NBC is criticizing companies for pushing all-vegetarian work places instead of browbeating employees into voting for politicians who target oil companies for contributing to global warming.
Focusing on pushing staff into rebuking meat-eating during work hours does not do enough to tackle global warming, according to science reporter Erin Biba. Americans should instead floor the gas on crusading against fossil fuel companies, she wrote Monday in a piece NBC published online.
Pushing vegetarianism as an activist ploy “perpetuates a ubiquitous myth in climate change messaging that individual decisions are more important than the actions of industry,” Biba noted.
She was referring to a decision by WeWork, a start-up company that passed an ordinance in July prohibiting the consumption of meat at employee events. WeWork also said the company will no longer reimburse staff for meals that include red meat. Bibi praised the company for being forward-thinking before dinging it for taking what she believes to be the wrong position.
She quoted noted Pennsylvania University climatologist Michael Mann to support her theory. (RELATED: Cities Suing Big Oil Over Climate Change Forced To Answer About The Benefits Of Fossil Fuels)
“It lets fossil fuels off the hook. It’s implicitly accepting the notion that climate solutions are voluntary measures,” Mann said in an interview with Bibi. “They’re important. But it’s really frustrating to me when they say eating less meat. When it’s framed as if influencing the political process isn’t part of the constellation.”
Companies like WeWork should instead spend more time encouraging their workers to vote, she notes.
“The only thing we are lacking is the political will to force industries to adapt,” Bibi wrote. “And that means to really, truly make a difference to the planet the biggest and best individual impact is to vote.”
NBC’s decision to run an article picking a fight with oil companies comes as several cities across the country continue targeting the likes of ExxonMobil and Chevron. San Francisco and Oakland initiated a lawsuit against both companies in February to hold them financially responsible for climate change.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup ultimately dismissed the cases against both companies in July, arguing Congress, not the courts, is responsible for addressing climate policies. He also said the cities could not prove the effects from climate change in California would be reduced absent Exxon and Chevron’s work in the state.
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