"Vegan-organic lifestyle doesn't help Earth, isn't necessarily best"

I'm getting pretty fed-up with well-funded conservative think tanks, especially since they're the ones behind many of the attacks on animal welfare and rights groups that claim they're only in it for the donation money, which is preposterous.

What really annoyed me about the above-titled opinion piece is that the writer is a fellow with the notorious American Enterprise Institute, which is inherently biased against the subject matter: vegetarianism and organics. I decided to write a letter to the editor of the Arizona Daily Star:

Kenneth P. Green, writer of Monday's "Vegan-organic lifestyle doesn't help Earth" opinion is heavily biased, but the newspaper does nothing to point this out to readers. While it is noted at the end of his piece that he is a visiting fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, few of your readers may already know that -- despite its alleged non-partisan status -- AEI is a pro-business right-wing think tank that serves as a strong neo-conservative base with very strong ties to the Bush administration, including Richard Perle and senior fellow, Lynne Cheney (yes, Dick Cheney's wife). It specializes in promoting free enterprise capitalism and works to place people in influential government positions. This organization counts among its alumni Dick Cheney and Antonin Scalia.

Green wasn't writing to do your readers any service, but rather to protect corporate contributors that have included Philip Morris and ExxonMobil.

Knowing this, readers are better equipped to realize that Green is spinning a lot of misinformation to turn readers off of the idea of vegetarianism and organics, when there is a preponderance of scientific literature demonstrating the benefits of both to the environment, including much to contradict the outright falsehoods presented in Green's opinion. I hope your readers will research this subject for themselves, and with unbiased sources. Because, once they do so, the choice will be much more apparent.

Well, there you have it. I don't expect it to get published, so we'll see what happens. I urge you all to read it, do your own research on the matter, and write your own, unique letters before the end of business today. Maybe one of us will get published if enough letters with a similar opinion are sent in.

Tags: organic | vegan