Pirate's Cove

Considering the state of Italy’s economy, how they’re being inundated with refugees and Islamists, organized crime and corruption, a divide between the north and south, and heck, even their treatment of women, I’d think that this would be one of the last things Italians would be concerned about

(Newsweek) The announcement last week that Turin—the industrial core of meat-loving Italy—will be making moves toward vegetarianism was met with some groans. According to The Guardian, the meat-reduction agenda introduced by the city’s new mayor, Chiara Appendino, drew complaints of nanny-stateism; one disgruntled Tweeter mocked the proposal, writing: “If you disobey [the mayor’s agenda] in Turin you’ll go to bed without dinner.”

Yeah, people are pretty pissed off. You can make Italian dishes without meat, but, really, you are going to find some type of sausage, beef, pork, or seafood in most.

But it’s growing increasingly impossible to ignore how our carnivorous preferences are tangled up in the fate of the planet. Agriculture and food production currently account for about a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, 80 percent of which are livestock-related, according to new research from the Oxford Martin School. The study modeled four different global scenarios to predict how those numbers might alter by the year 2050: in one, consumption and production continued at the current rate; another predicted the outcome of adherence to global dietary guidelines, which limit red meat, sugar, and total calories while emphasizing fruit and vegetable intake; the last two modeled the impact of strict vegetarian and vegan diets.

You first, Warmists, you first

That will, undeniably, require instigating a societal sea change. And if we follow the logic that the biggest shifts must happen gradually, the pushback against Appendino’s leap to vegetarianism is understandable. However, Barcelona, as our sister site CityLab Latino recently reported, is dealing a softer blow by declaring itself “veg friendly” and a “friend of vegan and vegetarian culture.” While shying away from a prescriptivist approach to diet, Barcelona will work to establish itself as a convener of information about the meat-free lifestyle: a new meeting space, BCN Veg Point, will bring consumers and entrepreneurs together in discussion, and the city will launch a new app and guide to the local vegan and vegetarian hotspots.

In other words, government force and Nannystatism is required. Funny how this issue always comes around to increased governmental power.