Bill Gates Says Rich Countries Should Switch To Synthetic Beef To Save The Planet
With a new book about how to tackle the climate crisis, Bill Gates is back on the stage again.
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: the Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need – this is the name of his book. His overall history of emphasizing technical advancement over policy reforms follows the solutions we have and the breakthroughs we need.
But he did suggest one drastic lifestyle shift in an interview promoting the new book: people living in wealthy countries should turn to plant-based meat alternatives.
Among his calls for action: converting to synthetic beef to decrease the emissions of methane, aka the gases emitted by cattle and sheep as they belch or transfer gas.
Gates gave shoutouts to Beyond and Impossible in his interview. These two are just some of the most popular firms that have made headlines in recent years for their plant-based burger alternatives. The ‘meat’ tastes literally like meat. These meat alternatives at this point in our world constitute for less than 1 percent of the meat in the world. However, they do possess the quality and cost roadmaps that make them competitive, he said. Bill Gates is in fact an investor in both these companies and a strong believer.
Most Twitter readers are not able to give up their burgers and steaks absolutely just yet. So this led on Tuesday afternoon to Gates’ trend on Twitter as critics chewed him out.
Count me out: Bill Gates: Rich nations should shift entirely to synthetic beef
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) February 16, 2021
Bill Gates says “Rich nations should shift entirely to synthetic beef.”
I’m thinking Americans will be eating real beef for a while since we’re $27.9 trillion in debt.#sassywithmassie https://t.co/FvrdX58USR
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) February 16, 2021
Bill Gates saying western countries should switch to "100% synthetic beef" while himself being a vociferous carnivore and admitting his favorite food is hamburgers.
You'll be eating the 3D printed plastic meat, not him and his Davos friends.
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) February 16, 2021
Even Gates acknowledged that it is difficult to swallow this thought. He also told Technology Review that he knows what the result will be if they start telling people that they can no longer have beef. This is a politically controversial approach to stuff.
Some other critics have questioned why, after a new study in the Nation listed Gates as one of the top carbon emitters in the world, Gates should decide what countries should do to fix climate change. It states that he lives outside of Seattle in a 66,000-square-foot home, and his private jet consumes 486 gallons of fuel every hour it flies.
Gates did not think in the interview that poorer nations would have to give up beef. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Africa, he said, focuses on reducing emissions per cow using genetics.
However, his ideas could be a hard sell. A big right-wing talking point was the argument that the Green New Deal would compel U.S. people to give up hamburgers.
In reality, Gates even personally admitted in writing his book that he’s “an imperfect climate change messenger”, but at least he’s trying.
Sources:
marketwatch.com
ecowatch.com