Beef with meat ignores facts

E dinburgh University’s Student Association has voted against a motion to ban the sale of beef in the university’s restaurants and cafes.

That’s a victory for beef you might say, but the concerning thing is that 42% of the 6,000-strong electorate who did cast a vote either voted for the motion or abstained.

Fair enough if they voted on ethical grounds, but what worries me is that 39% of those who voted believed beef produced in the UK is bad for the environment.

These are meant to be intelligent people who can hear both sides of an argument and be able to decipher fact from fiction, but in this case they jumped on the anti-meat bandwagon without letting facts get in the way.

I don’t blame them entirely – just look at recent headlines.

Joaquin Phoenix slammed the dairy industry in his Oscars acceptance speech; the Golden Globes dinner was purely vegan; celebrities have been lauded for wearing the same outfit twice; and even the minor royals are beating the drum for decreased meat consumption.

It all melds into a massive media cauldron and impressionable people suddenly think that enjoying steak and chips on a Saturday night is going to destroy the planet.

What they are conveniently forgetting is that transport is the single biggest polluter.

If the organisers of the Golden Globes really wanted to save the world they should have made all their guests walk, or cycle, to the awards.

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In this case, students jumped on the anti-meat bandwagon without letting facts get in the way

And if the students really wanted to help the environment then the motion should have called for beef in its cafes and restaurants to be sourced from local farmers and butchers – then their food miles would not only be low, they would also be ensuring that grassland in Scotland continues to soak up carbon.

They’ve certainly no need to worry the ground the cows graze would be more efficient in cereals, as much of the land used for meat production here can barely hold a 40kg sheep, never mind a 20-tonne combine.

The students would then be able to enjoy the moral high road knowing that they are supporting their rural economy and keeping rural Scotland alive with the sights, smells and fauna the general public have come to take for granted.

Much of the land that cattle graze on can’t support cereal production.