I remember writing (in a previously owned blog) about this several years ago. However, I have seen this headline over and over the past several days, and I feel compelled to comment on it once again.
The idea is that there are just too many animals creating greenhouse gasses. Not only do cows breath out CO2 (do I have to remind you that trees breath IN CO2?), but they also fart. And poop. And lambs? Well, they burp. They also take up a ton of space, and need to be hauled thousands of miles in order to get to your table. And, according to the "experts", you need twice the amount of land to produce a pound of beef as you do a pound of vegetables.
Never mind that humans, without meat, will have to eat legumes. And those legumes will create an excess amount of methane in your system. And thus we'll have more human farts to replace the cow farts. Sweet, isn't it? Oh, don't worry. The eugenicists want you to die, too, in order to save the planet. I've got an idea...they can go first.
Okay, so lets take industrialized bovine agriculture out of the picture. Lets put our animals right back where they have traditionally been, for thousands of years, where God intended them to be. Out of the feed lot and into the field.
Cows use to be much smaller, for one. During our industrialized agriculture revolution, bigger was considered better. Children use to be in charge of caring for the beasts, now we're lucky if a grown man could do it. Today, these cattle are returning as "heirloom" breeds. Guess what? As goat owners have figured out, the smaller beasts produce more meat per pound of feed than the large ones.
But even then, lets look at agriculture in general. First, we'll look at the myth: "It takes twice as many acres to grow 1 pound of beef as it does to grow 1 pound of grain or vegetable". Hmm, maybe. But are you aware that 1/4 of beef contains all the nutrition of 1 lb of vegetable or grain? Its true! So, by simple calculation, it takes 1/2 acre to produce the nutrition of 1 acre of vegetable or grain.
But then, again, the information may be tainted by feed lots rather than free range. So, lets look at the additional benefits of free range.
In traditional farming, the farmer had several fields. He would rotate them....the grain would be in one field this year, the next field the next. His animals also factored in this equation. Allowing a cow to graze in a fallow field would improve that field. Yes, my stupid city children...cow dookie is a fertilizer. An ORGANIC fertilizer. So are their blood and bones. The organic GURUS over at Pathtofreedom.com are certified vegetarians, but they still raise rabbits for the dookie the rabbits provide.
A second benefit is that not all land is capable of supporting crops. Perhaps its too rocky. Perhaps the soil is heavy clay, which would require tons and tons of plant matter to be trucked in to improve the soil. Perhaps the land is too dry, requiring energy to pump precious water out of the ground to feed the crops. Perhaps its too cold, requiring hothouses to be built and power to go to those hot houses.
Enter, the animal. Traditional farming also held that if the land is incapable of supporting crops, it could support animals. Virginia mountain woodland held tons of half-wild hogs. The farmers would simply turn the animals out into the woods, where growing crops wasn't beneficial, and then go get them late fall. Sheep and goats are taken to the tops of mountains in summer...remember Brokeback mountain? Okay, forget Brokeback...remember Heidi? They were goat herders! Cattle and buffalo ate the long grass of the prarie, land too dry, rocky, and heavy clay to support many food crops, but just perfect for animal raising. Even the desert and semi-desert (scientificly, its called Arid and semi-arid) lands are capable of supporting herders...hardier goats, camels, and other animals....without the massive inputs of water pumped out from the ground. Saudi Arabia, having bullied its traditional herders into the cities, and using the vast waters under the ground for raising crops, has figured this one out.
How is it saving the earth when vast amounts of water needs to be pumped out of the ground with vast amounts of CO2-producing energy? But what happens when the cow gets thirsty? Well, it simply walks to the nearest pond or stream to drink. Fruit trees, wheat, and corn can't get up and walk. And cows aren't likely to kill the delta smelt the same way that the water pumps in Southern California will.
Now, lets look at the benefits on the scale of wildlife. What happens when bambi eats corn? Either human goes hungry, or bambi gets shot. What happens when bambi eats in a cow field? Anyone? That's right! Nothing. Bambi and the free-ranged cattle can eat the same food without competition! Free-range fields can support a large variety of wildlife in addition to the food crop animal. No nasty pesticides needed.
And what about those who live further north? You know, the ones who eat caribou and bear? It sounds horrible, doesn't it? Hunting? Well, hunting prevents those animals hunted from starving to death. It also allows those people to live in areas where food crops can't be grown, thus reducing the population strain in those areas where food crops can be grown.
So, what about us in the city? Us suburbanites? As I cited with Pathtofreedom, backyard gardens often include backyard animals. Goats, ducks, chickens, rabbits....even pigs can be raised in the back yard. These animals are efficient at turning what we would consider waste into compost, the natural fertilizer for your veggie garden...but what happens when that animal dies a natural death? Or if they get too overpopulated? The methane that comes off its rotting corpse....okay, I'm getting too grosse, here, but you get the picture.
Forget those idiots who tell you that eating meat is going to destroy the planet. These are the same people who want you to just roll over and die. Screw them. They probably put out more greenhouse gasses than you do.
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