In his essay "A Modest Proposal," Jonathan Swift famously suggested that the Irish should eat their babies to reduce the country's endemic poverty. He was, of course, being ironic.
In its report "Paths to a Low-Carbon Future," issued last month, Greenpeace suggested that Australians eat kangaroos to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Greenpeace was perfectly serious.
The suggestion brought a chorus of outraged howls from environmental and animal rights groups. Greenpeace belatedly issued a retraction of sorts, but it seems that one point got lost in the fracas: Modern beef production emits huge amounts of methane, a contributor to climate change. It's hard to avoid the fact that eating fewer steaks would benefit the planet, no matter how you feel about tossing Skippy on the barbie.
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