Comments on: Is the Livestock Industry Destroying the Planet? http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2012/08/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet/ Just another blogs.smithsonianmag.com site Sun, 16 Jun 2013 23:57:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: brenda http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2012/08/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet/#comment-1561 brenda Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:28:03 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/?p=3687#comment-1561 I know that some folks have their dogs and cats on veggie diets, but I tried and mine just won't eat it. I know that some folks have their dogs and cats on veggie diets, but I tried and mine just won’t eat it.

]]> By: brenda http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2012/08/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet/#comment-1560 brenda Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:21:52 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/?p=3687#comment-1560 I support in-vitro meat - because while humans DO NOT NEED ANIMAL PRODUCTS to survive, my pets, do!! I support in-vitro meat – because while humans DO NOT NEED ANIMAL PRODUCTS to survive, my pets, do!!

]]> By: Alastair Bland http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2012/08/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet/#comment-1558 Alastair Bland Sun, 17 Feb 2013 06:43:42 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/?p=3687#comment-1558 Thanks for the reply, Mark. My immediate reaction to this idea is to suggest that we probably wouldn't have to have torn that piece of prairie up to raise wheat if so much other land wasn't already being committed to livestock. I don't doubt or deny that cultivation of plants comes at the cost of wild habitat, but I firmly maintain that we would need to maintain and cultivate less crops altogether if we reduced the scope of animal husbandry and meat farming. Thanks for the reply, Mark. My immediate reaction to this idea is to suggest that we probably wouldn’t have to have torn that piece of prairie up to raise wheat if so much other land wasn’t already being committed to livestock. I don’t doubt or deny that cultivation of plants comes at the cost of wild habitat, but I firmly maintain that we would need to maintain and cultivate less crops altogether if we reduced the scope of animal husbandry and meat farming.

]]> By: Mark Meier http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2012/08/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet/#comment-1557 Mark Meier Sun, 17 Feb 2013 06:03:23 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/?p=3687#comment-1557 I agree with DW. Grasslands covered with prarie grass were tore up for wheat production during WWI and instead of replanting to grassland after the war the land was abanded and allowed to blow. This was a manmade tragedy and could have been avoided by using lands as pastures and grazing lands for cattle and sheep instead of cultivation. In case of drouth, the topsoil is protected from erosion by the prarie grass. Horses Cattle and Sheep can survive off this in the summer and be given Hay during the Winter and drouth periods. This is environmentally sound and should be integrated in a modern agriculture. I agree with DW. Grasslands covered with prarie grass were tore up for wheat production during WWI and instead of replanting to grassland after the war the land was abanded and allowed to blow. This was a manmade tragedy and could have been avoided by using lands as pastures and grazing lands for cattle and sheep instead of cultivation. In case of drouth, the topsoil is protected from erosion by the prarie grass. Horses Cattle and Sheep can survive off this in the summer and be given Hay during the Winter and drouth periods. This is environmentally sound and should be integrated in a modern agriculture.

]]> By: Chris http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2012/08/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet/#comment-939 Chris Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:50:56 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/?p=3687#comment-939 Hasn't there always been a large number of herds of animals roaming the grasslands without them being used as livestock? I agree with the fact that there has been a lot of deforestation, green house gases, etc. but obesity? ehh.. people have their own choice, they can choose to eat healthy or not if they so please. Everyone should know the consequences because it's always imbedded in our brains. But that's going into another topic. The fact of the matter is that anything that is lustful, which it be a sports car, a wool coat, or a 16 oz. ribeye, will ultimately do some damage to the Earth. Hasn’t there always been a large number of herds of animals roaming the grasslands without them being used as livestock? I agree with the fact that there has been a lot of deforestation, green house gases, etc. but obesity? ehh.. people have their own choice, they can choose to eat healthy or not if they so please. Everyone should know the consequences because it’s always imbedded in our brains. But that’s going into another topic. The fact of the matter is that anything that is lustful, which it be a sports car, a wool coat, or a 16 oz. ribeye, will ultimately do some damage to the Earth.

]]> By: DW http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2012/08/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet/#comment-926 DW Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:02:00 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/?p=3687#comment-926 New thinking: grass-grazing livestock and herding animals can actually be one of the major solutions to climate change. You heard that right. It's all about the animal's dung and the bacteria that keeps the moisture in the soil. It is our farming practices that is killing the soil and sending emissions into the atmosphere. But that's industrialization. With this knowledge we could keep farm animals in community settings or on the regular housing block (think goats, chickens) and start practices that actually mimic Nature not oppose it: http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxSomerville-Seth-Itzkan-Reve New thinking: grass-grazing livestock and herding animals can actually be one of the major solutions to climate change. You heard that right. It’s all about the animal’s dung and the bacteria that keeps the moisture in the soil. It is our farming practices that is killing the soil and sending emissions into the atmosphere. But that’s industrialization. With this knowledge we could keep farm animals in community settings or on the regular housing block (think goats, chickens) and start practices that actually mimic Nature not oppose it:

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxSomerville-Seth-Itzkan-Reve

]]> By: Andrew http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2012/08/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet/#comment-732 Andrew Wed, 15 Aug 2012 01:18:28 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/?p=3687#comment-732 Kildare - it's great that Joel Salatin grows high end beef, pork, and chicken on his utopian farm, but if all farmer's operated this way, there wouldn't be enough meat to support our ravenous appetites. Our excessive demand for meat requires factory farming to produce it on a massive scale. If we all cut back significantly, then all chickens, pigs, and cows could be raised in fewer numbers, and by more sustainable methods such as those employed by Joel Salatin. Kildare – it’s great that Joel Salatin grows high end beef, pork, and chicken on his utopian farm, but if all farmer’s operated this way, there wouldn’t be enough meat to support our ravenous appetites. Our excessive demand for meat requires factory farming to produce it on a massive scale. If we all cut back significantly, then all chickens, pigs, and cows could be raised in fewer numbers, and by more sustainable methods such as those employed by Joel Salatin.

]]> By: Mike Hudson http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2012/08/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet/#comment-704 Mike Hudson Sat, 04 Aug 2012 20:20:46 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/?p=3687#comment-704 Krishna, all in all I think that vegetarianism only postpones the inevitable. Yes, with today's population, as Alastair points out, we can feed lots of more people if we all turned vegan. Of course this theory also is probably based on industrial farming techniques using tons of fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, etc... in order to keep the yield per acre at a peak - and as such is equally as destructive to our environment as eating cows. Now if you look 50-100 years into the vegan future, we may yet run out of farmland eventually as our population grows. What then? Krishna,
all in all I think that vegetarianism only postpones the inevitable. Yes, with today’s population, as Alastair points out, we can feed lots of more people if we all turned vegan. Of course this theory also is probably based on industrial farming techniques using tons of fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, etc… in order to keep the yield per acre at a peak – and as such is equally as destructive to our environment as eating cows. Now if you look 50-100 years into the vegan future, we may yet run out of farmland eventually as our population grows. What then?

]]> By: Kildare http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2012/08/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet/#comment-701 Kildare Sat, 04 Aug 2012 01:51:18 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/?p=3687#comment-701 Meat is not the problem, the managers of the farms are the problem. Joel Salatin is raising beef commercially in a way that heals the earth for many years and many many others are following his path. CAFOs and out dated farming methods are the problem, not the cows. Meat is not the problem, the managers of the farms are the problem. Joel Salatin is raising beef commercially in a way that heals the earth for many years and many many others are following his path. CAFOs and out dated farming methods are the problem, not the cows.

]]> By: John http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2012/08/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet/#comment-700 John Fri, 03 Aug 2012 21:39:00 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/?p=3687#comment-700 Technology complicates problems. Less technology creates simple solutions. Permaculture grows food forests in the desert. http://www.permaculture.org.au/ Technology complicates problems. Less technology creates simple solutions. Permaculture grows food forests in the desert. http://www.permaculture.org.au/

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