"buzzgun" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> rick wrote:
> ==================
>> btw, you complain about some of my links being 10 years old,
>> yet
>> yours starts out with a book from 1962 using data from 1947 to
>> 1960. However, farming is still farming. It relies on
>> mechanization and petro-chemical operations. Both of which
>> kill
>> animals and destroys habitat. 2 things you will never get
>> away
>> from if you are eating crop foods.
>
> That may be. I think what we are potentially after is a common
> baseline. At some ideal point, lifestyles could include
> macrobiotic
> solutions (canned goods, including meat). However, carbon
> neutral
> solutions seem to have some merit. And what if there is no
> local meat
> available? Isn't that the condition of millions of
> metropolis-dwellers?
======================
LOL Like there ARE local crops available in metropolitan areas?
Meat is no more scarce than veggies.


I think that crop-rotation, diversified
> agriculture, and natural suppression of pests is possible.
=======================
On a small scale, sure. But, you won't feed the world the way we
do now.


In my area,
> it is probably decades away from reality. I think I can limit
> my
> consumption of food to a reasonable level, learn from/aid local
> farmers, and keep my hatred of machines to a minimum. After
> all, I
> think that industrialization is a good thing. The article I
> cited
> refers to the unparalleled rise in productivity of American
> agricultural PRIOR to the postwar boom in pesticide
> use/production. It
> also mentions the problem that small farmers face in the
> competitive
> marketplace. I speculate that your jibing 'rubes' for buying
> organic
> only goes so far. There is alot of health reasons to buy
> organic,
> according to people I have 'spoken' to.
=========================
Then they are trying to 'sell' you something. Organic produce is
in reality no different from regular produce in nutrition.
Again, organic does not mean pesticide-free, cruelty-free, or
death-free agriculture.


I will read further on that.
>
> Just to be superfluous, I attended ONE meeting of animal
> rights/vegan-vegetarians at my school this past year. They
> showed
> clips of factory farming, rescued animals, and some
> tear-jerking
> cow-hugging. To be honest, I don't react to animal suffering
> on film
> negatively. To me, it is funny, because it is absurd. I
> suppose, on
> further introspection, I could laugh if a mouse or vole was
> crushed
> under a tractor wheel or a combine-track. I sometimes wish I
> was
> completely benevolent. I'm not. I have not claimed to be.
> Yet, I
> find this discussion very calming to my ego. I find the
> militant,
> Hun-attitude to be a waste of energy. I realize my concern for
> bees is
> superfluous as it stands.
>
> regards,
> -buzz-
>