This reasoning is flawed in the same way recycling is flawed: it puts all the responsibility on individuals to change their behaviour rather than government or industry using their greater leverage to change the system itself.
And it'll work just as well.
If you want to stop people eating meat, the solution is to tax it so that the price of the good reflects its true cost. But that ain't gonna happen. So the least we can do is clean up the production and supply chains to reduce those externalized costs.
What makes you think that it's not going to happen?
It's already happening to such a degree that diary and meat farmer interest groups are HEAVILY lobbying the EU, to make it as difficult as possible for replacement products.
We might as well put our efforts into cleaning up these roadblocks/corruption to a brighter future.
And why can't we do both?
Expect individuals to go vegan, expect governments to support the development of vegan substitutes.
Have people take the bike instead of cars more often, but have a carbon tax on flights.
And it'll work just as well.
If you want to stop people eating meat, the solution is to tax it so that the price of the good reflects its true cost. But that ain't gonna happen. So the least we can do is clean up the production and supply chains to reduce those externalized costs.