 "Photo: Illustration by Erin Logan")
I like meat. Steak, for example, is savory and goes very well with red wine. Some people out there are not the biggest fans of meat, however, and I'm fine with that.
To each his own, I say. Choosing what to eat and what not to eat is a personal decision, between a man and his local food store.
Now, when someone decides to force others to that decision, I have a problem. The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, it appears, is planning to do just that.
The Times of London recently interviewed Lord Stern of Brentford about climate change, and he offered some interesting insights. During the interview, he said, "Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world's resources. A vegetarian diet is better."
According to the article, Lord Stern expects people to eventually reach the point where eating meat is no longer acceptable. Of course, rather than allowing society to reach that point – assuming it does, Lord Stern would like to see the Copenhagen Conference force people to avoid meat.
"A successful deal ... would lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases," said the Times article.
Well, for me, that would not be such a successful deal. Neither would it be for the K-State graduates who go into meat industries or the animal sciences and industry majors.
What can the Copenhagen Conference do to increase meat prices, and what does that mean for farmers and consumers?
Nothing good. Tariffs and quotas on exported and imported meat means meat will cost more for consumers. Producers won't be better off, either. In 2008, beef exports totaled nearly $3 billion for the U.S. Nothing to sneeze at. Imagine Copenhagen making that money disappear in our trying economic times. Not pretty, is it?
Sin taxes are popular for the government, right? Picture a tax for eating meat ... not only do producers get to sell less because of the artificially high price, consumers get to eat less meat at higher prices. Everyone loses!
Not even vegetarians win in this scenario. If people are going to eat less meat because taxes have pushed it out of their price range, then they will be buying more vegetables and fruit to replace their lost meat. More consumption means higher prices. Vegetarians and vegans get to pay more for their food, as well.
In the Middle Ages, meat was a specialty food, reserved for royalty. If you could afford to eat meat every day, then you were a member of the upper class. When meat became a food the masses could enjoy, it broke down that class distinction and gave everyone the chance to have healthy, balanced diets that are necessary for doing well in academics and athletics.
Could legendary cornerback and K-State graduate Terence Newman have become as fast and strong as he is today if he had been denied meat as a child? I doubt it.
Taxing meat strongly to prevent people from eating it will not stop all people from eating it, only the poor. Removing that choice from the poor sends our society back to that highly stratified structure from the Middle Ages.
Those harbingers of doom, the prophets of climate change, act like the royalty of old. Lord Stern even has the pedigree of royalty. They are sure they know what is best for us and decide to force us into that choice against our wishes.
These people don't care about the poor, about farmers, about agricultural schools like K-State or about any of those "lesser concerns" because they're saving the world, by golly.
Give up meat in your diet, turn your backs on the poor and drive all of the cattlemen in the world out of business. It is for your own good.
- Frank Male is a senior in physics and political science. Please send comments to opinion@spub.ksu.edu
Karry: The point here is that once you start letting the govt control what you are allowed to eat, all hell will break loose. If you want to live in a socialistic economy, one where the govt gives you a certain amount of coupons & things of that nature, telling you what to consume, watch and even think, think about communist Russia and Germany under Hitler. Sound appealing? Ever read 1984?
I have no problem eating meat, and I don't have a problem with vegans either. Don't force me to be a vegan, and I won't shove a steak down your throat.
Genesis 9:3 And I'll steal this from another poster, I'm sure he/she won't mind..."Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country." William Jennings Bryan Please support your local meat counter and your local farmer. God knows he supports you and your family.
Quit drinking soda.
Don't eat out at every meal.
Cut out sweets and sugar and junk food.
Go to the grocery store, ask the person at the meat counter for a pound of lean meat, take it home and cook it to your liking.
To the meal, add vegetables, fruit and whole grain bread
Drink a glass of water or two (the stuff that comes from the tap)
Exercise four times a week.
Repeat the rest of your life.
ranchers: hurt yes
survival: only the ones that can run a business well
Price increase on veggies: yes but short term