Essay by Eric Worrall
“… skip two kebabs’ worth of meat a week …” – and flying, decent home heating, and owning an automobile.
UK urged to act now on net zero – and skip two kebabs’ worth of meat a week
Climate Change Committee issues advice to government on meeting carbon emissions target by 2050
Fiona Harvey Environment editorWed 26 Feb 2025 11.01 AEDT
Giving up two doner kebabs’ worth of meat a week will be enough to keep the UK within safe climate limits by the end of the next decade, as more drastic changes in behaviour can be avoided if the government takes action on greenhouse gases from energy, transport and industry, the UK’s climate advisers have said.
People would need to change their behaviour in some ways, such as by eating about 260g less meat each week, but this was likely to happen gradually and in line with health trends. “We are absolutely not saying everyone needs to be vegan. But we do expect to see a shift in dietary habits,” said Emily Nurse, head of net zero at the Climate Change Committee, which on Wednesday published its official advice to the government on meeting the UK’s target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
Flights should be more expensive by the 2040s although the sector could still expand by 10% while meeting emission targets, according to the CCC. In contrast to previous advice that no airport expansion could take place without big cuts to carbon elsewhere, it was not prescriptive about where or how the expansion could occur. It did find that a frequent flyer tax would have broad public support, and called on the aviation industry to take responsibility for reducing the resulting climate impact through investments in sustainable fuels and greater efficiency.
Gas boilers will have to go, people will have to use public transport and walk and cycle more frequently, while homes will need to be much better insulated, saving money as well as carbon, the CCC said.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/26/uk-urged-to-act-now-on-net-zero-two-kebabs-worth-of-meat-climate-change-committee
…
One of my happy memories from my time in Britain is grabbing a quick kebab with friends while waiting for a taxi after being politely kicked out at closing time. Really took the edge off standing outside in the freezing cold.
How long are you Brits going to continue tolerating this nonsense?
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I used to think the Guardian was a fairly intelligent newspaper, albeit somewhat misguided politically. However the codswallop about energy and climate change they are asking us to believe now beggers belief. It is lefty woke nonsense with mostly no scientific foundation at all. Trouble is a lot of people still believe it
The Guard also wants you to know that waves are getting bigger…do something….go out and plant a tree.
Slow news day – no weather to report
The Guardian hasn’t been a sensible paper since it was called the Manchester Guardian and even then it was a bit iffy.
I don’t mean any offence, I think you’ve outgrown the Guardian
When it was called the Manchester Guardian it was actually based in Manchester and was more down to earth with a grittier outlook. Everything started to go wrong when it relocated to London and became even worse when it went woke.
sean, what the Guardian published was the recommendations from the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which is far more worrying as that is the official government advisor, set up by the U.K. government, for Net Zero.
So many of their recommendations are, hopefully too far out for even the current government to implement. I just hope that we have a more enlighhtend government in a few yeras that throws out all this nonsense and shuts down the CCC, and repals the Climate Change Act.
It is asceticism, keeping yourself in a state of ritual purity because The End Times are coming. I fail to see any real difference in the flavors of Millenarians.
Goodeee! Macaroni cheese tonight! (Though I confess to putting a small amount of bacon in mine…
who doesn’t?
Just leave out the macaroni cheese and add more bacon.
skip two kebabs
Have fajitas for a change.
I did last night from my fav restaurant…Boca Chica in STP. Yummy!
Story tip. Paint it black.
Wind turbines to be painted black to stop bird strikes
Pilot scheme launched following Donald Trump raising concerns with Prime Minister about ‘windmills in the North Sea’ killing avian wildlife. – Telegraph
That will make the skies seem friendlier.
I don’t see how that will help. Some birds flirt with the wind currents: most of you will have seen the sickening footage of an eagle doing just that, only to be whacked by a blade doing 200mph. Black paint doesn’t change the tip speed.
They will obviously have to feather the turbines to paint them and and in the North Sea environment by the time they have finished painting all they will probably have to start at the beginning again 🙂
Wouldn’t black paint cause greater absorption of heat causing more expansion/contraction which in turn may cause the damn things to fail quicker?
Great! Let’s do it!
Many animals do not see color. Regardless. White at night aids in collision avoidance. Black in daytime aids in collision avoidance. So, perhaps the nocturnal activities of birds is less than daytime frolicking, so maybe a slight reduction?
Fiberglass wind blades probably will need an oil based paint. Just a guess, not worth the time to research the point.
“Giving up two doner kebabs’ worth of meat a week will be enough to keep the UK within safe climate limits by the end of the next decade…”
Why on earth, or any place else, would any Briton think that reducing the UK’s emission of CO2 will have any measurable influence on “safe climate limits?” The countries total CO2 emissions are about 0.9% of total world-wide emissions. Even if reduced to zero, the maximum possible reduction in global temperature, if one wishes to believe the UN estimates, would be about 0.02C. Try reading that on your thermometer.
Not to mention the fact that cows, chickens and hogs don’t eat fossil carbon.
Well, as Nick said yesterday –
“You have to do it.”
Did you get the decimal point right?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/11/14/keith-starmers-climate-madness/
Because they are naive idiots.
For goodness’ sake, stop talking sense….
They still have this totally idiotic belief that the UK cutting down on a tiny amount of CO2 release, will have an effect on the climate in “n” years.
Totally bizarre !
The poms have “gone full retard”.
Not all of them.
Just the loony left that’s currently running the joint.
Oi!
There are a few of us still fully compos mentis.
The Climate Change Committee is nuts. The idea is nuts, their recommendations are nuts, their belief that Net Zero could ever be achieved is nuts. UK has apparently lost its collective government mind. Won’t end well.
As long as people keep voting them in, they’ll keep doing it.
Who counts the votes?
We have few choices as the vast majority of our politicians are idiots
(The Climate Change Committee is made up of appointees, so no one gets to vote)
“The Climate Change Committee” created by Millibrain aka Milliwatt aka Milliband, under the Brown government. Created to force the UK into this madness !!!
The whole Nut Zero thing was the idea of the Comservatives. The Liberal Demoscrats also, indeed all the political parties are in lock step on this matter. With the exception of Reform, who personally I would touch with a ten foot barge pole. We don’t have much choice in Britain.
“… in line with health trends”.
Maybe for oh-so-smart Guardian writers, but not this carnivore.
“… skip two kebabs’ worth of meat a week …” – and flying, decent home heating, and owning an automobile.”
…….and stop exhaling.
A declaration of war on kebabs
To be serious, this is part of the ongoing war the Guardian has been running on meat
They’re increasingly irrelevant, and will probably become increasingly hysterical
“A declaration of war on kebabs”
Isn’t that racist ? 😉
In the UK it should be..
Suddenly I have an overwhelming craving for kebabs. No street vendors around here, but luckily I know how to make my own. 😁
A nice doner kebab with salad and chilli sauce mmmmmmm
The climate catastrophist cult (CCC) wants everyone to make sacrifices to reduce emissions and safe the planet.
Except of course, the mullahs of the CCC movement,(such as the CBC, Canada’s equivalent of the BBC) who want their proles to quit traveling in automobiles for work assignments and instead go to their gigs on bicycles, viz –
https://www.westernstandard.news/news/saddle-up-cbc-pushes-reporters-to-bike-to-assignments/62500
But the upper management and chosen ones of the CBC will still fly around the world to exotic locations for conferences that they could easily attend on Zoom.
I wonder if their HR department arranges training courses in “How To Be A Master Hypocrite”
Come on, get with the program, all we peasants need are sturdy sandals, while the mullahs get private jets, right? That is justice and democracy, as the elites define it, of course.
Most sandals contain plastics which are made from fossil fuels , so haram .
leather sandals come from meat production which also is haram
wooden clogs ? Chopping down trees which is also haram.
barefoot from no onwards
You leave out it all the sacrifice would do nothing China and India emissions will increase far more than any UK cut.
My favorite local grocery is having a sale of meat this week.
Time to stock the freezer.
Such folks as Fiona Harvey could actually be useful if presenting
the issues of high protein diets for those with problem kidneys.
Your kidneys may appreciate less meat protein and more fruits
and veggies. The climate won’t notice.
The close coordination between the radical Vegan religion and Climastrology should be getting rather obvious to anyone not sporting blinkers!
The 7th Day Adventists came up with the belief that consumption of meat increased “carnal desire” in men, so they became the first Western proponent of vegetarianism. You couple that with a common belief among elites that it also seems to encourage rebelliousness and martial prowess, and you have more than enough reason to want meat off the menu, at least for the peasants! Medieval kings and princes tried to limit the availability of game for their serfs; similar to the way Chinese emperors kept their peasants in near protein AND caloric starvation for much of their history. GangGreen is merely following in the footsteps of some of the greatest tyrants humanity has ever known. Contributing to the chronic disease epidemic sweeping the world by discouraging the high fat/low carb diet that is being proven as both a prophylactic and a cure is just a bonus to them!
Willis Eschenbach worked out that a successful UK Net Zero would reduce 2100 temperatures by seven ten thousandths of a degree. Worth the car industry?
We have increased our meat consumption. I have a big green egg BBQ and charcoal oven. I use it lots now, the bonus is it produces more co2. I have just ordered another ton of logs for the fire too.
ton of logs
Are you talking real wood that is dry, or pressed logs? Pressed
firewood sold by the ton are likely near 12% moisture.
I cut, split, and stack with the concept of a chord in mind.
Fresh green wood can be 50% or more water and seasoned wood
ought to be 15% or a little less. It takes about 1.5 years to get
natural fresh cut down to that level.
At my Wisconsin dairy farm, We harvest only standing woodlot deadwood, so already somewhat dry. We stack those long logs up off the ground next to the old corn crib all summer. Cut and split after enduring frost (frost helps the splitting). Stack in cellar thru removable window. Use last years leftover dry wood until the very dry indoor furnace air finishes the new wood drying maybe in January. Whole process takes about 9 months.
I figured out that I handled my firewood 5 times before I saw it burning well in my fireplace.
And yes, at least a year passed between upright tree trunk and fireplace.
I do not like them Sam-I-am.
I do not like green eggs and ham.
/h
It’s hard to see how anything could dumber than government. These people are a disgrace.
I was resisting reading it all, but I forced myself to read a big chunk of this drivel
It’s the usual circle jerking
Majority ‘expert’ voices are women. Tick
Lots of “according to…” with no details. Tick
Mention Richard Tice or Nigel Farage or Trump disparagingly. Tick
Total ignorance of science. Tick squared
C’mon man.
You knew it would be all of this the moment you read “The Guardian” reference in this post’s lead-in.
I have to give the Grauniad credit for chutzpah though.
They advertise themselves as the guardians of misinformation / disinformation, yet they are the worst proponents of misinformation / disinformation.
(Is “chutzpah” the right word, or is “hypocrisy” more apt?)
I know, it’s a sort of masochism I guess, I just can’t help going on there constantly, mostly to find out what most people are not thinking
The best part however, is when I get a pop up saying “you’ve read 1082 articles in the last 3 months, please consider donating bla bla”
Brings a smile to my face that it will go bankrupt soon
They should get a Nobel prize. In Stupid.
The Guardian and the BBC need to set up a special comedy page/program so that whenever they issue a proclamation on what actions we should take to combat climate change or how we’re doomed by not taking these, their readers can get a good laugh. Both organizations don’t realize that all they get from their alarmism is disdain, derision, and denunciation.
And the occasional alliteration!
The BBC already has one:
Climate
They can spout their nonsense as much as they like, only fools will follow.
If it were to become law, they’d have a riot on their hands.
Watching the people get lairy
It’s not very pretty I tell thee
Walking through town is quite scary
It’s not very sensible
La…la la la la la
Ah…la la la la la
I predict a riot
I predict a riot
I predict a riot
I predict a riot
Its interesting that Ed’s rationale for net zero has changed recently.
It started out as being global warming. But that seems to have lost credibility – as it should, since were the UK to vanish with all its emissions it wouldn’t lower global emissions significantly.
Now global warming and climate change are very little mentioned. The justification now is employment, energy security and reduced costs. All fantasies of course.
As for the Guardian? Its London and Manchester metropolitan, university towns. A wonderful indication of its readers’ state of mind was given when there was a piece, with comments allowed, about the BBC License Fee tax. What is the fuss about, asked the Guardianistas? After all, its only two lattes a week…
No Virginia, £170 a year is not two lattes a week. Its meat on the table a few times a month. To the single mothers on welfare who are being hauled before the magistrates for letting their kids watch TV without paying the license fee.
Its become a contemptible paper.
To be fair to university students, and that’s a hard thing to do, I doubt even many of them read the guardian these days except for the football and fashion
The guardian has an outsized influence considering it’s puny readership
Google brings it up at the top or very near the top on many searches, way ahead of other news outlets with a far greater readerships
I’d like to know how the G has so much influence and who’s behind it. One thing I do know is that the BBC and the Guardian support and feed off each other
Now that some clairvoyant pretend journalists have identified the presence of an existential kebab crisis, might I suggest that their proposed solution of a population-wide reduction in nutrient protein be instead concentrated entirely on the small segment of society that really feels the kebabs will make the oceans boil, the skies burn and the four horsemen of the apocalypse ride into town during school break to tear down all that is pleasant in modern society. Surely the true believers would be willing to give up all protein intake entirely being so convinced of the multitude of harms that come from consuming such an extravagant luxury.