Even after the swine flu, bird flu, SARS, MERS, covid, HIV and other viruses, we are still keeping animals in confined spaces, butchering them and selling their meat on markets so we can consume parts of their dead bodies, hurting our planet and ourselves in the process.
It's a grim side of humanity.
edit: prions too, not just viruses.
I really dislike this method of trying to attain one's vision; wantonly throwing around absolutes and creating enemies out of neighbours. It's hubris personified.
Additionally, are you implying that anyone is suggesting beef should be the primary food source for 10B people? Because I've never seen anyone make that claim. You didn't say "how about we reduce meat ag and use something more scalable for feeding most people", which is a stance I agree with. Instead, you said "how about eliminating meat ag altogether", which is what I was replying to.
And ICE should continue to exist to make sure we stop at the border all those who break the law to try to entering a country. No country owes any right to foreigners to enter illegally. Let them fix their countries first :)
Do you know where real estrogen comes from? Female animals. Do you know the gender of basically all meat/egg/milk products comes from? Females. So that's where your estrogen comes from.
Not from Soy.
> Results of recent population studies suggest that soy has either a beneficial or neutral effect on various health conditions
Either way, humanity hasn't matured enough for this viewpoint to be considered common sense. Give us another few centuries.
In any case, enforcement of anything will require boots on the ground (or boots programming and building the drones). So you’ll have to convince the unwise 99.9% of something. Unilateral climate rescue by the enlightened 0.1% is, to me, a fantasy, as is anybody listening to threats by the Chinese government. They already do a lot of threatening.
In my opinion, this line of thinking will inevitably be hijacked to commit genocide so some group or groups can stay in power.
Would be nice to find another way.
Adding algae to feed might not get rid of meat production altogether, but it is a good transitional step.
To defeat Jevons Paradox (where greater efficiency just means more of the thing is consumed, making it potentially even worse than before), you gotta electrify everything. Perhaps even meat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
Tax engine displacement into oblivion and then require EVs.
Similarly, tax meat ag into oblivion and then outlaw it.
Then, like you say, require EVs as soon as possible.
In more detail, I’d say reinstate the EV credit, but make it per-mile range instead of per kWh (and make the benefits for the first 50 miles like 3-4x that for the next 200 miles... and make the latter credit only eligible if there’s 100kW charging capability... and make the total incentive up to $10,000, which is roughly the inflation adjusted original EV credit). Then after 4-5 years, require all new cars/trucks to at least have a plug, followed by all new cars/trucks having to be pure electric 5 years after that. Adjust the credits for inflation and simultaneously Phase out the credits for plugs once they’re required and then pure electric once that is required. Once most vehicles on the road have a plug, introduce higher carbon tax on fuel until it reaches at least $1-2/gallon (and then require all fuel to be synthesized for direct air capture CO2). After 15 years of the first mandate, start outlawing internal combustion engine vehicles on the road or requiring punitive registration fees. And transition road taxes to miles and weight-based about 5-10 years after the mandates start to bite. Keep electricity prices low by subsidizing clean electricity and then ratcheting up the CO2 taxes.
The aim should be to provide a strong carrot incentive well before a stick incentive. Carrots pill better than sticks. And the stick incentives don’t get enough political support until they only apply to a minority of people.
Keep subsidies to beef low and increase subsidies for plant protein (peas, beans, soy).
Encourage healthy plant-based diets all over the world.
Profit from the vast areas saved to start reforestation projects.
It's already happening. At least in germany the number of vegan meat alternatives has exploded.
These used to be niche products, you could only get in specialty stores. Now there's whole supermarked isles dedicated to them.
The solution is pretty simple.
Stop subsidizing meat and diary farmers. Stop their lobbying, which results in ridiculous laws like the ones in the EU, where you're not allowed to call Almond-milk Almond-milk, because the diary lobbied for "milk" to be a protected term.
Put that money into vegan alternatives, and people will buy them automatically.
"Almond milk" grow of almonds is a waste of water in water-scarce areas. Also, compounds in almonds bind to testosterone. It's a very wasteful product.