If Meat’s What For Dinner Tonight, Pay Up: Calls For A Meat Tax Gain Momentum
An increasing number of individuals, researchers, and organizations are calling for a meat tax due to the environmental deterioration caused by cattle rearing and associated meat consumption.
CAROLYN FORTUNA: ‘Recent calls for a meat tax reflect growing concerns about holding those most responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of all kinds accountable. In the same way that in the past year, state and local governments across the US have launched a new wave of litigation seeking to hold fossil fuel companies liable for damages caused by climate change, so, too, have an increasing number of individuals, researchers, and organizations called for a meat tax due to the environmental deterioration caused by cattle rearing and associated meat consumption… To achieve climate stabilization, a balance will need to be struck among the degree of adoption of plant-based diets, advances in mitigation technologies of the food sector, and disproportionate reductions in non–food-related GHG emissions.
The food system is responsible for more than a quarter of all GHG emissions, of which up to 80% are associated with livestock production. The aggregate dietary decisions we make have a large influence on climate change… Let’s just say it: people who follow plant-based diets have smaller environmental footprints. Adopting sustainable eating habits can help reduce GHG emissions, water consumption, and land used for factory farming, which are all factors in global warming and environmental degradation. It is a tax which all Western nations, including the US, should consider…
Dietary changes toward less animal-sourced foods decrease the reference GHG emissions by 29–70%. Indeed, that percentage is likely to be a conservative estimate once the beneficial impacts of dietary change on land use through avoided deforestation are taken into account… As Westerners, we’ve been taught through generations that meat is good, healthy, and a sign of prosperity. Research indicates that adopting global dietary guidelines would not be enough to reduce food-related GHG emissions by itself. Instead, total GHG emissions will need to fall to achieve a climate stabilization pathway that would have a high probability of limiting global temperature increases to below 2°C’. SOURCE…
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