The following is an open letter from ProVeg International to the Wall Street Journal, in response to the disinformation printed in the sponsored full-page ad entitled “Beefing up Sustainability” from Saturday 14th August.
Dear Wall Street Journal, Dear Mr. Murray,
We were forwarded the attached advertisement with manipulated science displayed in a recent Wall Street Journal, and we would like to ask your help in rectifying the advertisement as continuing to promote beef consumption will cause tremendous damage to our planet.
This advertisement is based on questionable data, it is not credible, and contradicts data supported by the international scientific reports and data as presented by institutions like the FAO, UNEP and the IPCC (leading international data sources.)
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, for example, says:
Total emissions from global livestock: 7.1 Gigatonnes of Co2-equiv per year, representing 14.5 percent of all anthropogenic GHG emissions…Cattle (raised for both beef and milk, as well as for inedible outputs like manure and draft power) are the animal species responsible for the most emissions, representing about 65% of the livestock sector’s emissions…feed production and processing (this includes land use change) and enteric fermentation from ruminants are the two main sources of emissions, representing 45 and 39 percent of total emissions, respectively.
The US figures for livestock production are lower but typically do not include any emissions caused elsewhere, for example for the production of livestock feed, usually in South America, which are a key driver of greenhouse gas emissions.
Furthermore, switching to a plant-based diet could reduce your food-related emissions by up to 50%.
We just launched Diet Change Not Climate Change representing the facts accurately.
We would like to see a rectification of the advertisement as it’s unacceptable that a respectable media publication, such as the Wall Street Journal, participates actively in, and receives money for, distributing misleading data, accelerating the destruction of our planet.
We would prefer the Wall Street Journal to disassociate itself from the advertisement, and a confirmation it will not advertise such misleading data again.
We would be grateful if this message could be forwarded to the correct department within the WSJ.
Yours truly,
Jasmijn de Boo,
Vice President, ProVeg International
