IS THAT A FACT?
This week's Cranky Monday Re-run is from January 2012
What is a fact? A fact is an assertion or statement that has yet to be disproved. Experts love to use facts to motivate people to accepting their ideas. People accept their “facts” and so they become…er…ah fact!
Here is a good one:
The Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) recently published Meat Eater’s Guide points out that if you ate one less burger a week it would be the environmentally-positive equivalent of taking your car off the road for 320 miles.
It must be true because a “working group” said it; but being a cranky old man I have to ask…Wha…Wha…Wha…WHAT?
I guess since hamburgers come from cattle, and cattle eat grass, and grass converts CO2 into Oxygen, and cattle fart methane, then eating hamburgers requires environmental-negative cattle. Still, I question this “fact”.
Did these experts really find a way to equate one hamburger a week into a number of cattle that if removed from the environment would reduce environmental destruction by virtue of less methane and more oxygen the equivalent of driving a car 320 miles?
RT- Am I the only one that misspells a word so badly that Microsoft Word offers no suggestions?
Is that car a Prius or a Lexus? What size burger? Is it a .99 Mickey Dee burger, or a big old ½ pounder? What am I eating instead of the burger? If I eat broccoli, wouldn’t that reduce oxygen replacing plants? Trust me, it would certainly increase methane!
Do I really have to feel guilty about destroying the environment because I eat a freaking hamburger?
Did you know that if we were to remove one Environmental Working Group Member from the earth it would be the environmentally -positive equivalent of growing one half acre of alfalfa?
That’s a fact!
One less hamburger than how many? I don't eat hamburgers or drive so I guess I'm environmentally friendly to the tune of 640 miles a year - I wonder if I can claim a rebate?
ReplyDeleteOne thing I learned while I was still working is that young people who are really committed to keeping the environment safe for humans (because that's really what's at stake) learn some kind of mathematical formula by which they can quantify the effects of EVERYTHING. These calculations are usually referred to as the "carbon footprint" of a person or thing If that working group is anything like the students I met, they could tell you exactly which make and model car they meant. but anyone reporting on their activities will zone out and just say "a car." As for the hamburger, I don't even like to think about the agricultural practices that make it worrisome; I like to pretend that any burger I eat was created by meat fairies.
ReplyDeleteThe last part of this post is factual. The first part is a pile of poop. When environmentalists open their mouths you know you're about to hear a lie. Kind of like politicians.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. :)
I am not a fan of burgers. Now that is a fact.
ReplyDeleteI always thought an assertion yet to be proven was a theory. A fact is something that's verifiable from multiple sources. I know many people who confuse opinions for facts.
ReplyDelete"Lies, damn lies, and statistics."
ReplyDeleteAs I see it, for every hamburger I eat, I'm removing (at least part of) a cow and all it's farts from our endangered ecosystem. As a "thank you" you'd think the Environmental Working Group would at least throw in the fries. ;)
S
You're cranky today, says Badge 714's fact checker.
ReplyDeleteHow do they know how often a cow farts--do they make them report each time? Please pass the catsup!! (Spellcheck suggested I use "cat suit".)
ReplyDeleteUm, if you eat that burger the some level of cow flatulence stops. If you don't that translates to another decade or more of flatulence that could have been prevented by the selfless act of eating just one more burger. just think how much one could save by eating two extra burgers.
ReplyDeleteThe more you know ....
Well, gosh. I suppose next thing you know, we'll find out that all the electricity needed to charge those tiny cars over and over to travel 30 miles at a time comes from the electricity fairy, and not from nuclear and coal-burning power plants.
ReplyDeleteA half-acre of alfalfa per person? Or is that dependent on the size of Environmental Working Group Member?
ReplyDeleteWould the removal of a larger person result in more alfalfa?
It is my goal in life to never voluntarily associate with anyone who says "carbon footprint". By the way, methane emissions by cows outweigh whatever environmental savings can be made by eliminating coal, so I say if we want to save the planet we should eat burgers every night until all the cows are dead and then we can drive coal-powered cars.
ReplyDelete