The federal government is proposing financial incentives for farmers in lieu of cutting enteric methane emissions that are released in the air when cows burp.

  • DarthFrodo@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    We could tax greenhouse gas emissions to internalize the environmental cost.

    If the beef burger would cost 2x more than the plant-based burger (which basically tastes the same but has 90% fewer emissions), most people would choose the plant-based one. That would massively reduce food related ghg emissions, and also create a huge incentive to develop better alternatives/lab meat.

    • Daniel Quinn@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      This. The simplest path toward a sustainable economy is doing away with the externalisation of costs on products that’re killing us.

      I can’t agree with you on those plant-based burgers though. In no way do they taste the same. If you tax the shit out of cow meat though, it’s likely that someone will be able to develop a better alternative.

      • jcg@halubilo.social
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        11 months ago

        Not American but doesn’t the US government subsidize the meat and dairy industries? Could definitely start with lessening or doing away with that.

        • Daniel Quinn@lemmy.ca
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          11 months ago

          It’s not just the US. Canada does it too, and i expect many other countries do as well. But yes, this is a great place to start, along with rolling back the trillions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies.

      • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        Have you tried the Beyond burgers, granted I haven’t eaten meat in 30 years, but to me they are so meat like that it makes me gag

        • Daniel Quinn@lemmy.ca
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          11 months ago

          Yup. I’ve had a few versions of both Beyond Meat and Impossible burgers. They’re both better than what came before, but critically, I didn’t like them. They certainly weren’t comparable to actual cow.

          …and I’m cool with that. Mass farming cows is killing us, so we need to drastically reduce that industry down to boutique level so that a “real” burger costs 5-10× what it does now. I just hope that we can do better than the current candidates. My personal hope is that the lab grown meat will be a fitting replacement.

          • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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            11 months ago

            Lab Grown meat makes sense to me. find the tastiest cell lines and replicate. So much waste in cattle farming, and nasty shit going into the cows to keep them viable.

    • baconisaveg@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      Burgers have already gone up 250% in the past couple of years. Slow your roll there guy.