Almost two years ago, headlines were filled with stories about the Green New Deal. As many readers remember, the radical plan looked to cleanse America of its carbon- contributing ways. An attachment to the policy proposal noted that the eventual goal includes “to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes.”

Fast-forward to today, where environmentalists are lining up for a big policy push in the next administration. Biden called the Green New Deal a “crucial framework,” and Kamala Harris has endorsed it. Climate change is at the top of his agenda. The Biden Transition Team announced that Sanah Baig, chief of staff for the fake meat advocacy group Good Food Institute, joined the USDA agency review team.

Now more than ever, the meat industry has to go on offense before it finds itself once again fighting in a defensive crouch.

Attacking meat’s footprint has long been included in the PR messaging of environmental and animal rights organizations. But now we’re dealing with a new beast.

Earlier this year, The Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR) initiative told its investors that meat taxes seem imminent. Like clockwork, activist physician groups in the UK are now calling for a meat tax — not on health grounds as you might think, but on environmental grounds. The tax is not motivated by a need for money. Rather much like tobacco, the tax should depress consumption.

Even if Congress stays split and staves off radical legislation, the meat industry will continue to face increased brand attacks, while activists look for an Administration to take unilateral executive action. And any campaign that disparages a product begins to erode a brand. Activists play the long game. Each cycle of attack brings them closer to their goal of shifting public opinion.

Jonathan Lovvorn, the Humane Society of the United States’ chief counsel, recently suggested Biden should take unilateral actions to increase the amount of scrutiny and regulations levied against the meat industry in the name of environmental stewardship. This would include eliminating regulatory exemptions for CAFOs and counting agriculture emissions as pollutants.

And it’s not just federal policy. Earlier this month, animal extremist group Direct Action Everywhere launched a campaign seeking a moratorium on the expansion and/or development of CAFOs in California.

At the same time, fake meat companies will continue to market their products as better for the environment. Even regular purchasers of meat may seek to greenwash their products. Remember Burger King’s “less gassy” cow ad that created a stink this summer?

What this adds up to is an echo chamber that creates and cements false impressions about meat. And that eventually leads to regulation.

According to the EPA’s accounting of American greenhouse gas emissions, the sectors that emit the most are transportation, electricity and industry — totaling more than 75% of US emissions. Agriculture produces 10% of emissions with roughly 4% being attributed to livestock. Not bad for a sector that feeds more than 300 million people here and many others around the world.

Further, the industry has made great strides in increasing production efficiency. We produce the same amount of beef today with 33% fewer cattle compared to 1977, and 18% of the world's beef with only 8% of the world's cattle. What’s more, greenhouse gas emissions from livestock has shrunk 11% while doubling the production of animal farming, according to Dr. Frank Mitloehner, a sustainability expert with the University of California-Davis.

The last five years have seen the introduction of drugs and feed supplements that decrease the amount of cattle emissions. How much greenhouse gas emissions would be saved if other countries around the world produced animal protein with U.S. technology and standards?

Environmentalists want to make the U.S. meat industry a pariah. In reality, it should be a shining example.

Ironically, the term “greenwashing,” created by environmentalists, can be used against the fake meat industry. One Oxford researcher looked at common fake meat patties made from plant protein and found they have the same greenhouse gas emissions as chicken. (Cell-cultured meat, meanwhile, has five times the emissions of chicken.)

When it comes to questions of climate change and efficiency, the meat industry has provided and implemented some of the most effective solutions — just as it has for decades. But what good is that progress if it's not publicized? The old adage about only seeing trees and not the forest rings true for animals on farms. The Biden administration is an inflection point for the activists on offense. Time to find our own offense narrative before we find ourselves explaining and defending. Again.

Looking ahead: The environmental echo chamber on meat

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