Nutty U.N. official claims meat causes global warming
The global warming nut jobs seem to be ready to say ANYTHING to hammer home their crazy idea that we’re heading for a global meltdown. Now, they’ve suddenly discovered another enemy of the climate: meat.
No, that’s not a misprint. These tree-huggers are now scraping together “proof” that eating meat is contributing to global warming. Try to forget, for a moment, that there’s no such thing as global warming, and follow me on an entertaining tour of just how your next hamburger is causing the death of planet earth.
According to Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, giving up meat one day a week (“at least initially, and decrease it from there,” he says), is “the most attractive opportunity” to quickly attack the issue of global warming. (I can only conclude that Mr. Pachauri doesn’t live near a decent steak house.)
Of course, Pachauri uses those most bendy and ever-flexible things called statistics to “prove” this theory. He cites a 2006 report U.N. report, which claims that livestock farming is the cause of 18 percent of the earth’s greenhouse gas emissions (fossil fuel burners like cars, trains, plane, and boats account for just 13 percent, he says). His theory is that meat demand leads to more livestock, which in turn need more grazing land – which leads to deforestation. This “study” was somehow able to determine that livestock grazing land takes up – ready for this one? – one third of earth’s entire land mass.
So the “logic” here is that fewer trees automatically equals more CO2 in the atmosphere, since trees convert CO2 to oxygen. But also “at fault” are all the things that come out of livestock, namely manure and methane (yes, from flatulence). Manure pumps out the gas nitrous oxide while methane has – according to this study – 23 times the “warming impact” of CO2.
Pachauri also claims that meat puts an inordinate amount of pressure on land resources. As the human population grows, so does meat demand. And the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 20 percent of the planet’s pastureland has been “degraded” (whatever that means) by animals. The litany of panicked complaints goes on – most of the world’s grain production is fed to animals, not humans. Then there’s the “human health impact” of too much meat
Pachauri is using nothing more than chewing gum and bailing wire to hold his argument together. Whenever you hear an argument made purely on statistics, keep this “statistic” in mind: everyone who ate carrots in 1870 is now dead. This is an irrefutable fact, but it doesn’t mean that the carrots killed them. It’s this kind of intellectual slight of hand that Pachauri is trying to pull.
And here’s one other fact that leads me to take everything that Pachauri says with a grain of salt (sprinkled on top of a big T-bone steak): he’s an admitted vegetarian. And as I’ve told you before, the problem with vegetarians is that it’s often not enough for them to choose to avoid meat; they want YOU to avoid meat, too. Vegetarianism the only dietary choice that seems to double as a political statement. And for vegans, well for them, it’s practically a jihad.
Vitamin K2 battles hardening of the arteries
How about this for a tasty way to fight heart disease: eat more meat and cheese!
According to research published in the journal Atherosclerosis, women who have the highest levels of vitamin K2 have the greatest protection against hardening of the arteries. The study examined the diets of women in their 60s and found that vitamin K2 (rather than K1 vitamins, which are found primarily in leafy green vegetables), reduced hardening of the arteries by as much as 20 percent. The more K2, the better.
The women loaded up on K2 by eating cheese (54 percent), milk products (22 percent), and meat (15 percent).
“While all K vitamins are important, it seems that especially the natural vitamin K2 intake is essential to cardiovascular health,” said one researcher.
Know what this means? Cheese omelets for breakfast!
