Yes, Senator Harris, Education is Needed
The age-old argument we continually face and the tired column I have written to respond to the same accusation of beef production harming the environment is apparently one Senator Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s running mate, needs to hear as well.
While she attempted to skirt the question during the ‘CNN Democratic Presidential Town Hall: The Climate Crisis’ aired on the network last month, the host made her get right to the point.
“Would you reduce red meat, specifically?” she asked her of the government guided food pyramid.
“Yes, I would,” Senator Harris replied.
The question originally posed cited the fact that some countries have urged lower red meat consumption through their dietary guidelines in order to curb climate change. If elected, the lawyer asked, would she support a change in dietary guidelines and how would those changes be implemented.
Senator Harris first pointed to the importance of making healthy eating a priority at the highest level of the government “because we have a problem in America.” And that problem could be addressed on many fronts, according to Senator Harris, including “the subject of this conversation,” sugar, soda, and “on and on.”
She carefully added that there needs to be a balance struck between what the government could incentivize and what behaviors could be banned altogether.
“Just to be honest with you, I love cheeseburgers from time to time,” she said. “But there has to be also what we do in terms of creating incentives that we will eat in a healthy way, that we will encourage moderation, and that we will be educated about the effects of our eating habits on our environment. And we have to do a much better job of that and the government has to do a much better job of that.”
That’s when the host interrupted to refine her response, noting that “you love cheeseburgers, I mean we all do from time to time and we’ve tried the Beyond burger, we’ve tried the Impossible burger, right? They try but it’s not quite the same, that’s my personal opinion, but would you support changing the dietary guidelines?”
“Yes,” Senator Harris affirmed.
To me, encouraging education about the effects of our eating habits on the environment while supporting reduced red meat consumption is contradictory. I’ve written time and time again that beef production should be one of our last concerns when it comes to climate change. And if we are talking specifically about how the diet plays into climate change, it’s critical to acknowledge that grazing lands which cattle producers are responsible for maintaining sequester much of the country’s carbon outputs. Without keeping these grasslands intact, our climate situation would be much worse than it is today.
Besides, in order to provide our country adequate protein, we need beef production. Reducing beef consumption and production would mean more land in the country would have to be converted to cropland, worsening the problem of climate change as it pertains to our dietary habits.
I agree, Senator Harris, education about our eating habits and how they affect the environment is something we all need to do a better job of — you proved that yourself.