Re: [pf] There's no correct leather

At 14:25 12/6/2001 -0400, Sharon Flesher wrote {at:
http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/pfvs/2001II/msg01887.html } :-
>.. I agree with Priscilla's view -- I'll accept food in the spirit in
which it is offered and hope it doesn't cause me too much, uh, digestive
distress later!
>
>The vegetarian issue has been a big one at our co-op. Last year we decided
to begin selling frozen organic meat, which greatly distressed a few of our
members. Some are of the view that meat (aside from ethical considerations)
is unsustainable. But one of our most prominent organic farmers is quite
passionate in his defense of meat. He does not produce or sell meat
products, but as the local organic inspector, says he has seen organic
livestock operations that are more eco-friendly than some organic produce
farms. He also points out that manure is a great source of soil fertility.
Jill, if you're reading, you in particular may be interested in the
following story from yesterday's paper about two organic farms in our area
that are cooperating with livestock and produce:
http://www.record-eagle.com/2001/jun/11chick.htm
>
>So I don't think it's all quite as clear cut as PETA would have it be (I
have been a dues-paying member of PETA, although currently lapsed). The
only thing I can say for sure is that our current animal agribusiness setup
is horrendous and my conscience leaves me no choice but to withdraw any and
all type of support from that.
>

· I'm currently completing my now-weekly (smaller) news compilation, and am
including some of Jackie Alan Giuliano's "Skinned is Skinned: There Is No
Correct Leather" article.

· I hadn't previously read beyond the first comment (about shoe-leather) in
that PF thread, so I'm only now going through some early ones to see
whether any particular paragraphs caught people's eye.

· As a 1/4-owner of an organic (nearly) sheep-and-cattle farm, I can
comment on Sharon's: "Last year we decided to begin selling frozen organic
meat, which greatly distressed a few of our members. Some are of the view
that meat (aside from ethical considerations) is unsustainable."

· The 4 of us have discussed something close to this, since we're agreed on
the human need to care for the land, and to cause minimum distress to the
animals under our care-and-protection.

· New Zealand is largely "rugged country", with fairly steep slopes most
places - there's been no "ice sheets scraping it flat" in the ~5 million
years since it was last mostly under the Pacific Ocean. 

· So, if there's to be agriculture at all, we've had the crops on the
bottom-land and the animals on the slopes too steep for grain and similar
machine-harvested crops.

· I personally see this whole argument as a "minimising harm" debate. With
animals as part of most farms - part of its ecology. So I can't agree with
those people who "are of the view that meat is unsustainable." Yes, the way
most North Americans think of and eat meat is unsustainable - factory farms
are clear evidence of that: the grain fed to animals (instead of a slightly
different grain grown in the same places and available for people), _is_ a
wasteful, unsustainable use of the earth's bounty. But meat *per se*
unsustainable? No, certainly not. Frozen organically-raised meat in the
local store is fine; "he has seen organic livestock operations that are
more eco-friendly than some organic produce farms."

· I very much agree with "looking the cow in the eye", thinking of it as a
very distant cousin, is a good attitude to take, to at least milk and wool.
  If (depending on its personality) you can go over to the house-cow (bred
only once a year) out in the paddock with your stool and bucket, sit down
and milk it (as Jeanette Fitzsimons - co-leader of the NZ Greens - used to
do), it's clear to me that the cow herself doesn't mind and taking her milk
is no imposition.

· As for meat; there's more to debate here. I have by-hand killed at least
one male chook (and several rats), so I believe bobby-calves and cows near
the end of their ~12-year lives can and should be humanely killed, and
their meat eaten.

· But this "nicely-marbled, fine-flavoured steak" fetish seems to me simply
a version of luxury that should never have got started. Most of the current
excesses began within living memory - very recent. Remove excess.

Sharon's quite right; the "current animal agribusiness setup is horrendous".

David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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