vegetarianism is the new prius

This planet consumes a lot of meat. Putting the ethical considerations aside for a moment, the amount of meat the population of this planet consumes is environmentally unsustainable in terms of carbon emissions, resource (water) usage and land usage. I have thought for a long time that meat (and other high-environmental impact foods) should be subject to an environment tax. That is to say, a tax that would cover things like carbon offsets, land rejuvenation and ensuring our water future. To my mind, a tax like this would have three benefits: (1) it would provide money to fund the projects mentioned; (2) it would encourage investment in sustainable industries, mitigating the problem; and (3) it would reduce the intake of meat back down to recommended levels, which I strongly suspect would result in a significant decrease in lifestyle diseases (diabetes, cardiac disease, obesity, etc.).

The problem is, as I see it, introducing a tax like this would be a surefire way to get yourself unelected. That, and the current Government are climate change skeptics. I read today that John Howard was promising farmers that the current drought will end. Kevin Rudd certainly isn't making that promise, maybe he doesn't know the right deities (in which case, can you really trust him?).