The meat and global warming link just got a huge publicity boost.
Mark Bittman, author of Food Matters, vegan until 6, and food columnist/blogger at the NY Times, tonight appeared on what many consider to be the mother of all political talk shows (if you exclude the Daily Show) – the Colbert Report (1.3 million viewers)!!!
See the interview on Eat Me Daily or on Comedy Central
Bittman begins by explaining what it means to “eat consciously” and how we could help ourselves and the planet by adopting a more plant-based diet. He then explains the meat and global warming connection with help from Colbert!
Bittman was able to both talk about this subject seriously and play along to Colbert’s jabs. It was especially awesome to see Colbert read the statistics himself.
Those of us that have been talking about meat and global warming can now say “It was on the Colbert Report”. Enough said!
Some highlights:
- Colbert: And my guest tonight is NY Times Food Columnist Mark Bittman! I’ll ask him what foods taste best grilled over a burning NY Times!
- Colbert: You say that you are a vegan until 6 pm. But after that anything goes? Seriously? Does that just go for food?
- Colbert: You say that feeding a family of four – a steak dinner, is the equivalent of driving around in a SUV for three hours with all the lights on.
- Colbert: How does oil or fuel go into me having a steak? Bittman: It’s been said, by the United Nations that about a 1/5 or 1/6 of all greenhouse gases are produced by industrialized livestock production. Colbert: Industrialized livestock? Oh robot cows.
- Bittman: We churn out 10 billion (livestock) a year in this country which means about 30 animals per person in the United States. We eat those, it increases global warming. To the extent you eat less of that meat you reduce global warming.
- Colbert: You say if we ate 3 fewer cheeseburgers a week, it would have the same impact as taking all SUVs off the road.
- Bittman: If we reduce the amount of meat and processed food in our diets, we’re losing weight, we’re making ourselves less susceptible to lifestyle disease, and we’re actually helping the environment and reducing global warming. It’s like, almost everything.
- Colbert: If I could only eat one thing what would it be? Bittman: Uh…I dunno (Bittman hesitates…Colbert begins to end show) …cheeseburgers!
Related: 10 online videos on meat and global warming
