4 ms·
Actually, they're not increasing. I looked it up. The number of cattle in the world has held steady (about one billion) since the 1970s. Given that the populati
by beat 8y ago
Actually, they're not increasing. I looked it up. The number of cattle in the world has held steady (about one billion) since the 1970s. Given that the population has from about 4B to 7B in that time, and incomes have increased substantially as well, it suggests that beef consumption is level (which means per-capita consumption is shrinking).
And given a 9 year lifespan for methane, it's probably been stable for a long time.
Now, if you're taking the position that "net zero emissions isn't enough" as justification for a carbon tax, you need to focus on the goal. Is it carbon reduction, or puritanical punishment? Need to ask that, because there's a lot of people who want the latter but claim the former.
If the goal is carbon reduction, then a carbon tax is only a means to an end, and we have to ask if it will be effective. Can we carbon-tax beef enough to see a major reduction in its consumption, leading to a major reduction in the number of cattle? (Oh, and you'd better carbon-tax dairy while you're at it.) Does this seem like a reasonable conclusion? And if people aren't eating beef, what else will they eat instead, and what are its carbon costs?
I'm not rejecting the position, but I'm trying to think it through.
- tomp 8y ago> Actually, they're not increasing. I looked it up > And given a 9 year lifespan for methane Can you please provide your sources? If this is true, it's not that worrying...
- beat 8y agoSomeone else referenced wikipedia on methane in the thread somewhere. Surprised me, too. For cattle, got the numbers from the industry, which doesn't seem to have a particular agenda in this link... http://beef2live.com/story-world-cattle-inventory-year-0-111523 http://beef2live.com/story-world-cattle-inventory-year-0-111...
- Symmetry 8y agoAccording to this[1] the half life of methane in the atmosphere is 7 years. [1]https://phys.org/tags/methane/ https://phys.org/tags/methane/
- bunderbunder 8y agoFor estimating emissions, a better proxy is probably the mass of all the cattle in the world. There might not be more individual cattle, but they've been engineered to grow bigger - and, by extension, eat bigger meals, poop bigger poops, and fart bigger farts.
- beat 8y agoHas that actually changed much in the past several decades, though?
- bunderbunder 8y agoBy about 30% between 1975 and 2005. https://www.beefmagazine.com/genetics/0201-increased-beef-cows https://www.beefmagazine.com/genetics/0201-increased-beef-co...