“To consider yourself an environmentalist and still eat meat is like saying you’re a philanthropist who doesn’t give to charity.” — Howard Lyman, former fourth-generation Montana cattle rancher and now vegan activist.
Al Gore told an Australian journalist he knows meat is bad for you and the environment in a recent television interview (check it out below). Good start, Al. So as one of the world’s most recognisable “environmentalists” I can’t help but wonder why Mr Gore still eats meat if he really cares about this environmental crisis he speaks of? Am I missing something?
I just checked my inbox to find an email from Greenpages, touting the fact that Al Gore is releasing a follow up to his Inconvenient Truth book and subsequent movie. My question is: will Mr Gore address the biggest cause of global pollution that he oh-so conveniently left out the first time around? That the biggest eco woes are due to the raising and slaughtering of livestock?
The meat-eating “environmentalist” and former politician blames all sorts of things on climate change, but not once mentions what his favourite meal is doing to the planet.
“Despite the many challenges to solving the climate crisis, there is hope, and the opportunities are everywhere – especially in the form of increasingly powerful technological tools,” Gore was quoted as saying. “Renewable sources of energy – if developed – could completely replace CO2-rich fossil fuels, and new technologies can allow us to move forward with unprecedented scale and speed to avert the worst impacts and set the stage for successful recovery.”
I have a much more immediate — and more cost and health effective — solution for Mr Gore. Give up the steak and burgers. Lead by example. Show everyone what the main culprit is and that the solution is in our own hands. That we don’t need to rely on technology or so-called eco gurus or environmentalists to find the solution that will save the human race from extinction. Here’s hoping he mentions that a big part of the solution lies with what’s in our shopping carts and on our dinner plates.
I eagerly await reviews from Gore’s second installment. The question is, do we hold our breaths?
On a lighter note, it’s great news to hear that The Vegan Society of New Zealand has re-formed, launching with a cool new website that boasts all sorts of vegan facts and the like. Join their Facebook page HERE.
It’s a website I’ll keep myself busy with until my new food dehydrator arrives from the U.S. Note to self: don’t plug in an electrical item, that’s made for U.S. users, into a New Zealand socket. I guess it’ll now make a one-of-a-kind planter box. An expensive one at that!
In a recent Huffington Post article, long-time vegan Michael Parrish DuDell called out (although not by name) a high-profile green group for holding an eco-conscious soiree that, well, wasn’t.
“Resting stylishly on recycled bamboo serving platters sat a ménage of beef tartar, pork belly something-or-other and a trilogy of pungent unidentifiable cheeses,” DuDell wrote. “I was frustrated that nobody on staff had made the seemingly obvious, absolutely critical connection between what we eat and the health of our planet.”
What Michael experienced at this party, is unfortunately common place amongst many high-profile greenies (Al Gore is one case in point). These peeps won’t give up their lamb chops and barbecued steak because, they have been quoted as saying, it’s just too hard for them and their followers.
Michael’s Huff Post article explains further:
At a recent concert in Sweden, Moby asked Al Gore why he didn’t mention the heavy environmental impact of animal production in his film An Inconvenient Truth.
“He answered honestly,” recounts Moby, “basically saying that getting people to drive a hybrid car isn’t that difficult. Getting people to give up animal products is almost impossible.”
Mr Gore, The Lazy Environmentalist guy and other self-proclaimed greenies are definitely doing wonderful things by getting the green word out. But in order for the planet to repair itself, we need to be educated on what’s doing the most damage. That without question is meat and dairy production.
A 2006 report from the UN stated that raising animals for food generates more greenhouses gases and contributes more to global warming than every mode of transportation in the world combined.
Read the full Huffington Post article HERE.
