Ah! The cartoon placard that we see the doomsday soothsayers holding at the traffic intersections. However, this is very serious and the topic was also the May 2012 winning letter to Popular Mechanics. It's thought-provoking enough to want to share it : food for thought!
"OKAY, So Life is Doomed" by Johannes Bertus de Villiers in JHB :
"Your article on the many ways in which civilised life on Earth could come to an end, sketches some terrifying and realistic scenarios. However you might have added the fact that the sixth mass extinction of species in our planet's history is already underway - and no horror from the skies was needed to trigger it. Earth has been through five major extinctions, starting with the Ordovician-Silurian catastrophe that put an end to most of the brachiopods, conodonts and trilobites that inhabited the Earth 450 million years ago, and most recently the KT-event that culled the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
However in March last year, Nature published a study by Anthony Barnosky titled, "Has the Earth's sixth mass extinction already arrived?" His answer was yes, probably, and what makes this mass extinction so unlike the previous five, is that life seems to be destroying itself.
One need only look at the figures : according to the WWF's biannual Living Planet report, the number of animals on Earth has decreased by 30 percent since 1970. The WWF predicts ecological collapse by 2050. The UN's Global Diversity outlook of 2006 confirms this and states: "in effect, we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of the Earth, the greatest since the dinosaur disappeared 65 million years ago."
Where Earth's natural extinction rate for species is about 30 a year, current estimates are that we have pushed it up to 300 a year. These figures are almost unprecedented outside a scenario of nuclear winter caused by a space rock impact or a super-volcano eruption.
It would take no more than the destruction of a key group of species to collapse the food chain, and the environment with it. The ongoing decimation of pollinating bees in North America and Europe (due to pesticides, electric wiring and the globalisation of insect diseases) is just one of the many indications that this could happen soon. Bee diseases such as foul brood, previously unknown in South Africa, have also been imported to the Western Cape in the last few years. Hopefully, when an extra-terrestrial intelligence visits our lifeless planet some day in the future, they might take a few lessons away from this. For us, though, it is probably already too late. "
These are sobering thoughts! Consider the USA and the other large industrial nations' reluctance to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on limiting carbon emissions, nor to get any meaningful progress from the recent Durban chapter meeting. They are dithering about the cost to their industry and economies, while 2050 approaches. Talk about fiddling while Rome burns! Not much point in having a great economy in a non-existent world, is there?
We looked at an article the other day, discussing the global threat to bees. Effectively the message is ; when the bees are gone, so are we. One-third of all food production originates from pollination, and without the bees - no more food. People starve and economies collapse. Simple as that.
It might be a nice thought to get out there and enjoy everything you can, while it's still here. Take some photos - you can show them to your grand children one day and tell them what those creatures and plants were. Or just sit there and observe, and marvel, while there's still time.
After reading recently about the closure (after protests by local residents about the terrible smell) of what is currently the world's largest pig factory farm, housing supposedly some 500 000 pigs in Chile, I started to do some elementary arithmetic
Now something doesn't add up. In this article we have 500 000 pigs in the Agrosuper facility. Then we have the minister of health Jaime Manalich giving two very telling statistics about the selfsame plant. Lets have a look at these stats and try and draw some conclusions. In doing this, I will make some assumptions, but state these upfront. The reader is thereby enabled to understand the conclusions in the light of the assumptions, and change the assumptions for themselves if necessary - do a bit of "what-if" analysis perhaps.
1. There are "30 000 tons of hogs" 2. There are "50 000 gestating sows giving birth every day".
Let's start by assuming an "average pig weight" : Firstly, there are clearly mainly females and babies in the plant (the adult boars are excluded, because their flesh is rendered less succulent because of the testosterone). The young pigs are slaughtered around 6-7 months (approx 113kg in weight). Adult sows can weigh from 400 to 700 pounds - lets say 500lb (227kg). Bearing in mind statement 2. above, we know there will be an enormous number of young piglets (5-10kg say?). Let's therefore guess an "average pig weight" of 70kg.
Then, 30 000 tonnes of hogs at our assumed average weight, translates into about 429 000 pigs, so that's roughly correct. If we divide the tonnage by the number of hogs, we get an average weight of 60kg, so let's use that from now on.
Let's switch to the 2nd statement for a moment, and assume there are indeed 50000 gestating sows giving birth daily. A pig is a prolific breeder and litters can number up to 10 piglets. Let's assume 50% infant mortality = 5 surviving piglets per litter. That equates to 250000 piglets from 50000 sows per day. Let's go a bit further. A sow's gestation period is 4 months and the piglets are removed from the sow at a month of age. That means after 5 months she is ready to be artificially inseminated again, which is exactly what happens. In a period of 5 months, there are around 150 days. Now multiply 50 000 sows giving birth daily by 150 days, and you have ....7.5 million sows, and a gross total of 37.5 million surviving piglets. Even if the good minister got an extra zero by accident and there were 10 times less sows giving birth daily, this would still be 750 000 sows and 3.75 million surviving piglets, which is around 8 times more pigs than what is being officially reported for this one farm!
Let's assume the minister got it wrong and there were "only" 750 000 sows and 3.75 million growing juvenile piglets on the premises at any one time - after all somebody cheated a bit with the adult population housed, and nobody counts the piglets, because they're being moved off to slaughter, aren't they?
From a different website, discussing guidelines for manure management, a silo storage tank 120ft diameter and 14ft deep may be adequate to store dung from 240 sows, farrow to finish (note, the dung from the piglets are excluded here). At 39.37 inches per metre, this is a volume of 4483 cubic meters.
Now think about 750 000 sows at the Agrosuper facility. That's 14 million cubic meters of dung every 150 days, and that's only the sows - not the young pigs. That's over 90 000 cubic meters a day. A pile 100 meters in length and width and over 9 metres high - every day.
And in Belarus, they note that "there is no demand" for sale of pig manure between farmers. Not surprising, is it? And runoff from the manure deposits on the surface of the soil, pose a most serious threat to rivers and estuaries - to the tune of 35 million to 40 million cubic metres (per annum, presumably).
So the clever Canadians (in Manitoba) come along and decide that the way to go is to "inject" the waste into the ground, instead to trying to spread it over the surface. I wonder if they've thought how long it may be before this poison infiltrates the aquifer and pollutes the artesian fresh water sources, used for drinking and irrigation? Maybe the author of this bit of nonsense is hoping they'll be on retirement by the time it happens - which means its "somebody else's" problem. Typical human reaction of applying sticking plaster to the symptom instead of resolving the root cause of the problem - which is too much "farming", too many animals, too much flesh consumed daily. Cut down (or cut out now), for the sake of your own health*, as well as that of the planet.
[*Wait till you find out what's in the meat - hormones, antibiotics, steroids - you name it. That's what's fed to the pigs to get them to be leaner and to put on weight faster, as well as trying to stave off the infections caused by a huge degree of overcrowding. And for humans, this means a significant cancer risk, amongst other health problems]
And the Russians? They're building a larger facility than even the Chileans, which will be complete by 2018. Not to mention the Chinese, who have Coking coal and steel producers who are now going into hog production. The Chinese are the largest consumers of pork in the world. Wonder what they do with their manure?
Ok - the picture above is a mountain (literally) of cow manure, seen smouldering at a feedlot near Milford, Nebraska. The dung is from a different animal - just don't get me started on cows, whose forced factory farming is just as abusive and just as out of control.
Besides - pigs are the most widely eaten flesh worldwide - so the problem is many times the magnitude of cattle.
Did I mention the mass factory farming of chickens, goats, turkeys, and lately - rabbits? Talk about getting into shit. We are.
When was the last time you saw an animal – any animal – with schizophrenia or a bipolar disorder? I'm not talking about an animal which has been driven mad by being incarcerated in a tiny enclosure by man. I'm talking about animals in their natural state. You won't find any – these exquisite little inconveniences are left to humankind.
My thinking on this, is that it may be because animals know what they’re here for. They know their purpose, and hence what they have to busy themselves with each day. They do not have to over-analyze things, jump to conclusions, or torture themselves by trying to remember the lies and deceits they have told in the preceding few days or weeks. They don’t have to try and still their troubled consciences from the wrongs they have inflicted on their fellow animals.
We humans on the other hand, appear far too “clever” (and one might wonder about that word, given the state of the earth and our responsibility for it) for our own good.
Here’s some food for thought – these few lines (and the title to this email) from a publication on April 2, 2012, by Marc Bekoff, Ph.D. in Animal Emotions :
"Man in his arrogance thinks of himself a great work, worthy the interposition of a deity. [Yet it is] more humble and, I believe, true to consider him created from animals." (Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man) I and many others have written about the myth of human exceptionalism, noting that while we are indeed rather special and unique big-brained, big-footed, arrogant, over-populating, over-consuming, and invasive mammals, individuals of other species also are special and unique in their own ways. None are as wantonly and intentionally destructive of members of their own and other species. Based on solid evolutionary theory, namely Charles Darwin's ideas about evolutionary continuity that explain how differences among species are differences in degree rather than kind, claims about human superiority are ill-founded, although they are often used to justify the domination of other animals and their homes. There are no "lower" and "higher" animals and we should stop using this misleading dualistic terminology that promotes anthropocentric specious speciesism.”
This is the YouTube video of a very thought-provoking documentary released this year, featuring Dr Bernard Rollin, Gary Yourofsky Dr Richard Ryder, Dr Steven Best. Narrated by Dr Nick Gylaw..
The inserted video gives a small insight into what activists who infiltrated the Agrosuper pig factory farm facility in Chile found when they got inside. There (reportedly) there are 500 000 pigs, although other ministerial statements when the story broke, lead me to suspect there may in fact be very many more. The conditions are execrable and the cruelty unimaginable - although this is by no means the worst examples of human behaviour towards their hapless captives, soon to be converted into packaged meat. I will not attempt to describe here some of the things these base dregs of humanity do to the animals, but they are truly revolting and are to be deplored by any normal person capable of displaying feelings of empathy for their suffering and stress. The story goes that locals in the vicinity of this plant complained for some time about the terrible smell, of which no notice was taken (of course) by government officials. But it was only when they took the law into their own hands and picketed, blocking access in and out of the plant, that the government got involved - then to find a catastrophe in the making. And of course, the plant owners were quick to blame the locals and activists for preventing them "caring for" the pigs, and protest that they were in the process of rectifying some faulty air filtration system components. Apparently some type of biological filtration system is used and it couldn't cope under the volume of pig manure. Hardly surprising (see "Drowning in shit" on this blog site). But nothing the activists can be blamed for - I'm just incredibly grateful that there are folk out there who are getting involved in highlighting the plight of these poor animals and assisting in rescues as far as possible.
And what of the pigs? Well, it's too much like hard work and expense to evacuate them all - apparently it will take around 5000 trucks to move them all (my thinking : probably more, since I think their numbers have been deliberately understated) - and there is no place to accommodate these numbers anywhere else in the country at short notice. Therefore they will all be summarily dispatched and the plant will be closed down. It seems clear that the relevant Chilean government department agrees that the plant is not in a fit state to be used as a "factory farm" (I'm starting to hate that term), or otherwise they wouldn't have insisted in closing it down, would they? By the way, the black things you see being swept up in the video are huge numbers of dead flies. The tragedy is that this is not the only plant of its type - there are many worldwide, because the American model of factory farming is being extensively copied and replicated as a means of raising production more cost-effectively. And nor is it an isolated example of inhumane treatment of animals. To the contrary, this behaviour seems commonplace and appears to be the norm in the "industry", if one can use such a polite word for what these people do. Try and lay hands on a copy of Tim Pachirat's "Every Twelve Seconds : Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight" for more insight as to what goes on inside a slaughterhouse and the mindset of those who work there. Start here :http://foodwhistleblower.org/blog/23/322
And the industry mindset? Anything that speeds up the "processing" and which makes operating cheaper is to be welcomed. It's a mindset of dealing with the symptom instead of addressing the root cause. If a pig is stressed and overcrowded in disgusting conditions, it gets ill, develops sores and chews off the tails and ears of its neighbours. Male pigs become more aggressive as they mature and their meat is less palatable. The "cures" for these problems? Castrate male pigs at 3 days by chopping off the tails with a pair of shears (no anaesthetic), cut off the ears (no anaesthetic), and chop the teeth off (no anaesthetic). Then feed gallons of antibiotics (including enrofloxacin, which is one of the "last resort" antibiotics) to try and keep pathogens at bay, and there are plenty of these in an overstressed host of animals in close proximity to each other. Feed growth hormones to speed growth and reduce the fat content of the meat, so that it fetches higher prices. And turn a blind eye to what goes on on the factory floor, as long as the meat gets processed - after all, it's "only lunch", isn't it - why should we bother if it's stressed before it's dissected, packaged and labelled? And I am supposed to eat that meat? Excuse me while I roll around, calm my heaving lungs and wipe the tears of mirth out of my eyes. Oh - you were being serious - I am supposed to buy and eat the product? Get real. And don't get me started on cows. Or chickens. These people are all the same and their methods are just as inhumane.
The poaching problem here in South Africa (and the rest of Africa) makes me incredibly despondent. A recent incident late last year serves to illustrate : A Rhino christened “ABSA” was attacked by poachers in a local reserve, not far from where we live. His horn was removed with a chain saw – right down to the flesh so that no “valuable” horn was lost to the poachers. He took 5 days to die in agony, and the vets and park officials could do little to alleviate his suffering. In the same attack, another 2 rhinos had their horns slashed at with pangas (machetes) – one wasn’t enough – they wanted all of the horn in one evening’s work. Another of these 2 rhinos died as a result.
And this is going on all over the country. Already we are well on the way toward the annual estimate for 2012 that around 600 rhinos will be poached in SA. 245 Dead by 12th June, 251dead by 20 June. That’s 6 poached in 8 days. Way to go, South Africa…
Poachers incapacitate rhino with darts, enabling them to work at leisure on the horn. The drugs are reportedly Schedule-7 restricted, which means even a normal vet is unable to procure them. Poachers have infrared night glasses, state of the art comms equipment and helicopters and small planes that they use for spotting and fly-overs during the day, so they can pinpoint the herds for later attack.
This is big business at work, and I have no doubt whatsoever that government officials, state vets and other high level personalities are implicated. I gather from a local friend whose family member is seeking to join Nature Conservation, that bribing game guards is a simple matter. In comparison with salaries, the incentives for poaching are enormous, with rhino horn being worth more per oz. than gold. How may countries do you know which allow their gold bullion to walk around in the bush perched on somebody’s nose? Of course it’s going to get taken unless it’s guarded zealously.
Go and have a look at the following urls , or google “rhino poaching south africa”:
A current State vet involved? A former head of KrugerPark wildlife capture and vet services? Professional hunters involved? Justice deferred is justice denied.
This page covers diverse poaching issues, including a recent newsworthy story where Indian game guards are now given the go-ahead to use deadly force on poachers.
Here you will note articles like “Petty hunters, corrupt wildlife officials and Asian traffickers have all been snared in South Africa’s crackdown on rhino poaching”. And on the same page, “Global Network targets SA Rhino (Several animal rights activists have crammed into the Pretoria North Regional Court where two veterinarians and a professional hunter appeared)”.
Look right down this news24 page to get a feel for the magnitude of poaching of a huge number and variety of animals, both African and world-wide. The mind boggles.
You can buy anything – even your freedom – if your ill-gotten gains are lucrative enough, especially in a country where crime appears to be handsomely rewarded.
While our government is sitting on its backside “working on empirical statistical evidence” the poaching continues. By the way – there is no sudden uptick in demand for rhino horn – it’s always been there, but up until the last few years, we’ve had the will to keep poaching under control.
The Cree Indian proverb comes to mind “Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.”
Excellent article Mike - I feel your pain. It is very frustrating getting the wheels of Government to work faster to stop this onslaught. However the recent upsurge in arrests and the cracking of a syndicate or two did help bring the poaching down a little. It has already started picking up again unfortunately. We need to put more pressure on Government to step up border control(simply non-existant) and to ensure that any suspects that are arrested do not get bail and when they are sentenced that they receive very harsh sentences. The bottom line is that the Rhinos are in a bush war and need 24/7 protection and they are just not getting that at the moment. It is a hugely expensive operation and even the private rhino owners are under enormous financial strain because of this. Recently I heard a saying - The Rhino issue is not an economic issue - it is a political issue. This is true - without the political will to stop this we will continue to lose not only Rhino but hundreds of other species. We are under siege and we need the Gov to pull out all the stops and defend our wildlife - failing this we will have no tourism, no jobs, no Africa!
thanks for the thoughtful and insightful comment. We do indeed need to pressure our government (and the other African govts too) to commit in actions as well as just the words, to protect our wildlife heritage. I'm deeply suspicious of complicity at the highest levels, and these individuals need to be weeded out before we all get much older, if there's to be any long term solution to the problem.
The financial incentives of course are all on the side of the poachers, and for honest folk to protect their biodiversity takes a sustained effort of will, and cash as you have pointed out.
Maybe big business needs to also become involved to a greater degree, and get their shareholders to share the vision so the business focus is not just on making money for dividends hand over fist? The banks to a small degree do provide a little support already, with "green affinity" bank savings programs, but I feel that considerably more can be done by all businesses and individuals so that we can continue to provide safe haven to our animals and secure them for future generations.
I'm reminded by a line from Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Karn Evil 9 suite, of an exhibit in a futuristic fairground :
"There behind the glass, is a real blade of grass
Be careful as you pass, move along move along"....
I normally try to ensure there are VERY good reasons for most things I do. And on the subject of eating (which I love) and especially meat which up until now has occupied a very soft spot, close to my heart - one might well ask : "What the hell happened?", when I tell you that maybe - just maybe - I am seriously considering a vegetarian existence from henceforth (eugh - I hear you say?).
And believe me - there has to be a compelling push for me to decide to steer clear of meat.
The answer to "what happened" is that we found out some rather nasty truths about the meat industry - purely by accident of course. But it's the kind of thing that, once you know, you're inclined to do something about it if you value your health.
There are 3 things that bother me now about eating meat :
1. My health.
I gather that up until the present time, the meat industry in America has seen nothing wrong with selling meat to the consumer which is contaminated by pathogens, antibiotics and hormones. In fact it has been perfectly permissible to sell meat contaminated by "The Big 6" toxin producing e-coli strains O26, O111, O103, O121, O45 and O145. These sicken or kill twice as many victims as e-coli O157 (up to now, at least...). Food safety and consumer watchdogs have for years fought to ban the sale of these contaminants in raw meat, in vain. All their efforts have been countered by meat industry lobbying. And in the 1990's a ban was put on the sale of meat contaminated by e-coli O157 - which the meat industry opposed.
Excuse me - am I hearing right? The meat industry cares so little for its clients that it is prepared to sicken and /or kill them to be allowed to continue selling their contaminated products? They are so lacking in integrity that they oppose a ban on selling contaminated meat? Whose body are we talking about here?
Click : Meat Industry Opposes Ban
I wonder if the captains of the meat industry in America eat their own products?
Here's a description of a little girl of three, who died from O157 poisoning :
“The pain during the first 80 hours was horrific, with intense abdominal cramping every 10 to 12 minutes. Her intestines swelled to three times their normal size and she was placed on a ventilator. Emergency surgery became essential and her colon was removed. After further surgery, doctors decided to leave the incision open, from sternum to pubis, to allow Brianna’s swollen organs room to expand and prevent them from ripping her skin. Her heart was so swollen it was like a sponge and bled from every pore. Her liver and pancreas shut down and she was gripped by thousands of convulsions, which caused blood clots in her eyes. We were told she was brain dead.”
Up until a week ago, the meat industry continued to fight against being barred from selling meat contaminated by the other "Big 6" pathogens though. I'm delighted to report that they lost, and henceforth a ban will be in place - at least until they appeal and the ban is rescinded....
2. Animal Cruelty
I'm not talking here about Maggie the cow who ambles round her pasture and lives an idyllic life, before one day being shot in the head and dying instantly. I'm talking about cows, pigs and sheep being hit over the head with steel bars and beaten to death for fun. I'm talking about them being hooked onto the overhead hook on the conveyer and skinned alive, or being dissected while alive. I'm talking about them being beaten off the backs of trucks into corralled chutes en-route to their destruction. They're not stupid - they know what's happening to them. I'm talking about visitors to these "factories" having to put on special clothing to enable them to wade through rivers of blood. I'm talking about cows being jabbed in the udders with pitchforks for fun.
And it's always "a few isolated instances", where the employees are at fault. Not the management who pay no attention to what's going on - or worse still - condone it. You beat the animal - how else will you get it to its feet? Lift it yourself? It's not management's fault for hiring the dregs of humanity to come and do a soul-destroying job (if anyone who is capable of working in such a place could be described as having "a soul" - or feelings at least). It's not the employees fault that the bins of excrement are emptied "every fall" - we're talking once a year here folks. They are doing what they're told to do. A local cattle farm outside Durbanville in the Western Cape calls their cattle "Fairview Free-Range" (and after inspection are found not to be free-range at all - apparently "Fairview Free-Range" is a trademarked label they have created for themselves and should not be misconstrued to be actually Free-Range). I call it "deliberately misleading advertising". Anyway - they see it as good for cattle to be standing around in their faeces - it keeps them warm in the winter.
Not-so-free Range (check the label in the picture "basking in the sun...lazing in the shade" - have we entered Alice in Wonderland La-La land?)
Lets go back to point 1 above : the source of all e-coli infection is (can I have a chorus here : all together ): FAECES!!!! Yep - feacal -oral contamination. (see one of the pics in the above link) Gee I wonder how that animal feed got contaminated? May have something to do with the fact that all these animals are standing around in shit, then browsing the food that is dropping to the ground.
Gee - it's a mystery how other vegetables can pick up an e-coli strain. Might it have something to do with the fact that tons of the faeces and filth are dumped on the land/ diluted and sprayed onto crops, and /or now buried in pits, thereby contaminating ground water sources? Am I getting warm? Or is this all "activist propaganda"?
Do I want to eat the meat of animals which have been treated in this way?
But I hear you say "how can you get so emotional about dinner"? It's a food source - that's all it is. Yes - and once upon a time it was an animal, with feelings like myself. And what goes on in "factory farms" and abattoirs is carefully concealed from the public for precisely the reason that if any of this stuff gets widely known, it might cause a backlash against the meat industry - and they're petrified of that.
Did I forget to mention the millions of chickens who are kept crammed up in misery until they are big enough, before being turned upside down, and have their feet put through metal grooved bars, carrying them along in fine style before being dunked head first into boiling water to remove their feathers? Up to that point they are all still alive. After this point, horrifyingly many of them are still alive - at least until they are dissected. Or the pigs who are the product of AI (artificial insemination) so that they are all genetically almost identical. It's very important that they are all the same size, so that the cutting blades strike them all in the same places - you can't have a leg being severed in the wrong place, can we? It's bad for business - loses product value.
3. Support for the Mega- Industry
OK - so this particular industry condones filthy conditions, (unsuccessfully) tries to counter illness with antibiotics, administers growth hormones and antibiotics to reduce body fat content in pigs *1, sees nothing wrong with selling contaminants to customers, and enjoys huge support and growth worldwide. It runs hand in glove with Big Pharmaceuticals and presumes to dictate to the public what is and is not good for them. It employs doctors, vets, scientists*2, managers, and a host of low-level labour who learned their sensibilities in the gutter. It employs spin doctors to put a humane and caring face on the industry, and it donates to many humanitarian causes to provide it with sound social credentials.
Did you know the highest consumer of Pork annually is China? Did you know that this years Chinese Olympic team have decided not to eat pork before the games? I wonder why? Might it contaminate their urine test?
*2 It's far easier these days being a research scientist if you're employed by a large conglomerate who doesn't quibble about giving you sufficient funding for your research. In exchange, you are free to publish "scientific results" which show your employer in a good light. In circumstances where there is controversy over findings and method, I'd be more inclined to adopt results of science which has no vested interest in the outcome. In other words "independent". No conflict of interest.
The mega-meat manufacture clearly doesn't give a tinker's cuss about humanity, so there's no surprise that it's unimpressed with the plight of the animals it "processes". Today's beating victim is tomorrow's Steer Burger and french fries order - what's the fuss if it gets a "prod and a poke" before it shuffles off this mortal coil? I won't tell you how McNuggets come into being...
And Hey! We're in South Africa - that's America and Canada - and China, and Australia, Russia and the EU.
Hello! We import meat, don't we? Oh yes we do. And the local food industry is far too opaque for my liking - disclosure does not appear to be a strong point in South Africa. "Yes really - we care for our animals. Really!" Yeah yeah. And I am expected to take your word for that?
Do I want to continue to pay money to perpetuate the status quo, support these meat and pharma producers and potentially endanger our family's lives? The answer is clearly a no-brainer - but I will need to be careful to find out what's been sprayed on the fields before the veg has been harvested.
By the way - how many upmarket gourmet chefs do you know who are prepared to overcook steak (as it would need to be cooked if we are to believe the meat producers' denial "as long as it's cooked properly...")?
Have a look at Earthlings - powerful, informative and award-winning. For anyone who cares. And if that doesn't impress you, you can find the deleted scenes on YouTube. It's truth - and truth is absolute. Pull your head out from under a rock and be brave - I dare you.
Would I deem it appropriate to dictate to anyone else though? Of course not. What the reader does with this information is not my concern - I have no responsibility for anyone else's health, conscience or anything else. Be my guest. Bon appetit.
thanks for the thoughtful and insightful comment. We do indeed need to pressure our government (and the other African govts too) to commit in actions as well as just the words, to protect our wildlife heritage. I'm deeply suspicious of complicity at the highest levels, and these individuals need to be weeded out before we all get much older, if there's to be any long term solution to the problem.
The financial incentives of course are all on the side of the poachers, and for honest folk to protect their biodiversity takes a sustained effort of will, and cash as you have pointed out.
Maybe big business needs to also become involved to a greater degree, and get their shareholders to share the vision so the business focus is not just on making money for dividends hand over fist? The banks to a small degree do provide a little support already, with "green affinity" bank savings programs, but I feel that considerably more can be done by all businesses and individuals so that we can continue to provide safe haven to our animals and secure them for future generations.
I'm reminded by a line from Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Karn Evil 9 suite, of an exhibit in a futuristic fairground :
"There behind the glass, is a real blade of grass
Be careful as you pass, move along move along"....
I don't want to be a part of that future!