Steak could be cause of climate change: Peter Thiel
The billionaire NZ citizen's latest comments are unlikely to get him on beef or dairy farmer's Christmas card lists.
Peter Thiel's latest comments are unlikely to put him on beef or dairy farmer's Christmas card lists.
The recently revealed New Zealand citizen, vegan and Trump adviser says humans' love of steak could be behind climate change.
"I'm not sure I'm an extreme sceptic of climate change, but I have my doubts about the extreme ways that people try to push it through," he told an international energy conference in Houston.
"Even if climate change is quite as bad as people think it is, if we 'group-think' we're more likely to misdiagnose the problem. Maybe it's methane emissions, and the real problem is eating steak."
As ever when Mr Thiel speaks, conspiracy theories aren't far behind. Among the many startups he's backed is Modern Meadow, which aims to make artificial steak using a 3D bioprinter. Beyond all that methane they produce, real cows will be competitors to this vat-grown product.
However, it should be noted that the Thiel Foundation donated a modest $US350,000 to Modern Meadow.
That's small potatoes next to his $US2.7 billion wealth today (produced largely through his early PayPal and facebook investments), or the billions more he'll pocket with Palantir's IPO.
And regardless, after installing a climate change sceptics to head the EPA and the Department of Energy, it's safe to say the Trump administration is not about to introduce any measures to cut emissions, be they man or cow-made.
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Steak could be cause of climate change: Peter Thiel
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