Essay by Eric Worrall
According to Chinese Communist mouthpiece the South China Morning Post, labels reminding people of the climate harm could shift eating habits.
Fast food and climate change: ‘high impact’ labels could steer diners away from beef and towards greener alternatives, study finds
Nearly two-thirds of people who saw beef options labelled ‘high climate impact’ on menus chose more sustainable options such as vegetarian, chicken or fish
With more information, people could make better choices both in terms of healthiness and sustainability, a climate expert says
Bloomberg
Published: 12:08pm, 2 Jan, 2023…
As people look for climate solutions to rapidly cut down their greenhouse gas emissions, “one of the biggest changes we can make is reducing the red meat we consume”, says Julia Wolfson, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a former fine-dining chef, and one of the researchers behind the new study.
In search of ways to shift consumer behaviour, Wolfson and colleagues at Johns Hopkins, Harvard University and the University of Michigan created an experiment to test two types of climate labels on fast-food menus.
…
The group that avoided beef looked at menus with the high-impact label, with 61 per cent of them ordering a more sustainable option, according to the study in the medical journal Jama Open Network.
…
“This was an online study with a hypothetical food choice,” Wolfson says. “It will be really important to see in the future if these results and the magnitude of these impacts would be replicated in real-world settings where people are making real choices, they are spending their real money and they are then having to really eat the foods they select.”
…
Read more: https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3205279/fast-food-and-climate-change-high-impact-labels-could-steer-diners-away-beef-and-towards-greener
As the professors admit, the study was not a very realistic test of their ideas.
Nevertheless I suspect the scientists are probably right, to an extent. Climate food labels probably would have a significant impact, on people who still trust authority, even after all the fake climate scares and empty Covid panics of the last few years.
The “malign effects of cow farts” theme rather overlooks that methane overlaps both CO2 and water vapor in it’s absorption spectrum, so the claimed effects are vastly overblown.
I really think it is vegans looking for an excuse to push tofu, or animal rights activists hating on all farm animals.
If they can convince enough sheeple to stop eating meat to bring down prices, I’m OK with that. I’ll buy more. The only labels I look at weight and “Choice” or “Prime”. Just had a 3 rib standing Prime roast for New Years eve dinner – scrumptious!
Their goal would be to jack up prices.
Well it certainly isn’t an effort to reduce emissions…
Just ask the CCP then see how they support reducing THEIR OWN emissions vs what they say OTHERS should do
Yes, the Chicoms say to the rest of us, “do what we say, not what we do.”
And make it unavailable.
“High Climate Impact” should be the new, ultimate grade of beef, above Choice and Prime.
Mouth-watering.
Yes, price is a big determinant in the amount of beef I consume. I like pork and poultry too.
“so the claimed effects are vastly overblown.”
That is an understatement.
Methane is a distraction, nothing more.
The true absurdity of this particular example of vegan climatossophy is that, like wood, coal, oil and gas, grass is a solar energy store of relatively high specific energy. I imagine beef has an even higher SE which is why only a couple of hundred grams is enough for a meal, so no need for us to chew grass or leaves all day.
Considering that the grass consumed by the cattle (and sheep, goats, pigs etc) has absorbed atmospheric CO2 and discharged O2 into the atmosphere as well as evaporotranspire H2O vapour, it seems to me that there has been a bit of a natural cycle thing happening for millions of years in the planet’s flora-fauna sphere. Not sure what the problem is here except that one tossophy has cross bred with another alhough I would not consider it as ‘hybrid vigour’ to use the cattle/sheep breeding term. More like inbreeding it seems to me. A two headed inbred?
Grass fed beef grazed on state and federal lands might reduce the size and extent of wild fires, so of course GangGreen is against it. Even more important is the link between low meat consumption and dementia; can’t have the kulaks thinking too clearly!
I am doing my bit for the planet and eating beef, only to reduce herd size of course. 😉
I’m joining PETA….
People Eating Tasty Animals.😃
I thoroughly enjoyed a lump of rump stake (medium rare) with potatoes roasted in duck fat and washed down with a couple of Aussie reds last night for our 40th anniversary dinner out at a local favourite restaurant. My wife had the duck and a lovely Semmilon-Saivignon Blanc ( Aussie, not Kiwi). We both breathed in the O2-N2 atmospheric mix and converted it to a higher CO2 mix as a matter of course byt all quite naturally of course.
It was a cooler day than normal for this time of year in our part of Oz so warming the planet a bit did not seem inappropriate.
Naturally enough, on such an occasion, we were thinking of our children and grandchildren.
Happy New Year folks, let freedom from climate guilt reign. May this be the year the climatossophists get their come uppance.
apologies for typos:- steak not stake, semillon not semmilon, but not byt.
Climatossophist:- an alleged climate ‘expert’ with negligible STEM skills, a massive and self righteos ego and whose intellectual leaning is to trash philosophy such as found permeating certain group think institutions and like minded chat rooms on the World Wide Wuhan Wet Market of feral ideas.
“Climatossophist”
I like it!
If more people eat less beef, perhaps I can get my ribeye steak a little cheaper, although knowing my friends it seems unlikely, they really don’t think or talk much about globul warming one way or the other and will tell you shutup and grab a beer and eat your steak. Good friends.
Ribeye or Porterhouse, that is the question!
My Xmas standing rib roast is may just be a happy memory, but tomorrow it is supposed to warm up to the low 40s after two days of highs hovering around freezing. That should be adequate to BBQ some nice T-bones, especially when fortified with a nice whiskey barrel aged Cabernet! Remember to ALWAYS buy the family pack; left over steak can go on a chunky bleu cheese salad or in a nice omelet with some smoked jalapeños! That’s my motto!
I like my leftover steak, with fried potatoes and onions, and fried eggs. The omelet doesn’t sound bad either.
Trust authority??
Pfffftttt… cough, cough.
Never has beef tasted so good. I was eating 80% vegan for a few years, but as soon as I heard of the war on beef, I’m back to animal products in a big way. Just doing my bit to preserve sanity.
I enjoy a salad, vegetables, fruit, etc, but if it’s marked Vegan in the menu then I order something else.
I knew a couple of vegans. Their kids were scrawny and looked as though they needed better food.
I didn’t know much about this then, but today I would have called a social worker or some such and asked them to investigate.
I also know a health care worker whose son (learning something in school) wanted to be vegan. She had smarts, training, and the money to see that he got proper nutrition.
These are serious concerns.
Yes, and wait until those kids reach 40-50 years of age; they will look (and “biologically” will be) much older. Insanity kills slowly and most often it kills people other than the perpetrators.
Is this the same thing as calling a “Bug” a Feature”? If so then only those who are susceptible to mindless marketing will abide it. Which as many others have said will reduce the cost and leave more for those of us who like to eat beef.
I am not convinced that chicken is more sustainable, having raised them is doesn’t seem so to me.
So producing eggs and meat by running chickens free range is better for the environment than by intensive housed production line type operations, but converting plants into “meat” by complex intensive production line methods is better than running free range cattle that directly harvest and convert grass into real meat in one step.
A lot of agricultural land is suitable only for grass, not crops. Meat is how we humans eat grass.
I live in just such an area. It is pasture or it is ignored.
Some people will argue that methane from range cow farts has different chemical properties from methane from cow farts in intensive production. Asked for demonstration, they state that “they know”… some (of my personal knowldge and having tenured positions in faculties of sciences) will take an agnostic stance: “well, perhaps…, who knows?…, better keeping an open mind!…”
“Some people will argue that methane from range cow farts has different chemical properties from methane from cow farts in intensive production.”
Difficult to imagine that their are persons interested in this.
Well if beef cattle contribute to global warming then I’m just helping to save the world when I eat filet medium rare. Seriously though, since there is no climate emergency and no proof human activity is doing anything dangerous to our climate I will eat whatever I like thank you very much.
And, conversely, Vegans are harming the world carbon sink by eating the vegetation that sinks carbon
I would enjoy seeing a vegan ass up chewing grass. Well, maybe not.
Eating your meat rare reduces the use of fossil fuels used in cooking. Pan frying with green electricity could be an option if it is available to you. For myself, I will grill or roast any way i damn well please. Echoing your sentiment, thank you very much.
Hope no one proposes fake veggie meat as an alternative, it’s nutrition can’t be absorbed by the human body very well:
https://www.iflscience.com/veggie-meat-substitutes-might-not-be-as-nutritious-as-they-claim-66591
There are a few producers of vat-grown material that is like chicken — it is not vegetable. It has possibilities if they can bring the price down to $3/pound from $3,000.
Sounds better than bugs.
Search for: Cultivating meat by growing cells without growing the whole animal, or
Synthetic meat
The science and technology are interesting. 😁
Synthetic meat of that nature has been proposed by SF writers for decades. Can’t help but wonder if it’s any good. I think I’ll let someone else try first, though.
Vat grown material probably wouldn’t have that crunch that the bug eaters enjoy so much. It also wouldn’t have all the parasites that bugs do, ya know, to keep the weight down.
Where are they planning to get the animal manure to fertilise the organically grown vegetables?
They tried to scare people with Nutriscore…
Face facts you two legged four wheeled deplorable anthropocenes don’t belong on Gaia-
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jan/01/theres-been-a-fundamental-change-in-our-planet-hunt-on-for-spot-to-mark-the-start-of-the-anthropocene-epoch
The Guardian article falsely assumes that the so-called ‘Anthropocene’ has been adopted as a legitimate geological epoch.
As a non-geologist I think such a distinct geological epoch can be established only if and as long as the next global glaciation is indefinitely delayed by human activity.
This idea has been covered on WUWT numerous times. 2 years ago? It is a scientific non-starter.
Dave Middleton has a lot to say about this subject. 🙂
Nobody reads the Guardian to be informed.
The South China Morning Post has just as much credibility as the NYT, WaPo, USAToday, or any number of other US propaganda organs. Meat isn’t the only food stuff that releases the dreaded CO2 into the atmosphere. Other things that we eat every day do so as well.
Their current beef with beef (and other livestock) is methane rather than CO2. There is rarely any mention of flood irrigated rice.
And methane is a complete non-issue, with absorption bands already overlapped by CO2 and water vapor and since it rapidly breaks down into CO2 and water vapor. And its concentration is so small it is stated in parts per BILLION.
Another tempest in a teacup.
It’s just another angle for the Vegan Nazis to try and dictate others dietary choices be just as stupid as their own.
“The South China Morning Post has just as much credibility as the NYT, WaPo, USAToday, or any number of other US propaganda organs.”
I’ll agree with that. None of them have any credibility.
If ethanol and cutting down trees for electricity production are carbon neutral, then so is beef.
Not just cutting, making pellets from solid wood, drying those, etc.
Irony is, beef is probably MORE “carbon neutral than either.
Not that it matters!
Vilifying methane from farmed livestock is the biggest scam thought up by anti farming and anti people activists .
We now have the South China Post attacking farmed livestock .
What a cheek when China is by far the biggest emitter of methane on the planet because of the massive tonnage of coal used .
China release far more methane mining and burning coal than any country farming cattle and sheep in the world .
Here are the facts that I presented to the Carbon Zero select committee in New Zealand 3 years ago .
World Methane emissions were level between 1999 and 2008, that is for ten years .
So where was the problem with methane?
There was no problem .
Livestock were static around the world and coal production was also level at around 4.7 billion tonnes over those ten tears ..
There was no problem untill China and other Asian countries ramped up their coal usage
It is no coincidence that from 2009 coal use increased from a steady 4.7 billion tonnes to exceed 8 billion tonnes in 2018 and 2021 .
Coal mining and combustion release a massive amount of methane .
Enteric methane from farmed livestock is a cycle and not one additional atom or molecule of carbon is added to the atmosphere .
All fodder consumed by farmed animals has absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere and the small amount of methane that is emitted during digestion is broken down within 10 years into CO2 and water vapour .
The CO2 and the water grows more fodder so where is the problem in the 10 year cycle?
The problem emerges when countries ramp up coal .
Oil and gas wells and pipelines released a lot of methane in the 70s and into the 80s but they have now largely contained this since the start of the 90s.
Blame the COAL not the COWS .
I have no problem with any country burning coal for energy and for manufacturing steel .
But I get very annoyed when news outlets and dumb politicians blame farmed livestock and never look at the facts .
“The problem emerges when countries ramp up coal.”
What problem?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/11/methane-the-irrelevant-greenhouse-gas/
Good question. It is the right question.
I do not know what your occupation is but I am a farmer and I have farmed all my life in New Zealand .
Yes methane is the irrelevant green house gas but when our government is going to tax us as farmers for our methane emissions from 2025 it becomes our problem because we are the people who produce your food .
It will then become every one else’s problem who like eating beef , lamb ‘ milk,cheese and ice cream .
If you read what I wrote ” Methane levels were level for ten years”
Atmospheric methane levels did move up and down and dropped rapidly in 2004 by 5ppb .
In 2022 ,last year methane levels rose by 18ppb the highest ever recorded .
This increase never came from farmed animals as world wide numbers are static or even reducing .
We know methane is relevant but our government and the UN are starting to put real pressure on food producers to cut methane emissions .
Even though the Paris Agreement on climate change states in black and white .——-
I will Quote from the Agreement .
Artical 2
B ” Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster resilience and low emission development, in a manner ,
That does not threaten food production “
Bloody fact checker ,
I wrote.
We know that methane is an irrelevant gas but …
“Vilifying methane from farmed livestock is the biggest scam thought up by anti farming and anti people activists .”
It is definitely a scam. And this scam is causing great harm already.
There is a tradition of eating pork on New Year’s Day:
Why People Eat Pork On New Year’s Day: The Story Behind the Tradition • Coleman Natural Foods
Mostly, though, beef is fine.
The “climate” labels will be ignored by many, and as I eat 97% of my meals at home, they will also have to visit grocery stores. Those too, I will ignore.
I also have a wood burning stove and a standard pickup truck.
Whatever. The “climate” won’t notice.
Ridiculous – and without any proof!
Standard Operating Procedure for Climate Alarmists.
They can’t prove anything they claim about the Earth’s climate and CO2 and Methane. But that doesn’t stop them from making the claims. They are practicing the strategy of “telling a lie enough times that it becomes the “truth”.
This is the Climate Alarmist Playbook.
Hang on – This study is vague.
Of the people who avoided… 61% ordered a ‘more sustainable’ option?
What does that mean? 39% order a less sustainable choice?
“Hey, I still want beef, but make sure it is fully imported from as far away as possible! Oh, and cook it over a coal fire!”
And how do we know the people didn’t just fancy some fish? I like fish. Doesn’t stop me eating beef. Or lamb. Or pork.
Exactly. Poor reporting. “Of the people who avoided …” — great, now how about the people who didn’t avoid …
I too am curious how 39% could both avoid … and order a less sustainable option.
Such food label would be complete lies.
I can’t eat grass I can’t digest it. Cows can eat grass. I can eat cows. Cows taste good. Grass is green. See how life works?
From an ice cream stand at a dairy farm:
“Patience.
In time, the grass
becomes ice cream.”
They’re winding you up – just as The French (Frogzlegz) wind up The English (Layz Rozbifs (roast beef))
China people can do that because they know what’s good to eat and why they go crazy for pork.
The supposedly ‘juicy’ steak at the top nicely shows why..
Because pigs are a lot like us in that they can, and do, make immense amounts of saturated fat.
The Chinese know that fat is good, that you “Eat fat, Get thin”
Hence all the wrongs in the headline picture:
Whereas pigs can be and are easily made into, mountains of blubber. We can and do, eat every last scrap of them.
Sometimes, easily mistaken for silk purses, their ears become ‘Climate Science’
Especially important if you should ever become the parent of a female. Of the Human Girl variety. From the moment she leaves her mother’s breast, age 3 and clear on up until she becomes ‘interested in boys’ say age= 13 typically, feed her on saturated fat.
Thence she will be tall, slim, empathic, intelligent, the very definition of Feminine and she will thank you that, for The Whole Rest of Her Life, she will never ever ever need to go on a ‘diet’
I came upon this (link below) recently and lost the will to live.
All you need is the intro, = the bit between 19 seconds and 35 seconds
It’s a webinar put together by the leading UK Farmers magazine, Farmers Weekly
Farmers Meekly more like, meekly walk into the valley of death. For themselves, for their customers and for Life on Earth
cry
## Whoever said ‘Romance is dead’ was patently lying. Subjecting tout True Love to a Dutch Oven (bellyache and farting under the duvet after a Romantic Meal) has got to be the epitome of Richness and Intelligence – hence all they babies you don’t make
And do try not to let the SCMP wind you up – recognise the troll and don’t feed it.
I could forego many things in life that may be considered ‘luxuries’ but I just refuse to go without Butter on my toast, Cheese or a Latte (and an odd Ice Cream). I tried this in Bali for two weeks and, to this day, refuse to eat anything containing coconut (ughh)!
This song from the Reverend Horton Heat is my answer.
Reverend Horton Heat – Eat Steak – YouTube
Pasture for cattle is a greater CO2 sink than forest.
If grass lays on the ground and is broken down by soil microbes it emits the same amount of methane as it would if it was eaten by the cow.
I’m not sure about that. The methane is supposed to result from anaerobic digestion in aqua, so digestion in soil may tend more towards producing carbon dioxide.
It would be interesting to see a summary of research on breakdown paths.
From the article: “As people look for climate solutions to rapidly cut down their greenhouse gas emissions,”
I think the author is assuming too much. I’m not looking for climate solutions because I don’t think the climate needs any assistance and I don’t think greenhouse gases are a problem.
“High Climate Impact” my hindquarters!
I guess the Commies are trying to promote the continued destruction of the Western economies by lying about CO2.
By lying about CO2 AND methane.
From the article: “The group that avoided beef looked at menus with the high-impact label, with 61 per cent of them ordering a more sustainable option,”
As if beef isn’t sustainable. Does the author know how ridiculous she sounds?
The Climate Idiots need to be informed that wind mills, solar panels, and battery electric vehicles are not “sustainable.”
for some plant based maine humor , watch tim sample’s strict carnivore on you tube .
So this means that I will have to buy more prime rump and have the butcher cut it into 2″ slices and also suffer getting more Rib Eye Chops at least 1″ thick, just to cut back on the horrible green house gas these animal make.
Oh!!, I am going to suffer..
More beef please.
As for the Chinese how much pork and chicken vs. beef do they really eat?
If I were eating in a Communist China restaurant, where waiters can be expected to inform on citizens for any action or word that is not “approved” by the Party, I would not risk ordering red meat that the Party had ordered to be labeled as “the Party thinks you should not eat this”.
Fortunately, I’ve just eaten. The photo makes me want to eat something’s flesh again.
Save a Tree, eat a Vegan…Cows are Vegan
Beef is much less important as a source of protein or as an economic engine in China than it is in Western societies. Safer to discourage it’s consumption.
Don’t tell me Broccoli Beef is about to vanish from the Chinese Menu. Perhaps they should also consider Shark Fin Soup
Remember to force the labeling right before elections–if they still have those.
“Rice! It’s what’s for dinner.”
Do you really want to “return to nature” and have 20 million buffalo blocking your commute to work?
If enough of us “return to nature, there will be lots and lots of food, as we’ll all have to farm.
Beef is wonderful – we should have more in our diets – Vegans are living proof, albeit living with health issues and supplements, that a life without meats in general and dairy, is a miserable existence
That steak and asparagus looks damn good
How are sales of the McPlant burger going?