What up with this week's whale news? First, there were the whale protesters staging "non-violent chemical attacks." Then we had news of Japan trying to form a whale-killing coalition -- and now this. A pro-whaling lobby in Norway has begun a campaign to promote whale meat as the 'eco-conscious carnivore's best friend.'

A recent study found that whale meat has a relatively tiny 'carbon footprint' compared to most other types of meat -- and the whaling industry is falling all over itself to get the news out. According to the findings, the carbon output of one serving of beef is roughly equivalent to eight servings of whale. An overzealous representative of the High North Alliance put it like this: "basically it turns out that the best thing you can do for the planet is to eat whale meat compared to other types of meat." Hmm.

While I do think the study is probably accurate, I doubt anybody is really counting on whale meat to stop global warming. Greenpeace dismisses the campaign as ridiculous, "almost every food is more climate-friendly than meat." True, but doesn't protesting whales as a food source increase the demand for less climate-friendly meats, like beef? Norwegian officials claim that their whale quotas do not harm the Minke whale population in the North Atlantic, so you shouldn't feel guilty about eating some whale stew. It doesn't seem like it would be very tasty though.