FOX News and Animal Advocates on Meat-Eating Environmentalists
Published February 10, 2009 @ 08:53AM PT
I'm not a fan of conservative commentator and Fox News host Glenn Beck. No surprises there--he has been offensive on more fronts and occasions than I can count, and one of his pastimes is trying (futilely) to show that the human activities we know are causing global warming aren't really. And I don't think for a second that in talking about the connections between global warming and a meat- and dairy-loving diet--and the prominent environmentalists who eat that diet--he's hoping to get people to rethink their eating habits. He's just looking for a way to show hypocrisy in his liberal foes (e.g., Al Gore and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.). However, in his efforts to do that, he has, on at least two occasions now, had Matt Prescott from PETA on his show to discuss the global warming impact of meat and dairy consumption and the problem with prominent environmentalists calling for immediate, important changes in the way we live and then refusing to make such an immediate, important change themselves.
How can global warming activists accept and acknowledge that animal agriculture is responsible for roughly 20 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and that switching to a vegan diet does remarkably more to decrease a person's greenhouse gas contributions than, say, switching to a hybrid vehicle or CFLs and then not make that change, a change that is relatively easy to make, that is beneficial on multiple other levels, and that can be made immediately? When we are learning more every day about how dire the climate change situation is, when we are learning and reporting every day that we must pull out all the stops and make enormous changes now, and when we know that animal-based diets are a shockingly significant contributor to global warming, how is it possible that all serious global warming activists aren't making the transition to a plant-based diet and advocating that diet, immediately and often? These are the questions Beck asks, and for one bizarre moment, (conservative) Beck and (predominantly progressive) vegan activists are asking the same questions. (By the way, yes, this is a blog on animal rights, not climate change, but I'll say again what I have said before and will say again--I was an environmentalist before I was an animal rights advocate, and all these issues are, obviously, inextricably tied up together. Exploitation of animals for food is a cause of global warming, pollution, and other environmental destruction; global warming, pollution, and other environmental destruction destroy habitats and kill off other animal species; and on and on it goes.)
Whatever you or I think of some of PETA's tactics and campaigns, we have to give kudos to Prescott for his excellent handling of this interview and previous ones. Erik Marcus at Vegan.com says, "I often slam PETA for their counterproductive publicity efforts, but they do have some great people working for them. Prescott did an outstanding job on Beck’s show. In the last 30 seconds Beck just couldn’t hold out any longer and reverted back to his neocon reactionary schtick, but all in all this video is surprisingly great." Erik is right--it's an excellent interview (right up until Beck transforms back into a jerk by mocking his guest). Watch it below. There's a transcript here, but the video is better.
Image: Animal Aid
Among the many resources on this topic are "Diet and the Environment" at FARM and the "For Our Earth" section at ChooseVeg.com. See also (again) the great Audubon article "The Low-Carbon Diet."
For other global warming information and coverage, see Change.org's Global Warming blog.
Share this Post
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
StumbleUpon
Delicious
EmailRelated Posts
-
Have Plans on Earth Day? Watch This
-
Researchers: Even "Organically Raised" Cows Are a "Climate Bomb"
-
Plant-Based Hunger Solutions: Feeding More With Less, Part 2--Scarcity and Distribution
Comments (8)
Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.
Author
-
Stephanie is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull.
Quote:
"How can global warming activists accept and acknowledge that animal agriculture is responsible for roughly 20 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and that switching to a vegan diet does remarkably more to decrease a person's greenhouse gas contributions than, say, switching to a hybrid vehicle or CFLs and then not make that change, a change that is relatively easy to make, that is beneficial on multiple other levels, and that can be made immediately?"
They can't, unless they fall into self-contradiction when they advocate for the purchase of hybrid cars or energy efficient appliances, for example. Both of the prescriptions, and others like it, require some effort and may involve somewhat significant changes in one's life: financially, driving less, reducing the heat in their home, etc.
Now, unless they accept the conclusions of their own logic -- and go vegan -- they cannot, without contradicting the argument, advocate that others make changes that are essentially the same: "lifestyle."
Posted by Alex Melonas on 02/10/2009 @ 10:54AM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
As the connection btw animal agriculture and climate change becomes more widely known, no doubt conservative commentators will gleefully press these questions on self-styled environmentalists. And the environmentalists will have to come up with good answers. When vegans/AR people pose the questions, the self-styled environmentalists can shrug off the questions as coming from the fringe. They’ll feel a little more compelled to justify themselves to conservative questioners since they’re calling out the conservatives for unwillingness to reduce unnecessary selfish consumption, and it’s hard to make that accusation when you’re unwilling to reduce you own unnecessary selfish consumption. Not sure how the environmentalists are going to avoid looking like rank hypocrites on this one (especially since that’s what they are). It’s a lot easier for them to flip off Hummers than to give up their meat and the conservatives know it.
Posted by David Moss on 02/10/2009 @ 11:32AM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
Thanks Stephanie so much for this great article. I agree with the gist of this video, the true believers and the ones who will do more for this environment and the animals are the ones who live their words, actions convey more than words ever will...so how do we let Al Gore his actions are unaccepatble?
Posted by amber lopez on 02/11/2009 @ 09:16PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
People are full of good intentions & "I should"'s, but fall short when the energy is actually required of them. These are the same people that mock me for being vegan, driving a hybrid, walking to the store, using energy-efficient lightbulbs and doing everything else I can be a good steward of the planet. Or at least my little corner of the planet.
Don't just say you care - do something about it! Baby steps. Eventually, you can't stop walking in the right direction at full speed.
Posted by Lisa Smolen on 02/14/2009 @ 01:34PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
It requires a good deal of effort to change one's ingrained ways; my 75-year-old mother is fond of saying, "Maybe someday I'll become a vegetarian." It is not a change that happens overnight; most vegetarians I know have gone gradually, and actually most vegetarians I know are ex-vegetarians; it's pretty difficult to sustain, and hard to see any real benefit to it.
Plus, meat is delicious. It's difficult to get a meat-free meal at a restaurant because even ethnic restaurants whose national cuisines don't include much meat have to cater to Westerners who crave meat. (They can also charge more for a beef satay than a vegetarian satay.)
Considering that not eating meat is only part of the picture—only 20%—we should definitely play up the value of driving a hybrid car and using compact fluorescents in our light fixtures. Composting and recycling help, too.
Posted by Fallopia Tuba on 03/01/2009 @ 10:31AM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
The problem is that most people can't focus on anything longer than it takes to change their socks and adopting the veg'n way of life entails learning a new set of skills. When one determines to do so though, it is surprisingly easy.
By going vegan, I have found that the issue of weight is a very visible change. Ones weight goes down and then stabilizes at a good and healthy level and from that point on, you pretty much don't have to think about "watching your weight".
Posted by Debby McCabe on 03/02/2009 @ 07:26PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
Having just formed the Three Rivers Vegan Society here in Pittsburgh, with one of the goals being to reach out to the larger population to make veganism more accessible, it is very frustrating to me to see environmental groups refuse to discuss vegetarianism (let alone veganism). Presenting them with facts doesn't do anything. How can we work with them? I'm genuinely looking for suggestions!
Posted by Anne Lynch on 03/02/2009 @ 10:20AM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
You're asking for advice on how to reach meat eating environmentalists with the science on what meat consumption does to the environment and I really haven't got a clue what to tell you. They don't want to know. They don't care about the environment as much as they care about slapping a piece of greasy oozing flesh on their plate so when you point out information that is relevant, they react by picking apart your sources, or focusing on how you worded a statement, or ...well, sounds like you've had similar experiences. I hate to have to look forward to saying "I told you so" down the road, but maybe that's the way it will be. Who knows.
Posted by Debby McCabe on 03/02/2009 @ 07:21PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.