The Boondoggle Of Climate Change Policies

To quote a good friend of mine, the “boondoggle” of the climate change agenda is seemingly gaining traction amongst liberals and conservatives alike in popular culture today.

When AOC infamously proposed we reduce cow farts through her Green New Deal, most of us laughed and thought how ridiculous she sounded.

Because we know the truth — that the U.S beef industry contributes less than 4% of total greenhouse gas emissions. We produce more beef today than in the 1970s while using fewer natural resources to do it.

And at the end of the day, when we compare calorie to calorie of plant-based alternatives, you simply can’t beat the bio-available nutrition provided by beef.

Let’s not forget the additional byproducts we get from beef cattle. From nose-to-tail, these products enrich our lives, and to create each and every one from a synthetic method would have a dramatic carbon footprint.

I could go on, but you get the point. The fact was 2+2=4, and the Green New Deal just didn’t add up.

But now, the rhetoric has been repackaged. We are told cattle must go; lab meat and plant-based meat will replace the livestock industry. As an example, one of our four major packers, JBS, just this week announced it was building a lab-grown meat facility in Brazil. The media boldly proclaims that the end of meat is near, and these alternative products are the future.

The rhetoric has also been repackaged in the form of carbon pipelines, carbon capturing, and measuring every emission. It’s anti-life, anti-human, and anti-food. Shockingly, it has those who originally scoffed at AOC’s silly ideas now gobbling up the message, eager to take part in the nonsense.

Why is that, you might ask?

Money. And lots of it.

There are billions, yes with a B, billions of tax dollar incentives being thrown at programs to incentivize land owners to produce nothing, to provide nothing, and to do nothing with their land. These deals would allow bad actors to ride the coattails of America’s farmers and ranchers and our great ability to be stewards of the land and natural resources, all while they continue to pollute.

And the devil is in the details. I constantly ask the audiences I speak to — who are you letting in the door when you sign on the dotted line with these deals?

It’s an alarming trend that I think needs more people to speak out on. The simple truth is carbon is plant food, and these programs are trying to convince us now that 2+2=5.

I borrow that math equation from the book, “1984,” written by George Orwell. In that novel, he writes, "In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it.”

It’s quite fitting, isn’t it? What that book once forecasted — well, it appears we are there now. 

The motivation behind this column is this — it’s to remind my agricultural family across the country that not everyone has our best interests in mind when it comes to these climate programs. It might look like a good way to make a little extra cash when inputs are high and competition for land is fierce, but at the end of the day, we are just helping our adversaries along in their true agenda.

That agenda is that over time, these environmental extremists will chip away at our private property rights — through litigation, legislation, and lobbying efforts. We can go along with it willingly, thinking they are reasonable and that compromise is a good thing.

Or we can realize that after the quick cash comes our way, the long game is to take control of the land.

George Washington once said, “Private property rights are inseparable. You can’t have one without the other.”

I’ll add this — a nation that cannot feed itself is not free.

So to close, I believe it’s the responsibility and duty of every farmer, rancher, and landowner in this country to hold firm to what is true, to hold onto our private property rights, and to see the agenda for what it is — a land grab wrapped up with a pretty bow in the form of billions of dollars to attempt to alter the climate.

I would love your thoughts on this. Feel free to shoot me an email, and we’ll discuss.