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Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 20:41:18 -0400 (EDT)
To: "Erica O'Connor" <luca2032 &AElig yahoo.com>
cc: improvetheworld &AElig umich.edu
From: Daniel Reeves <dreeves &AElig umich.edu>
Subject: Re: An Unfortunate Omission
Status: O

That animal consumption has an environmental impact means that it should 
be taxed so as to make the long term costs immediate.  It's a similar 
principle to paying a recycling deposit on cans and bottles.

That animal consumption costs a lot of resources is by no means a reason 
not to consume animals [1].  The price of meat reflects those costs. 
Unless the government is subsidizing it which is a very bad idea in terms 
of social efficiency [2].

Perhaps a less extreme solution than becoming vegan is to make a pact to 
pay the true cost of the animal products you consume.  For every serving 
of animal, donate $X to an appropriate charity.  Erica and Rob, I nominate 
you two to estimate a lower bound on X, including government farm 
subsidies and environmental impact, but excluding health factors and 
animal suffering (since we're looking for a lower bound and the latter 
are less easily quantifiable).


Footnotes:

[1] Erica, Rob, Karen, Dave, Julie, and other veg(etari)ans on 
improvetheworld can chime in with many other reasons not to eat animals.

[2] For the same reason it's a bad idea for an airline to use your airfare 
to serve you a meal on a plane -- you eat it even if the cost of producing 
it far exceeds your utility for eating it, as long as your utility is 
positive.  (Those who don't grok the notion of sunk cost may even eat if 
their utility is *negative* because "Hey, I paid for it; I better eat 
it".)


--- \/   FROM Erica O'Connor AT 06.08.07 14:00 (Yesterday)   \/ ---

>     I was disappointed that the film about global
> warming, An Inconvenient Truth, failed to mention that
> a change to a more plant-based diet can reduce
> emissions--more so, in fact, than any one of the other
> actions suggested.  For instance, recycling saves
> about 2,400 lbs of carbon dioxide per year per
> household, while a diet change saves 3,000 lbs per
> year per person.  Cows also emit a staggering amount
> of methane, the second largest greenhouse gas.
>     A third of our fossil fuels are consumed by
> agriculture, so in general it makes sense to look
> critically at our eating habits for the sake of the
> environment.  Eating lower on the food chain,
> seasonally, locally, and organically (with minor
> exceptions) makes a huge difference.
>     For those with some doubts about the health of
> plant-based diets I've listed a couple of key facts
> below.  It is also interesting to note that the winner
> of the badlands ultramarathon (the 135 mile footrace
> through extreme conditions) is a strict vegan.
>     Veganism is a privilege, not a privation.  There
> is pleasure in eating what's right that no slab of
> bacon can possibly match.
> -Erica
>
> Veggie facts:
> -Vegetarians tend to have lower weight, total serum
> cholesterol levels, and blood pressures and lower
> rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes,
> and prostate and colon cancer than omnivores with
> comparable lifestyles.
> -Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional
> benefits including higher levels of carbohydrates,
> fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants
> such as vitamins and antioxidants such as vitamins
> C and E and phytochemicals.
> -A vegetarian, including vegan, diet can easily meet
> current recommendations for all essential nutrients
> including protein, iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin D,
> riboflavin, vitamin B-12, vitamin A, n-3 fatty acids,
> and iodine.
> - Vegetarians have lower mortality than the population
> at large, attributable primarily to lower death rates
> from ischemic heart disease and certain cancers.
> -At present, vegetarians appear to make up less than
> 2% of the population, but substantial public health
> and environmental benefits would likely result from a
> more widespread adoption of vegetarianism.
>
> Two of many references:
> -Position of the American Dietetic Association and
> Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian diets (attached)
> -http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?prodId=ITOF&userGroupName=lom_umichanna&version=1.0&type=retrieve&docId=A15430528&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm
>
>
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-- 
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves  - -  search://"Daniel Reeves"

"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it."
   -- Oscar Wilde