Mirabile dictu: CBS Sunday Morning runs history-changing story on artificial meat

Patrice Greanville

[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]es, they did. Which is almost miraculous. But they allocated only a stingy 6.5 minutes to what is possibly one of the most important news stories in generations, if not human history. Almost every other story soaked up more time. After all, this may be (we hope) the end of animal agriculture as we know it, which has been at it for well over 10,000 years, having grown lethally and exponentially with the arrival of CAFOS (factory farms) in the 20th century, spearheaded by assembly line techniques borrowed from America's first wave of industrialisation. Animal agriculture in the US and woldwide now contributes as much if not more greenhouse gases—especially methane— than all hydrocarbon-fueled vehicles on earth. It's a dagger pointed at our survival, not to mention what meat does to the human body. The national cost of self-inflicted morbidities in the US due to overconsumption of meats (and over-eating in general) is staggering, in the trillions of dollars, and most of it is plainly avoidable.

Now, to make matters more interesting, as if we didn't have enough acute crises on the plate, under free market crazies like Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, there's increasing talk of razing much of the Matto Grosso to develop huge ranches and more facilities for industrial livestock farming in what is not only an extremely fragile ecosystem, but also one vital to the survival of all oxygen breathing species—yea, oxygen obligates, like us.  Much of this "great" idea is being pushed, as usual, by short term agrocapitalists drooling at the prospect of fortunes to be made in exports of beef to China. At present, China is the top destination for Brazilian beef, accounting for a third of all exports.  This clearly cannot go on. Brazil's rainforests are properly called the lungs of the planet.  So, for simple eco-moral reasons—even if you don't give a damn about the suffering of billions of animals or the devastation of our already outrageousy abused planet— we should celebrate this quiet revolution.

In sum, I'm grateful the big wigs at CBS at least permitted this turning point to be publicised, but the presentation could have been a bit more generous, although the brevity could be expected considering the journalistic myopia permeating all corporate media. It's now up to us to disseminate the news and encourage this nascent industry.
—PG

Where's the beef? Hamburger patties made from plants

Jim Gaffigan says cheeseburgers are in "grave danger"

Perhaps perversely, or to restore a bit the spirits of meat lovers after the impact of the artificial meat story, CBS Sunday decided to run what was in many ways a reaffirming piece on the putative pleasure of eating cheeseburgers, by none other than Jim Gaffigan.  (We like Jim a lot but we wish he had saved his humour barbs for another target.)
Anyway, here it is.

This post is part of a series on humans' destruction of the natural world.