The Harvard Crimson :: Opinion :: Al Gore’s Inconvenient Diet

“The rule of reason,” Al Gore ’69 declared to a packed Tercentenary Theater a Wednesday, “must dictate our actions towards the environment.” His speech pushed this theme, urging listeners to take drastic actions now for “the survival of our human civilization.”

As the world faces the existential threat of climate change, the former Vice President has embarked on an admirable quest to reform carbon-heavy habits. Yet despite his talk of making inconvenient choices, Mr. Gore continues to indulge in one of the most environmentally irrational habits of all: eating meat.
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Mr. Gore, a Prius driver, spoke at length on Wednesday about achieving energy independence. But one third of America’s fossil fuel consumption is used solely to raise animals for meat, according to the estimate of E, an environmental magazine.

Moreover, factory farms emit large quantities of methane and nitrous oxide—pollutants with, respectively, 23 times and 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. That’s why the organizers of the Live Earth concerts—at which Mr. Gore spoke—wrote in the Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook that “refusing meat” is “the single most effective thing you can do to reduce global warming.”

T. Boone and Al Gore do lunch in New York

A large portion of the afternoon was devoted to Boone and Evan discussing the Pickens Plan for domestic energy. Boone has picked up new friends with his bipartisan plan and said he just had lunch in Al Gore's New York hotel suite.

"If you ever eat with Al Gore, let him order," Boone said. "I just said, 'I'll have whatever you're having,' and it was a cheeseburger and fries. I won't order a cheeseburger, but I sure will eat one."