As negotiations get underway at COP28, we compiled a list of the leading research documenting the connection between meat and greenhouse gas emissions.
No, but it should be applied to everything, not just the weekly boogeyman industry.
All those out of season fruits and vegetables that get transported from southern Spain or Israel. All that plastic tat imported from China on a dirty old boat. Everything. Hell, put it on the price tags so people know exactly how much of that price is down to climate tax.
Cry poverty? Increase the minimum wages then. Somebody has to pay, and it has to be the ones doing the consuming. Us. We won't choose the cleaner option unless it's cheaper, so make the dirty stuff cost more.
That won't work because a <$0.01 tax on steak relative to the impact caused by meat-eating in most countries won't change anyone's mind. If everyone went vegan, the world still fails. If nobody went vegan but the businesses went carbon neutral, we're all fine.
In the US point of view, we only produce 20% more methane emissions than in the pre-colonial days, and the only way these changes will actually be a meaningful net positive is through anti-natal terraforming to lower animal population than was ever really natural.
I'm ok with some countries bearing more weight to help than the harm they cause, but only if it will actually make a difference. 100 million people in my country choosing to stop eating meat suddenly (or being forced to at gunpoint) doesn't change anything.
Zero responsibility for doing my research and coming up to a different conclusion than you? Oh hell no. I take 100% responsibility for it. I live it. I breathe it. I know more about the environmental impact of meat than 9 out of every 10 vegans I end up dealing with on the internet.
The 10th is either not a jerk to me, or is clearly a zealot. I allow for zealotry (not happily). I'm not a fan of willful ignorance.