As usual, there is more to the story than just my mind has been able to imagine on its own. I have been thinking a great deal lately about self sufficiency, and taking baby steps toward same. One of the factors in my interest in biofuels. In this, like everything else in life, what I am learning is that there is always more to learn.
Brian --- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello Brian > > >I do have a problem with one point made in this interview. He uses > >Iowa agriculture destroying natural habitats as an argument that > >vegetarians are actually more cruel to animals than carnivores. > > He uses industrialised agriculture as his example far too often, and > as a result his entire structure is built on sand. Industrialised > agriculture is a very recent and aberrational phase that will soon > pass, hardly a basis for considering the whole 10,000 years of > agricultural history, along with civilization, the future, and all > the fish. > > >If > >I remember correctly, about 80% of the corn raised in Iowa goes to > >feed cattle. > > There are some interesting figures here: > US grain exports > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_food.html#grainexports > > Actually the whole page is interesting. > > >Direct consumption by humans would be much more > >efficient, meaning less demand and therefore less need to destroy > >natural habitats. I am primarily vegetarian on these grounds > >exactly, not due to some concern about harming animals. It's simply > >more efficient for me to digest plant products myself than to allow > >some animal to do it for me and then consume the animal. > > Trouble is, the real problem of agriculture is over-production. > There's no shortage of food in the world, a billion-odd people don't > go hungry because there isn't enough food, there's more than enough, > more than there's ever been, per capita. So growing more food to feed > the hungry not only isn't the answer to the problem, but almost > invariably leads to more starvation (eg the so-called "Green > Revolution"). > > Forget about the "modern" specialised farms where one farm grows > grain and another farm raises beef and so on. That's not farming > (husbandry), it's extraction (like mining). Sustainably, you need to > have it all going on on the same farm. When properly managed, > integrated, mixed farms are indefinitely sustainable, with low input, > high output and high quality. (And low to zero fossil-fuel inputs.) > Fertility maintenance procedures on such farms are very well > established. The basic principle of it is that, as always in nature, > it requires both plants and animals. Soil fertility cannot be > maintained without animals - some portion of what's returned to the > soil has to pass through the gut of animals, preferably more than one > species. Ideally it take all of them, cattle, sheep, pigs and > poultry. If you're doing that well you can have a highly efficient > operation that's kind to everything - the soil, the water, the > plants, the livestock, the local biodiversity, the farmer, his > pocket, his family, their health, the local community, the nation, > the world, all the fish too, and everything but ADM and ExxonMobil. > (Which is the problem - we only forego all these things for the sakes > of the likes of ADM and ExxonMobil.) > > Without the animals, the whole thing is going to wind down sooner or > later, probably sooner, unless you're to rely on ever higher levels > of off-farm chemical fertilizer inputs, in which case the whole thing > is going to wind down sooner or later anyway, but with a lot more > pollution and leaving a wreck that will be much harder to restore to > life. > > So I'd agree the animals are all wrong in the current set-up, but > then so is everything else. Getting rid of the animals is not the > answer, the whole thing has to be ditched, and will be, whether by > choice or not remains to be seen. Sounds a bit like fossil-fuels and > biofuels eh? Food and fuel issues share a lot of common ground . > > Best > > Keith > > > > >Brian > > > >--- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Interview with Manning, follow-on to his previous article in > >Harpers. > >them worse. Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
