The big story on Wednesday was obviously the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Due to varying recording schedules, the late night comedy shows largely did not talk about it. Stephen Colbert did a solemn cold open that hit all the correct notes, while Jimmy Kimmel posted on his Bluesky account, “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.” Otherwise, all shows continued as normal.
Politico contributor and climate journalist Michael Grunwald traveled to Comedy Central and The Daily Show on Wednesday to promote his new book, where he attacked eating meat as bad for the environment.
Host-of-the-week Michael Kosta began, “This book, a five-year project, and you discuss in the introduction, it started when you had a simple question and you called someone for help. ‘Is meat really this bad for the climate?’”
Grunwald insisted the answer was obvious, “Yeah. Yeah. And the answer was yes. Duh. Yeah, I mean, I was an energy and climate guy, I had written a piece about my own green life. I had gotten an all-electric Chevy Volt. I put solar panels on my roof. And I had a line, kind of a throwaway line, about how I wasn't some kind of eco-saint. I was doing it because clean energy was cheap, that I didn't line-dry my laundry, you know, I didn't unplug my computer at night. I still eat meat.”
He then elaborated, “So, I called this guy, and he told me, and it occurred to me that if I was this spectacularly ignorant about meat and agriculture, which turns out to be our, you know, it’s our leading driver of deforestation, of water pollution, of water shortages, it is a third of our climate problem, and I did not know squat about it. So I figured if I was this spectacularly ignorant, other people probably were too.”
A bit later, Kosta wondered, “I buy my eggs from a small farm, I get my dairy from a farmers' market. I buy grass-fed beef. I'm a hero. Yes?”
Grunwald informed him that he wasn’t, “No, Michael, I’m sorry, but, you know, it’s great, eating local is fine, and knowing your farmer, that’s wonderful. But what really matters from a climate and environmental perspective is sort of what you're eating and how it is grown. How efficiently it is grown. Right?”
He added, “We are on track to deforest another dozen Californias worth of land by 2050, and grass-fed beef, for one thing, it’s beef, so it is already a huge climate and land-use problem. But it is actually worse than factory-farmed beef because, first of all, it is less efficient, but it also takes them longer to get to slaughter weight, so they are alive to burp and fart methane for longer.”
Attacking people for eating beef probably won’t help the media with its credibility, but it is helpful in clarifying just how radical climate reporters can be.
Here is a transcript for the September 10 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
9/10/2025
11:24 PM ET
MICHAEL KOSTA: This book, a five-year project, and you discuss in the introduction, it started when you had a simple question and you called someone for help. "Is meat really this bad for the climate?"
MICHAEL GRUNWALD: Yeah. Yeah. And the answer was yes. Duh. Yeah, I mean, I was an energy and climate guy—
KOSTA: Yeah.
GRUNWALD: I had written a piece about my own green life. I had gotten an all-electric Chevy Volt. I put solar panels on my roof.
KOSTA: Yeah.
GRUNWALD: And I had a line, kind of a throwaway line, about how I wasn't some kind of eco-saint. I was doing it because clean energy was cheap, that I didn't line-dry my laundry, you know,--
KOSTA: Yeah.
GRUNWALD: -- I didn't unplug my computer at night. I still eat meat.
KOSTA: Yeah.
GRUNWALD: And I realized, I didn't know.
KOSTA: Yeah.
GRUNWALD: So, I called this guy, and he told me, and it occurred to me that if I was this spectacularly ignorant about meat and agriculture, which turns out to be our, you know, it’s our leading driver of deforestation, of water pollution—
KOSTA: Yeah.
GRUNWALD: -- of water shortages—
KOSTA: Yeah.
GRUNWALD: -- it is a third of our climate problem, and I did not know squat about it. So I figured if I was this spectacularly ignorant, other people probably were too.
…
KOSTA: I buy my eggs from a small farm, I get my dairy from a farmers' market. I buy grass-fed beef. I'm a hero. Yes?
GRUNWALD: No, Michael, I’m—
KOSTA: No?
GRUNWALD: -- sorry, but, you know, it’s great, eating local is fine, and knowing your farmer, that’s wonderful. But what really matters from a climate and environmental perspective is sort of what you're eating and how it is grown.
KOSTA: Yeah.
GRUNWALD: How efficiently it is grown. Right? We are on track to deforest another dozen Californias worth of land by 2050, and grass-fed beef, for one thing, it’s beef—
KOSTA: Yeah.
GRUNWALD: -- so it is already a huge climate and land-use problem. But it is actually worse than factory-farmed beef--
KOSTA: Right.
GRUNWALD: -- because, first of all, it is less efficient, but it also takes them longer to get to slaughter weight, so they are alive to burp and fart methane for longer.
