The cheap burger at your neighborhood fast-food joint may have hidden, unintended costs that far outweigh the low price tag, according to Mark Bittman in his recent opinion piece “The True Cost of a Burger.”
The costs to the environment, human health, and the economy are “external costs,” or “externalities,” states the article, taking litter as an example: “If your cheeseburger comes wrapped in a piece of paper, and you throw that piece of paper on the sidewalk, it eventually may be picked up by a worker and put in the trash; the cost of that act is an externality.”
Of course, many external costs, such as health care costs relating to obesity and heart disease, or costs arising from large-scale environmental destruction caused by industrial animal farms, are too vast and complex to ever calculate.
The article asserts, however, that “the external costs of burgers may be as high as, or even outweigh, the ‘benefits’ (if indeed there are any other than profits). If those externalities were borne by their producers rather than by consumers and society at large, the industry would be a highly unprofitable, even silly one.”
The message of these hidden expenses is clear: consuming meat, especially at the rate we do today, is fundamentally unsustainable. Sooner rather than later, we as consumers will be forced to bear the brunt of the costs.
Ready to withdraw your support from this unsustainable lifestyle? Check out ChooseVeg.com for ways to make meatless eating fun and easy!
The costs to the environment, human health, and the economy are “external costs,” or “externalities,” states the article, taking litter as an example: “If your cheeseburger comes wrapped in a piece of paper, and you throw that piece of paper on the sidewalk, it eventually may be picked up by a worker and put in the trash; the cost of that act is an externality.”
Of course, many external costs, such as health care costs relating to obesity and heart disease, or costs arising from large-scale environmental destruction caused by industrial animal farms, are too vast and complex to ever calculate.
The article asserts, however, that “the external costs of burgers may be as high as, or even outweigh, the ‘benefits’ (if indeed there are any other than profits). If those externalities were borne by their producers rather than by consumers and society at large, the industry would be a highly unprofitable, even silly one.”
The message of these hidden expenses is clear: consuming meat, especially at the rate we do today, is fundamentally unsustainable. Sooner rather than later, we as consumers will be forced to bear the brunt of the costs.
Ready to withdraw your support from this unsustainable lifestyle? Check out ChooseVeg.com for ways to make meatless eating fun and easy!