But Kim is right. Unless you add some such proviso to your exclusion,
your blanket condemnation could indeed harm the good guys. For one
thing, though you might be well aware of the difference, you
shouldn't presume that others will be. You could well be persuading
them to condemn the wrong people, possibly in other spheres too, not
just biodiesel. Factory farms are an anachronism, they don't have a
future; farmers like Kim are the future, and blanket condemnations
now could warp that future for them and for us all.
My friend, there is no large enough source of lard or tallow
feedstock from a family farm. I appreciate your concern about
blanket condemnations, but once again, would you say "don't condemn
all slaveholders; many are small plantations who treat their slaves
decently?"
It's a poor comparison, as what you say below of your own practices
demonstrates.
Best wishes
Keith
I am not a vegetarian, because I AM a family farmer. I've been
involved in animal husbandry and subsistence farming for many years;
I am not an urbanite discussing this from an armchair in my drawing
room. If my milk cow has a boy calf, there is no other future for
him than to be eaten. If one of our laying chickens dies, or we have
too many roosters, they must be eaten. If we were not willing to eat
this occasional meat, we could not raise milk or eggs. So I am not
naive about necessary and natural relationships.
Factory farming, whether owned and operated by a family or a large
corporation, is a despicable abuse of power by our species, just
like slavery, and is unnatural and extremely unhealthy for everyone
in all directions.
No one is going to be able to produce biodiesel from collecting a
gallon of lard from one little farm and two gallons from another
every few weeks or months. That's not what my e-mail was about.
Sometimes blanket condemnations are actually appropriate, as in the
case of slavery or genocide. What we do with animals every day and
every night in factory farms is both slavery and genocide. Sorry, I
cannot hedge on that. To me, that's false tolerance and is a problem
of our age.
Bo
From: Kim & Garth Travis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [Biofuel] Cleaning Up Factory Farms
Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 11:28:31 -0600
Greetings,
But what if your lard or tallow came from the small family farms
trying to survive? Any blanket statement is against improving the
farming picture. Many people do raise animals in a humane,
environmentally friendly manner. And we have a hard time staying
alive with the competition from the factory farms. Cutting off a
source of income, to us, without investigating who is doing what is
harmful and promotes the factory farms. Trace your sources and be
picky about whom you support, yes. Blanket condemnation is what is
killing the small farmer who is doing it right.
Bright Blessings,
Kim
At 10:36 AM 3/7/2005, you wrote:
To answer your question, Keith, my organization, Carolina
Biodiesel Inc (www.carolinabiodiesel.org) has already discussed
and made official policy that we would not morally be able to use
animal waste as a feedstock no matter how cheap it was or who else
was doing it. We decided we did not want to benefit from the back
door of factory farming, even if it meant we could no longer
compete with other producers. wrong is wrong.
Sounds like you and I see the connection between factory farming
and the ecological movement in much the same way. Glad it's being
said somewhere.
Bo
From: Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [Biofuel] Cleaning Up Factory Farms
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 01:24:45 +0900
Hello Bo
Hi Keith,
I apologize for hyperbole in using terms like "the least of the
problems," but to be more accurate, my point is still that I
have met biofuels folks who have made enthusiastic friendships
with factory farmers as though waste and fuel were the only
issues, not the horrific treatment of living beings.
Did you read my whole reply to you? Including the last paragraph?
One reason that I posted this here is that we keep having these
band-aid allegedly new-tech industrial "solutions" offered (eg
with turkey wastes) that will turn the wastes into energy, hey,
"solving" the whole problem so we can all ride off into the
sunset and everyone lives happily ever after (except the
turkeys). Then some list member enthuses over its being
wondrously environmental, and some of them have been completely
baffled when I've said there's more to it than that. You see
the problem.
There's more to it than "the horrific treatment of living beings"
too - or at least the living beings being factory farmed aren't
necessarily the only ones being horrifically treated.
It hurts to see that, much like it would if we were involved in
this field during the ninetheenth century and formed
affectionate relationships with slaveholders who were a good
source of cottonseed oil. The people may indeed be nice
individuals, but they are involved in a significant social evil
that we must not turn a blind eye to.
Indeed not, but it's hardly the only significant social evil
involved in fuels and biofuels issues, or in food and fuel issues.
That was all I was trying to get across. I love and respect
animals for the same exact reasons I want to use and support
biofuels. How can the two be separated?
Would you use biodiesel or WVO containing lard or tallow or chickenfat?
Actually I don't see abusing animals as much different to abusing
anything else, whether it's plants and trees, soil, air, water,
other humans, or any other part of the biosphere - hubris in
general, and indeed very much to do with supporting biofuels.
Best wishes
Keith
Bo
From: Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [Biofuel] Cleaning Up Factory Farms
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 14:51:56 +0900
Hello Bo
Please friends, let's realize the problem with factory farms
is factory farming -- not the discharge of wastes.
Nope - both are problems, and they're not the only ones. Of
course without the factory farms the waste problem wouldn't
exist, but the waste problem is nonetheless a useful approach,
for raising awareness and for bringing pressure to bear.
There is no stretch of the imagination that can condone the
torture, cruelty and insanity of raising "food" in that way.
I fully agree.
Ever been inside one?
Yup.
Please don't even respond to this e-mail unless you have, or
at least have seen truthful film footage of how animals are
raised and treated. I'd like to think that anyone interested
in biofuels would be absolutely opposed to factory farming.
Absolutely - and if not why not.
The wastes are the least of the problems, in my view.
The wastes are a severe problem in their own right. It's all a
problem. There's nothing good about any aspect of it.
You will, I believe, find previous posts on many or most of the
other problems associated with factory farming in the list
archives. That includes for instance how the feed is produced,
a whole other nightmare, the effects of which are global, with
some horrendous results.
One reason that I posted this here is that we keep having these
band-aid allegedly new-tech industrial "solutions" offered (eg
with turkey wastes) that will turn the wastes into energy, hey,
"solving" the whole problem so we can all ride off into the
sunset and everyone lives happily ever after (except the
turkeys). Then some list member enthuses over its being
wondrously environmental, and some of them have been completely
baffled when I've said there's more to it than that. You see
the problem.
Best wishes
Keith
Bo Lozoff
From: Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Biofuel] Cleaning Up Factory Farms
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 05:24:15 +0900
http://www.alternet.org/story/21391
Cleaning Up Factory Farms
<snip>
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