A recent opinion video from the New York Times entitled “Meet the People Getting Paid to Kill Our Planet” is making the rounds.
I don’t intend to respond to the the claims in the video in entirety (if you’re curious, my view resembles those of Aaron Smith at UC Davis). However, because I made a 2 second cameo in the video saying the word “cow tax,” I think it’s important to widen out that selective edit. Here’s the background commentary from the narrator in the video.
“It’s outrageous what the Big Ag lobby has gotten away with. Here are some big wigs. Any suggestion that methane should be regulated are quickly branded a “cow tax.” A catchy rallying cry that politicians and commentators compare it [insert video of several folks, including myself saying “cow tax”] that flips a smart green idea to something that sounds absurd and wont pass. That’s the Big Ag lobby in action. ”
If you’re curious to see my “cow tax” comment in wider context, the whole interview I gave with Steward Varney on Fox Business is available here. I’ll leave it to you to judge whether I gave the impression that greenhouse gas emissions are unimportant or that there aren’t actions we could take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture. Moreover, one can read, among other things, my post from March 2019 entitled “A Case for a Carbon Tax - Meat and Livestock Edition.” Here’s a broader discussion I provided summarizing my food policy research.
The New York Times video attempts to raise the alarm on some serious issues. If the film makers are really serious about engaging on these complex issues instead of trying to score cheap shots, I’m all ears.