The Biden administration has publicly announced that it wants to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030. To say that’s ambitious is a bit of an understatement. That would require significant changes to the US economy and to US patterns of consumption, among them the consumption of meat.
You may have seen headlines announcing that Joe Biden wants to take away your beef, or that he’ll limit you to one burger a month. And of course the leftists in the mainstream media were quick to pounce on that, noting that Biden hadn’t said anything about limiting meat consumption. But as usual, the devil was in the details.
The claims about limiting meat consumption come from a study done at the University of Michigan last year. The study estimated that reducing beef consumption by 90%, other meat consumption by 50%, and replacing that meat consumption with plant-based food would be required in order to cut diet-based greenhouse gas emissions by 50%. And the UK government has already made it clear that its subjects will need to cut meat consumption by at least 20% in order for the country to meet its carbon emissions targets.
No matter which way you slice it, the effect of trying to forcibly reduce carbon emissions will result in less meat consumption. It won’t be an outright ban or limit of course, but it will come in the form of extra regulations on the agricultural sector that will force many produces out of business. Cut off meat supply at the source and you don’t have to worry about the demand side of the equation, as that will take care of itself. Rising prices on meat will force more Americans to reduce their meat consumption.
The bottom line is that if you like to eat meat, start raising your own animals or get very friendly with a local small farmer. Otherwise you might not be able to eat as much meat in the coming years.