Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Breitbart; In the face of last month’s UN warning that 49 million people in 43 countries face severe risk of starvation, the New Zealand Government has chosen now to introduce a new climate change food tax.
Climate change: New Zealand’s plan to tax cow and sheep burps
By Peter Hoskins
BBC NewsNew Zealand has unveiled a plan to tax sheep and cattle burps in a bid to tackle one of the country’s biggest sources of greenhouse gases.
It would make it the first nation to charge farmers for the methane emissions from the animals they keep.
New Zealand is home to just over five million people, along with around 10 million cattle and 26 million sheep.
Almost half the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, mainly methane.
However, agricultural emissions have previously not been included in New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme, which has been criticised by those calling for the government to do more to stop global warming.
“There is no question that we need to cut the amount of methane we are putting into the atmosphere, and an effective emissions pricing system for agriculture will play a key part in how we achieve that,” New Zealand’s climate change minister James Shaw said.
Under the proposal farmers will have to pay for their gas emissions from 2025.
…
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61741352
You might think that a tax on New Zealand lamb is a rich person’s problem, starving Africans or Afghans can’t afford New Zealand lamb. But that is not strictly the case – New Zealand exports significant quantities of unfashionable cuts of meat like mutton flaps to poor countries.
This trade is controversial – high fat New Zealand mutton flaps have been blamed for a rise of obesity and diabetes in Pacific Islanders. But worrying about long term excess fat intake, or climate change, is very much tomorrow’s problem, in a world where people face a real risk of running out of food today.
Why would New Zealand’s Prime Minister Ardern wilfully ignore a genuine global hunger crisis, and choose now to impose what is effectively a food tax?
We don’t have to look far back in history for comparable episodes of political blindness and indifference.
Great Irish Potato Famine of 1845-49 was primarily caused by potato blight reaching Europe, but it was also caused by neglect, by British landlords and politicians imposing impossible burdens on their Irish tenant farmers, by politicians ignoring the problems their unreasonable demands were causing.
When I first learned of the Great Irish Potato Famine, I read some of the horrible stories – of a priest who wrote about finding a little girl of his parish wandering the streets by herself. When he asked what she was doing, she complained her dad had gone all quiet and cold, and had stopped speaking. Her mum had died a few years ago, but her dad had struggled on, until he had starved himself to death, giving his last scraps of food to his child in an effort to save his little girl. I don’t know if the little girl survived, but with so many adults dying, it is likely she did not.
It didn’t have to be this way. In the mid 1800s the British Empire controlled half the world, they were near the historic pinnacle of their economic and military power. Likely all the politicians in charge of the Empire needed to do to alleviate the suffering in Ireland was reduce or defer the taxes and tithes they imposed on Irish farmers. But the British of the time chose selfishness over compassion.
I wondered when I read this how the authorities of the time could possibly have been so blind to all the misery and death, how they could have been so careless and unfeeling as to let a million people suffer and die, when a trivial effort on their part could have mitigated the situation.
I guess now we have our answer.
Lunatics running the asylum. What next tax on farting? Ban baked beans?
Farting is now prohibited. If you hear a FART and smell BANANAS, run for your life……MONKEYPOX!!!
Donkeypox is even deadlier!
He aw He aw He a’ways says that.
James Bull
Ban baked beans?
That would be a tipping point for me.
“From my cold dead spoon . . .”
You sure got that right Ouluman.
New Zealand relies on agricultural exports to earn overseas funds to buy a lot of industrial goods that are uneconomic to manufacture in New Zealand .
Our dairy produce from our 5 million cows earns over one third of our export income .
New Zealand relies on our agricultural exports and remember that our dairy herds produce a massive amount of beef and a great number of friesian bull calves and crossbred beef calves which are sold to sheep and cattle farmers to grow and fatten .
NO OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD ARE TAXING THEIR FOOD PRODUCING ANIMALS .
The UNIPCC stated that governments should not take action against climate change that affects food supplies .
For some reason this government states that this does not apply to New Zealand .
Governments are elected to govern their countries and do the best for their peoples welfare but this government is trying to reduce exports and employment .( but increasing bureaucrats )
James Shaw is a traitor to New Zealand butJacinda and her mates rely on the Greens and Maori Parties to govern .
Submissions were called for the governments Zero Carbon Bill three years ago and many concerned citizens appeared before the select committee .
I submitted in person and told the panel that Methane from farmed livestock was a cycle as all fodder that animals consume has absorbed CO2 and the methane that is emitted during digestion is broken down in 8 to 10 years in the upper atmosphere into CO2 and water vapour .
NOT ONE ADDITIONAL ATOM OF CARBON IS EMITTED AS THE PROCESS IS A CLOSED CYCLE .
I then showed the panel a graph of atmospheric methane levels and it shows that for ten years between 1999 and 2008 there was no increase in levels.
Methane levels did not rise for 10 years .Where was the problem ?
There was no problem untill world coal production started to ramp up from 2009 from a steady 4.7 billion tonnes to 8.2 billion tonnes in 2018 .
New Zealand farmers are going to pay levies on methane (TAX ) so that and Asian countries can increase their use of coal .
It was the conservative National Party who signed the country up to the Paris Climate treaty and the then PM said we are going for 30% reduction by 2030 .
The conservatives are now in opposition but voted unanimously for the governments Carbon Zero Act which implements the Paris obligations.
The inclusion of agriculture in NZs carbon budget came from the Kyoto agreement , signed by the then conservative National government in 1997-98.
Theres a consistent double act where the conservative party does almost entirely the ground work for the labour and Greens . Theres only minor differences, usually the farmers want the taxpayers to fund their climate costs, as has happened up till now
You got that wrong Duker .
Helen Clark singed the Kyoto protocol on the11th of December 2002 .
And this was before the UN had included Methane from farmed livestock .
She actually thought that New Zealand had very low emissions untill the methane lies were introduced .
That was after the Kyoto agreement occurred in late 1997-98.
COP3 Kyoto
There was just a delay when it became ratified by enough countries, The labour supported that and indroduced the legislation but the PM at the time it was signed was Shipley
‘New Zealand’s Permanent Representative in New York signed the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on behalf of the Government last night”, Hon Simon Upton, Minister for the Environment, said today.[May 1998]”
Similar timing delay for Paris , which was 2015 or 2016 , but the PM at the summit committed the country to 30% reduction. A change in government and the legislation went through in 2019 or so.
So its you my friend who have got it wrong about when these COP treatys are approved and signed. The later legislation just follows from the binding Treatys.
Paris was non-binding.
G’Day Graham,
The UNIPCC stated that governments should not take action against climate change that affects food supplies .
For some reason this government states that this does not apply to New Zealand .
I wasn’t aware of the IPCC statement. I guess the current US administration isn’t either. In the US, government mandated, turn more corn into ethanol – to dilute gasoline. That with a looming world wide food shortage.
(Sydney Morning Herald – reports a shortage of lettuce to put on hamburgers, KFC experimenting with cabbage.)
Jacinda Ardern acts like she would do well in the California Democratic Party.
Progressivism takes precedence over reasoning.
Progressivism and reasoning in the same sentence is an oxymoron.
well her cousin AOC is already causing a mess, you can tell the buck is hereditary. To bad it won’t stop here
They can have her – PLEASE. She’s no longer wanted here in New Zealand, except by her bribed acolytes in the media!
Then why did the conservative party vote unanimously in favour of Arderns Zero Carbon Act ?
Plus theirs PMs signed wholeheartedly the Kyoto (98) and Paris accords/treatys(2015) mandating the foolish climate goals ?
Why? Because $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The Paris Accords are not a treaty.
At least that is what Obama claimed. That way he could donate money without Congressional oversight and approval.
Just signed a Climate Change agreeement with California. Recent pictures of her smirking right alongside Gavin Newsome. Committed globalist/NWO stooge
President of International Union of Socialist YouthOn 30 January 2008, at 27, Ardern was elected president of the International Union of Socialist (IUSY) at their world congress in the Dominican Republicfor a two-year term until 2010. The role saw her spend time in several countries, including Hungary, Jordan, Israel, Algeria and China. It was mid-way through her presidency term that Ardern became a list MP for the Labour Party. She then continued to manage both roles for the next 15 months.
Ardern is so utterly unattractive, with her incessant head-bobbing as she stridently spouts blatant lie after lie about Climate and Covid.
She knows she is lying, but thinks she is credible as she speaks even louder, stares more intently at her victim and bobs her head more and more – characteristics of a sociopath.
The Ultimate Woke Karen Bobblehead!
Climate and Covid are false crises, concocted by wolves to stampede the sheep for political and financial gain.
Global Warming (aka Climate) alarmism is a decades-old scam, exposed as CO2 continues to increase in a now-cooling world.
The Covid-19 Lockdowns and Vaccines were never justified – scams that were proved ineffective and harmful two years ago.
SCIENTIFIC COMPETENCE – THE ABILITY TO CORRECTLY PREDICT
20Oct2021. Update 12May2022
https://correctpredictions.ca/
There is a powerful logic that says no rational person or group could be this stupid for this long. Our governments were advised two decades ago that they were doing wrong on Climate and two years ago that they were doing wrong on Covid, and they proceeded anyway. There is a point, long since past, when willful stupidity and colossal incompetence no longer provide a credible defense.
Needless harm is being deliberately caused by woke traitors like Biden, Trudeau, Johnson, Macron, Merkel, Morrison, Ardern, etc. who are under the toxic influence of Klaus Schwab and the WEF and the totalitarians who seek control of the world’s population.
Given our natural resources, our people and our fortunate location in the world, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand should lead the world in economic success and standard-of-living. We have been dragged down by leftist elites at home and abroad, traitors who have done us enormous harm and will continue to do so unless we respond in a rational and positive manner to end their sabotage of our society.
__________________________
This video is from the eminent Dr Robert Malone, co-inventor of mRNA technology:
DR ROBERT MALONE: TIME TO FLUSH OUT ALL WEF MEMBERS FROM OUR GOVERNMENTS (rumble.com)
Our institutions have been infiltrated by these criminals – Dr Malone is correct – it’s time to flush them out and shut them down.
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly modern socialist dictatorships can enact legislation that is an inconvenience to citizens, yet get away with it due to an active social media virtue signalling program by useful idiots. In Canada, pipeline construction to the west coast was shut down within weeks of Trudeau’s election by calling a moratorium on tankers “for the whales”… a week after pics of the turtle with a straw in its nostril hit the media, we had a ban on single use plastics and now only get nearly useless soft soggy collapsed paper straws with a soft drink order or none at all, plus pay a hidden tax on bread bags…Ardern’s tax on farm animal methane is just a scam to collect tax pennies that will be passed along to the consumer while enabling a virtue signalling justification campaign, actually accomplishing nothing environmental….against a background of economic Ph.D sycophants saying that increased prices will decrease demand resulting in lower methane emissions, blah, blah, completely missing the fact that cows don’t belch less methane just because a steak costs you a dollar more (or do they know that ?)…..
She was all smiles and kisses a week or so ago with Governor Newsom
And in response, the vegans’ bovine friends say, “MOOOOOOOO”.
Regards,
Bob
BLM (bovine lives meter) as a sheep might say.
Is there also going to be a tax on Vegans? I suspect that they produce more methane than the average omnivore.
Very likely – they certainly produce more BS!
One particular religion believes that men get 72 vegans when they die and get to paradise.
They probably need 6 dozen of them for a comfortable romp because they’re usually quite skinny.
Don’t put your D…in crazy.
Especially if they substitute cabbage for lettuce.
Wait until she promotes a tax on eating bugs.
The WEF not available for comment.
I’m not sure the stories of the Irish potato famine are quite correct. According to Cecil Woodham-Smith (who is in fact a woman), the Irish peasants could live very well on potatoes, but nothing else. Most housewives knew only how to cook potatoes but were clueless about anything else. Many landlords went to a great deal of trouble to alleviate the misery and although Ireland exported wheat throughout the famine the Irish couldn’t deal with it.
The outbreak was at least Europe-wide. and the only available grain was maize, and the mills couldn’t handle it, so the government had to get maize milled in Gibraltar!
The Irish new very well how to use wheat as well as the butter, meat, oats, and other food that was being exported out of Ireland under the protection of soldiers. They did not know how to use the maize that was brought in from America. For every ship coming in with food to Ireland five were leaving with food. Lord Trevalians corn (wheat etc. Was called corn) tax was a major cause of starvation and his name is cursed to this day. Over reliance on potato was a problem, but you had to pay taxes and rent with your other crops.
Much of the criticism of the British Government relies on some form of argument that it should have “robbed Peter to feed Paul”. It’s an easy one to make now, but that relies on hindsight.
The following should be kept in mind.
(1) The “Corn Laws” were designed to keep production high, despite fluctuations in international trade and politics. Grain-based famines were not unusual in Europe and attempts to reduce dependence on imports were not unreasonable.
(2) The British Government did attempt to supply relief, in the form of work-houses and soup-kitchens, as well as imports of Indian Corn. Yes, they got a lot wrong (the work-houses spread the same diseases as Army camps had done for millennia, and solutions were not then understood.) but neither the expertise nor the systems to provide effective relief on that scale existed.
There is an argument that government programs reduced the normal private, community-level response to famine, as people being taxed to pay for programs, believe that they have already contributed and have no moral responsibility to contribute further.
(3) The reform of the Corn Laws led to a reduction in grain-growing, an increase in the land reverting to pasture, and hence a reduction in available employment in agricultural areas.
It is far easier take a one-eyed view of history than it is to propose solutions that were practical under the legal and social conditions of the time….. and yes, I trace my ancestry back to County Cork.
Successive ‘superior’ British Governments got a lot very wrong in their colonies … we suffer their curse to this day.
I find the view that the Irish were too stupid to know what to do with abundant food pretty far fetched. Hungry people try new things. The Irish who emigrated to the USA in the wake of this horror proved to be innovative and hard working.
My great grandfather and his brothers escaped the famine to Australia and quickly established a viable living from running sheep, cattle and country pubs.
Opportunity free from taxes & restrictions was all they needed.
The British deliberately prevented education of the Irish.
And quick to adopt new foods.
Well, this should solve the problem…..
.
Style looks like a ‘Private Eye’ “advert” . . . .
They also did a ‘Pyramid of Power’ that sharpened razor blades, replenished toothpaste, and cured zits, IIRC!
Only £129-99p.
Auto
Cows making veggies taste like meat since… forever.
Well the cows are vegetarian, so from vegetarian cows one gets vegetarian beef.
Grass goes in, green poop patties fall out, beef remains.
New acronym required, I suggest:
FT– Fart Tax (not to be confused with ‘f… them’)
Average New Zealander (vegetarians and many of the NZ politicians even more so) probably fart as mach as one average sheep.
So FT the lot.
On more serious note:
Methane has a relatively short life of 12 years compared to the hundreds or even thousands of years that CO2 hangs around.
If a herd of cattle emits the same amount of methane over 12 years, they are contributing to warming for (only) those 12 years.
https://clear.ucdavis.edu/explainers/why-methane-cattle-warms-climate-differently-co2-fossil-fuels#:~:text=Methane%20stays%20in%20our%20atmosphere,that%20CO2%20hangs%20around.
From what I have read, methane has an abundance about three orders of magnitude less than CO2, albeit it is less than 2 orders of magnitude more effective as a greenhouse gas, molecule for molecule. Thus, it is about 10% as effective as CO2 in reducing cooling. Considering that most methane comes from wetlands, with recent increasing amounts from the tundra, attempts to reduce ruminant and fossil fuel emissions become virtue signaling. It appears to me to have been a last-minute attempt by COP26 to claim that they actually accomplished something.
If anyone reading this is from New Zealand I would recommend them to read this recent post from David Siegel which shows that methane has zero effect on the climate:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/05/28/climate-science-101-david-siegel/
The video is worth watching in it’s entirety, but he talks about methane around 20 minutes in. So all you Kiwis out there, send the link to your MP, or indeed direct to the idiot Ahern. If you know any cattle farmers, send it to them too. Imposing taxes for a phenomenon that doesn’t exist is fraud, I would advise you make your MP’s aware of that fact.
I suspect our NZ politicians know all this already. They simply don’t care. I’m not sure there is even a single MP either in power or in opposition who is prepared to call BS on the climate fraud being perpetrated upon us, so we can’t even vote this nonsense out. I have to watch Sky news Australia to hear from a politician prepared to call it out (e.g. Matt Canavan).
NZ spent a pile of money a while back producing a climate change report that included a graph showing how much our methane contributed to global warming.
From memory it was about 0.00006’C, declining rapidly from there after a year or so to a really small amount ;).
They could be correct though when they say agriculture accounts for about 1/2 our emissions. It’s likely to be about 1/2 of not very much.
Might this be a political strategy to destroy the powerful agricultural organisations? I suspect that it is, they are already fractured by Astern.
Yes Chris, it’s very alarming that ordinary folks in Oz and NZ cannot get any decent climate change media coverage except on Sky. Matt Canavan is one of very few politicians down under who tells it how it is, and he is even on the outer with his Nationals party who represent the rural conservatives/ liberals. What a weak bunch of hypocrites they are, to say nothing of the woke inner city liberals who voted for Teals and Turnbull inspired scientifically ignorant climate alarmists.
This latest charge to tax animal produced methane really takes the cake for stupidity and moral nonsense by this neo-marxist Prime Minister, its disgraceful and will hopefully cause pushball by the silent conservatives.
Why don’t we just start referring to these animals as ‘Assault Livestock’???
-SMH
I was once charged by a free-ranging bull in my thesis area. When I shot into the ground right in front of him, kicking rocks into his face, he decided he’d rather go back to eating grass than escalate the situation. Wise decision on his part.
Sri Lanka tried organic and got a WEF approved result
Morticia Arden is going to tax and hit the least well off the most
She has her Flying Monkeys at the ready for all who dare to disobey her Royal Decrees.
.
The problem is, Flying Monkeys need to eat too.
I thought one of the main exports of the earthquake prone island was NZ lamb and meat products.
It’s not a climate much good for much else.
WTF is going on down there?
They are gonna tax their own success stories so that they fail?
It’s actually a wonderful climate – that’s why so many of us migrated here from other places (including our Maori friends).. Not too dry, not too wet, few floods, few droughts. Just a few earthquakes, not many eruptions – despite what the sensationalist MSM might say. In fact, our main present problem is that communist-inclined politician Ardern, plus her idiot Greenie mate Shaw!
New Zealand lamb is delicious. It comes to Canada in freezer ships. I like the flavour better than our own fresh lamb. Just mentioning this because some American friends had never seen NZ lamb in grocery stores.
If your government makes it more expensive by taxing it, I suppose I will stop buying it.
I live in NZ, and I’ve stopped buying as much beef and lamb as I used to because the price is so high. I believe the rationale is along the lines of “we can get this much overseas” so bugger the locals! The sooner this greenie BS is seen to be what it is, the better the world will be!
I’m unhappy with the price of beef in the US also. I recently saw a package of beef with a price tag of $100 for the first time in my life. I’m cutting back on eating beef out of principle. I can afford it, but just don’t want to support inflation by paying that much.
It seems so. Farmers here get quite a hammering. They have been taking to the streets in recent times because of the various impositions put upon them.
“WTF is going on down there?
They are gonna tax their own success stories so that they fail?”
Isn’t that the definition of socialism? Why did the voters expect anything else? Did the voters actually believe the cow patties coming out of the politicians’ mouths?
Mutton and venison. Are they going to tax the people harvesting the wild deer?
If you want to destroy the farming industry in NZ then taxing the head count of the animals you own is a sure fire way of doing it.
Historically if you herd increased that was a positive event. Now if the herd increases it costs you a fine, or a tax as they euphemistically call it.
The unscientific assault of meat eating currently being carried out by the likes of the Greens and the Woke advocates must stop before real damage to society is done by these ignoramuses.
As for Jacinda, well she is well known for being thick so we should expect her policies on healthy eating to be as equally ridiculous, as her believe in global warming.
Once upon a time, I would happily consider moving to NZ as a sensible country for a pale skin European to live in. Now it is off the list, because the virtue signalling attitude of the political class makes it an intolerable place to live.
More than 50% of us think this unscientific madness will only last until the next national election!
There might be a few disappointed NZers then. I haven’t heard anything from National to indicate they think net zero is a nonsense.
I’d be very pleased to be mistaken though.
Indeed, look what has happened to us in Australia … it won’t be long before our socialista tax livestock too.
Unfortunately, have to agree. However, the promotion of a race based aristocracy is likely to bury them in the next election, maybe then we can at least get rid of the Fabian Socialist/UN/WEF lunacy thats currently oppressing us.
let every Kiwi see this especially 19 minutes in
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/05/28/climate-science-101-david-siegel/
Let them eat Kiwis
Ive always thought that if you truly wanted to preserve a threatened species, most effective way is to farm them! Never heard they were terribly good eating though
Surely you aren’t suggesting Soylent Green! 🙂
Got it in one
😂
We truly are in a political, social, scientific and medical Dark Age
“New Zealand mutton flaps have been blamed for a rise of obesity and diabetes in Pacific Islanders”
They eat what!
France has a great solution for fatty foods- red wine!
Thats my solution to most things.
The old myth that “fat makes you fat” has no scientific basis. The US has now concluded that fat and cholesterol are not “nutrients of concern”, and there is ample evidence that it is high-carbohydrate (sugar and starch) diets that have driven the rise in obesity over the last 50 years.
Personally speaking, I have been eating 1.5-2kg of medium-high fat meat for years, have a perfect Coronary plaque score and am so lean and healthy that my Doctor’s advice is “Whatever you are doing, keep doing it.”
Seems like another excuse to “Blame Whitey for everything”.
Well said Peter .It is carbohydrates that fatten people Fat is essential for many parts of the body . Brains are one that comes to mind .
They just need to outlaw spoons! I mean they blame guns for shootings and so by the same distorted “logic” it has to be cooking and eating utensils that cause obesity.
And soda straws. They can also be used as semi-automatic spit-wad shooters and they don’t come with serial numbers.
Calories and genetics.
Sugar or high-fructose corn syrup? It seems that the US plague of obesity developed after the introduction of H-F corn syrup into everything.
They were always a LARGE nation.
Tax brewing, beer, wine, spirits, massive source of CO2.
Then tax swamps. They produce huge amounts.
Not to mention Mexicans. OK, just kidding, but those beans! 🙂
This woman is an idiot, but seriously, the UK gov signed a methane pledge a few months back, without asking us at all. So expect a meat tax in Britain soon.
The wicked witch of the WEF.
Bet those sheep farmers and occasional beef farmers are thrilled.
The entire country of New Zealand has fewer people than a single city in China. New Zealand’s GHG emission, even assuming Climate Change is true, cannot be significant.
So, what the heck is wrong with the people of New Zealand that they keep this odious woman in power.
“So, what the heck is wrong with the people of New Zealand?”
The word dopes comes to mind. Also liberals
We have much to blame Covid for, including her continuance in the top job.
Unfortunatly to many of them live in our cities and are duped by our News Media that “climate change is real and a threat “
It’s called DEMOCRACY, which few of those Chinese city-dwellers experience. Ardern is window dressing to prepare for her attempt at the United Nations, following the example of her adviser Helen Clarke. We wish her the best of luck, and as soon as possible!
Silicon Valley more likely, as she is quite young and they are more family friendly
Clark was much older when at UN
NZ is a prosperous country in which too many voters are insulated from the consequences of the policies for which they vote.
Not any more
“insulated from the consequences of the policies for which they vote.”
Sounds like several states in the US
California and New Zealand are about the same size. However, the ratio of sheep to people are inverse. New Zealand has more sheep, but the Californians act like sheep.
One step away from taxing citizens for the air we exhale. These political cretins know no limits to their anti-humanist fantasies.
First things first. They’re in the process of dealing with water right now.
Thats got more to do with regressive class policies than anything else – transfer of effective power to a small, race based aristocracy. Actually, given the iwi are big business these days, more like and oligarchy. And, theres a technical term for Government run by a combination of Socialism and Business – starts with F, and was a big thing early last century.
When will people start revolting against loss of simple freedoms like …. what you can eat? This is getting out of hand and ludicrous.
More gaslighting from lunatic leftists trying to convince themselves that a “tax” will stop global warming. A tax has only one useful function: giving money to the government. That’s it. It’s side effect is the initiation of creative efforts by the citizenry to avoid paying the tax, almost always defeating the supposed purpose of the tax.
Just remember the Indian Famines which killed more that the population of Ireland Timeline of major famines in India during British rule – Wikipedia
Were these famines the result of ‘unprecedented’ heat waves?
taxes don’t change behavior that much…so..what will be the result of the tax regarding methane from cows? how the money of the tax will be used? no emissions associated??
‘But the British of the time chose selfishness over compassion.’
Sheesh! There’s no reason to impute Marxist b/s into the tragedy of the Irish Potato Famine when economic stupidity, aka, mercantilism was the culprit. Under mercantilism, nations attempted to protect local producers by enacting high tariffs on imports, e.g. Britain’s Corn Laws. The resulting high grain prices and shortages are what actually lead to famine when the Irish potato crop subsequently failed.
This ^
And some of the Government “solutions” such as the Work Houses, actually spread disease…. a factor which had been known for millennia, but for which no solutions then existed.
Ummmm . . . shouldn’t the citizens of New Zealand have first insisted that there be a meathead tax on government officials such as PM Jacinda Ardern?
In one day the atmospere breaks down 1.60 Megatons of methane, but 1.65 Megatons are emitted, so 0.05 Megatons are accumulated every day (0.007 ppm in a year). Methane is a 84 times more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 (mass/mass) so 0.05 Megatons are as potent as 4.2 Megatons CO2. The CO2-accumulation in one day is 50 Megatons (2.3 ppm in a year). The influence of methane is then a little less than 10 percent of CO2’s influence.
Note: Methane accumulation is rather variable from one year to the next, in some years it is even negative.
Methane is a trace gas; methane occupies 0.00017% of the atmosphere; CO2 occupies 0.04% of the atmosphere; there is 235 times the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere than Methane. Have you accounted for that ?
Not the actual concentration, but the increase of concentration matters
Watch this methane is a big nothing burger
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/05/28/climate-science-101-david-siegel/
19 mins in for the explination
All the wave lengths that methane effects are more than covered by water vapour .
Methane will never warm the world .
There are a lot of countries and states that no longer have a functioning democracy or constitutional republic. They are socialist dictatorships. I’ll start::California, New York, Illinois, and Canada.
Yup. Robbing a few Peters to pay many Pauls will always be popular with the Pauls. The only limit comes when you run out of Peters to rob. Or a few Pauls get annoyed that they have no chance ever to become Peters.
Here’s an interesting article that puts numbers to the proposals.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/468708/farmers-set-out-costly-proposal-to-reduce-emissions
Something that costs huge amounts of money to set up, won’t have the desired effect and will create an extra burden for the people has been the Left’s modus operandi since forever.
Modelling estimates, we all know how reliable that’s going to be.
New “Zeal” land has its own permanent nanny.
Did anyone in New Zealand vote for a food tax?
YES! They voted for any and all possible taxes and tax increases when they voted for Jacinda and her crew.
That vote was also for increased restrictions of their freedom and personal choice on just about anything the “crew” can think of.
Just send a bill to Norway instead….
Fjords emit as much methane as all the deep oceans globally — ScienceDaily
Yes, go after the farm lobby in the U.S. I would love to see that before the midterm elections.
First we need to know what she is eating (if anything).
An apple through a tennis racket?
t’would seem jacinda arden is a most worthy heir to the ancient British Empire’s grievous policies towards the lower classes
How much warming is methane expected to
cause by 2100, if nothing changes?
________________________________________________________________
Climate science, the press and policy makers
steadfastly ignore that obvious question.
During the Cretaceous the earth was populated by a biomass of dinosaur herbivores including sauropods that probably matches that of farm animals today. Why did all those brachiosaurus 🦕 farts not drive the world toward runaway catastrophic warming?
By the inverted standards of the dystopian bizzare-world of climate alarmism, this is actually a serious question. They make up this nonsense as they go along without checking consistency with biosphere history or with science in general.
vegans beware. beans and veggies are magical
‘The plan also includes incentives for farmers who reduce emissions through feed additives, while planting trees on farms could be used to offset emissions.’
—
Cows and sheep eat grass. Grass absorbs CO2 thereby offsetting animal CH4 emissions.
Voters keep voting em in, no sympathy here.
Probably because of support by the ‘news’ media. That was one of the most important reasons that Biden got elected, despite hiding in his basement during the campaigning season.
Unfortunately, Ardern is in Oz at the moment talking to our new lefty PM Albo.
She is sure to convince him to do the same self flagellation in Oz as he is not someone who knows the finer details of anything based on his election stumbles.
New Zealand farmers are actually contributing to cooling. Ruminant methane levels are steadily falling and methane does not accumulate. It is all very ridiculous when you think all methane is 0.00018% of the atmosphere and ruminant methane is 14% of all methane with New Zealand having just 1% of the world’s ruminants.
Try finding one our methane molecules among the 70,000 – 90,000 H2O molecules!!!
Farmers in new Zealand have been bullied mercilessly by greenies over dirty rivers, nitrogen leaching, animal welfare issues, destroying natural vegetation and much more – all emotional claptrap but it has cowered them down and made them open to this absurd taxing plan.
Absurd because the way a farmer pays for taxes and other costs is to increase production.
Is this for real? It is hard to believe there are people in power that are this stupid.
You can run Modtran at double the methane concentration in the atmosphere and any reasonable locality and cloud cover conditions and the results will show a ground temp offset (the warming that keeps TOA Infrared equal to its previous level) of about 0.2 C. You have to consider that achieving this “twice as much” would require twice as many swamps and rice paddies, twice as much ocean, twice as much oil and gas production, twice as many termites, and so on…a really unachievable number in any realistic scenario. So reducing human methane emissions to pre 1800’s levels will theoretically achieve a fraction of 0.2 degrees, maybe .05 degrees…..in other words nothing, zero, zilch, nada…
This incredibly close-to-nonsense concept is an extension of the Global Warming Potential calculation methods that were developed by Sir John Houghton at the height of the ozone hole scare to incite action on man-made refrigerants’ effects on the ozone hole. Except that methane contains no chlorine or fluorine that are the catalyst for ozone depletion….and if methane actually heated 25 or 86 times as much as CO2 on exposure to IR, their molar specific heats would not be nearly the same…..
Thanks for that run-down 0.02C is pretty much what you get with plain old arithmetic using the definition of the Global Warming Potential numbers and a value of 1.2C for doubling of atmospheric CO2.
Just when you thought the lefties couldn’t get any more retarded … they prove us wrong.
If the NZ voters don’t send her packing then they deserve all the taxes that come next.
Fat; is New Zealand’s largest export… and has been for decades.. What will take its place?
AGW cultists what’s the plan, you need to let us know…Convince us you are not Crazy!
Delusional on so many levels.
Ardern is about as thick as they come. The Fart Tax is next. Hard to imagine a more poorly read and childish individual given the reins and blinkers to “lead” a country towards economic penury.
She is only Prime Minister because a majority of Members of Parliament on her side voted for her to be the leader.
We voters only get to vote for a PM if as an MP they represent our electorate.
Same old British Parliamentary set up in Canada. Except with modern social media they become dictators rather easily, like Trudeau, and seem immune from their own egregious decisions…media-masked in virtuous sounding story spinning.
An additional tax surcharge on horse meat?
When have high prices (whether via taxes or other means) ever discouraged people to use the product or service? Even with these high gasoline prices, people are still driving around. The same goes for alcohol and cigarettes in Europe.
Smoking is down, although tax revenue from it is up….for old fashioned tobacco that is…
No, driving is down in the US. There was a news article today that a police department (I forget where) was only going to respond to emergencies with a patrol car and try to handle other complaints by phone.
That was Isabella County Sheriff, Michigan.
Having heard that the police are driving around less, have burglars taken to driving around more ? Or has the increased cost of fuel caused them to increase or decrease their activities ? There’s a Grauniad headline in there somewhere.
Another example of the prevailing trend in climatism: take local action which, even if successful, and if the theory is correct, will have zero effect on the supposed problem which is cited to justify it.
NZ emits about 82 million tons of CO2 a year, and steady or falling. Global emissions are about 37 billion tons and rising, mainly due to China, India etc.
Reduce NZ emissions by half, eliminate them entirely, and the reduction will be made up in a few months by countries that show every sign of just not believing in any climate crisis or need to reduce.
Another typical aspect of this move: its not even clear that taxing the animals will in fact reduce the tiny NZ emissions. It may just raise the price of lamb and beef and dairy products.
This also is characteristic of this phase of climatism. For instance, its a matter of faith to the adherents that installing wind and solar power generation will reduce emissions on a scale large enough to make a difference to global emissions. But there is no documented case of this happening to show that the general adoption of wind and solar generation is possible, or that it would reduce emissions materially if tried. Its a matter of faith that moving to EVs will reduce emissions. But there is no case where its happened, and no proper studies showing it will.
Wow this story has got it all:
(1) Methane as a GH gas
(2) Eating fat makes you fat
(3) Increasing the price of an essential item will reduce demand
There is even a scary picture of a skeleton
Have mercy, I almost spat out all my drink over my new laptop… 🙂
Australia’s 25 million people are roughly equivalent to the population of metropolitan Shanghai in China. New Zealand’s five million are equivalent to China’s 20th largest city.
China’s southeastern province of Guangdong, at 126 million, is more than four times larger than the combined population of New Zealand and Australia. Moreover, Guangdong is the most industrialized and trade-oriented province in China.
China is going to continue to demand virtually all the raw materials and foodstuffs, or equivalents, that New Zealand and Australia can provide — regardless of carbon footprint, bovine flatulence, Western guilt trips, or any other factor. China is the big guy; the nearby Anglophone countries are little guys. Current trends suggest that Australia and New Zealand are destined to become resource colonies of China, whether they call it that or not.
In short, the English-speaking countries of Oceania are a drop in the bucket of global ecology. Nothing they do or not don’t do is visible on a pie chart. Harming their economies over CO2 obsessions is like the joke from “Crocodile Dundee” about two fleas arguing over which one owns the dog.
Is it a meat head tax also?
Rob Reiner will be pissed!
well, they moved on from co2 to methane so quickly that it spins your head around…they always need the “next” crisis.
I cannot believe these people are lunatics or thick as bricks but so totally controlled by their ideologies that they delude themselves about reality.
My concern is that they are ‘crazy’ like a fox. A fox without any ethics.
This isn’t about climate change, it’s an opportunistic way to increase gubment revenues while promoting a faux morality.
At least some of White Castle’s hamburger paddies come from New Zealand. The whole 53′ refer trailer I was pulling was loaded with frozen slider paddies at the docks in Philadelphia a few winters ago. Destination was a White Castle processing facility in Vandalia, OH out by the Dayton airport.
I am wondering if the AGW contribution from livestock methane has ever been compared to the emissions required to replace all of the byproducts realized from livestock husbandry…
Especially since solar panels and wind turbines are covering more and more of the available arable land.
Seems like meat production tax is a hot buzzer issue but few countries are actually imposing them that I can find. We already pay plenty of tax for the meat we purchase as all the inputs are taxed. It would take a very deep search to determine how much oil is used to make the fertilizer used to grow a 100 acres of soy bean. Seems like it is a big secret.
I’ve always known it’s true, but just now realised it’s climate change:
If you burp, fart and sneeze, all at the same time, you die!
The NZ tax will save lives.
Speaking of NZ, I just ran across some data about world suicide rates and was surprised that NZ has high rates — that was even before the lock-downs for COVID. We should watch this to see if this direct meddling with ruminant ranching results in extra stress that causes the suicide rate to increase.
Spencer’s Third Law: For every social action, there is an equal and opposite reaction — called Unintended Consequences.
Let’s just call them out. They want meat eating to be banned.
Live is getting depressed in NZ under that women’s leadership. Covid scare still doing the rounds.
Maybe the gods will intervene and shower us with meat:
https://historianandrew.medium.com/the-day-it-literally-rained-raw-meat-in-kentucky-96ef5229999f
heh.
Lunacy in NZ again? I wonder how far is the day when the locals will lose patience and invite these clowns to a big shark-feeding festival (“very traditional!”).
She’s so jealous and want’s New Zealand on that list. If it’s good enough for third world countries it’s good enough for hers.
James Bull
I wondered when I read this how the authorities of the time could possibly have been so blind to all the misery and death, how they could have been so careless and unfeeling as to let a million people suffer and die, when a trivial effort on their part could have mitigated the situation.
In a Christmas Carol Ebenezer Scrooge says.
‘If they would rather die, they’d better do it, and decrease the surplus population‘
Charles Dickens was probably picking up on the feeling of those in positions of power and influence who viewed the poor as a blight on society.
Much as those who recently had a jamboree in Switzerland feel about most of us.
Bit like Margaret Sanger in the US and Marie Stopes here in the UK are made out to be heroes for women’s reproductive rights but were nothing more than eugenicists like Hitler wanting racial purity over all else.
James Bull
Err cows and sheep eat grass, which take CO2 out of the air. The methane they produce degrades in a few years to become CO2 back in the air again. These politicians and activists are nuts.
Incidentally, the US cattle population is a bit bigger than the US great bison polulations of the 18th/19th century but not a lot bigger.
I’m waiting for them to ban the worst greenhouse gas of all — water vapor.