Glenn Beck's Bizarre Outburst Against Meatless Mondays and Vegetarians

By Kerry Trueman, AlterNet. Posted October 28, 2009.

But what really scares me is that the Times writes our Lord Stern said: "A successful deal at the climate-change conference in Copenhagen in December would lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases."

Cheap gas and cheap chuck remain American birthrights to loopy libertarians like Beck. It doesn't matter that the link between livestock production and greenhouse-gas emissions has been well documented, as have the environmental and health benefits of adopting a predominantly plant-based diet.

With meat consumption on the rise the world over, it's going to be physically impossible to produce enough meat to meet the growing demand. New York Times columnist Verlyn Klinkenborg noted on Monday that we simply can't continue to plunder the world's resources in order to indulge in our animal-flesh fetish:

I adhere to a conclusion reached long ago -- by James Madison in 1818, who said, simply, that it cannot be right for all of earth's resources to "be made subservient to the use of man." We need to act on that principle. That will mean more than simply roping off habitat. It will mean among other things, a new and far more modest idea of food prosperity, more limited and almost certainly less meat-driven than the present American model.

Beck perpetuates the perception that campaigns such as Meatless Monday represent an attack on consumer choice. But as anyone who actually prefers to eat fresh, healthy foods can attest, those of us who'd rather eat a diet based on legumes, whole grains and vegetables are the ones whose choices are painfully limited.

The meat industry is trying to portray the decision to emphasize vegetarian entreés in the Baltimore school cafeterias one day a week as a dangerous exercise in protein deprivation -- as if you can't get sufficient protein from non-meat sources. The Center For a Livable Future's Ralph Loglisci did a terrific job of setting the record straight with his post "Protein 101: Dispelling the Myth Surrounding Meatless Meals."

And ABC News reported last week that the Meatless Monday campaign in Baltimore's schools has, in fact, been a great success. Only a meathead -- or a meat-industry shill -- would brand this modest attempt to serve our kids healthier entreés and raise awareness about the environmental impact of our food choices as some kind of insidious conspiracy.

How will Beck handle the season premiere of Sesame Street, in which Michelle Obama shares the joys of homegrown vegetables with the Muppets? Will he demonize Elmo, who is, after all, a suspiciously socialist shade of red? Will he accuse Big Bird of being a secret agent for the food police, attempting to brainwash American tots into accepting their pro-plant agenda?

If only we could dismiss this self-described "rodeo clown" as a harmless buffoon. Sadly, he's too influential to be written off as a greenhouse-gas-denying gasbag.

All we can do is keep poking holes in him and hope he deflates. Fox News: They distort, we deride.

See more stories tagged with: food, vegetarian, meat, vegetables

Kerry Trueman is the co-founder of EatingLiberally.org. You can follow her on Twitter.

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