Some people on Twitter have beef with Bill Gates again.
Microsoft MSFT,
The founder’s philanthropist, transformed into global health, discusses ways to combat climate change in his new book, “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Discoveries We Need,” which hit shelves on Tuesday . And among its calls to action: the switch to synthetic beef to reduce methane emissions, ie the gases that cattle and sheep release when they belch or pass gas.
While Burger King QSR,
has experienced the addition of lemongrass to the diet of some of its beef herds to limit methane emissions that contribute to climate change, and researchers are feeding algae to cattle in Maine and New Hampshire in another attempt to reduce the methane they use. releases these herds, it is simply a biological fact of life that bacteria in the digestive tracts of animals release methane as it breaks down food. “I don’t know if there will be a natural approach there,” Gates said.
Its solution: the richest countries should own beef, period and switch to vegetable or synthetic proteins.
“I think all rich countries should switch to 100% synthetic beef,” Gates told the Technology Review. “You can get used to the difference in taste and the statement is that they will make the taste even better over time. Finally, that green premium is modest enough that you can change [behavior of] people or use regulations to completely change demand. ”
Many Twitter readers aren’t ready to completely give up burgers and steaks yet. Thus, this led to Gates’ trends on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, while the critics chewed him.
Even Gates acknowledged that this idea is hard to swallow. “Saying to people, ‘You can’t have cows anymore’ – it’s about a politically unpopular approach to things,” he told the Technology Review.
Other critics have also wondered why Gates should dictate what countries should do to address climate change when a new report from the nation named Gates one of the largest carbon emitters in the world. world. He is seen living in a 66,000-square-foot mansion outside Seattle, and his private jet consumes 486 gallons of fuel every hour he flies.
This is certainly not the first time Gates has been fried on social media, however, as he has found himself at the center of several conspiracy theories dismantled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the backlash against his synthetic meat plan, however, global hunger for herbal foods continues to rise. Morningstar predicts that the herbal meat market will reach $ 74 billion by 2029, up from $ 12 billion in 2019. And Beyond Meat BYND,
works with McDonald’s MCD,
and Yum Brands YUM,
Taco Bell and KFC fast food chains will launch herbal sandwiches and other alternative meat products this year.