Fart tax imminent

Oh, I'm sorry.  That should be "flatus" or "methane" surcharge.

But around here in cattle country, word has reached us that a global conspiracy fostered by the "new world order" is about to impose a fart tax on ranchers and hog farmers.  That's the word from around the county seat (no pun intended) these days.  Now it's clear where the rumor started.  At a meeting in Poland this week, the UN is discussing what to do about environmental damage from cattle emissions at a time when more and more people are eating more and more meat.

The Dutch, bless them, have turned livestock emissions into energy. 

"... A group of farmers-turned-environmentalists here at a smelly but impeccably clean research farm have a new take on making a silk purse from a sow’s ear: They cook manure from their 3,000 pigs to capture the methane trapped within it, and then use the gas to make electricity for the local power grid."

Why are we so behind the times when it comes to serious solutions like these to real problems?  Why do we just giggle or yell "drill, baby, drill" even as the Danes, the Dutch and just about everyone else are creating smart solutions?  We sit back complacently, and then get all hot under the collar when environmentalists suggest that, since we aren't doing anything else about the problem, maybe we should be motivated by a hefty tax on each head (or whatever) of cattle. 

This situation isn't improved by those who suggest we simply eat less meat.

"... Proposals include everything from persuading consumers to eat less meat to slapping a 'sin tax' on pork and beef. Next year, Sweden will start labeling food products so that shoppers can look at how much emission can be attributed to serving steak compared with, say, chicken or turkey. 'Of course for the environment it’s better to eat beans than beef, but if you want to eat beef for New Year’s, you’ll know which beef is best to buy,' said Claes Johansson, chief of sustainability at the Swedish agricultural group Lantmannen."

Beans?  Beans?!  Do these people have a clue what 6 billion humans on this planet eating beans every day would do to the atmosphere?  That's what we cattle people want to know.