Gore Walks an Odd Environmental Walk

Former vice president and climate-change guru Al Gore skirted the issue of animal agribusiness during an hourlong discussion in Chicago this morning.

Chicago Public Radio's newsmagazine program "Eight Forty-Eight" today devoted its show to Gore and his new book, "Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Plan."

Though he said he "walks the walk" when asked about his lifestyle, he didn't mention meat consumption, even when given the perfect opportunity to do so.

A Chicago resident asked him this question:

"How do you reconcile your lifestyle and using the kind of energy you use [...] versus the campaign you have for the global warming?"

His answer:

"I walk the walk and don't simply talk the talk.

He went on to talk about installing new windows, lights, solar panels and geothermal heat pumps in his house.

But host Alison Cuddy asked him to recommend what the average person -- who can't afford solar panels and geothermal instruments -- can do to help ease climate change. She particularly mentioned high school students, who had submitted questions when told Gore would be on the program. What could a high school student do to help the cause?

That would have been the perfect time for Gore to tell listeners to reduce their consumption of meat. (Gore isn't vegan or vegetarian, so I would have been surprised to hear him recommend those options.) What an easy change a high school student could make! After all, animal agribusiness spews more greenhouse gases than does all forms of transportation combined.

Instead Gore talked more about installing energy-efficient windows and solar panels, things irrelevant to a teenager.

He didn't even mention one's eating habits when a caller specifically asked about factory farms. A caller from Chicago erroneously suggested "family farms" don't release methane gas. Gore's response was off-base.

"Factory farming and industrial agriculture is [sic] a very significant source of global-warming pollution. By taking animals off the land, we have made manure into a toxic waste because it's much more acidic and can't be used as fertilizer, and it threatens the air and water in the communities where it's located."

He went on to talk about soil quality, crop rotation and sustainable agriculture.

First, "family farms" are a euphemism. The people who support animal agribusiness and conventional (ie. non-organic) agriculture are families with farms. Although the phrase conjures idyllic images of rolling hills with happy cows, pigs and chickens who die of old age, that's not the reality.

Second, animal products are cheap because of the factory-farm system. If the system is changed, people would still need to reduce their consumption because the supply would be reduced and the prices would increase.

So why not make that recommendation right now? Yes, I'd rather Gore told people to go vegan or even vegetarian. But at the very least he could recommend reducing their consumption of animal products.

Gore may "walk to the walk" on environmentalism, but it's only to the beat of the recommendations he chooses to follow.

(Image courtesy of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.)