ON THE FLIP SIDE, my Dad was a small farmer who spent his life breeding a small herd of super-tasty Herefords. A tax like this would have destroyed him - except agri-business (with 10's of thousands cows per feedlot) and industry-created Mad Cow already did that.
So who would pay? Maybe multi-national agri-business corporations, but probably not - they've already divested risky production and left their contractors holding the bag.
Then there's Koch Industries, the second largest privately held corporation in the USA - owned by the infamous Koch brothers - and Koch Beef, a subsidiary. They don't intend to pay any flatulence taxes though, and put big money into the American Climate Change Denial Machine.
…Koch Beef, a subsidiary of the nation’s second largest privately held corporation …Koch Beef Company is one of the fastest growing companies in the beef industry, if not the fastest.
…Their motivation, simply put, is profitability.
"The only reason Koch Industries wants to be in the cattle business is because we believe on a large scale we can change the way beef production in the cattle industry works and make a very handsome return doing it," Robertson says. "That’s the only reason we’re in the cattle business. It truly is bottom-line driven. We’re not in the business to lose money."
Koch Funded Climate Change Denial
THE KOCH BROTHERS: FUNDING $61,485,781 TO GROUPS DENYING CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE SINCE 1997
Billionaire oilman David Koch used to joke that Koch Industries was "the biggest company you've never heard of." Now the shroud of secrecy has thankfully been lifted, revealing the $61.48 million that he and his brother Charles have quietly funneled to climate-denial front groups that are working to delay policies and regulations aimed at stopping global warming, most of which are part of the State Policy Network.
Today, the Kochs are being watched as a prime example of the corporate takeover of government. Their funding and co-opting of the Tea Party movement is now well documented.
When Cows Fart
A key producer of methane, cow flatulence is leading cause of global warming. Their slow digestion, mixed with a gas-producing diet of greens, causes excessive methane build-up. The issue is compounded by slaughterhouses, which store thousands of cows in one location, creating large clouds of methane. Neighbors and environmentalists frequently complain about the odor, as well as the negative effects on air quality.
Ireland and Denmark, along with other EU nations, have begun taxing cattle owners on cow flatulence. The “byproducts” of livestock like cows are responsible for approximately 18% of the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN. Just $18 per cow in Ireland, cow flatulence will cost Danish farmers $110 per cow.
How Many Cows Are Stinking Up Our World?
an estimated 1.3 billion cattle are in the world today
According to the International Erosion Control Association, which tracks overgrazing, the world's cattle herd went from 720 million in 1950 to 1.53 billion in 2001.
In Africa there are an estimated 230 million cattle, while India hold's the world's largest cattle population with 283.1 million. The United States has 98 million head of cattle, while China has 130 million head.
The total number of cattle and calves in the U.S. on July 1, 2012, was 97.8 million head
BEEF: A Terrorist Plot?
…when methane is present at high concentrations, it acts as
an asphyxiant. Asphyxiants displace oxygen in the air and can cause symptoms of oxygen deprivation (asphyxiation). …It is not expected to
cause unconsciousness (narcosis) due to central nervous system depression until it reaches much higher concentrations (30% or 300000 ppm) - well above
the lower explosive limit and asphyxiating concentrations.
Possible health effects of breathing in methane at high concentrations, resulting in oxygen deficiency, are
increased breathing and pulse rates, lack of muscular coordination, emotional upset, nausea and vomiting,
loss of consciousness, respiratory collapse and death.
money.ca.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)
…when methane is present at high concentrations, it acts as an asphyxiant. Asphyxiants displace oxygen in the air and can cause symptoms of oxygen deprivation (asphyxiation). …It is not expected to cause unconsciousness (narcosis) due to central nervous system depression until it reaches much higher concentrations (30% or 300000 ppm) - well above the lower explosive limit and asphyxiating concentrations.
Possible health effects of breathing in methane at high concentrations, resulting in oxygen deficiency, are increased breathing and pulse rates, lack of muscular coordination, emotional upset, nausea and vomiting, loss of consciousness, respiratory collapse and death.
money.ca.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)
Geez, maybe some days I should pay the government some tax
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