Stupid Guardian Article

[Hemlock]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/15/food.biofuels

Honestly! I was just about to read this thinking oh goodie a sensible article against meat reading when half way down suprise surprise the author just has to say something utterly moronic:

"But I cannot advocate a diet that I am incapable of following. I tried it for about 18 months, lost two stone, went as white as bone and felt that I was losing my mind. I know a few healthy-looking vegans, and I admire them immensely. But after almost every talk that I give, I am pestered by swarms of vegans demanding that I adopt their lifestyle. I cannot help noticing that in most cases their skin has turned a fascinating pearl grey".

Once again we are told meat eating is destroying the planet but we can't give up meat because we'll die - what a complete tosser:mad:

[gogs67]

I like George Monbiot although the point of the article is a rather moot one!
Giving up eating meat in the West is hardly gonna change the fact that China and India, both societies largely vegetarian based for millennia, are now desperate to embrace a 'Western' style diet and we now have half a billion new meat eaters in the last 10 years and it's only gonna increase!

http://www.celticminded.com/images_greenish/misc/progress.gif

[cobweb]

what a load of crap!
i must admit i often feel like i'm losing my mind though :dizzy:

[flying plum]

yeah, i'm really grey.....

he makes good points about biofuels though. using food for fuel when there are so many starving people makes me SO ANGRY.

amanda

[gib]

...and there's me thinking i had been following a pretty much vegan diet for years. However, i just checked my skin, and it's not looking grey, so i can only assume that some animal products are slipping past my vadar.:D

[eco]

Yes, vegans are all grey :rolleyes: I bet you didn't know Mona Lisa was a vegan :D

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:HRcENND7Wn6SpM:http://www.badastronomy.com/pix/bablog/2006/monalienlisa.jpg (http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.badastronomy.com/pix/bablog/2006/monalienlisa.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2006/08/07/&h=354&w=267&sz=35&hl=en&start=19&tbnid=HRcENND7Wn6SpM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=91&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgrey%2Balien%2B%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%2 6ie%3DUTF-8)


He can't seem to make his mind up on the subject. This article was written in December 2002.

Why Vegans Were Right All Along.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/dec/24/christmas.famine


Many of those who have begun to understand the finity of global grain production have responded by becoming vegetarians. But vegetarians who continue to consume milk and eggs scarcely reduce their impact on the ecosystem. The conversion efficiency of dairy and egg production is generally better than meat rearing, but even if everyone who now eats beef were to eat cheese instead, this would merely delay the global famine. As both dairy cattle and poultry are often fed with fishmeal (which means that no one can claim to eat cheese but not fish), it might, in one respect, even accelerate it. The shift would be accompanied too by a massive deterioration in animal welfare: with the possible exception of intensively reared broilers and pigs, battery chickens and dairy cows are the farm animals which appear to suffer most.



As a meat-eater, I've long found it convenient to categorise veganism as a response to animal suffering or a health fad. But, faced with these figures, it now seems plain that it's the only ethical response to what is arguably the world's most urgent social justice issue. We stuff ourselves, and the poor get stuffed.

[AnneCE]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/15/food.biofuels
I tried it for about 18 months, lost two stone, went as white as bone and felt that I was losing my mind. I know a few healthy-looking vegans, and I admire them immensely. But after almost every talk that I give, I am pestered by swarms of vegans demanding that I adopt their lifestyle. I cannot help noticing that in most cases their skin has turned a fascinating pearl grey".

Wish he could see my big fat red face - am hoping to go white eventually - once the legacy of 40 years of meat and dairy is out of my system. 18 months a vegan and where is my skinny body and pale face?!

[Huddy]

The person who wrote that article is a moron!:mad:
I have more colour in my face now-Im definately not pale and sickly!;)

[aubergine]

Every time I hang out with Omnis I'm reminded how unhealthy I am.

Oh wait.

Sorry, how healthy I am.

[Sum Doood]

Monbiot's very silly comment about vegans annoyed me but, worse still, gave me a feeling of despair. For me to have such a feeling is very unusual and I don't like it at all. Not only is it a daft thing for him to have said, but it greatly devalues the main thrust of his argument, which is a good one, I think.

His article won't travel well because even concerned and otherwise intelligent omnivores will see that the author has shot himself in the foot. I was halfway through reading his "Heat: How We Can Stop the Planet Burning", 2007 paperback (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heat-How-Stop-Planet-Burning/dp/0141026626/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209392342&sr=1-1) " and very impressed with it especially by the way in which he provides the reader with a source for every point he makes, but I've put the book aside just until my annoyance wears off.

I mentioned the faux pas to a friend who said, "George Monbiot is a good writer, but let's not forget he is a posh boy, so he can fall into those old Etonian ways occasionally :-) ".

[VeganDaze]

ugh I used to read his articles a lot, he always seemed to talk sense and be pro-vegan if anything. Now I am disappointed!

[Stu]

"But I cannot advocate a diet that I am incapable of following. I tried it for about 18 months, lost two stone, went as white as bone and felt that I was losing my mind.

Duhhh, it's not just about refusing to eat animals/pus etc, doofus. It's also about being healthy. Chips and chocolate alone are not conducive to rosy cheeks.


...so i can only assume that some animal products are slipping past my vadar.:D

Haha, nice word. I'll have to remember that one.


Wish he could see my big fat red face...

Hahaha!

[Herbsman]

send him a reply!

http://www.monbiot.com/contact/

[Sum Doood]

send him a reply!
http://www.monbiot.com/contact/
Yes, very good point, and there being no good reason not to, I have done.


I like George Monbiot although the point of the article is a rather moot one! Giving up eating meat in the West is hardly gonna change the fact that China and India, both societies largely vegetarian based for millennia, are now desperate to embrace a 'Western' style diet and we now have half a billion new meat eaters in the last 10 years and it's only gonna increase!

Moot point or not, I prefer to go with my signature...................

[gogs67]

Yes, very good point, and there being no good reason not to, I have done.



Moot point or not, I prefer to go with my signature...................
I should hope so to!:D

[emzy1985]

Oh no my skin is grey! I must be vegan...hold on a sec that is all my ink. Maybe he got confused? :p:D

[xwitchymagicx]

"I cannot help noticing that in most cases their skin has turned a fascinating pearl grey".



:confused:

I've never seen anyone with grey skin before. lol