A Defense of Meat Goes Too Far  By Helene York  Photo by
avlxyz/Flickr CC  Nicolette Niman, the marketing maven of Bill
Niman's independent ranching operations in Northern California,
environmental lawyer, activist, and author of Righteous
Porkchop, and contributor to the Food Channel, published a
balanced defense of meat in Saturday's New York Times. In it she
argued that meat shouldn't be demonized for its contribution to
global warming, because it isn't as potent a contributor as we
think. Not the pasture-raised stuff anyway.  There's truth in
her assertions, but I'm compelled to point out some
qualifications. Niman is clearly vexed by the one-note activists
whose goals are to promote vegan or vegetarian diets as the
"only option"--for climate change, moral/animal welfare
arguments, or both. As a partner in pasture-based systems, she
wants to draw a clear distinction between the environmental
record of industrially produced meat (and soy) versus other
systems. And there are many.  But Niman goes too far in