 1998. He's been dead for nine years. How on earth is Gore supposed to satisfy PETA on this point? Raise his father from the dead and disown him? Invent a time machine, go back to the 1910s and talk his Dad out of becoming a rancher when he grows up?

What's even sadder is if you read the various books Gore's been promoting - - including "An Inconvenient Truth" - - he does talk about how livestock ranching is one of the most significant contributors to global warming. He is ALREADY urging folks to go vegan, without PETA having to hassle him for a single second.

[jobycom]

9. Nice. Just in case they had any core followers left, alienate them as well.

Who the Hell are they trying to persuade? Reminds me of the Jack in the Box commercial where the add exec tailors an ultimate cheeseburger commercial towards teenage girls, and Jack says "I don't think that's our target audience," and the ad exec asks "What's a target?"

I'm vegetarian, I've never liked PETA's tactics, and I've long maintained that animal rights would move forward in this nation if PETA were to disappear. They are the Fred Phelps of the animal rights world, and we don't need them. Now it looks as thought PETA feels it doesn't need anyone else, either. They are not about animal rights, they are about feeling superior in their own little clique, and alienating anyone they can to keep their clique small.

They make me ashamed to admit I'm vegetarian, almost. Almost. I deny them that final power, though. I am only ashamed that they are.

[DemBones DemBones]

12. Exactly. If you didn't read

my post, I said I probably would have gone vegetarian at least ten years earlier than I did if PETA hadn't pissed me off so many times with their stupidity.

You wrote:

"They make me ashamed to admit I'm vegetarian, almost. Almost. I deny them that final power, though. I am only ashamed that they are." (Emphasis added by me because that's how I'd say it, and actually have said it!)

Nice to see you, haven't seen you here in a long time. :hi:

[jobycom]

16. Thanks.

I've been here. Got burned out on debating politics, so I've been in the Lounge a lot, but I've been in a few GD slugfests lately.

And I did read your post above before I wrote mine. Well said. I don't think PETA affected my choice one way or the other on being a vegetarian, although maybe. I didn't really decide to be a vegetarian, I just moved more and more that way, and when I finally realized I had stopped eating meat for good, I refused to call myself vegetarian for while, because I felt like it was a label that categorized me, and I felt that my choices were based on personal motivations, not on fitting into a certain category. I didn't think of the word as negative... It's hard to explain, at least without a really long post. Buy maybe, just maybe a little, PETA did give me a negative feeling about the word. Jesse Arbogast was attacked in July of 01, and I stopped eating meat around September 11, 2001, so the timing is right. Jesse was from the Mississippi Coast, like me, so the story hit home. But PETA was a minor role. I had been thinking about becoming vegetarian long before I had heard of PETA.

[RiverStone]

17. appreciate your perspective

Thanks for sharing an articulate/thoughtful replay on this jobycom. If you have a sec, your perspective on PETA's hard sell as a vegetarian may be a worthwhile perspective for PETA to hear - maybe contact them? I will be doing the same.

I hate fur coats and still indulge in some tasty wild salmon native to the beautiful Pacific NW (where I live) and free range chicken (running on what range I don't know???) - so I'm still looking at my own eating ethics.

PETA's tactic is both and insult to Al and won't win anybody over - people don't listen to anger to well.

[TheDoorbellRang]

25. "They are the Fred Phelps of the animal rights world"

Exactly!

Attacking Gore on this? The idiots.

[Apollo11]

10. As much as I love Al Gore

I have to admit that PETA is making a relevant point in a smart way.

You have to admire their savvy in public relations and lobbying.

They know how to get lots of media attention for their issues.

Cows and pigs produce millions of tons of methane gas every year.

I don't know what PETA thinks we should do with all these animals.

But looking at the issue as a whole - they are making a valid point.

By targeting Al Gore they will multiply the amount of media attention.

But - like I said - I am a huge admirer of Al Gore.

Plus I eat meat. Go figure! :eyes:

[RiverStone]

19. relevant YES - smart NO

I see nothing savvy about insulting Al and the vast majority of folks that occasionally munch on a chicken leg. If PETA wants to really get a valid point across, they should look to AL to see how this Peace Prize nominee communicates a message thoughtfully with strength and wisdom. People LISTEN to a message that comes across in such a way that invites rather then insults.

Nobody listens to a whiner. PETA is whining big time! I say that being an environmental activist.

Oh, and you and I do agree on this point --- I'm also a HUGE admirer of Al Gore. :)

[JI7]

13. fuck them, getting results seem to be the least of their concerns

it looks like they care more about bragging about being morally superior.

[politicasista]

26. Exactly n/t

[canetoad]

14. There's both a beauty and ugliness about PETA

They will be more effective when a number of them are more reasonable. Not all - we need a small percentage of the people to be fanatics to provoke discussion.

Consistency of though, word and action contributes to credibility.

[blondeatlast]

20. The problem is that Newkirk's in charge--and marketing is NOT her strong suit.

We may not like it, but marketing an organziation like PETA matters.

[JI7]

38. have they ever been good at marketing ?

how long as Newkirk been in charge ?

[IndianaJones]

18. People Eating Tasty Animals. nt.

[blondeatlast]

21. Wow--did you just make that up? I've never heard it before...

:eyes:

[IndianaJones]

23. I did. Does someone else use it? nt.

[Raine]

30. Yeah about a million

other people ever since PETA came into being so you wasted your time thinking that one up.

[Raine]

28. Wow haven't heard that since

the last PETA thread. :boring:

[Matariki]

24. People don't have to 'go vegetarian'

But it's a valid point that the *way* in which we raise animals for consumption has serious effects on the environment. If everyone on the planet ate meat at the rate that Americans do, we'd all be in big trouble. A diet that consists of small amounts of meat, and probably not at every meal, would no doubt be better for our health and better for the environment.

That said, peta as always has their collective heads up their asses. They're act like 13 year old girls (which probably makes the bulk of their base), calling Al Gore and Michael Moore 'fat' :eyes: They seem to have a knack for turning people off to their message - to the extent that it makes me wonder if they're not secretly a front group for the American Meat Institute or something.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. Oh Lawd, is dat some Endangered Chilean Sea Bass?

[frustrated_lefty]

31. Fuck PETA. Ignorant assholes, the lot of them.

[Beaverhausen]

32. I think Gore might actually start to promote a more plant-based diet soon

In fact, I think it is one of the points made at the website for Live Earth, etc.

Hey- PETA is getting some exposure from this and some people are being educated as to the terrible cost to the planet that a meat-based diet has. You may not like their tactics, but no one gets attention by being nice and sweet- just ask the Code Pink ladies!

[TexasBushwhacker]

33. Liars!

While methane from ruminant animals is a substantial part of the composition of greenhouse gases, I have never seen ANYTHING indicating that it is the NUMBER ONE cause of global warming.

PETA just pisses me off when they say stuff like this. It does them more harm than good. Remember the commercial that they wanted to air during the Super Bowl where they said eating meat causes impotency? Show me the double blind studies! There are plenty of good, HONEST, reasons to become a vegetarian. Why do they feel the need to lie?

[QC]

34. PETA is a right wing front group designed

designed to make environmentalists, animal rights activists, and others look like fools.

Every one of their ridiculous stunts makes me more convinced of this.

[Beaverhausen]

35. Here is info directly from the website of Gore's partner - Alliance for Climate Protection

Al Gore knows PETA is right

http://www.climateprotect.org/as2

Fortunately, there are many ways for individuals to reduce their climate footprint without giving up quality of life. If you're inclined, reducing beef, dairy, and heavily processed foods could save your household several tonnes of CO2 each year. For example, research shows that completely eliminating meat would save households 1.6 tonnes of CO2 per year (equivalent to 145 gallons of gasoline), and substituting the same number of pounds of beef for chicken would save the average U.S. household almost half a tonne of CO2 per year. Buying second-hand goods (particularly clothes) and repairing or maintaining existing goods can also make a huge difference. Perhaps most importantly, if instead of buying stuff, people spent more money on services, activities and information (essentially paying for people's creativity) great fun would still be had, while helping the economy transition into one with far less environmental impact.

So how can individuals do their share? Carbon neutrality is the ultimate answer: start by reducing as many emissions as possible and then using carbon offsets to achieve the rest. See our story on buying offsets, which will help you understand how they work and how to pick high quality.

[Apollo11]

39. It says that chicken is better than beef

Like I said above - cows and pigs produce the most methane.

You just know that a cow farts a whole lot more than a chicken.

So eating a chicken leg is actually better than eating a burger! ;-)

Al Gore has pointed out that the planet's population has doubled since 1950.

Nobody is saying we should kill half the humans on the planet.

But feeding 7, 8 or 9 billion people is not going to be easy.

Doing it in an environmentally sustainable way will be even harder.

We will all have to eat less beef and more healthy vegetables! B-)

[Apollo11]

41. Here's an interesting article about this topic

Eating meat contributes to global warming, says study

EurActiv.com - Friday 20 July 2007

Eating one kilogram of beef produces more greenhouse gas emissions than driving for three hours while leaving the lights on at home, according to a new study from Japan that examines the CO2 emissions resulting from bringing an average beef cow to market.

Researchers from the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan, examined the "life-cycle" of a standard beef cow, including feed production and transport, animal management and the biological activity of the animal.

These life-cycle stages were then scrutinised for their climate change-related impacts: energy consumption, methane production, and water acidification and eutrophication - meaning the excessive nutrient enrichment of water bodies that can reduce both their oxygen content and CO2 absorption capacity.

In total, over 4,500 kilograms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are produced by one average beef cow throughout its life-cycle, according to the study, published in the August 2007 edition of the Animal Science Journal.

Methane produced by the digestive systems of the animals accounts for most of the GHG emissions, while more than two-thirds of the total energy needs are taken up in the production and transport of feed for the animals.

(...)

http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/eating-meat-contributes-global-warming-study/article-165728

[AllieB]

36. PETA should be up in arms about agribusiness in general

Rice production produces methane also-a source of global warming. Agribusiness pollutes the earth with chemicals and pesticides. As for the researchers at the University of Chicago, I'd love to know if they've proven the link between vegan diet as countering global warming with hard science. Personally, I love animals, drive a prius, compost and recycle, but I wouldn't risk my health again by consuming a meatless diet.

[Elidor]

37. If I was an animal...

I'd fire these fools and get better PR flacks.

[Odin2005]

40. PETA = Bunch of Yuppie asshole wannabe "radicals."

[Buzz Clik]

42. VRWC is paying PETA to be as nutty as they can to give the left that black eye.

Errrr...

I don't even know what that means. However, I was told that saying that would really piss off some incredibly stupid lurkers.