Kill a cow – save the world?

Earlier in the week there was some more amusement from the corridors of power in Whitehall.

Kill a Cow or Drive a Cow - save the planet either way?

There was a great story on the Today Programme which set out a new plan to save the world. Kill a cow – well actually lots of them… and sheep too. 30% to be precise. The argument runs something like – if you have a cull then it has two effects. The first is that the cows stop producing methane which spoils the planet (and smells). The second is that we will stop eating beef-burgers and thus become salad eating ‘ski yoghurt‘ people. I have blogged about this before here.

Andy Burnham, Health Secretary was wheeled out at a Lancet meeting – and even Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband got involved. Then International development minister Mike Foster agreed.It seemed that health and climate change could hold hands in harmony. Wow. Result.

Except they had all forgotten to tell DeFRA. Who got a bit stroppy. And they asked if Britains farmers might be a bit miffed? The National Farmers’ Union was apoplectic, raging at the “ill-informed and simplistic report”, condemning ministers for their “poor judgement”. Then there was then the small issue of whether culling livestock in this country will not actually mean people eat less meat. We will just import more! Probably on ships and by road / train. And from Argentina and Brazil – who will probably have to cut down some rainforest trees (a pretty big source of the global warming problem) to satisfy the extra demand. And then the wee issue of how to cull so many animals.

So what did we learn? Well Burnhams ‘people’ said he wasn’t really endorsing the report. And he ate meat – lots of it no doubt. And he knew where reverse gear was when he needed it. So the story has gone now – the report can safely prop up someone’s monitor in Whitehall somewhere? Photoshoots arranged at McDonalds?

You do sometimes wonder if there even is a right hand to the accompany the left hand which is flapping around hopelessly? I have made my views known previously on here about national politics.

So save the planet – save a cow is the new message. And eat beef-burgers in moderation. But please don’t drive electric cars – it’s not big and it’s not clever.