Crazy thought

[Jamie in Chile]

I think we have reached a point where we have the beginning of a movement, not an end result. We are shifting from
"ugh isn´t factory farming horrible, perhaps it´s worth as individuals not doing this, and perhaps one day society may move away from this"
to a more serious movement to actually shut it down.
The end result - which would be the end of factory farming is still probably decades away. But something is beginning.

The Financial Times has an interesting article today

Climate campaigners turn their focus from fossil fuels to meat

Investors pressed to price in financial risks to agribusiness as a result of global warming

www.ft.com

For some reason, sometimes when I click on it, it´s behind a paywall, and other times I can read it all. I am not sure what is going on there. Below is copy and paste.
Climate campaigners turn their focus from fossil fuels to meat Investors pressed to price in financial risks to agribusiness as a result of global warming

"Climate campaigners have spent years pushing for defunding and divestment from fossil fuel companies. Now, as their arguments gain traction, they are taking aim at the emissions-heavy meat and dairy industries. “At some point those companies will no longer generate any revenue due to ecological limits. The financial markets aren’t pricing in those risks,” said Mark Campanale, founder of Carbon Tracker, the think-tank that popularised the notion that global warming would lead to unviable “stranded assets” in the hydrocarbon sector.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

To follow on from the above article, the movement to divest from fossil fuel companies is something I have been following for a while and I believe it is likely to start to start to have a significant impact in the next 2-5 years. The movement to divest from animal agriculture is just getting started, it should perhaps try to attach itself to the bigger fossil fuel divestment, or follow on in its wake and learn from it if it succeeds.

If there is a bigger carbon tax in the future (something which is not on the table now, but I believe is likely sometime in this decade) then this will be impactful to the animal agriculture industry.

As I´ve said before, I believe all politicians need to avoid ever saying the word "meat" and the word "tax" in the same sentence for now for strategic reasons. The goal then should be to get a carbon tax, and that should include meat.

Now comes the tricky bit. A tax only on CO2 would be less impactful to the animal agriculture than a tax on all greenhouse gases. While most of our activities, such as planes, cars, heating and electricity, primarily produce CO2 rather than other greenhouse gases, animal agriculture produces not just CO2 but also methane and nitrous oxide. Especially in the case of beef, methane is a significant proportion of the global warming impact. Therefore, a tax on all greenhouse gases would have a larger impact on the price of meat, especially beef, than a tax on just CO2.

There is also a second reason why a tax on all greenhouse gases would be much more destructive to animal agriculture than a tax on just CO2. That is if animal agriculture is only faced with a CO2 tax it will be able to reform itself by replacing its vehicles with electric vehicles, powering its electricity use with renewables, and so on. This will give the industry a better chance to thrive as climate action steps up because in theory chicken and pork could be low carbon (CO2). However, if simultaneously, animal agriculture is also hit with a tax on its methane and nitrous oxide impact it will be much more difficult to reform since the methane and perhaps nitrous oxide are harder to replace, and the industry is more likely to go into a downward spiral. This is especially true for beef - how do you stop cows belching out methane? They are working on it, but a simultaneous tax of all greenhouse gases would make meat less competitive for sure.

So I suggest, if a proper (larger than those so far) carbon tax does move up the political agenda at some point this decade, that all of us vegans and vegetarians support the idea that it be a tax on all greenhouse gases. The meat industry would likely lobby for the tax to be CO2 only, and politicians may support the idea since pushing for taxes on greenhouse gases rather than just CO2 might be perceived as a meat tax and therefore not popular. So what we need is a tax on all greenhouse gases which is more just and fair and aligned with the goal of reducing animal cruelty and ending factory farming.

 

[Lou]

@Jamie in Chile
Good stuff. I think I mentioned this before - but there is no need for a meat tax. Just stop subsidizing the meat and dairy industries. the increases in prices will work as good as a tax.

"... the American government spends $38 billion each year to subsidize the meat and dairy industries..."

Should governments subsidise the meat and dairy industries ?

Price is a very powerful tool to manipulate our consumption decisions. The amount of money governments pay as a subsidy to keep the price…

medium.com

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Yes, now that you mention it it probably makes sense to focus on remove the subsidies first. I´d still like to see a carbon/greenhouse gas tax as well though.

 

[Lou]

Yes, now that you mention it it probably makes sense to focus on remove the subsidies first. I´d still like to see a carbon/greenhouse gas tax as well though.

me too.
Just wanted to make a point that we don't need a meat tax.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

In any case your "is this the beginning of the end of the meat and dairy industries" from April wasn't a crazy thought at all. It may just be gathering a little bit of steam at the moment.

 

[Lou]

Covid Infections in Animals Prompt Scientific Concern (Published 2020)

Mink in Denmark are not the only animals that could become reservoirs for the coronavirus to spread new mutations to people.

www.nytimes.com

Mink in Denmark are not the only animals that could become reservoirs for the coronavirus to spread new mutations to people.


Time to breathe a little life into this thread.

Animal rights activists have made great strides in their ongoing battle with the fur industry. But I bet all the work combined over the last ten years doesn't come close to what Covid did in the last ten days. I'm thinking/hoping that some of the mink farmers will take their government reimbursement and invest in a different product. Perhaps those mink houses can be converted to greenhouses.

it may not stop with Danish Minks. This concern will probably spill over to other species. And this is not a theoretical concern. Sars came from animals, And of course, so does avian and swine flu.