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Comment by epistasis | Hacker News Reader

You linked to a global analysis, not one for the US, as I was talking about. I live in the US and am interested in tackling the massive massive amount of emissions from the US. People in the US emit far far more carbon than nearly anywhere else. Solving that huge problem means tackling transportation.

People in the US sometimes focus on global action, but as a US resident it seems completely inappropriate to be telling people who emit far far less carbon that they need to stop eating beef, before people in the US have stopped far far worse activities.

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>as a US resident it seems completely inappropriate to be telling people who emit far far less carbon that they need to stop eating beef, before people in the US have stopped far far worse activities

Why does it need to be one or the other? It's definitely true that the US has higher greenhouse gas emissions per person than most other places. Shouldn't we focus on reducing emissions anywhere we can?

I've spoken to lots of Americans who are under the false impression that food miles are the most important factor when it comes to sustainable food, this article makes the case that it's actually meat.

I think it's reasonable to say people should eat less meat (especially in the US) and we should also reduce emissions from transportation and energy.

If somebody is looking to take personal action, sure go right ahead!

But for systematic change, and systematic change is what's needed, there are sever political consequences for focusing on hugely unpopular actions that have little effect. Attacks on meat have empowered those who oppose climate action, which is just below 50% of the population in the US. Focusing climate action on meat consumption has been counterproductive, just as doomerism about climate action is used to make people feel helpless and then abandon taking any action at all.

We have very little time to make massive climate strides, and anything that slows down the fastest action in the US, like prioritizing meat consumption and not placing it in the proper context, causes great harm to the cause. Just as focusing of food miles by hapless media has caused great harm for climate action.

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