Denver climate campaign urges residents to ‘eat less meat’

A Denver campaign to “eat less meat” funded by Denver city and county tax money has ignited outrage among state legislators.

In a scathing letter to Denver Mayor Mike Johnson, Sens. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, and 15 other legislators voiced their strong disapproval of the $3 million campaign. The undated letter chastises city officials for being “tone deaf” and insulting to agricultural communities.

‘A DIRECT INSULT’

“As elected representatives from Colorado’s rural communities, we are deeply frustrated and disapprove of the city and county of Denver’s decision to fund a $3 million campaign encouraging residents to ‘eat less meat’ as a climate strategy,” the letter says. “This campaign — promoted under the misleading banner of sustainability — represents not only a tone-deaf approach to climate policy but a direct insult to the people and industries who feed your city, our state and the world.”

The ad campaign comes out of the city’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency. While the campaign is not aimed solely at the consumption of animal protein, the “eat less meat” component is prominently displayed on posters around the city. That theme apparently is inspired by the repeatedly debunked idea that cattle ranching somehow is a major contributor to climate change.

Other components of the campaign — urging more cycling and less driving, for instance — also are getting pushback from other critics, who claim the campaign doesn’t follow the science of climate change. That’s a primary point of the legislators’ letter to Johnson as well.

“Colorado livestock producers have made real strides in emissions reduction and sustainability, often without fanfare or taxpayer-funded PR blitzes,” the letter says. “Demonizing meat consumption will not solve climate change but it will alienate the very communities your city depends on for food security and economic partnership.”