Please Sir, Can I Have Some More? –
August 11, 2019 – “The person who eats 400 pounds of animal meat every year is treading on the environment for others, and so a meat tax could be implemented as a matter of protecting personal liberty,” he wrote. “Eating that way wouldn’t be illegal, but people who choose to do it would have to pay for the imposition of their choices on others.” Raising livestock is one of the most environmentally harmful activities out there, because it uses up so much food, water, land, and energy, and because cattle produce so much methane. As a major United Nations report highlighted this week, fighting climate change requires us to make sweeping changes to how we use land and grow food (shifting to a more plant-based diet will help). It’s worth noting that a meat-heavy diet also comes with health risks, from heart disease to obesity to antibiotic resistance. But it’s hard to imagine a meat tax getting off the ground anytime soon in this country, where meat has become entwined with national identity, and where the average citizen consumes more than 200 pounds of meat a year. Let’s break down the arguments people are likely to make against this tax.
