Climate chief Lord Stern: give up meat to save the planet

[GG]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6891362.ece

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.

He said that he was deeply concerned that popular opinion had so far failed to grasp the scale of the changes needed to address climate change, or of the importance of the UN meeting in Copenhagen from December 7 to December 18. "I am not sure that people fully understand what we are talking about or the kind of changes that will be necessary," he added.

[FOTD]

So. What's the issue? This news to you?

Save Mother Earth

[GG]

Only after they have pried my cold dead fingers from my fork and steak knife.

[FOTD]

Only after they have pried my cold dead fingers from my fork and steak knife.

The devil devoured a big steak in front of two generations tonight....and he'd give the meat up for their future if required or requested. URS, you got kids?

[GG]

The devil devoured a big steak in front of two generations tonight....and he'd give the meat up for their future if required or requested. URS, you got kids?

I'm not at the top of the food chain to eat veggies...Nothing is better than a wet juicy steak.

[FOTD]

I'm not at the top of the food chain to eat veggies...Nothing is better than a wet juicy steak.

No ties to the future?

This devil likes steak too....but wet and juicy are reserved other pleasures.... can leave the steak but not so sure about the wet and juicy.

[Red Arrow]

I'm not at the top of the food chain to eat veggies...

I used to know a guy that said that.  Just steak and potatoes for him. Didn't want to eat rabbit food. He died of a heart attack at about age 44.

Enjoy your veggie free diet.

[Wilbur]

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.

[/quote]

If you eat less/no meat, doesn't that mean we'll end up with MORE cows and pips since we aren't killing them to eat?  So, then don't you end up with MORE global warming?

Junk science.  Or quack.

[Red Arrow]

If you eat less/no meat, doesn't that mean we'll end up with MORE cows and pips since we aren't killing them to eat?  So, then don't you end up with MORE global warming?

I expect it would not take long for the cattle and pig industry to breed less animals if demand drops.

[Conan71]

Bbbbbbut, wouldn't eating more veggies wind up in us harvesting more greenery, and therefore eating the plants that convert CO2 to Oxygen?

[Red Arrow]

Bbbbbbut, wouldn't eating more veggies wind up in us harvesting more greenery, and therefore eating the plants that convert CO2 to Oxygen?

You just don't understand.  The plan is to stop emitting so much CO2.  Converting CO2 back to O2 and captured carbon doesn't count.

[rwarn17588]

If you eat less/no meat, doesn't that mean we'll end up with MORE cows and pips since we aren't killing them to eat?  

That's what slaughterhouses are for, city boy. I grew up in a deeply agricultural area, and believe me, many, many livestock can be liquidated in a mighty short time and/or simply not bred if prices get cheap enough.

I'm no vegetarian, but one of the big issues with livestock in the coming years is going to be the lack of water and other resources. Simply put, livestock are a lot more resource-intensive than grain -- resources that are often scarce in many parts of the country where they're raised.

[RecycleMichael]

I could never be a vegetarian. I like my food mobile and vegetables just sit there.

[Conan71]

That's what slaughterhouses are for, city boy. I grew up in a deeply agricultural area, and believe me, many, many livestock can be liquidated in a mighty short time and/or simply not bred if prices get cheap enough.

I'm no vegetarian, but one of the big issues with livestock in the coming years is going to be the lack of water and other resources. Simply put, livestock are a lot more resource-intensive than grain -- resources that are often scarce in many parts of the country where they're raised.

Lack of water, just like global warming, right?

[Conan71]

You just don't understand.  The plan is to stop emitting so much CO2.  Converting CO2 back to O2 and captured carbon doesn't count.

Oh, but I thought that's what they were doing with the carbon credits they want me to voluntarily buy when I book an airline trip, so they can plant trees in Europe that are going to convert my bad CO2 into O2.