The impact of meat

In an article in the New York Times today, Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler, Mark Bittman compares meat to oil:

Like oil, meat is subsidized by the federal government. Like oil, meat is subject to accelerating demand as nations become wealthier, and this, in turn, sends prices higher. Finally — like oil — meat is something people are encouraged to consume less of, as the toll exacted by industrial production increases, and becomes increasingly visible.

We hear from time to time that there are drawbacks to the kind of meat production industry that has developed in the United States and elsewhere, but this article follows the relationships between those drawbacks clearly and succinctly. Bonus points to Bittman for quoting Tyler Cowen, one of the authors of the illuminating blog Marginal Revolution:

“I just don’t think we can count on market prices to reduce our meat consumption,” he [Cowen] said. “There may be a temporary spike in food prices, but it will almost certainly be reversed and then some. But if all the burden is put on eaters, that’s not a tragic state of affairs.”

I wonder if we’ll see follow-up comments from Cowen on his blog, as sometimes happens after he has been quoted in the press.

Bittman is the author of the very useful cookbook How to Cook Everything, among other things. His byline on the NYT article indicates that although he’s written a vegetarian cookbook, he’s not a vegetarian, in an apparent effort to fend off any allegations of anti-meat bias.

*Update — 1/29/08: And here is Tyler Cowen’s follow-up. He wonders whether, if one considers the environment and animal cruelty, is it better to eat cows or pigs, if one is going to eat one or the other.