Last week we had a people in New Zealand saying we need edible pets. This week we have England’s “premier climatologist” saying we need to give up meat. You first, me Lord. However, this sort of tactic risks marginalization of his cause. Poll numbers are already falling. What’s really needed here is “steak watch”. Since as we’ve seen with many prominent people who give worldly advice, they often don’t follow it, we need some British paparazzi at restaurants and public banquets to see if Lord Stern follows his own advice. When in Japan, maybe someone can offer him the new Windows 7 Whopper to try. Why no “OSX Snow Leopard” Burger? – Anthony
From the London Times: Climate chief Lord Stern: give up meat to save the planet
by Robin Pagnamenta, Energy Editor
People will need to turn 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.
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.
Read the rest of the article at the London Times: Climate chief Lord Stern: give up meat to save the planet
All this twaddle talk about saving the planet by eating my dog or whatever has made me hungry.
Time to go to my local and excellent Steak House and get the Keg Size Prime Rib Dinner.
Rare, a little bit of outside cut for the flavor, lots of horseradish.
Lord Stern is described by the Times as “a leading authority on global warming”. Yet another falsehood. He’s just an economist, and from looking at the Stern Report, a poor economist to boot.
Whoops ! Hands Up ! I’m afraid that I’m the one that’s responsible for global warming !! Not only do I drive a 4×4 SUV, and an Aston Martin, I own three dogs, and I’m also an ardent meat eater !!
Where do I hand myself in??
Turning people into sheep gets a new meaning now. Be-e-e–ee-e!
One thing is true, there is a huge reserve in agricultural land since meat production requires a lot more water and area than for example beans. Thats why I do not buy the lack-of-food-because-overpopulation scare; we can always eat a bit less meat and get plenty of beans instead. More, we will fart more greenhouse gases!
I know we used to have to give up meat on Fridays, but this is ridiculous.
Dictated diet anyone?
My boss had a name for this type of thinking: He called it “Tired of Living”.
Which creates more methane.
70 million cattle or 70 million buffalo? There were up to 70 million buffalo 200 years ago in the US.
How did their methane affect the climate?
cow on my farm consumes 30 kg of grass per day or 11,000 kg per year. Does anyone know how much it is in carbon?
Hey speaking of crazies with agendas, the science museum reset the opt out count!
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/proveit.aspx
Did anyone get a screen of the count before the reset?
Just wondering how many world class atheletes are true vegetarians.
Stefan, Of course meat is mans natural diet. We were eating before we grew crops.
Let me be the first to say it:
“Global warming, all sizzle – no steak.”
You can have my T-Bone when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. 😆
Barry Foster,
what if meat is our natural diet? Besides, according to some schools of thought, even agriculture itself is unsustainable due to the heavy burden it places on the soil. If you take a long view, the human species has only been using agriculture for 10,000 years, and that is what allowed our numbers to start growing beyond what nature could sustain through simple hunter gathering. What did hunters eat? Meat. It was grains that allowed us to cheat the system, and now people are advocating we rely even more on grains?
Consider, all that cereal, bread, pasta, and rice, can be substituted comfortably for one good portion of meat a day. If you go on a meat-only diet you’ll be surprised how little you can eat without feeling hungry nor getting ill. Carby rich cereals actually increase appetite. If you don’t believe me, please try it sometime.
“Why no “OSX Snow Leopard” Burger? – Anthony”
Maybe they tried, but 10.6 patties just didn’t work out so well.
As many have already pointed, this twit Stern, (an economist)I will not dignify him with his title, is not a “Climate Chief” any more than Dr Rajendra Puchauri (PhD in Production Engineering & Economics) as head of the Idiotic Panel on Climate Change! How do we know this guy is any good in the first place. The rule used to be if you were crap at something, promote them up to where they can do little harm! As I have said before, this is just marxist socialist intellectual elitism, DAISNAID! (Do as I say not as I do)! What is the upshot of all this AGW clap-trap, food will cost more, the wealthy MSIEs will be the few who can afford it, whilst we plebs will rot on whatever fungus they feed us on! Mushroom syndrome me thinks! Kept in the dark & fed………….Bad Science!
Have to laugh at the scientific illiteracy of asking about the carbon content of food. Might as well worry about the hydrogen content of the water we drink. Well, I suppose this is what you get when you go round introducing a political economist as a climate expert.
Incidentally, I’ve been trying the Count Me Out option on the Science (ha!) Museum poll for several days and so far yet to receive the email necessary to confirm the vote, and I notice it’s crept up from overwhelmingly Count Out to something around 60:40. Of course, Big Eco is so reliable and trustworthy when it comes to disclosure and data sharing that I’m sure I can trust that nothing dodgy is going on with the poll…. right?
It’s funny how most of the ‘solutions’ to global warming are things liberals have wanted for a long time.
Forgive the O/T but the corrupted UK Science Museum climate change poll was reset to zero at about 17.15 GMT today – 45 minutes ago. this time you have to click on a link to have your vote validated. Has Lihard or anybody else views on whether this poll has integrity? Current score 4 counted in 31 counted out.
A reminder the link is http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/proveit.aspx
Regards
S
Meat is a byproduct. You cannot produce milk cheese or eggs without producing meat.
“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.”
The only time I am concerned about the carbon content of my steak is when the cook burns it. At most there should only be a slight searing where the meat met the grille, but never, never, never should the whole meat look like charcoal.
“US leadership, he said, was “desperately needed” to secure a deal.” In other words, bring your nation’s VISA, MASTERCARD, and AMEX and leave it with us.
AGW hype is the equivalent of somber discussions about angels dancing on pin heads.
Can we stop calling Lord Stern an economist please. His career and title stems from his contribution to banking. He is a banker – cockney rhyming slang may be inferred…
@AnonyMoose
What’s going on? The count was 5000 – 10,000 votes last time I looked, the great majority against. Then we had the shenanigans where the score suddenly became nearly equal Sunday night. Now there’s only 43 votes: 4 in, 39 out.
Apparently they reset the totals? “It’s data, you know what to do with that.”
Reply: They have apparently started over with a double opt in security to confirm votes. They got a programming to make it work. Time to vote for real everybody. ~ ctm
It’s funny how most of the ’solutions’ to global warming are things liberals have wanted for a long time.
That has not gone unnoticed. Like a continual tapping, all in the same place.