i think that you should eat meat

dan , france,

I'm a FERVENT conservative, and thus am very offended by your assertions in this article. You should take the advice of the former speech writer for Bush, Matthew Scully, and take into account the moral, economic, and planetary damage influcted by consuming meat. CONSERVATIVE VEGETARIANS RULE!

Tom, DC, USA

Brilliant, you've managed to offend Vegetablist all over the world & as for Global Warming it's a joke. They just need another reason to make everyone scared & I guess telling everyone we're killing the earth would do it. But it really makes no difference if I eat a cow & the earth stops spinning.

Stefania , Chirnside , Aus

I'm so happy that someone has finally called the Global Warming bluff. Every pollution is having a heart attack over the ice melting. But my god; if the animals are coursing it, doesn't it make more sense to put them on our plate? Kill a cow, save the globe. Simple.

Stella , Melbourne , Australia

So.. what's wrong with being vegan or vegetarian? I mean the article is funny, a little informative, but really just oppinion.
People should really think about these things before they make these kinds of crude generalizations and jokes though, how much of a laughing matter is this exactly?

You poke fun at a person's identity if it's something arbitrary, like a book club, but you're making uniformed attacks against people, at least some of which have reasons for doing what they do. Operative word being "reason", or a logical standpoint. We can laugh at this level, but only assuming we have all been to a slaughterhouse, or that we do realize the projected estimates with climate change, and even then the laughing is done just to hide wincing.

Jake, St. Louis , US Missouri

Even though I know Jeremy is being witty and sarcastic, I find it hard not to agree with this idea. Gets rid of global warming and vegans in one single plan, it's brilliant.

Kevin, Dallas, Texas

There is a famous John Cleese quote, "If God didn't intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?" If I lived in Britain, I would post this quote all over some grass-munching liberal-democrat's house.

K. Ray, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA

If you fed them vegetarians, they would be full of hot air.. vegans are even worse...

Chantel, UK,

My ancestors scrambled their way to the top of the food chain, I cannot possibly let them down by attempting to slide all the way down...thanks Jeremy, for your part in protecting our genome...

Aarti Sethi, New Delhi, India

I don't care what any veggie nutter says. I am biologically deisgned to eat meat. And I do. Lots of it.

To quote the legend that is Maddox - "For every animal you don't eat, I'm going to eat three." And I'm going to enjoy every bite.

Nick, Northwich, UK

Its a crying shame when you think vegans just eat plain veggies. Oh how one can be so wrong. Its ok though, if you don't care about your children and their children, go right ahead and do what you know best, which is whole lot about nothing!

Sarah, Honolulu, Hawaii

Spot on Jeremy, spot on! The other day I met a person who said that if you really want and concentrate on it, you could live on air. He is very slim and he fast very often because he wants to reach that objective. He said that the air is full of nutrients and energy. We should be able to absorb the nutrients and the energy from the air. He is a vegan.

I wished him good luck but I told him that I am going the old traditional way.....all day breakfast, please....

GAETANO PELLEGRINI, Slough, England

Go to Windhoek, Namibia. A restaurant there is so full of zebra ostrich and alligator steak that mere chickens and tuna are listed as the vegetarian options. I recommend the gazelle.

Rob, Tokyo,

Actually, changing a cow's diet wouldn't help keep the grasslands. Perhaps what we ought to do is to genetically modify the cows to produce more carbon-rich manure and pure hydrogen gas, rather than CH4. Then we could have cow-powered cars, less politically incorrect emissions and nobody would have an excuse to whinge. Not that it would stop them, mind...

Andrew, Nottingham, UK

You people seem to fart a lot in public. It must be an Anglo-Saxon thing.

Joao Almeida, Manama, Bahrain

Jeremy you are a national treasure but you really should have a beard as you would be surprised at the meaty morsels that can be stored.

Bob, Plymouth, Devon

Good old Clarkson. He's one of the few writers who can make me laugh out loud. And with whom I agree 95 percent of the time, even though he can be a trifle vague with his facts. It's the sentiment that counts, right? I'm with him all the way on that.

Ken, Bangkok, Thailand

I'm fairly sure that Jeremy Clarkson did not intend this article was to be taken literally. As some of the comments have shown so well (Kathy from Canal Fulton), there is an amazing device within the English language that can be categorised as sarcasm. I don't think the suggestion of feeding vegetarians to cattle is meant to be taken seriously. The article is lost on anyone who replies to the suggestion of feeding humans to cows. It's like arguing against a guy that suggests feeding cows less grain will feed the world's poor. YOU JUST DON'T BOTHER!

Mark Woodsford, Blackpool, England

Couldn't agree more. Can we mince the earnest as well?

Dan, Sydney, australia

You know its a little sad that its easier to poke fun at someone who is actually trying to do something useful rather than adjust your own lifestyle. Being vegan isn't that hard. Eat your fruits and veggies. Cook lots of different dishes from around the world. Veganize the recipes you already have. Seriously folks, It's not a big deal.

Cathy, Canal Fulton,

Is it really necessary to display all these pious opinions on what is only a harmless bit of lefty-baiting?

David Marusza, Cardiff, Wales

I think every one needs to stop poking fun at each other and talking mass anounts of crap because that obviously does nothing. If you want to fix things then do so. Well come on now, tell us what will work. Give us divine knowledge on how it should be done, how can we save our Earth? ...I dont think anyone here knows what the hell they are talking about. so in the mean time why dont we grind up hummer drivers and big tobacco tycoons and feed THEM to the cows, and starving people of the world, and hey, I know a few Vegans who might want a bite too!

Temika, Sacramento, USA, CA

I totally agree with Matt Parkes from London ...but I suspect this Clarckson guy is just an act for publicity... he couldn't be for real...

Tony, Brisbane, Australia

Maybe we should put a tube in each cows nether region and us the methane to fuel our cities. Meat and fuel!!! We have solved the worlds problems.

hvykey, Detroit, USA/Michiban

MMMMMMM Potato milk....my, doesn't that sound delicious? It'll have them queueing up to turn vegan: no, you can't have foie gras or lobster any more but you can have a delicious glass of potato milk....

The thing to do, surely, is to recycle the vegans into cattle fodder when they die. They're into recycling, so they'd like that.

wlkrrch, London,

i think americans should really refrain from even bothering to try and read and understand good humour like that of Clarkson.

Rob, London,

Don't tell the vegans, but rice growing is a major source of methane. Do a quick Google search and find out how much.

Mike, Longmont, CO/USA

Oh, and one more thing. For the guy who says feeding cows less grain will benefit the hungry. Will not. Do your research. Cows are fed "cow corn." Cow corn is horrible. It tastes like poo. Would you eat poo? No, didn't think so. Oh but wait, you'll let the world's poor it it, won't you?

Nancy, Glens Falls, USA NY

Here in the northeastern US, cattle are feed grain and hay or silage, with grass being supplemented only in the warmer month (July). I rather like idea of feeding them vegans--can we include yuppies and neo-con--no wait, wouldn't want to spoil the milk or meat, would we?

I'm a meat and potatoes kind of gal, as we Yanks say. I'm an omnivore and proud of it.

Nancy, Glens Falls, USA NY

that American guy is really dull, cheers L from AZ

Ben, London,

Wow. What a revolutionary concept. Eat your vegetables, grains, legumes, and fruit so you can save the planet and perhaps save yourself from heart disease. What was EarthSave thinking? Clearly genetically manipulating cows to fart less is a much more reasonable solution.
(for anyone who is unsure, that was Sarcasm)

Cathy, Canal Fulton,

If cows reformed their eating habits I'm sure most right-thinking (should that be in inverted commas?) people would find them much more attractive; the cows would probably get more marriage proposals and eventually be integrated into mainstream society.

Of course another idea is to feed them cars....... and so the wheel keeps turning.

geoff holman, aberystwyth, ceredigion

"Cows eat grass. .that alone makes them windier than James May"
If only cows were eating the grasses they're intended to eat. Their 4-comp't stomachs enable them to efficiently digest a variety of gassess w/ a minimum of methane. Yet here in the good ol' USA (FACTORY FARMING haven to the world), they get a diet of antibiotics (essential to forced feeding of all-starch-no-roughage diets), hormone cocktails, oral/patch-applied pesticides, & corn-corn-corn. Why? Profit!
http://www.foodrevolution.org/grassfedbeef.htm
Educate yourself about RENDERING, which makes a soup out of downed/diseased/rejected cows/pigs/chickens, lard from restaurants, & carcasses (w/ flea collars, tag metals, euth drugs) of euth'd cats/dogs/bunnies/ferrets/etc. - converts the mixture into bone/blood meal, which also goes down the throats of cows. Brave new cannibalism - remembe BSE (mad cow disease)? Ecoli anyone? If you care, than dare-to-look. .& learn!
http://jivdaya.org/rendering_plants.htm

L, AZ, USA

look dear freshitarian got not heart attack, not loung cancer no brest cancer no diabities ofcourse more energy apart from very good strength... i think we are very well develop minded that we got machines... so good for vegatarian that less people are think of being a vegetarian

nilay, london,

Why can't we just breed cows that have one stomach? They won't need four anymore if we aren't lettting them eat grass. Maybe if we could get them to exist on a supermodel diet of coffee and fags they'd not only fart less and look sexier, but their meat would also have a delicious smokey flavour.

Yvonne, Twickenham, England

Eight days in a car with James May? You lucky *******!

Jenny Baldock, York, North Yorkshire

Eat a vegan? Sorry, far too bitter.

C Heathcote, Tonbridge,

Nice fishing Mr Clarkson, you seem to have a netful of Americans though and everyone knows how easy they are to hook.... How can a country that produced Hunter Thompson and P J O Rourke still not understand irony and wit when it stares them right in the eye? The sheer, unadulterated earnestness with which some posters critique "Columnists" is astounding. Read that again, "Columnists"... it is an opinion piece designed to amuse, if you want earnest, read the leading articles. Or the Independent...

CJ, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Its funny, people think that if they eat an orange or anything remotely good for them, they'll have dirreah for a day or two. Wrong. Number one, your body has an amazing ability to adjust to internal and external situations. 15 yrs eating animals foods everyday, and now I've been a vegan for a year. It just takes a little information..you just have to balance your diet, seriously, there's so many foods out there. Im not going to get angry, we used to think this planet was flat..and the first guy who suggested it was round was a crazy man! Of course oblishing animals foods completely MAY not happen, but at least cutting down could be a good path to help many issues.The changes needed to be done, is this Western hemisphere's ignorance, and the measure of how we take things for granted.Tree's don't produce all the O2 like commonly thought, its oceanic algae that produce around 70% + of the atmospheric O2, and very effiecently too. A very probable solution to balancing gases could be algae

Shane, Ottawa, Canada

Well, just as you can drive off a cliff laughing or with some apprehension, you can snigger about animal death and suffering or treat the matter seriously.

By the way, meat eaters may fart slightly less than vegetarians and vegans but the results can be far more putrescent and noxious. I know who I'd rather share a bus or train with.

Tim Turner, London, UK

Eric's article states:
"For those who worry about getting enough nutrients w/o eating raw vegetables & fruits. . . nutrient-dense animal foods contain concentrated nutrients because the animals spend their whole lives chowing down literally tons of fresh green grass & other plant matter. The result is meat /fat containing all the vitamins/minerals found in fresh produce, not only in more concentrated form, but. . . easy for us to digest."
Today's Factory farmed animals don't frolic & forage.
Cows/pigs/chickens are pumped full of hormones & corn w/ the specific intention of artificially & rapidly increasing their size to many times what they would ever "naturally" reach. Livestock are routinely slaughtered w/in their first 3 yrs., so don't spend their *whole* lives chowing down . . tons of fresh grass & other plant matter." Simply not accurate re: the majority of today's "farmed" animals.
Jeremy's humor aside, eat meat or don't, it's an imminent enviro & public health hazard

Lisa, Phoenix, USA

Vegetarians don't eat only vegetables: we also eat fruit, nuts, seeds, pasta, rice (and other grains), cheese, eggs, beans, tofu, Quorn (have you tried Quorn sausages?), etc. Delicious! And all capable of being turned into fantastic meals. I've been a complete vegetarian for nearly four years and was a semi-vegetarian for several years before that; I love my food but simply don't fancy meat any more; my daughter (age 9) has been a vegetarian since birth and is a picture of health and vitality. Eat meat if you want to, Jeremy, but don't denigrate people who have different tastes, especially if you haven't actually tried them yourself.

Garry Humphreys, London, England

Why is every celebrity having a pop at the vegetarian society? I turned veggie after getting a summer job working in a slaughter house during the summer break when I was in high school.

Also when you actually see how meat is mass produced then it will shock you. Chickens eating chicken brains.....and we wonder we they have the flu?

I have been a veggie for 7 years and I have never once said stop eating meat to my friends or family. I dont know any veggie who criticises meat eaters but all you meat eaters have suddenly started having a pop at us.

We are not more superior than animals as 'Anthony' from stoke-on-strent suggests. Just because tigers and polar bears dont speak English does not mean they are less significant than us, why not try and catch one (without guns and helicopters) and see how 'superior' you actually are!

I challenge everyone to read, the china study by T. colin campbell. It is brilliant. Protien diests only produce carcinoma's. Have a read.....I dare you

Matt Parkes, London, London

Vegetable lasagne is not too bad actually...

Big AL, Dubai desert, UAE

eric, is it possible that life expectancy depends on the wealth of a country and the consumption of meat also depends on wealth, rather than life expectancy depending on meat?

jem, london, uk

Dear All,

The research EarthSave's comments are based upon actually came from a report put out by the United Nation's Food & Agriculture Organization. The Report, titled "Livestock's Long Shadow" was released in November 2006. It concluded that 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions came from the livestock industry. It also stated that the environmental destruction from livestock was so great, that addressing it should be one of the top 2 - 3 enviornmental policies for all governments worldwide.

Geophycisists at the University of Chicago also reached a similar conclusion when they found that by going vegan for a year, you would reduce 50% more emissions than driving a Toyota Prius.

Regarding the health benefits of being vegan or vegetarian, the American Dietetics Association and the Dietitians of Canada have put out a position paper on Vegan and Vegetarian Diets. Reviewing the scientific, peer reviewed research, they found the diets are sound.

Susan, San Jose, California

There's somethings that need to be said. If, for instance, we were to talk, on a purely environmental base, about the fact that eating meat versus veggies is better, we would need to consider a few things. Without knowing the precise percentage of the world population living in a climate that cannot sustain agricultural activity for a whole year, one has to consider the price to pay to bring food to those people. I know for a fact that spinach, oranges and others do not grow in winter (in the northern part of the planet at least). So, we do import that food from southern places. Just imagine the cost of fuel to bring those fruit and vegetables to your table. IMMENSE!! Cow, chicken and pigs eat what is grown in the summer then fed to them in the winter. The transportation of this food is not in the same league as the one used to bring you your broccoli in the winter. Some might say that it can be grown in a greenhouse but then, 8 hours of light in the winter , you need to compensate.

Uni Daspare, Montreal, Canada

There's a hell of a lot of ground between eating no meat at all and the large quantities that some people consume at the moment.
I eat very little meat, in part because I have lost confidence in the meat industry to produce a healthy product, but also because the 'eat meat' adverts put me off.

Alan Lawrence, Southampton, Hampshire

Jeremy,You might want to check with Dave Barry,columnist for the Miami Herald,he's done a lot of reporting on exploding cows.

ron, toronto,

I'm afraid that I'm missing the argument from some vegetarians/vegans, that eating more vegetables will help to reduce methane. Certainly, if there are less cows, they will produce less methane, but cows are vegetarians, so the methane will be produced by all of the new human vegetarians, or does the digestion of vegetables have different side effects?

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

If eating a healthy, compassionate, plant-based vegan diet makes me a squirrel, then I'm proud of it.

"squirrel?", edmonton,

My goodness Jeremy, you're a sucker for punishment ! You know very well that all these green eating people will be seething and would like to put you in the slammer, for ever !
You are quite correct in what you write, but unfortunately most of the people who are green, are predjudiced, and kill joys as well, which makes them very happy. Your never ending hurtful jollity makes most of us laugh, but my God, I bet they hate you. !

Phil de Buquet, Newport, England

Jeremy I agree with you on the veggie thing nature endowed us with the abilty to rise above the animals by giving us the skills to kill and eat them.

Evolution has reduced the appendix to the size it is because we need the protein and the enjoyment of tucking into a steak anyone who denies this is obviously flying in the face of all the natural evidence and should thus be classed as mentally defective and used for medical experiments.

If the these ecomentallists are so keen on saving the enviroment they would shut the **** up so they reduce the amount of co2 they produce or throw themselves in to the furnaces to generate electricity so I can watch top gear.

anthony, Stoke-on-trent, england

Vegan/vegetarian diet are really healthy? I don't think so.
Check it out why not:
http://www.westonaprice.org/bookreviews/fiber-menace.html

Eric, Araucaria, Brazil/Parana

Personally I don't care for the flavor of vegans and you have to cook them for such a long time for tenderness.

Sassysue, Long Beach, California

Jeremy and everyone,check out the countries which diet is major or completely vegetarian and saw the life expetancy and hdi of this countries and compare the countries they have major meat-based. In life expetancy, Japan is first, a country very, very far to be considered vegetarian.
For hdi, check this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index

Eric, Araucaria, Brazil/Parana

I must admit that I am truly, truly saddened by the nearly complete lack of anything approaching a sense of humor in so many of the posters. Apparently, vegan diets are disabling that part of people's brains. Seriously, people, lighten up a bit.

Secondly, I whole-heartedly disagree about statements suggesting that a vegan diet is healthier. I've tried eating vegie only meals, and not only did I spend an insufferable amount of time on the toilet afterwards, I had less energy as well. Not to mention that I was hungry again a short time later. So there goes the idea that we'd have more food if we all switched. Sure, we wouldn't have to feed the animals, but all us meat-eaters would be eating 17 meals a day just to feel full and keep our energy up. I don't know about you, but I have better things to do than sit around chewing cud.

Mephisto, St. Louis, MO

Mr Clarkson said - "Now of course if you don’t like the taste of meat, then it’s perfectly reasonable to become a vegetablist. It’s why people who don’t like, say, John Prescott become Conservatives. But becoming a vegan? Short of being paraded on the internet while wearing a fluffy pink tutu, I can think of nothing I’d like less."

You summed me up in that paragraph Mr Clarkson. Only reason I don't eat meat is because I don't like the taste. But to live a life without milk and cheese sandwiches and chocolate, well, that would be like hell on earth!!

Big Love to you Mr Clarkson. xx <3

Sarah Williamson, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Not just "preserve the English countrysid", spread it to middleast deserts, how about that???Great idea??

Gopikrishnan, Dubai,

"Cows eat grass. .that alone makes them windier than James May"
If only cows were eating the grasses they're intended to eat. Their 4-comp't stomachs enable them to efficiently digest a variety of gassess w/ a minimum of methane. Yet here in the good ol' USA (FACTORY FARMING haven to the world), they get a diet of antibiotics (essential to forced feeding of all-starch-no-roughage diets), hormone cocktails, oral/patch-applied pesticides, & corn-corn-corn. Why? Profit!
http://www.foodrevolution.org/grassfedbeef.htm
Educate yourself about RENDERING, which makes a soup out of downed/diseased/rejected cows/pigs/chickens, lard from restaurants, & carcasses (w/ flea collars, tag metals, euth drugs) of euth'd cats/dogs/bunnies/ferrets/etc. - converts the mixture into bone/blood meal, which also goes down the throats of cows. Brave new cannibalism - remembe BSE (mad cow disease)? Ecoli anyone? If you care, than dare-to-look. .& learn!
http://jivdaya.org/rendering_plants.htm

L, AZ, USA

This column and many of the comments posted here are fairly innacurate. The fact is that if people did not eat animals, there would be much more food for everyone, including the millions who are starving on this planet. Why? If you stop feeding livestock grains and other veggies like corn (which by the way, is what most factory farmed cows eat. It makes them sick, which is why they have to be pumped full of antibiotics, and may contribute to their methane problem.), then you cut out the middle man, or animal, as it were. It takes about 16 pounds of grain to make one pound of meat. So bypassing the cow, means more food for humans and less methane gas (since there's no cow in this equation). The British government recently stated that eating a vegan diet does more to curb greenhouse gasses than just about anything else 1 person could do. Cutting down on meat is good for us all.

David, Los Angeles, USA

Being a meat eater is just plain selfish..it only revolves around your own taste buds and not what is good for your body or the enviroment...not much different than thinking pumping oil for your OIL Company is good for the whole of humanity.....start thinking about the whole of the earth and your children and the future and you will make better choices

A, calgary,

Loved the humor and sensible nature of your article. Funny how these inconvenient-truth-believing-holier-than-thou blue noses are so much like temperance union Calvinist protestant teetotalers, all, in effect, buttoned up with their tight collars and laced corsets, glaring down at all the "irresponsible" people having fun and enjoying delicious feasts. You said "eat the vegans"; it's funny, but in all these environmentalist's "unquestionable certainty" and "100% scientific consensus," they remind me of 18th century missionaries, thinking it was their mandate to bring "the Lord" to the South Pacific Polynesians to save them from their life of naked savagery, free love, and imagined cannibalism. I'm really not quite sure why, but it seems that every era needs to be burdened by some society of intolerants who make it their business to put limits on the activities of everybody else. The false, distorted manipulation that they think is a science is merely this group's "Holy writ".

Tom Osborne, Los Angeles, California

Jeremy never fails to make me laugh, but it's always frustrating that in the name of humour factual accuracy and logic is lost.

I don't wish to embark upon a rant about how everyone should go vegan and only wear hemp forevermore, neither am I about to bury my teeth in some raw bloody steak to prove I'm not an 'effing hippy'... However, I do reccomend a touch of the middle ground, the shades of grey instead of the usual black-white conundrum.

Maybe you'd advocate cutting down on meat without having to forgoe it?

Of course, I understand there's no sweeping statement of personality in being rational, it's just not self serving, after all it's only funny to be extreme - but some readers short of a few opinions of their own actually take your humour as gospel - and that's not helping anybody, except your ratings.

Keep up the good work, but make mention of the truth eh Jezzer?!

Rebecca Vegan, Manchester,

if god hadn't wanted us to eat meat substitutes, he wouldn't have made them taste so good.

I feel the real problem here is that poor jemmers doesn't have much imagination when it comes to food. there is a bit more to the veggie diet than caulis and leek. given a personal cook, he'd no doubt be happy. and with the health and clear conscience benefits, he could devote more time to being mean to the french. then he'd just a need a decent haircut. keep up, jeremy... when you get a vegan from germany joking about nutmilk, you know the game's up.

deep down, everyone knows climate changes according to a natural cycle. people take jets to get to warmer places, so the world heats up, so they don't need to travel, leading to cooling... and so on. er... I think. anyway....

meanwhile, eating animals is inefficient and cruel. and there is no way shawn's ancestors were ever at the top of any food chain.

jem, london, uk

As a vegan I guess I feel some need to raise to the bait (carrot?) of this article. It is true that cattle are a huge environmental problem. Putting aside methane, cattle production is responsible for a huge amount of land-clearing/degradation (much land clearing is either for directly to raise cattle or to indirectly to raise crops to feed cattle). I don't mind people saying they can't live without their daily meat fix, but it's disingenuous to disagree with the facts. Perhaps it's worth remembering that our daily meat fix is a relatively recent phenomenon: people were largely vegetarian only a couple hundred years ago. The mass production of cattle is a recent phenomenon.

I find it somewhat amusing/ironic that an Englishman would be worried about only having to eat cauliflower as a vegan. Lots of cuisines around the world offer many vegan choices: try Italian, Greek, or Asian. I have even some very nice vegan dishes from the classic English curry house over the years.

patrick wilken, magdeburg, germany

It really seems that most of the posters here do not actually understand what the column is about, why it is written, how debate is stimulated or what humour is. But then most are American.

A totally vegan diet would certainly have the major benefit of making ones lifetime feel much longer.

Keep challenging Jeremy

Alex, London, England

Joel Dignam, Thanks mate for given me just one more reason for avoiding Adelaide kike the plague

Steve , Sunshine Coast, Australia

Looks like mankind's advancement is impossible without global warming. We're all here for a reason. Environmentalists do their bit by demanding more efficient technologies. They drag us back to the stone age when in fact they ensure our quick development. Now everyone go back to work and stop being selfish, hateful and stupid.

Vlad, Sofia, Bulgaria

But, but, I don't WANT to eat a vegan! They're all stringy, and I bet they have lost of gristle! Ewww!

Psst, Mr Burgess, I'm a greenie (not a veggie, though, I think especially veganism is totally unnatural, and I only know extremely unhealthy, pale looking vegans).

starling, Lancaster,

Amusing article with some good points as always Mr Clarkson!

Two points for the vegetable munching brigade to consider:

1) Rice production currently accounts for approximately 13 percent of global methane emissions. The rice paddies contain methane producing bacteria.

2) Much farmland given over to meat production is wholly unsuitable for cereal/vegetable crops. I don't think you're going to see combine harvesters going up hills in Wales for example.

Pete, Bristol, Engalnd

Mike from NY
I disagree with you. What have you got to say about that?
No one argues climate change? Rubbish.
The main influence on our climate is the big orange thing in the sky. Let's hope it stays nice and warm so that we can avoid another ice-age in 40,000 years or so.

Mark H, Lausanne , Switzerland

I reckon if we hung up the vegans to dry for a few days and then grind them up into feed the cows probably would enjoy them, with all that lettuce the veggies eat they probably taste like grass.
Here in France Vegans are almost inexistant (thank god) so how do we feed our cows, should we breed English vegans in "vegan farms" to feed them to our cattle?

John-Paul, Mondeville, France

Another belter from Jezza! I cannot believe that people are taking him seriously! More fool them!!!

Mike Rigby, Leicester, UK

Mr. Clarkson, it is shameful how amazingly uninformed and arrogant you are. I understand your job is to write ridiculous columns so people will read them, but you can still do that while being informed. Your "reporting" of EarthSave's positions is entirely incorrect, and you clearly don't understand the issues involved in the environmental, or even diet, debates.

Dave, Chicago, IL, USA

Your arrogance about his arrogance bothers me. I don'e like it.

Marc, Cardo, MT

To Geoff Russell.

You may, or may not know that Clarkson is a humourist, NOT a Scientific Journalist. You missed the point by such a wide margin. It does prove one generalisation, everything that comes from Adelaide is boring and pointless.

Michael Holloway, Sydney, Australia/ NSW

Ha ha - the veggie, tree hugger, greenies have little or no sense of humour - I'm surprised they are not all in 'psychotherapy'. Lighten up, have a laugh and eat a hot dog - go on, you know it makes sense.

Ian Burgess, Bristol,

So now it's aerosols helping keep the planet cool and Angus and Jersey cattle heating it ??

Just an udder day in crazy enviro la-la land. Save my sanity, eat a Greeny Group.

Justin, Wuhan, China

If we stopped eating animal products all together to "save the animals" and thus no longer needing domesticated cows, pigs, etc. What would become of those species, to be honest I really believe that farmed pig, cattle, etc, are all a pseud-endangered species, in that if the demand for them as a food product was no longer, they as a species would no longer exist, since they only exist on farms.

rob fussell, huntsville, alabama

The food available for people that choose not to eat meat is far beyond your assumed experience it seems (why people choose to write about things they know nothing of is beyond me... and it makes them look rather silly, and frankly, dumb).

No one is arguing climate change: it's happening and everyone agrees. What people are arguing is whether or not it's due to industrialization. Leading reports suggest that man is the cause of the exponential changes dawning exactly with the onset of the industrial age. Not eating meat is just one thing we could do in an attempt to stall our additions to the current changes in our climate, not to mention the plethora of health benefits of not eating meat, especially in the form that most American's eat.

And lastly, to just throw your hands in the air and say "bah, there's nothing we can do anyway" is exactly the kind of lazy, greedy drivel that creates these messes in the first place. The world would be a better place without people like that in it.

Mike, New York, NY

I'm a vegan from Germany and I found this article amusing. What Jeremy (which I remember from my time in The Netherlands where BBC is in the standard cable package) forgets however is that most plants grown today are fed to animals. A vegan nation would require about a third of the land that is used today, so to go totally vegan does not only help the climate, but on the other two thirds freed farm land, biomass for energy production could be grown. So no more fossils... And as for the diet itself, the mistake Jeremy is making is very common. In fact, the vegan diet is much richer with a great variety of over 30.000 eatable plants and other vegan foods. It's just that people don't know about it. Just look for example at the milks we have. There is soymilk, ricemilk, nutmilks (nothing naughty), oatmilk, cocomilk and even potatomilk which I haven't tried yet as that is just available in the U.S. But it's very common for people to just see the hole on their plate when thinking vegan food.

Anna Schwerdtfeger, Berlin, Germany

I knew it! Cows have always been the major contributor to the methane problem. But consider this; Cows eat grass and not much else, and that alone makes them windier than James May? So why are we all encouraged to turn veggie? After living on a diet of vegetables and pulses some years back for an experiement, I know what it is like to be a social hermit! The gasses eminating from my direction were neither fragrant nor gentle on the environment. The answer is a chemical one. Eat like Dr Atkins says and you get smelly feet and breath. Eat a vegetarian diet and lose all your friends. Balance, That's what's needed. As long as you eat a whole head of broccoli with your pound of Sirloin you digestive system will thank you for it, and so will the ozone layer!

Life On Mars, Honsea, East Yorkshire

if god did not want you to eat meat he would not have made it taste so nice

rob street, gold coast, aus

I'm sick of hearing how great a vegetarian diet is. If we all moved to a vegan life style more stress would be put on current farmland and to relieve it. The continued destruction of whole ecosystems would result, all to feed the masses. This has already caused the local extinction of many animals. In short we all have blood on our hands and vegans who think they don't have no clue where their food comes from.

(My ancestors did not claw their way to the top of the food chain for me to become a vegetarian.)

Shawn, St. Paul, USA / Minnesota

This is a strange thing. Cows are vegetarians and the methane they are farting is warming the planet . So, in fact we need to forbidden peoples to be vegetarians, because a veg diet is worst than a meat-based diet, considering the question of warming of planet Earth(a stupid thing, which are costing hundreds of billions of dollars and at max 70 years, will have a mini-ace age and AL Gore will be in your grave, laughing of us and his descendants, very, very rich, because Mr. Gore invest your fortune in renewable energy).

Eric, Araucária, Brazil/Paraná

It is not a matter of black or white but instead the shifting of preferences towards a more healthy lifestyle, we could eat vegan during working days, because meat is no good anyway and causes a slowing and sleepy digestion, and enjoy a steak or chicken on the weekend, that way we could have a cleaner working atmosphere.

Enrique, La Paz, Bolivia

So Mr. Clarkson, England would look like Saskatchewan after about three weeks. Would that be like the northern half of the province with all the trees and lakes or the southern part with the rolling prairie and Cypress Hills?

John Corkery, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

O.K. Everyone stops eating meat, no more meat animals that eat plants and fart methane.
So, everyone eats bushes, and all 5 - 6 billion people start farting methane.

So? What's the difference??

LameBear, Small Town, WY

Next thing you know, oxygen will be declared a pollutant. Because breathing makes you grow old and die. Never mind what not breathing does to you, we have a scientific consensus, with charts and graphs and stuff.

Climates change. There is no one perfect mix of atmospheric gases that will turn the whole world into a fertile utopia, or even bring the weather under our direct control. All the greens are going to do is starve thousands, maybe millions, of people to death over climate changes that the entire human race, working together, couldn't do a single damn thing to prevent, let alone cause.

Tatterdemalian , Slapout, AL

I strongly disagree with two points made in this article:

1) The facts of this "new" theory...

It has been known for a very long time that methane is far more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Any "new" research into this was a waste of time and money. Oh, and those aerosols that 'cool' the planet? What are they, how do they do it, and what is the environmental impact? Are they toxic? Are they therefore a viable 'temporary solution?' These are important questions I would ask right away (which are not addressed at all here).

2) ...farm animals are doing more damage as a result...

Simply not true. Just because methane is more potent as a GHG, doesn't mean it contributes more to the greenhouse effect; CO2 is more abundant by far and contributes much more than methane to the greenhouse effect.

Get your facts straight before writing any more articles, Mr. Clarkson.

Eddie, Bloomington, USA/IN

typical 'how stupid that must be to think cows are causing global warming!'. listen, i'm not a vegan, but you're an idiot if you don't think it adds up that billions of these huge animals are doing this every day. not to mention people suffer and die from starvation which would be inexistant if we instead focused on grains rather than meat. also not to mention several ancient and modern religious texts which describe abstaining from meat as a method to attain spiritual purity. yeah, i do enjoy meat, i probably won't stop, but i'm not going to sit here and let you say stupid things like 'save the world, eat a vegan' and act like you're funny or correct over it.

Matt, Coram, NY

As a vegan, I feel this author is very misinformed. Not eating animal products is nothing outlandish, especially with all the cruelty-free alternatives available today.

Perhaps next time the author could do so much as a Google Search, to find out if their statements are even remotely accurate.

Courtney Babcock, East Lyme, USA, CT

Like this one, Jeremy. I assume it will end up in your next book?

As for farting cows being bad for the planet. Complete and utter dross, coughed up by an eco-zealot without a clue. Some of the biggest sources of methane are termites and bogs, and rumminants have been around in abundance long before humans appeared without the planet overheating.

Upon release Methane slowly oxidises to water and carbon-dioxyde. The carbon atoms in those farts were previously in the grass that the cow ate, grass which grew by absorbing the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Ed Zuiderwijk, Cambridge, UK

nice to see he cites all his sources and evidence; this guy isn't an actual climatologist or any sort of scientist. why does he think he is qualified?

Edd, Tunbridge wells, UK

As you point out a vegan diet would help our global warming situation. However a vegan lifestyle has huge (probably the best) health benefits, as well as having the bonus of not falling into speciesism and the torture of non-human animals. If you 'need' to eat meat, try alternatives as the person above has suggested. However the idea of pumping MORE hormones and chemicals into livestock (which ultimately will come out in the milk and go into you) is insane, inhumane and unnecessary.

Nicola, Wiltshire,

Although methane lasts less long in the atmosphere, in the short term it is far more damaging. Therefore, while reducing Carbon Dioxide levels is necessary, it's the long-term solution. In the short term, we should do what we can to limit the amount of methane being produced.

It's interesting that you mock this argument, yet fail to set up any serious criticism rather than your own wit. Even becoming a vegetarian would be a significant step in terms of reducing the amount of methane entering the atmosphere, being a vegan is simply going one better.

The land which would become available if this lifestyle was more widespread could be used to grow crops such as the soya bean, which is a far more energy efficient source of sustenance.

Joel Dignam, Adelaide, Australia

Somehow, I knew the post about vegetarian mock-meat came from a Malaysian long before I got to the end. I second SD Goh, lol!

There is a solution, and it lies in the Malaysian Vegetarian Restaurants where you can order a hamburger and save the world at the same time.

YJ Tan, PJ, Malaysia

I havent looked at the study, but it seems to me that the animals would not be adding any carbon to the atmosphere - since they eat plants which pulled carbon out of the atmosphere when they grew. Its not like the cows are eating petroleum coming out of the ground and putting carbon in the air.

Alex, slc, UT, USA

mw in Hong Kong: The greenhouse effect is real, it's the reason we exist. If it wasn't real, temperatures would be about 80C colder.

Jez: I think we can now safely say you've not quite grasped the science. Entertaining read though!

Andy G, Manchester, UK

In your heart, Mr. Clarkson, I believe you desire a better world; for yourself, and for the generations to come, including those of your family. It has been proven beyond question that a vegan diet is compassionate, healthy, and better for the environment. It is the sane, responsible choice when it comes to eating. Meat-eating, on the other hand, does not contribute to the creation of a better world. Those who consume animal products are directly responsible for the cruelty inflicted on the animals, and for contributing to an unsustainably high level of destruction to our one and only planet Earth.

I enjoy watching Top Gear. I'm rather disgusted, however, to read this irresponsible, misinformed, ill-conceived diatribe. For your sake, and for everyone else's, please think, speak, and write more carefully. Please use your talents and your notoriety to heal our world.

Sincere thanks,
Loren Hart

Loren Hart, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Hi Jeremy
Great article and you're right. Manmade made CO2 isn't the problem . The biggest problem is water vapour which accounts for nearly 80% of greenhouse gases, so maybe what we need is a great big pair of sunglasses for the planet to keep out the pesky sun. Apart from that, global warming ha occurred many times in the past and has only ever lead to greater prosperity and abundance of food. Even the Polar bears loved it the last time otherwise they would have been extinct centuries ago. Personally I think the uk could do with a few extra degrees then we can get back to making wine in Yorkshire just like the Romans did. Their Carbon emissions must have horrendous, what with all those horse drawn charriots belching out methane!

a bientot
Max Ashton
Savoie, France

Max Ashton, Lescheraines, France

Are you hoping all the veggies/vegans will write in in droves because you've upset them all? Well as a veggie I agree with you about most of this - but feeding me to a cow won't help. They're not carnivorous for a start and I'm no more healthy, full of goodness and calcium rich than you are. A Vegan/Vegetarian diet won't save the planet it will turn it into a desert. The world has heated up and cooled down since it first formed and there's nothing me, you or anyone/anything else can do about it.

Jan , London ,

I've just finished a week on a vegan diet. It was the longest, most depressing week of my life (oh there was no caffeine or alcohol either). Constantly hungry and depressed, I almost lost the will to live. Also, given that I was theoretically eating a fraction of what I could before, it was vastly more expensive. Three times the normal price, to buy a bag of pasta apparently made from tree-bark and spit.

Pork pie anyone?

Suzie, Cornwall, England

I'm intrigued by the so called scientific and logical reasonings in your write-up that to save our planet we should turn into strict vegan , b'cos our cows and buffalos fart too much and pollute our environment. So keep away from all farm products, no more milk, or cheese or even eggs and poultry , or chicken tikkas anc curries etc. if someone comes up with the idea of chickens and eggs spouting off. It's tough to buy out this argument, my bowels don't chew up .As a matter of fact more than half of our Indian society believes in strict and pure vegetarianism, where even garlic and onion are abstained off from their puritanical diet. Going by the logic, India should be saved of its green house effect and global warming. On the contrary , the changes in the climate and its uncertainity , even freak weather conditions are now noticeable.Eating beef is nothing short of a sin in our society.Emission of industrial gases, fossilised fuels, ozone depletion etc need to be put under control.

Sandy, New Delhi, India

Non-meat should never pretend to be meat. Seriously.

bill, Minneapolis, usa

How about putting the cows in a nice big shed and sucking the methane out with a fan. Methane burns real well - you might be able to run your car on it with a bit of tinkering. Everyone's happy.

Redcliffe, London,

Much of what Clarkson has to say I agree with. Its his arrogance I dont.

Michael, London,

When we're going to start battling nature and natural processes, we're way off, simple as that.
The cow eating the grass is something that would've happened with or without man (Without the cows would probably have been bigger though) so... Well... Don't.

Soon enough we're going to try to block out the sun because it gives alot of people cancer... That'll be great.............

Richard Slade, Ystad, Sweden

Does "Meltwater pulse 1A" mean anything to you? You could try
reading some scientific journals, but Wikipedia might be more your
style. Sea level rises of 1m every 20 years for about 400 years. That
period of warming was intiated by the Sun --- about 1/4 watt/sq meter
is the difference due to changes in the earths orbit which caused us
to enter and leave ice ages.

We are currently causing an imbalance of about 1.5 watts/sq
meter over the surface of the planet, which is why scientists who
actually know about Meltwater pulse 1A (or any other of
the rapid warmings that have occured in the past 1/2 million
years) aren't laughing.

I suggest you read Fred Pearce's book "With Speed and Violence".

Pearce is a science journalist with New Scientist. I am hoping
that he will produce a cartoon version of the book suitable for
for motoring journalists.

P.S. Very little methane come from the back end of cattle --- it
comes from the front.

Geoff Russell, Adelaide, Australia

To start off .. i do not believe in green house effect .. but just for your information ... methane decompose in the atmosphere at a rate much faster than carbon dioxide .. (something like less than 30 days) .. whereas carbon dioxide takes millions of yrs to decompose .. therefore must scientist only focus on eliminating carbon dioxide .. rather than the NOx and SOx alternatives. Personally i think designing a way to kill cow farts is a stupid waste of time and money .. since it would decompose itself anyway ..

mw, Hong Kong,

Jeremy, the ingenious Chinese chefs of the vegetarian restaurants here now sprouting all over the place and elsewhere in East Asia like wild lingzhi mushrooms, have found a way of weaning diehards carnivores like yourself from a meat-based diet to a vegetarian one, in line with the philosophy (religious belief apart) that abjuring meat will make us less carnal and aggressive.They have done this by replacing meat/fish items with mock ones made mainly from textured veg (soya) protein which is so convincing in its verisimilitude that it can fool even a veteran gastronome! Mock duck/chic drumstick, mock fish steak, mock pork cutlet etc. (A skeptic will say, why this mockery and illusion, you either eat the real thing or not at all! ) Their wide range and choice of dishes can satisfy even the most jaded palate and believe you me, once you have tasted them you will not miss the original, though, in my case, the occasional craving for roast beef and Yorkshire pudding is, well, hard to resist!

SD Goh, PJ, MALAYSIA

Jeremy,

You sound like you're starting to believe that global warming is something mankind is either responsible for or can control.

Secondly, don't grey squirrels eat fledgling birds from the nest? That hardly makes then vegan.

Mark McGiffin, Singapore, Singapore