CUTTING OFF OUR NOSES

A perfect metaphor for what we're doing to the earth. As Gandhi said "the earth has enough for our needs, but not for our wants."

Everything we need the earth will provide. Water, air shelter, life. And will continue to provide if we don't cut off our noses to spite our faces.

There is even enough food for all if we stop feeding almost as many calories to livestock as we do to ourselves.

Heck, I like a good burger as much as the next person, but I have to ask myself how much that burger is worth. Luckily we've hooked into a source that sells beef that was raised eating what a cow is supposed to eat. Grass.

We can't eat grass. Well we can once the grain has ripened, but it's not quite the same is it? At this point meat or poultry is an ingredient. A small part of the soup, casserole or stew along with beans or barley or rice. We had a chicken (vegetarian raised, antibiotic free) for Easter. Two dinners for two, one lunch for two and three go rounds of pot pie. I think we used everything but the cackle. And knowing mom, if the cackle had been included she'd have found a way.

Now there's a virus literally decimating the pork industry in this country. Nobody is quite sure where it came from. China is a candidate but imagine my non surprise when the story on the net noted that blood from slaughtered pigs is processed into the feed for the warehouse raised pork in this country.

We started factory farming chicken and what did we get? Salmonella. Most of the beef sold in this country spends months on a feed lot on a diet that would probably kill the critter if we didn't turn them into pot roast first and what did be get? E Coli. And heaven help the farmer downhill from a small feedlot. "Shall I include a little E Coli with that spinach salad today ma'am." Pork is the newest addition to the factory system. Low and behold something had raised its ugly head and bit us on the ass.

"The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known." Carl Sagan

We need to respect and cherish not only the lives of our fellow humans but all life. Treat them with respect, use what they provide carefully and give thanks for the gift. 

(Well this entry didn't end up where I thought it was going to go. That happens sometimes. I've learned to just let it happen. )