"Don't Eat The Meat": Passing Gas At The Butcher's

In a casual on-line conversation this past week, I made mention of the Biblical prophecy that proclaims -- in the end times -- that eating meat will be forbidden. There was a small scrum over this, with one writer doubting that the world could ever become -- by law -- a strictly vegetarian planet. Of course, none of us in our conversation were talking much about the end of the world; nor was I hurling Biblical verses about with attendant claps of thunder.

But I just picked this off of the FoxNews website. It is, at least apparently, rooted in some fact, namely a United Nations report. Moreover, I have seen a few other news reports over the last few days discussing the same matter. And the matter is hardly new. I mean, even Canada's legendary singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn referred to the cattle industry as the harvesting of "methane dispensers" in a song, If A Tree Falls, nearly 20 years ago. But this news clip is so gloriously interesting I can barely contain myself.

Read the brief report for yourself:

Livestock Worse Than Humanity?

A report by the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization says cattle and other livestock cause more greenhouse gases than cars, planes, and all other forms of transportation put together. Britain's Independent News says the report blames cow flatulence and manure for one-third of all methane emissions — which warm the earth 20 times faster than carbon dioxide.

The world's 1.5 billion cows are also blamed for everything from acid rain to desertification and the destruction of coral reefs. And while cows are taking the heat in one U.N. report, another says humans are doing less harm to the environment than previously thought. The Sunday Telegraph says the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has reduced its estimate of human affect on global warming by 25 percent. And it has lowered its prediction of how much sea levels will rise by half. The Panel cites improved data for the revisions.

So much for hamburgers, bacon, leg of lamb. We're talking about a world where mint jelly is all that's left on one's dinner plate (assuming, of course, that there were no insects involved in the process).

As one restaurateur said to me, her face turned up in a sneer when I asked her for some honey, "Der! Bees aren't vegan!"

Please, pass the methane dispenser before it is all gone.

Peace.

©Bill Gnade 2006/Contratimes - All Rights Reserved.