Activists continue to go on about the "virtual water" in meat production, including in places like the Welsh coast where nothing but grass can grow - and where "green water" (rain) is prevalent.
"Virtual water" was debunked decades ago, and it was always a mercenary tactic by Professor John Anthony Allan of King’s College London, who eventually hit gold after multiple different terms because his beliefs "did not capture the attention of the water managing community" - in order words, it was about impacting policy, not informing the public.
It does not take 140 liters of water to make a cup of coffee. It never did. Nor does Bitcoin need 4,200 gallons. Nor are data centers going to cause the earth to deflate by sucking up all the water, a claim about natural gas that environmentalists used to make.
Yet like 'bees are dying!' and 'weedkillers cause cancer!', the war on science continues with little change. Lawyers get rich, the public pay more and get scared over junk science nonsense. Such as that beef is responsible for water depletion and global warming.
Meanwhile, Europe continues to import non-meat foods from places where blue water - pumped from aquifers and sold in arid regions like California - is dominant. Pistachios use 7,602 liters of irrigated water per kilogram and almonds need 3,816.
Beef is only 550, 14X less.
As Sama Hoole phrased it about the latest attack on ranchers and water usage, "She is outside in the rain right now, getting blamed for it."
