The Paris Climate Accord and Beef

Column #122

Mankind’s beliefs often transcend reality. I could spend days just listing popular modern manias and unfounded beliefs that the masses have bought into hook, line, and sinker. One would think that in our internet-connected world the truth would prevail more than ever before. Instead, myths rule maybe more than ever before.

History provides thousands of interesting examples of myths and erroneous beliefs. There was a time people believed the sun orbited the earth and the earth was flat. From 1630 to 1637 Hollanders invested in tulip bulbs and prices soared to unimaginable heights. When the tulip market collapsed to zero it took Holland over 100 years to recover. For nearly 400 years the tulip mania was considered the biggest market mania of all time. In December 2017 the Bitcoin mania exceeded its record climb. But I digress.

One of today’s truly modernistic flipped-out ideas is now coming courtesy of the Paris Climate Accord (PCA). The PCA wants to solve global warming by taxing offending agricultural commodities. The primary agricultural target is: beef! I’m not making this up.

Their view on this is expressed in the abstract from “Emissions Pricing of Food Commodities: Climate Change Mitigation Potential and Global Health Impacts” by Marco Springmanna, et al.

"The projected rise in food-related greenhouse gas emissions could seriously impede efforts to limit global warming to acceptable levels. Despite that, food production and consumption have long been excluded from climate policies, in part due to concerns about the potential impact on food security. Using a coupled agriculture and health modeling framework, we show that the global climate change mitigation potential of emissions pricing of food commodities could be substantial, and that levying greenhouse gas taxes on food commodities could, if appropriately designed, be a health-promoting climate policy in high-income countries, as well as in most low- and middle-income countries. Sparing food groups known to be beneficial for health from taxation, selectively compensating for income losses associated with tax-related price increases, and using a portion of tax revenues for health promotion are potential policy options that could help avert most of the negative health impacts experienced by vulnerable groups, whilst still promoting changes towards diets which are more environmentally sustainable."

Many countries tax cigarettes. Some countries and localities in America have started taxing sugar. The PCA wants to tax meat because it believes that raising livestock causes huge amounts of emissions, water pollution, and that meat, like cigarettes and sugar, causes disease. So, for the betterment of the planet and mankind, the PCA wants people to switch to plant-based proteins.

So let’s compare the basic data for various protein sources in 100 grams servings:

Most PCA preferred proteins are seeds, nuts, and soy as listed in the top grouping. They average 23% carbohydrate, modestly glycemic, with a 9:1 essential fatty acid (EFA) ratio. The second grouping is 25% carbohydrate, modestly glycemic, with a lot more Omega-3. The third grouping, two classes of meat and two preferred greens, is 4% carbohydrate, very low glycemic, with a perfect EFA ratio.

The first grouping does not provide sufficient nutrient density and diversity in a balance that supports healthy body development and maintenance. If people tried to live just on those selections they would end up being emotional wrecks with autoimmune diseases and dementia.

The second grouping is better because green beans and spirulina provide better nutrient diversity and density and good EFA ratios. But even though chia and flaxseed are loaded with Omega-3, they are supplements and cannot be considered a significant food source.

The grass-fed meat/seafood and greens group are perfect. They provide all nutrients in perfect balance which if consumed exclusively will support a long, healthy life. Take note that their EFAs are very low and perfectly balanced compared to the other high fat selections.

In spite of science, the PCA crowd wants people to give up meat as a protein source and eat more of the farmed foods that have serious nutritional deficiencies. They ignore the fact that all farmed foods result in fallow soils which release gases. Farmed crops usually require resource depleting irrigation because perfect rainfall is rare. In addition farming takes considerable equipment for plowing, planting, harvesting, and inputs such as fertilizer, herbicides, and insecticides.

The PCA wants to eliminate grass-fed livestock that graze forages on land that is less suitable for farming grains and vegetables. The PCA doesn’t realize that most rangeland cannot be farmed. About 95% of America’s pastureland and rangeland is not irrigated and is never fallow. Animals do release gases when digesting forages. But those gasses are absorbed by forages as they grow back just like mowed lawns.

This plant/animal symbiotic relationship has existed for hundreds of millions of years. The modern livestock play exactly the same role as did the wild animals of bygone eras. If the domestic livestock were removed, wild animals would replace them resulting in the same gas cycle as exists now because the land won’t be farmed.

We actually live in remarkable times. The PCA advisors are so ignorant they want us to eat tofu for our better health, yet biological and nutritional scientists proved decades ago that the nutrient profile of foods such as tofu cause chronic diseases. The PCA wants to end a natural symbiotic relationship and promote more unnatural farming. These proposals will degrade the planet’s health.

To top it off, the PCA story gets lots of attention and the media promotes their nonsense as knowledgeable news which causes the masses to believe in more myths.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

For additional reading:

Tulip Mania from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abstract from: Emissions Pricing of Food Commodities: Climate Change Mitigation Potential and Global Health Impacts by Marco Springmanna, et al.

Emissions Pricing of Food Commodities: Climate Change Mitigation Potential and Global Health Impacts a presentation outline by Marco Springmanna, et al.

Enjoy Your Cheap Burgers Now Because a “Meat Tax” Could Be on the Way from Fortune Magazine

Meat Tax "Inevitable" to Beat Climate and Health Crises, Says Report from The Guardian

The Climate Mitigation Gap: Education and Government Recommendations Miss the Most Effective Individual Actions by Seth Wynes and Kimberly A Nicholas

Delusional Veganism by Ted Slanker

The Insane War on Grass-Fed Beef by Ted Slanker

Understanding Glycemic Index and Load by Ted Slanker

Essential Fatty Acids in Health and Chronic Disease by Dr. Artemis P Simopoulos

Ted Slanker’s Omega-3 Blood Test