With amore top of mind for the big day tomorrow, we turn to a CNN news package (done in the grand journalistic tradition of Andy Rooney BTW) wherein a spokesman for PETA speaks in defense of the organization’s recent pro-vegetarian ad “Veggie Sex.”  He notes that the controversial spot has generated over 1 million visits to PETA’s website (which now also let’s viewers watch each of the four lingerie models in their own individual videos as well as a behind the scenes vid which actually has some amusing bits (the starring pumpkin actor getting make-up applied) and some not so amusing (one lingerie actress-model hurling broccoli co-star in a mock fit of rage). PETA’s spokesperson concludes that much of the real consciousness-raising benefit from all this attention derives from the racy-silly videos leading to a more serious video “Chew on This.”

The stylishly rendered video Chew on This intercuts beauty shots of people and graphics listing several reasons to go vegetarian. Among them are:

Heart disease begins in childhood
Vegetarian diet reverses heart disease
Eating meat makes you fat
You shouldn’t have to lie to your kids about the food you eat
Because in every package of chicken there’s a little poop
Eating meat can cause impotence

PETA’s Go Veg website on impotence :

According to the Erectile Dysfunction Institute, up to 90 percent of all cases of impotence are physical as opposed to psychological. That’s right: High cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, prostate cancers or inflammations, and hormonal imbalances cause the vast majority of all cases of impotence. The good news is that medical science suggests that all of these conditions can be managed or in some cases even prevented with a low-fat vegan diet.

Okay, that’s catchy and again provocatively publicity-garnering, but what about climate change? Isn’t Chew on This supposed to be the “serious” video? Here’s some info on climate change and meat consumption from another PETA site PETA Prime; the author notes that the various “10 Easy Things to Do to Prevent Climate Change” lists did not include going veg:

…one of the biggest contributors to climate change didn’t even appear on the checklists. We found out what it was in late 2006, when the U.N. released a report called Livestock’s Long Shadow. The report states that the livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. That’s more than the emissions from the entire transportation sector–planes, trains, cars, and boats–combined. …We found some more connections between diet and climate change in aUniversity of Chicago study. If you replace your Camry with a hybrid Prius, you’ll save about 1 ton of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Good stuff, but the study goes on to say that changing from a meat-based diet to a vegan diet saves the equivalent of 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year! 

’tis something to chew on.