The Medias War on Meat and The Scientist Fighting for Truth
By Jim Mundorf
In the process of writing a short something about an article I wanted to share, I stumbled into an internet rabbit hole, that shook me to my core.
Frank Mitloehner is thee expert on the environmental impact of livestock. He is an air quality specialist and a professor at UC Davis. He recently wrote an article for a website called The Conversation, titled Yes, eating meat affects the environment, but cows are not killing the climate. Now it might surprise some people that, “Cows are not killing the climate.” needs to be written, but it does. I follow the media and what they say about the beef industry fairly closely. I knew there was quite a bit of misinformation out there. I knew it was getting bad, but until now I had no idea how bad it really was.
This photo is from Frank Mitloehner’s Twitter account where he tries to correct the misinformation being spread about the beef industry daily. Here he is taking rumen samples from a fistulated cow to measure her microbiome and resulting enteric methane. Follow him @GHGGuru
Frank’s article was republished online at Newsweek, with the headline, Giving Up Meat Won’t Save the Climate. I had seen this on Twitter, so for writing this, I went to Newsweek.com to find the article. I typed in the search box, “meat” Mitloehener’s article didn’t appear, but here are some Newsweek headlines that did:
How Taxing Meat Could Save Human Lives.
Lab-Grown Beef Will Save the Planet- and be a Billion Dollar Business
If We All Eat Meat We’re Doomed.
The Carnivorous Habits of Humans are Now Endangering the Planet
The list of negative articles about meat just went on and on. It was eye opening, but I still just wanted to find the article I was looking for, so I typed in his name, Frank Mitloehner, in the search box, his article still didn’t come up, so I gave up and went to Twitter and found the link on his page. It took me to the article on Newsweek, but now I was curious, so I actually cut and pasted the title of the article into the search box. If you search for the exact title of the article on the site it is on, it has to come up right? Wrong, the article still did not come up, but here is the first result from the search:
A VEGETARIAN ITALY COULD REDUCE CLIMATE CHANGE CAUSED BY FOOD EMISSIONS
So yes, the article did appear on Newsweek’s website… and they have made damn sure it is absolutely impossible to find!
In addition to being pissed off, I was now even more curious about just how many negative articles were out there so I went to Google, searched the term, “meat” and clicked the news tab… I could hardly believe what I saw. Here are the top 5 results:
No one knows what to call the, “New Meat” (article promoting fake, lab-grown, meat)
Five simple ways to eat less meat without missing it at all
Meat tax would save millions of lives, cut health care costs by billions, study says
Impossible Foods Plans To Replace Meat By 2035
Taxing red meat would save lives and slow global warming
So the top internet search engine in the world’s top news results for, “meat” tell people how meat is being replaced, lay out step by step plan to eat less of it, and for those who don’t want to eat it less, they explain how to tax it and force people to eat less. If this isn’t a sobering eye opening, wake up call for the meat industry, I don’t know what would be.
The media has declared war on the meat industry. So what have the top meat processors done to combat this? Well unfortunately they have invested in the fake, plant-based and lab grown, meat industry. I explained this in an earlier article here, TYSON FOODS JOINS CARGILL IN TURNING THEIR BACKS ON FARMERS AND RANCHERS. At the end of that article I explained that I am going to fight this, but I’m not real sure how. I’m still not sure. I haven’t posted or written much about this lately because the amount of false information being spread on a daily basis, is completely overwhelming. I was overwhelmed before I even looked and now that I’ve looked… where do you even start?
It seems that Frank Mitloehner is also fed up with the lies being told about the beef industry and he has written this article to fight those lies. Promoting this article, would be a great place to start. Like I said before, the article was originally posted on, The Conversation, this website allows all of their articles to be republished anywhere free of charge.
On October 13, my local paper, the Omaha World Herald, published on their front page this story from the Washington Post, Earth’s population is skyrocketing. How do you feed 10 billion people sustainably? It is about a report published in the journal Nature, and the findings in their words are, “To be specific: Cheeseburgers are out and fruits and veggies are in.” (No thanks), and they are calling for a, “huge reduction in meat consumption.”
The Omaha World Herald is the top newspaper in the, second largest beef producing state. In true journalistic fashion they have no problem publishing an imported pack of lies that aims to destroy their own local economy. I am sending them the truth from the man who studies it everyday, the Mitloehner article. I suggest you do the same to your local paper, or anyone you know who might be believing or spreading these lies.
It is an overwhelming uphill battle, but if you think its one worth fighting, you have to start somewhere.
Here is the web address for the article. I suggest not sending a link, because emails with links are often marked as spam.
https://theconversation.com/yes-eating-meat-affects-the-environment-but-cows-are-not-killing-the-climate-94968
Here is the web address for the republishing guidelines that I would include if sending to a media outlet.
https://theconversation.com/us/republishing-guidelines
My letter to the World Herald
Omaha World Herald Editorial Staff
On October 13 you published on your front page the article, Feeding humanity to require change in diets, report finds. I found this to be extremely disappointing and negligent for the leading newspaper in the 2nd largest beef producing state to advocate for their readers to quote, “curb red meat consumption and follow a diet built around fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes.”
This article is one of many that reports on studies that are financed and promoted by an anti-agricultural movement. This movement was started by animal rights activists and is now being heavily promoted by investors in plant based foods.
Recently, the pre-imminent researcher on the environmental impact of livestock, Frank Mitloehner, published an article, Yes eating meat affects the environment, but cows are not killing the climate. Dr. Mitloehner is a Professor of Animal Science and Air Quality Extension Specialist at the University of California, Davis. He is a respected scientist who has spent his career studying this subject. His article directly refutes many of the claims made in the article you published. Also, Dr. Mitloehner published his article on The Conversation website. This website allows the republishing of their articles online or in print for free.
I am asking that you correct the record and publish Dr. Mitloehner’s article. I believe this will go along way in keeping the trust of your readers, many of whom depend heavily on meat in their everyday lives.
Web address of the article:
https://theconversation.com/yes-eating-meat-affects-the-environment-but-cows-are-not-killing-the-climate-94968
Republishing guidelines:
https://theconversation.com/us/republishing-guidelines
Thank you
Jim Mundorf
5th Generation Farmer and Rancher