Steak...chops...burgers...ribs. Mmmm. Give me a minute. I know I was going somewhere with this.

Now I remember! Many of us can relate to Bebbo's plight today. Meat tastes good. Very good. But the process that starts with finding suitable land and ends with a cut of meat is one that produces a lot of greenhouse gases. In fact, it looks like meat production is responsible for 18% of all anthropogenic carbon emissions—more than the 13% produced by all our cars, trucks, planes, et al.

Part of the problem is that a lot of forest land is cleared out to make room for livestock and for growing feed. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 70% of former forest cover in Latin America has been cleared away to accommodate grazing. All those trees used to absorb carbon dioxide and are now actually releasing it.

Of course, not everyone (particularly those responsible for producing meat) agrees. Is it possible that the issue is not meat production, nor even how much meat is produced, but rather HOW the process happens?

Here's some meaty information on the topic...

WWF report

Time Magazine

Britain's Lord Stern wants people to give up meat to save the planet

Are some methods of meat production more climate-friendly than others?

When yesterday's gross exaggeration becomes today's underestimation.

Those who are skeptical about the existence of anthropogenic climate change often think of scientists' predictions as far-fetched and dramatic; that they just like to make things sound much more horrific than they will actually be. There is plenty of evidence to the contrary. Not only do results come in worse than predicted, scientists sometimes learn the unhappy news decades before the time span of their climate models is nearing its end.

Here are a few examples...

"Arctic sea ice is melting at a rate far quicker than predicted by climate change computer models"

"The scientific consensus is that we are headed into big trouble," he said. He said a fast thaw of Arctic sea ice in summer indicated that the impacts of climate change were worse than predicted by a U.N. panel of scientists just two years ago."

"We now have data showing that from 2000 to 2007, greenhouse gas emissions increased far more rapidly than we expected..."

"Global level of greenhouse gases is now far worse than predicted..."

Vampires & werewolves are no match for geopolitical turmoil

There has been plenty of talk about the potential worldwide unrest that could be caused by global warming. Droughts and famine could lead to mass migration and uprisings. Last week's "What on Earth?" touched on the U.S. Military's plans for dealing with security threats posed by climate change.

But Francois Gemenne of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations in Paris raises a more specific question about island nations that are productive members of the global economy and international community. What will happen when they want to maintain their standing after their homelands are lost to the rising sea levels caused by climate change?

Gemenne says cultural and sentimental attachments are only part of the story. Tuvalu, for instance, is a small island state that makes millions annually selling its assigned internet suffix ".tv" to television companies. It also has international standing through the UN.

"As independent nations they receive certain rights and privileges that they will not want to lose. Instead they could become like ghost states," he said. "This is a pressing issue for small island states, but in the case of physical disappearance there is a void in international law."

Global warming is a threat to the ".tv" industry. Now THAT'S scary.



Here are all the hair-raising details...

Ghost states