4 ms·
Meat is cheap. AND it's not up to individuals to make the broad policy changes needed to affect climate change. That's done by governments. People will follo
by peg_leg 9y ago
Meat is cheap. AND it's not up to individuals to make the broad policy changes needed to affect climate change. That's done by governments. People will follow suit. If there's a tax on meat, less meat will be eaten. To put the onus on individuals to make policy decisions is preposterous.
- acjohnson55 9y agoExactly. Price in the externalities, and people will make better choices.
- lozenge 9y agoYeah, choices like voting the "meat tax party" out of office.
- hycaria 9y agoWhile I agree these are not popular enough to get elected on or to introduce and no one wants to commit political suicide. Hell even wildlife protection or ecological associations barely mention these subjects as it drives people away from donations.
- emodendroket 9y agoIf it's not popular enough to get over the finish line in elections how's it supposed to sudden gain so much traction that everyone changes their lifestyles?
- 1457389 9y agoYou can try and tax your way to culture shifts but since we aren't all Homo economicus it is often not as effective as directly appealing to morality and individual responsibility.
- dwaltrip 9y agoGrassroots movements and citizen created advocacy orgs (non-profits, etc) can be a big part of what often causes government to make policy changes. But you are right that the primary focus should be on facilitating effective policy change for such issues. I do think there is some value in individual change as an agent of broader cultural change, but this is much harder to assess. Part of my reasoning is that policy change will likely fail without some corresponding cultural change as well. I'd like to learn more about this complex dynamic though... In the end, policy change is definitely necessary to successfully defense against large, negative externalities.