At the moment there is an alarmingly high frequency of British conservative members of Parliament stating things about global warming and reducing carbon footprint that are categorically wrong.
These range from the moronic to the nearly foolish to the alarming (simply because they are in a position of power to put it into practice).
Harriet Baldwin stated in a select committee, that there is no need for people to stop eating red meat as vegetarians fly in soya beans from Brazil and therefore have just as higher carbon footprint. She stated this due to her concern that high-profile celebrities were suggesting moves that would not cut carbon emissions (the select committee was talking about reducing the UK’s carbon emissions to net zero).
It is unclear where this foolish lack of knowledge comes from, whether it is stupidity or intentionally misleading the public. I personally would say that that neither is acceptable in one’s representative in Parliament and I hope that her constituents are sufficiently embarrassed.
Contrary to what she says one of the simplest ways to cut your carbon footprint is to reduce or eliminate red meat from your diet. At the moment long-distance travel is impossible without flying using fossil fuels- hopefully this will not always be the case. Furthermore airlines are making substantial progress in reducing the carbon footprint they create.
However there is absurd holes in her argument.
Firstly and most importantly her argument is stupid because soya beans last a long time and therefore are generally transported in ships which have a dramatically lower carbon footprint than planes. This makes her argument absurd in the extreme.
Secondly much and the the beef and other meats come from countries such as Brazil anyway so incorporate these airline costs just as much as the soya beans. Furthermore given the short shelf life of meat this cargo could not be transported by ship.
Third, and most significantly getting your protein from meat has about 73 times the carbon footprint of getting it from soya beans according to an article published in the scientific journal nature in 2018
Why is it that MPs keep standing up in the Houses of Parliament and spouting utter rubbish. Furthermore why do more people in the House of Parliament not stand up and point out how stupid these comments are. In this instance there was an expert to correct these stupid views in Lord Turner. However this should not excuse the absurd views of this Conservative MP she must be educated and seem to stop spreading this rubbish or her constituents must remove her the next time they can (she represents west Worcestershire). Not only do these absurd statements off and go and challenge but then form the basis for large policies: this must change.
