Lord Stern: To Save the Planet, Stop Eating Meat

Mark Whittington
Mark Whittington, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Oct 27, 2009 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

It is sometimes illustrative when two different forms of crazy political thought start to merge. In the case of Lord Stern of Brentfort, those are global warming hysteria and militant vegetarianism. To save the planet, we must stop eating meat.

Lord Stern is a former chief economist for the World Bank, currently I. G. Patel Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, and the author of the 2006 Stern Review on the cost of tackling global warming. He is also not a "strict vegetarian" himself, but wants everyone else to be.

According to the Times of London, 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." Lord Stern claims that cows and pigs are a major source of methane, a green house gas. Lord Stern compares eating meat to drinking and driving as a behavior about which attitudes will evolve over time.

Lord Stern does not reveal how he would stop people around the world from eating meat. From my experience, moral persuasion is not likely to make the typical Texan put down his or her brisket sub and pick up a sprig of broccoli or a person from Georgia put down his or her fried chicken drumstick and pick up a celery stick.

What about an international treaty backed by sanctions? Lord Stern seems to hint that is where Copenhagen is headed. Such a proposal is not likely to be met with favor in many countries, even by President Barack Obama, who is said to like his expensive, wagayu steak sandwiches. No wonder President Obama is eschewing a trip to Copenhagen for the global climate change conference. As much as the President wants to control every aspect of peoples' lives through the federal government, he knows that even more than their God and their guns, the hoi polloi cling to their philly cheese steaks, their chili dogs, and their fillet mignons. Trying to tell people they have to subsist on a diet of tofu is a one way ticket to impeachment, if not revolution.

In the meantime the twenty thousand delegates at Copenhagen will desperately try to find a way to force people to cut back on what they call greenhouse emissions, more likely involving them cutting back on their lifestyles. No more air conditioning, big cars, or air plane trips for you. Unless you are of the elite, like Al Gore who has not given up his private jet where he flits from conference to lecture to deliver the gospel of the inconvenient truth of global warming.

Ones only response to people like Lord Stern is this: If you come for my cheeseburger, it will only be from one's cold, dead hand.

Source: Climate chief Lord Stern: give up meat to save the planet,Robin Pagnamenta, Times of London, October 27th, 2009

Published by Mark Whittington

Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington...   View profile

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  • Wiley Vaughn 8/1/2011

    No one is forcing meat down his throat. Let him go vegan if he wants, but leave the rest of us alone!

  • Jaipi Sixbear 11/12/2009

    cancer, heart disease and other health issues. I do not consider myself a fanatic and believe that everyone has a right to choose how they live their lives. Unfortunately the insatiable appetites of some people for meat products is killing the rest of us too. In other countries where a less meat oriented diet is adopted, people are living longer and healthier lives. I could write a novel here. Check out my article on the effects of factory farming on vegetarians and meat eaters alike. There you will find links to some eye opening informational websites. Thanks for this thought provoking commentary.

  • Jaipi Sixbear 11/12/2009

    I find it interesting that so many people are completely unaware of the devastation of factory farming and also the quality of the meat readily available due to the animals spending their lives entrenched in their own feces. You might indeed put down your cheeseburger if you knew what was really in it. Unfortunately Lord Stern is also partially incorrect. Vegetarians are far from safe concerning the effects of factory farming which creates dead zones in the eco-system. Pollution from factory farming is quickly tainting every corner of the globe. If all the factory farms were shut down today and every single person on the planet became a vegetarian, it might still be too late. This is an environmental issue to rival any on the planet. Global warming is just a drop in the bucket compared to what our lust for meat is doing to us. By the way, the reason you crave meat is because of the hormones that are injected into it. Hormones and low dose antibiotics from meat are killing us with cance

  • hsr0601 10/28/2009

    I think the most dangerous food is meat as it destroys humanity and leads to wars and destroys all ultimately.

    Obesity & Magic Pill :

    I personally recognize that wheat is a far better diet than meat on the ground it normally exits body with ease and rapidity, and we are well aware that our heath depends upon smooth metabolism and blood stream associated with the immune system and how important our daily workout is, as well.

    I still think the critical conditions mostly come from breach of our immune system, and the food that stays long in the body is more likely to become a source where germs, bacterias, viruses and the like multiply.
    Sounds outlandish, but wheat might be a principal "clean and healthy" food that has led western society to the most decent culture of all.


    Disadvantages of meat consumption :

    1. The food that stays long in the body looks more likely to become a source where germs, bacterias and the like multiply, which even gives birth to cri

  • AC Jelena 10/27/2009

    Grass-fed and free range meats are an excellent compromise for those concerned about the environmental impact of factory farming but who don't want to give up meat. Plus, grass-fed and free range meats are healthier! I've been trying to buy locally produced, grass-fed meats for a couple of years now. It's a little more expensive sometimes, but really not as much so as I thought it would be. Hunting is also an excellent way to trim the environmental impact of meat-eating, since no slaughterhouses or feedlots are required in order to produce game meats. I'm not a hunter myself (I feel bad if I swat a bug, much less shoot Bambi) but I respect hunting very much. It seems to me like the most ethical way to get meat.

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