Tag Archives: The Guardian

Why going vegan won’t solve climate change

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Veganism. I have nothing against it, nor any other diet, for that matter. Raw. Paleo. Carnivore. Breatharian. Bring it on. It’s your call. Why? Because I believe in freedom (unlike the Republican majorities at the Iowa Statehouse, it seems).

What I have trouble with is the occasional “vegangelical” who calls me a climate hypocrite because my Locavore diet includes meat. Even my favorite mouthpiece of the Mainstream Media, The Guardian, has an entirely lopsided take on the role of animals in agriculture and dining.

The main problem is that many vegan and vegetarian arguments against meat lump large-scale industrial production in with sustainable alternatives. That’s unfair, disingenuous, and actually harmful. Continue Reading →

Do Climate Bill’s weaknesses outweigh strengths?

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There’s an excellent article in The Guardian this week, giving voice to some of the countervailing viewpoints on the Climate Bill. It’s titled “Landmark US climate bill will do more harm than good, groups say.” I highly recommend you read it, and I’d greatly appreciate your feedback.

Some of the article’s highlights:

[T]he bill makes a slew of concessions to the fossil fuel industry, including mandating drilling and pipeline deals that will harm communities from Alaska to Appalachia and the Gulf coast and tie the US to planet-heating energy projects for decades to come.

Siqiniq Maupin, executive director of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, said: “This new bill is genocide, there is no other way to put it. This is a life or death situation and the longer we act as though the world isn’t on fire around us, the worse our burns will be. Biden has the power to prevent this, to mitigate the damage.” Continue Reading →

Don’t Get Fooled Again

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Y’all know the song, “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” by The Who? Any time Big Oil reps flap their yappers, that song should be playing in our heads.

Big Oil. The industry Rachel Maddow calls “the richest, most destructive industry on Earth.” The industry that, thanks to Exxon Mobile, made Russia the deadly oil-and-gas powerhouse it is today. The industry that lied to us repeatedly about the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Make no mistake: The primary force behind this mad rush to build 60,000 miles of CO2 pipeline is Big Oil (specifically Continental Resources, Valero, Black Rock, Wolf). Consistent with its past track record, Big Oil is lying about CO2 pipelines. Continue Reading →

The biggest climate criminal is not who you might think

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More than any force in the world, the US mainstream media could provide the spark that gets us to turn the corner on climate. If the media covered climate like they’ve covered COVID, the public would be on board for deep personal and political action in short order. …

In 2016, partly in response to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump ignoring climate change during the presidential campaign, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes devoted a solid week to the climate emergency. Great start. Then Hays and MSNBC dropped their focus as quick as you’d drop a smoldering family portrait charred in a western wildfire. Why? According to Hayes, the problem was that “every single time we’ve covered [climate change] it’s been a palpable ratings killer.” Continue Reading →