Study found the largest US cattle trade group (NCA) knew about their large emissions by 1989. They treated it as just a PR problem, downplayed science, and opposed efforts to reduce beef consumption

6 days ago by usernamesAreTricky to c/science

In the mid-1980s, scientific studies first highlighted the role of anthropogenic methane in global warming and emissions from cows as an important source. This knowledge expanded views of responsibility for global warming beyond the fossil fuel sector. Using scientific studies, archival documents, media interviews, and various government reports, we analyzed how the National Cattlemen’s Association (NCA), a trade association for the U.S beef industry, reacted to news about its products’ impacts on global warming between 1986 and 1996. While previous studies have emphasized the role of trade associations in political lobbying, here we show that NCA responded mainly with strategic communications, including information gathering on civil society activities, commissioning academic experts to produce and share statistics that reframed scientific findings, and discursive tactics to influence politicians and the public. Despite scientific recommendations about opportunities to reduce methane emissions, we found no evidence that NCA researched or promoted any of these suggested changes to beef production. Instead, NCA treated global warming as a public relations concern that could affect consumer demand, rather than as a potentially serious consequence of beef production.

LowtierComputer 18 points 6 days ago

0 surprise

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JasonDJ 12 points 5 days ago

It's really amazing how many people knew that they were destroying the world...and not only continued to do so, but accelerated it and covered it all up....just to see their wallets get fatter.

Kinda just makes you want to accelerate the decline faster. "Intelligent" life my ass.

Edit to add: remember the villains in Captain Planet? They were over-the-top cartoonishly evil, even for a cartoon. But I'm starting to think they were closer to reality than I wanted to believe.

Also there were some cool as actors among those villains. Dean Stockwell, Tim Curry, Jeff Goldblum....and then the regulars like Jim Cummings and John Ratzenberger...just a cool cast)

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Quibblekrust 1 point 5 days ago

Is greed inherent to all life? It seems to me that all lifeforms compete, and if they gain intelligence that doesn't magically negate the "kill or be killed" mentality that worked for eons.

Life getting smart enough to kill everyone with technology is a good candidate for the Fermi Paradox.

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JasonDJ 1 point 5 days ago

This is an interesting perspective. I kinda like it, even though I hate it.

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TryingToBeGood 0 points 5 days ago

Well, of course—they want to sell more beef.

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