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Posted to uk.business.agriculture,alt.food.vegan,alt.animals.ethics.vegetarian,rec.food.veg,uk.environment.conservation,uk.rec.birdwatching,uk.rec.gardening,uk.current-events.bird-flu
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Eat less meat
"Old Codger" > wrote in message ...
> On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:58:31 -0000, "pearl" >
> wrote:
>
> >"( _ /)" > wrote in message ...
> >> On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:30:29 -0000, "Buddenbrooks" >
> >> wrote:
> >
> >> >It will be interesting to see what the coming credit crunch driven downturn
> >> >in the economy does to people's views as jobs disappear and people realize that
> >> >keeping the worlds economy going and reducing emissions is not going to be
> >> >easy.
> >>
> >> You are sort of missing the point. The global economy as we know it is
> >> completely unsustainable, wasteful and destructive short cut to
> >> destruction. The sooner we get rid of the idiocy of a material society
> >> the better.
> >>
> >> Then of course everything else will fall in to place.
> >
> >'Enlightened Agriculture
> >
> >"Cautious, careful people, always casting about to maintain their reputation
> >and social standing, never can bring about reform. Those who are really in
> >earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation."
> >Susan B. Anthony
> >
> >'Crisis and opportunity in North American agriculture' John Ikerd
> >Emeritus professor of agricultural economics at the University of
> >Missouri
> >
> >[extracts only, as selected by nlpwessex - original article presented at
> >a farm conference, "Recapturing Wealth on the Canadian Prairies,"
> >Brandon, Manitoba, October 26-27, 2000 - full copy available at
> >http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?recid=376 ]
> >
> > ......In essence, as agriculture moves from competitive capitalism to
> >corporatism, it changes from a market economy to "central planned"
> >economy. Central planning didn't work for the Communists, and it won't
> >work for the corporations. The problem wasn't that the Communists
> >weren't smart enough or that their computers weren't large enough.
> >Central planning is a fundamentally wrong-headed approach to managing
> >an economy - for corporations as well as governments. The corporate
> >system of food production will prove to be fundamentally incapable of
> >meeting the needs of the people. Its emergence as the dominant system,
> >therefore, represents a prime opportunity for an alternative to corporate
> >central planning, to create an agriculture that will truly meet the needs of
> >the people of an enlightened society.
> >
> >As society becomes more enlightened, we are beginning to realize that
> >we are destroying our natural environment in the process of trying to
> >produce cheap food. We are mining the soil through erosion and
> >depletion of its natural product in the process of maximizing production
> >and minimizing dollar and cent costs of production. We are polluting
> >our streams and groundwater with residues from the pesticides and
> >commercial fertilizers necessary for large-scale, specialized industrial
> >crop production and with wastes from giant confinement animal feeding
> >factories. We are destroying the genetic diversity, both below and
> >above the soil that is necessary to support nature's means of capturing
> >and transforming solar energy into energy for human bodies.
> >
> >As society becomes more enlightened, we are beginning to realize that
> >we are destroying the social fabric of society in the process of trying
> >to make agriculture more efficient. We are destroying opportunities for
> >people to lead productive, successful lives. We are turning thinking,
> >innovative, creative farmers into tractor drivers and hog house janitors.
> >There is dignity in all types of work, but all people should have
> >opportunities to express their full human potential. Consolidation of
> >decision making concentrates the opportunities among the privileged
> >few while leaving the many without hope for a rewarding future.
> >Industrial specialization also tends to separate people within families,
> >within communities, and within nations. We are just beginning to
> >realize that industrialization destroys the human relationships needed
> >to support a civilized society. The outdated economics that supports
> >agricultural industrialization is fundamentally incapable of dealing
> >effectively with either the environmental or social challenges of today.
> >In economics, the environment and society are external or outside of
> >the decision making process - something that may impact or be
> >impacted by decisions but not part of the process. In reality, the
> >economy, environment, and society all are parts of the same inseparable
> >whole. Society needs a more enlightened system of decision-making -
> >one capable of integrating economic, ecological, and social decisions.
> >We need a "new" approach to farming in North America..... (....)
> >
> >Pursuit of self-interests is an inherent aspect of being human. But,
> >people, by nature, do not pursue only their narrow, individual or
> >personal self-interest. It's also within the inherent nature of people to
> >care about other people and to care of the earth. People are perfectly
> >capable of rising above selfishness and greed to pursue a higher
> >concept of self-interest - a self-interest that values relationships with
> >other people and stewardship of the earth as important dimensions
> >of one's self-interests.
>
> Seems on Usenet we have an unusual gathering of bigots then,as caring
> and sharing is certainly a minority sport here.
>
> >This higher self-interest includes our narrow self-interest (personal,
> >individual concerns), but it also includes interests that we share with
> >others (relationship, community, and social concerns) and interests
> >that are purely altruistic (ethics and moral concerns). All three
> >contribute to our well being or quality of life. Each contributes to a
> >higher sense of quality of life - explicitly recognizing that each of us
> >individually is but a part of the whole of society, which in turn must
> >conform to some higher order or code of natural law....
> >
> >....Admittedly, the new American farm will require a lot more knowledge,
> >understanding, and thinking than does farming by industrial methods.
> >However, any future occupation offering an opportunity for a decent
> >living will require people to use their minds. The days when someone
> >could earn a good living by the sweat of their brow are in the past.
> >There will be plenty of innovative, creative, hard working people to
> >operate the new American farms, once the real possibility for a more
> >desirable quality of life in farming - economically, socially, and ethically -
> >becomes widely known....
> >
> >....We, the people, currently control everything that needs to be changed
> >in order to build a more sustainable, higher quality of life, as individuals
> >as well as for society as a whole. The economy is a creation of people -
> >it is not some sacred, unchangeable set of natural laws. People created
> >the current economic system and people can change it. The corporation
> >does not exist by some right or some decree from God. People created
> >corporations and they exist at the discretion of people. Each corporation
> >has a charter, which once obligated it to operate for the good of the public.
> >We the people can revoke those charters, even if we have to amend the
> >constitution to do it. We can control or abolish corporatism and we can
> >shape our economy to meet the needs of people....
> >
> >One by one, as we find the courage to demand something better, we will
> >change the world for the better. Susan B. Anthony, the champion of
> >voting rights for women in the US once said, "Cautious, careful people,
> >always casting about to maintain their reputation and social standing,
> >never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest must be
> >willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation." It takes
> >courage to bring about change. But Margaret Mead, an award winning
> >cultural anthropologist, once said, "Never doubt that a small group of
> >thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it's the only
> >thing that ever has." As each of us finds the courage to change our
> >selves and to influence our little piece of the world, we can change the
> >world. Indeed, this is the only thing that ever can.
> >
> >John Ikerd can be reached at [..]
> >Full article at: http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?recid=376
> >
> >1999 University of Missouri Report to the US National Farmers Union,
> >'CONSOLIDATION IN THE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE SYSTEM'
> >- pdf format http://www.nfu.org/images/heffernan_1999.pdf
> >[extract below]
> >
> >".....to understand the global food system, one must understand the
> >operations of the major global firms such as Cargill, ADM, and ConAgra http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex...ents/scats.htm .
> >....Today
> >the system is becoming much more complex starting with involvement in
> >biotechnology, extending through production, and ending with highly
> >processed food. Increasingly, these firms are developing a variety of
> >different alliances with other players in the system..... We will use the
> >concept 'cluster of firms' to represent these new economic arrangements.
> >
> >.....In a food chain cluster, the food product is passed along from stage
> >to stage, but ownership never changes and neither does the location of
> >the decision-making. Starting with the intellectual property rights that
> >governments give to the biotechnology firms, the food product always
> >remains the property of a firm or cluster of firms. The farmer becomes
> >a grower, providing the labor and often some of the capital, but never
> >owning the product as it moves through the food system and never
> >making the major management decisions."
> >
> > 'CONSOLIDATION IN FOOD RETAILING AND DAIRY:
> >Implications for Farmers and Consumers in a Global Food System',
> >Report to National Farmers Union, Jan 2001, University of Missouri
> >http://www.nfu.org/index.cfm?categor...e=issues&id=67
> >
> >UK farmers being led to US-style GM slavery
> >http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex...dSainsbury.htm
> >
> >"Farmers will be given just enough to keep them interested in growing
> >the crops, but no more. And GM companies and food processors,
> >will say very clearly how they want the growers to grow the crops."
> >Friedrich Vogel, head of BASF's crop protection business
> >(Farmers Weekly 6 November 1998)
> >
> >Disease and pestilence hits Missouri as GM soy expands
> >http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex...risoybeans.htm
> >..
> >http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex...griculture.htm
> >
>
> That can now be changed to 'Crisis and opportunity in global
> agriculture'
Indeed.
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