After the recent CNN “Climate Change Townhall,” one gets the impression that the candidates are no longer running against Trump but instead running against beef.

Kamala Harris and Andrew Yang both called for either cutting back meat consumption dramatically or even nudging most of the world to go vegetarian completely. Beto O’Rourke says people who eat meat are part of the problem—and Cory Booker went full veggie a long time ago.

But the science behind The Vegetarian Myth, is rebutted by an eponymous book by former vegan Leirre Keith. Turns out that all that soy they’re pushing at us is much worse for the environment. The rain forests are generally being slashed and burned for soy farming, not for pasturing cows. Grass-fed cows maintain sustainable pastures with deep roots—whereas highly subsidized, shallow-rooted annual grain crops can leave soil vulnerable to run-off and depletion.

The war against beef has deep roots itself—in progressive ideology, but its scientific roots are rather shallow.