Get ready, farmers. The climate catastrophists are after you!
New Zealand’s Ministry for Environment on June 8 released a draft plan to tax farmers for the methane their sheep and cattle produce—because, of course, that methane causes climate change, aka global warming, and we all know that’s an existential threat to humanity.
Except that the moderate warming actually to be expected from rising greenhouse gas levels will bring benefits as well as costs, and it’s entirely possible that the benefits will outweigh the costs—in which case, the farmers should be rewarded, not taxed, for their contribution.
And except that even if the costs do outweigh the benefits, actually calculating those costs (what’s called the “social cost of carbon”) is so fraught with confounding variables that it’s impossible to justify any given figure, so whatever tax rate gets set will largely arbitrary.
And except that methane, while a more powerful greenhouse gas per molecule than carbon dioxide, is so much more scarce in the atmosphere that its contribution is negligible by comparison.
And except that the benefits of all the food, wool, and other products that come from those sheep and cows far outweigh the risks (and benefits) from whatever minuscule warming might be blamed on (or credit to) them.
dr M says
Ruminants contribute far more value to the environment than any negligible damage of belching. Millions of tons of “waste” from ethanol production are utilized for protein & energy in their diets, along with cottonseed & many other waste products. These can only be utilized by ruminants. If one was serious about warming– travel for sporting events would become illegal. that’s a truly unnecessary burning of fuel creating “warming”