Meat is Horrible
Hinduism Today Magazine, hinduismtoday.com
July 10, 2016
Source -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/.../?tid=pm_pop_b
USA, July 10, 2016 (by Rachel Premack, Washington Post):
It may be delicious, but the evidence is accumulating
that meat, particularly red meat, is just a disaster for
the environment -- and not so great for human beings,
too. By 2050, scientists forecast that emissions from
agriculture alone will account for how much carbon
dioxide the world can use to avoid catastrophic global
warming. It already accounts for one-third of emissions
today -- and half of that comes from livestock. That's a
driving reason why members of a United Nations panel last
month urged its environmental assembly to consider
recommending a tax on meat producers and sellers. By
raising the cost of buying meat, it would ultimately aim
to reduce production and the demand for it.
Maarten Hajer, professor at the Netherlands Utrecht
University, led the environment and food report that
recommended the meat tax. "All of the harmful effects on
the environment and on health needs to be priced into
food products," said Hajer, who is a member of U.N.'s
International Resource Panel, which comprises 34 top
scientists and 30 governments. "I think it is extremely
urgent." But, he added, "Food is very political. In
countries where meat is a cultural mainstay and income
inequality already breeds a lack of food access, it could
be a difficult argument. But, governments must soon move
to limit major carbon producers, Hajer said. Food
companies will naturally be part of that.
The idea of a meat tax has developed over the past 25
years as a "completely obvious" measure to economists and
environmentalists, Hajer said, as knowledge of the
environmental toll of meat emerged. Agriculture consumes
80 percent of water in the United States. For a kilogram
of red meat, you need considerably more water than for
plant products. Governments are starting to take notice.
China, which consumes half of the world's pork and more
than a quarter of its overall meat, announced new dietary
guidelines last week that advises the average citizen to
reduce their meat consumption by one-half.
Denmark went a little further in May. The Danish
government is considering a recommendation from its
ethics council that all red meats should be taxed. Red
meat accounts for 10 percent of all greenhouse gas
emissions, and the council argued that Danes were
"ethically obliged" to reduce their consumption.
Countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland have
dramatically reduced their agricultural carbon output, as
much as a half. But countries that are expanding their
meat-lovers' impulses are doing so at much larger jumps.
Brazil's carbon output from food production has increased
by 47 percent from 2000 to 2012 -- that's an increase of
150 million tons of carbon dioxide. In China, a 35-
percent jump from 1994 to 2005 means 220 million more
tons of carbon dioxide.
Much of that is meat production, which contributes an
estimated 14.5 percent to annual greenhouse gas
emissions. That's more than emissions from every car,
train, ship and airplane combined. Of that, 65 percent is
enteric fermentation [google it] and manure, according to
a 2014 Chatham House analysis. Feed constitutes one-fifth
of that, followed by land-use change, energy use and
post-farm activities. Along with a tax, a meat cutback
could be achieved by making plant-based diets more
appealing and less expensive. People in the West often
think that vegetarianism is a diet for wealthier folks,
Wellesley said. The United States could slash its health-
care spending the most by phasing out meat for
vegetables.
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