Thursday, December 12, 2019

Climate scientists: We must all be eating impossible burgers by 2030, or else


I don't know what's stranger--the fact that a local TV station's website carried this foolishness or that there is even a concept called 'peak meat.'
The letter, signed by 50 experts in the field, said that if the livestock sector were to continue on its present trajectory, it would account for almost half of the emissions target by 2030.... The letter said the process of returning areas of farmland to their natural state "must begin immediately to be effective within the required timescale of reaching net zero emissions by 2050."

They warned that high- and middle-income countries should not outsource livestock production to other countries but instead reduce demand for livestock products in order to meet the terms of the Paris climate change agreement.

Since the first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment report in 1990, the production of meat, milk, and eggs increased from 758 million tonnes to 1.247 billion tonnes in 2017, the scientists said, citing FAO data, and it is projected to increase further.

"Even if everything was done, it doesn't mean other sectors don't need to change," added Harwatt. "Every industry needs to change deeply and rapidly.
What's lost in all this is that over the last three decades or so, the global population has enjoyed a roughly 66% increase in the supply of delicious, nutritious protein-rich meat, dairy and eggs.  Better still, because of our bounty, production is projected to increase further. Why is this a bad thing?

Billions of tons of more food feeds more people. Well fed people are healthier, happier and more productive than the starving masses these pointy-headed numbskulls were warning us about since the 1960's. Since 1960, global population has moe than doubled. Over the  same time period, global food production has more than tripled.

You are feeding more people than ever before. How dare you!

This was not supposed to be. We were supposed to be having global wars, famines and general catastrophe, said neo-Malthusians like Lester Brown and Paul Ehrlich. They've been wrong for fifty-plus years but everyone from CNN to the local news babes still takes them seriously.

They're clever marketers, though. They're now claiming to developed meat that tastes better than meat. Don't fall for it, folks.

Sorry, y'all. If it didn't graze around on four legs and say "moo," "oink" or "cluck you," then no thanks unless it's a side dish.

Extra point: Is 'peak meat' like 'peak oil?' Because that's not happening, either. 

1 comments :

Unknown said...

Nothing coming from the media surprises me any more. Fox 10 is bad but the worst one is WKRG. They are really out there in la la land.

Post a Comment

You must have a Google Account to post a comment.

WARNING: Posting on this blog is a privilege. You have no First Amendment rights here. I am the sole, supreme and benevolent dictator. This blog commenting system also has a patented Dumbass Detector. Don't set it off.