| Save the Planet; Sautee the Whales |
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| Written by Charlie Lawton | |
| Thursday, 13 March 2008 | |
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Our herbivore friends love telling us that vegetarianism is how they battle climate change - meat production is totally energy inefficient compared to plant production, and cows, specifically, produce a hell of a lot of methane. It's a compelling argument, and yeah, we'd probably have a tough time reading an article on global warming while eating most burgers without feeling the distinct pangs of cognitive dissonance. So when the Norwegian whaling lobby pulled the climate change card to defend hunting whales, we did a double take. Rune Froevik, head of a Norwegian whaling lobby, is heady with their new study claiming the greenhouse impact of eating eight meals of whale is equivalent to eating only one meal of beef. "Basically," Froevik says, "It turns out that the best thing you can do for the planet is to eat whale meat compared to other types of meat." Hmm, maybe. Of course, any wild-caught food -- including game, fish, and, yes, whale, or a vegetarian diet -- will reduce greenhouse emissions compared to ranched beef. And the study doesn't consider whether contributing to the ongoing mass extinction of oceanic megafauna in the service of greenhouse reduction is ethically or ecologically defensible and supportable. Japan and Norway, the last surviving whaling nations still bucking the 22-year-old international moratorium on whaling, are starting to get a little desperate for reasons to keep the practice going. The Japanese have started turning whale into school cafeteria mystery-meat; the Norwegians are playing to the global warming crowd. One wonders if the pangs of cognitive dissonance are starting to get to them, too.
Via Reuters |
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It's true what our moms said...we are what we eat. In fact, it's truer than they thought. What I eat doesn't just affect me anymore, it affects all of us.
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