Subject: L.A. Times editorial: "The U.N.'s meatless drive"



http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-meatless9-2008sep09,0,44497\
66.story

From the Los Angeles Times
Editorial
The U.N.'s meatless drive

Our appetite for steaks and burgers is a huge contributor to global warming.
September 9, 2008So it turns out that meatless Fridays, which for generations
inflicted fish sticks and tuna casseroles on millions of school-age children,
Catholic and otherwise, were actually saving the planet. The United Nations is
now urging wealthy nations to make a dramatic shift in eating habits, saying the
best way to curb climate change is for people to go at least one day a week
without meat.And Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change -- which shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year -- isn't just
asking diners to bypass a burger now and then. After achieving a weekly day
without meat, he said, they should embark on a progressive reduction of their
meat intake.The problem isn't so much with hamburger patties as it is with cow
patties. Meat production accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas
emissions, according to the United Nations. Cows and other ruminants, such as
sheep and goats, release methane and nitrous oxide in amounts that put to shame
the carbon dioxide belched out by cars. In fact, a red-meat-eater in a Prius is
probably hurting the environment more than a vegan in a Hummer.The U.N. also is
calling for governments to launch campaigns to reduce meat eating. If they do,
such efforts will probably start in Europe, then sweep through every city, town,
village and hamlet in Asia, Africa, Australia and Antarctica before the U.S.
Department of Agriculture stops propagandizing on behalf of meat without any
regard for human or environmental health. Which brings us back to individual
abstinence. We're not calling for a vegan revolution, but this page has noted
that a sincere personal effort to fight global warming must include a reduction
in eating red meat. Were fish sticks on Fridays really that bad?

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