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15140
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: The Population Crisis Is Probably Not The One You Think
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There’s a population crisis all right. But probably not the one you think While all eyes are on human numbers, it’s the rise in farm animals that is laying the planet waste ‘By 2050 the world’s living systems will have to support about 120m tonnes of extra humans, and 400m tonnes of extra farm animals.’ Illustration by Nate Kitch This column is about the population crisis. About the breeding that’s laying waste the world’s living systems. But it’s probably not the population crisis you’re thinking of. This is about another one, that we seem to find almost impossible to discuss. You’ll hear a lot about population in the next three weeks, as the Paris climate summit approaches. Across the airwaves and on the comment threads it will invariably be described as “the elephant in the room”. When people are not using their own words, it means that they are not thinking their own thoughts. Ten thousand voices each ask why no one is talking about it. The growth in human numbers, they say, is our foremost environmental threat. At their best, population campaigners seek to extend women’s reproductive choices. Some 225 million women have an unmet need for contraception. If this need were answered, the impact on population growth would be significant, though not decisive: the annual growth rate of 83 million would be reduced to 62 million. But contraception is rarely limited only by the physical availability of contraceptives. In most cases it’s about power: women are denied control of their wombs. The social transformations that they need are wider and deeper than donations from the other side of the world are likely to achieve. At their worst, population campaigners seek to shift the blame from their own environmental impacts. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that so many post-reproductive white men are obsessed with human population growth, as it’s about the only environmental problem of which they can wash their hands. Nor, I believe, is it a coincidence that of all such topics this is the least tractable. When there is almost nothing to be done, there is no requirement to act. Such is the momentum behind population growth, an analysis in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences discovered, that were every government to adopt the one-child policy China has just abandoned, there would still be as many people on Earth at the end of this century as there are today. If 2 billion people were wiped out by a catastrophe mid-century, the planet would still hold a billion more by 2100 than it does now. If we want to reduce our impacts this century, the paper concludes, it is consumption we must address. Population growth is outpaced by the growth in our consumption of almost all resources. There is enough to meet everyone’s need, even in a world of 10 billion people. There is not enough to meet everyone’s greed, even in a world of 2 billion people. So let’s turn to a population crisis over which we do have some influence. I’m talking about the growth in livestock numbers. Human numbers are rising at roughly 1.2% a year, while livestock numbers are rising at around 2.4% a year. By 2050 the world’s living systems will have to support about 120m tonnes of extra humans, and 400m tonnes of extra farm animals. Raising these animals already uses three-quarters of the world’s agricultural land. A third of our cereal crops are used to feed livestock: this may rise to roughly half by 2050. More people will starve as a result, because the poor rely mainly on grain for their subsistence, and diverting it to livestock raises the price. And now the grain that farm animals consume is being supplemented by oil crops, particularly soya, for which the forests and savannahs of South America are being cleared at shocking rates. This might seem counter-intuitive, but were we to eat soya rather than meat, the clearance of natural vegetation required to supply us with the same amount of protein would decline by 94%. Producing protein from chickens requires three times as much land as protein from soybeans. Pork needs nine times, beef 32 times. A recent paper in the journal Science of the Total Environment suggests that our consumption of meat is likely to be “the leading cause of modern species extinctions”. Not only is livestock farming the major reason for habitat destruction and the killing of predators, but its waste products are overwhelming the world’s capacity to absorb them. Factory farms in the US generate 13 times as much sewage as the human population does. The dairy farms in Tulare County, California, produce five times as much as New York City. life is being wiped out across the world by farm manure. In England the system designed to protect us from the tide of slurry has comprehensively broken down. Dead zones now extend from many coasts, as farm sewage erases ocean life across thousands of square kilometres. Livestock farming creates around 14% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions: slightly more than the output of the world’s cars, lorries, buses, trains, ships and planes. If you eat soya, your emissions per unit of protein are 20 times lower than eating pork or chicken, and 150 times lower than eating beef. So why is hardly anyone talking about the cow, pig, sheep and chicken in the room? Why are there no government campaigns to reduce the consumption of animal products, just as they sometimes discourage our excessive use of electricity? A survey by the Royal Institute of International Affairs found that people are not unwilling to change diets once they become aware of the problem, but that many have no idea that livestock farming damages the living world. It’s not as if eating less meat and dairy will harm us. If we did as our doctors advise, our environmental impacts would decline in step with heart disease, strokes, diabetes and cancer. British people eat, on average, slightly more than their bodyweight in meat every year, while Americans consume another 50%: wildly more, in both cases, than is good for us or the rest of life on Earth. But while plenty in the rich world are happy to discuss the dangers of brown people reproducing, the other population crisis scarcely crosses the threshold of perception. Livestock numbers present a direct moral challenge, as in this case we have agency. Hence the pregnant silence. |
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15143
From: abra, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: The Population Crisis Is Probably Not The One You Think
| shallow article with questionable take away. In MY opinion if MORE people raised their own MEAT AND VEGETABLES, the world would be a better place, not worse. Kinda funny when idiots write about what they don't understand and other nimrods post it, facepalm...PS I AM a vegetarian by the way! |
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15149
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: The Population Crisis Is Probably Not The One You Think
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specifics: Lacto-ovo-vegetarians eat both dairy products and eggs. and: 100% Vegetarian or Vegan Diet (can also be called Herbivorous / Pythagorean) A 100% vegetarian or vegan (pronounced VEE-gan) is someone choosing a lifestyle free from animal products for the benefit of people, animals and the environment. They eat a plant- based diet free from all animal products. Many choose not to wear leather, wool, or silk (adapted from a quote on The Vegan Society's website). |
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15145
From: _ , [DNS_Address]
Subject: You'd have to make a lot of changes
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You'd have to make a lot of changed to legal regulations and indeed our entire economic system for people to have the time and ability to raise their own meat and vegetables. In most towns and cities it's illegal to have livestock in town. No chickens, no eggs. It's also typically illegal to have vegetable gardens in the front yard. Not everywhere. I'm lucky enough for example to live in the one town in the area that doesn't make it illegal. However, I work full time and there is no alternative to this if I am to be able to afford my home and health care. I also definitely don't have enough room in my yard or proper storage to raise enough produce to feed myself, even if I DID have time. Bigger property....only place to afford land would be well out of town, and in the midwest, it's mostly monoculture farmland and pastureland anyway. I don't earn enough for a car. That's why I live in town. I have to be able to walk to work. I'm not anything unusual. This is the norm for most xenials and millennials now. Eve's article is correct in relation to the baseline cultural choices and requirements currently happening. With the lifestyle we're all living now, the livestock is extremely overpopulated as a side effect of both human overpopulation (which wouldn't BE overpopulation if we changed our lifestyle....part of the reason that we are overpopulated is that we are not managing our resources as efficiently as we could, livestock and the crops grown to support them being the biggest case in point). Does it have to be correct? Well, I can't see how we change the masses, the human machine. Until we can change the multitudes and get people to put into operation the options available, the article is correct, no matter what solutions are theoretically available. ------------------------------ Tangent to both of the main themes here: I admire the vegetarian route and kudos to you to managing it, healthfully. I've tried it, several times, slowly transitioning, lots of lentils, beans, rice. Sometimes full vegan, sometimes lacto-ovo-vegan. I can't get enough protein or cholesterol that way. I get very sick, and my anger issues get exponentially worse. Even eating two hamburgers a day, I'm an anomaly to my doctors in that I have the lowest cholesterol they have ever seen. (fun fact, I experimented with my bloodwork once, didn't tell them I'd had a fine bacon and egg breakfast while I should have been fasting. Still the lowest cholesterol they'd ever seen). They look at that as a good thing. I look at that as probably part of the mystery of my mood disorders, as we NEED a certain amount of even what is traditionally considered "bad" cholesterol for our brains to work properly. My guess, given that even after feasting on a high cholesterol meal before bloodwork my blood cholesterol remains record-settingly low, is that there is some sort of extreme malabsorption issue, which is consistent with the experience of many (though by no means all) of us on the autistic spectrum. My point of the extended tangent is a bit more geared at Eve, that unfortunately some of us require animal protein to live. Or at least I haven't hit on any solution yet that allows me to stop eating animal based protein (I keep researching, I'd like to live in better accord with my personal ethics, but I haven't found that yet). Different people have very different bodily needs, and while other people don't experience the extremes that I do, many people attempting the switch, even doing it right, do make themselves sick. I do believe that MANY multitudes more would be healthier in the avoidance of animal based protein if they tried. But we all vary significantly. ---------------------------- Eve: One of the interesting things about this forum is seeing how people change in very different ways, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. On the whole, on most things now you're doing a lot better than you used to, and far better than I do now, but on the whole vegan/vegetarian thing, so very often you're as ranty and defensive as I am on my bad days. It doesn't help the cause, it just drives people away. Don't be me in your debate tactics. I'd like to see this debate gain merit rather than drive people away. ;-) Also, not critiquing this particular thread, just some that I've seen in the past. This one is doing well. |
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15147
From: abra, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: You'd have to make a lot of changes
| Some points for the mystery poster that goes by _... On the protein front. I am a type "o" supposed to need LOTS of protein, but I prefer not to eat animals any more... I am getting all the protein I need by drinking a ton of fresh organic milk from my tiny 40 to 60 lb dairy goats. They are called Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats and many towns ALLOW them as they do backyard chickens! Check it out, seriously, you could be an urban farmer! I have eggs, milk, cheese, and yogurt that is all ORGANIC and home raised. Many people are raising these two species in urban environments, check it out,all the protein you need, no one has to die and all for pennies and a little work... Just wanted to share. Not sure why eve felt compelled to call me a liar when i said i was veggie, maybe she confused veggie and vegan? Not the brightest crayon in the deck OR the nicest, sigh... |
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15194
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: You'd have to make a lot of changes
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Seems some folks buy those Nigerian Dwarf Goats and have plans to butcher them, not everyone but more than not. So you may be a rare exception. Forum Topic: Forums Livestock Forums Goats Anyone here actually butcher their Nigerian Dwarf goats? Another search on "butchering nigerian dwarf goats" on the forum linked above yielded more results on the topic. |
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15152
From: _ , [DNS_Address]
Subject: I was...
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Nen. I posted about the name change quite a while back but not on every forum. Thanks for not being an accusatory jerk claiming the big bad mystery poster is trying to get by with something, as some folks have done in the past rather than just asking who I am. :-) Wish I could do more milk, but I'm allergic (to the casein protein rather than lactose, which complicates things....things that claim to be dairy free usually only mean "lactose" free and you usually still see casein in the ingredients). Unfortunately, while some urban environments allow for the raising of chickens and goats, in most places that's illegal and gets you fined several hundred dollars. Eh, Eve is no worse than I am, vacillating between nice posts and banshee posts. I just assume that she either has some sort of trigger like I do, or else a mental health disorder, like I do, or both, just because her swings between different personas are so extreme. |
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15156
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: I was...
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I was going to encourage you ...but forget it. I guess you hope to turn this into an all about Eve thread as usual. You know so little about why i say and do what I do and I can tell you I know that "do unto others" is part of the holy law and while you may not see it manifest as it aught to be in this world as it aught to be because we have free choice...come a time there is a penalty to pay for that and it includes animals...do not do to another what you would not want done unto you. Also do not kill. Is that helpful dash? I tried to say it without insult but there is no way to do so I just be direct so bombs away. Christ came to say the same and he was not popular and they called him a devil so thank you for your rejection because to me I don't want to be with others in the hereafter who enslave animals in the here and now and kill them for food and think it's okay. Because I am not going to do this world all over again as if any came who did not agree on that and strive for it in this world they would take it to the next world. Thankfully that's not going to happen. This is the last stand we are in and you decide where you go from here. I just trying to help you not be dinner for the adversary. Would you like to be enslaved as a milking machine for all your days and have your babes taken away for a veal meal or whatnot and then when you could not produce from you breasts for you babes milk that never get it be slaughtered and put in a package in the meat department cause you have meat too you know. Whatever do what you want. I realize long ago dash I can't please people in this world BUT I can please my God and I aim to do so. Yes we all have moods and I was not as harsh on abra as she was on me imo...but whatever I was hoping she might be convicted on some level even though ti seems hopeless I still try as I do care and that this planet is being butchered for tastebuds of flesh....Well I am to be real about it. I suppose you not think Eve would never return think again. Hows that for a rant? Now do critique and I know you will get it wrong as usual because you don't know me. You wanted to push my trigger today so I oblige you but I figure you gonna complain though you got what you were after. What a mad house this world is...mad cow house. |
15160
From: _ , [DNS_Address]
Subject: I agree with you
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But your presentation of the topic undermines the cause. The first post, the one still here, was a compliment of you and how you were presenting a cause I care about in a good way. I was complimenting you and expressed genuine happiness that you were doing better than I was. I don't like it when ypu reduce yourself to the ranting filth freak that I am, Eve. I undermine enough causes that way. When you turn around and judge and condemn people, you. are. being. me. In other words, you're violating your own cause with the anger behind your passion rather than the passion itself. You become a failure. Like me. I am ultimately a failed dysfunctional human ruled by anger. Sometimes you are, sometimes you are not. In the first response, still visible, I complemented you on your growth. If you can't see a supportive thread for what it is, then I don't know what to day. The second post that Bopp deleted was basically a rant, because it seemed to me with your rant that you were deliberately going back to your old patterns to taunt me, to deliberately make me feel a failure and freak for having complemented you. Because really, following up a complement with precisely the thing I complemented you on and asked you not to do (I asked you not to be me), seemed like a deliberate spitting in my face. Like you just couldn't stand to be complemented by the verminous filth that is me and you had to prove the filth wrong by monkeying me. Thats what people do to those of us with mental handicaps. They monkey our flaws, even when we're acting in support. Just so you know, you can't make me hate myself any worse than I already do. I know my flaws. having them re-enacted isn't going to make any difference this late in my life. |
15162
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: I agree with you
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Excuse me...what filth? you called me a banshee! You got problems ms. dash...big ones cause you can't see the forest for the trees. No you were insulting me and trying to make it better comparing you to me as if it were a compliment. It is not. I am not a failure like you it's not on me to bring another to change once presented with a truth...it's on them and that is YOUR failure ms. dash not mine and you own it well. You are being you ms. dash and only you as if you were me you would be a vegan already and strive to follow the holy law...We are worlds apart and you need to accept that and stop with the stupid psychology junk. |
15167
From: _ , [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: I agree with you
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I said you were a better person than me except when you let anger take over. On those occasions when you let anger take over, ypu are me. I had thought and commented on the fact that you were doing betted. the banshee comment only happened after you threw your fit. When you let anger take over, that is always failure. Anger is failure and nothing else. Anger will never promote a message, it will only drive people away. Doesnt matter if the anger is righteous or not. Showing it and directing it at others is failure. It is the devil. Always. |
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15170
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: nope ... u so hum drum...
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boring...but since you are having a pity party and think yourself a failure (not because of me either) but because of my adversary who plays the guilt game, indulges in pity parties and calls good evil and evil good....here is a song for you and your banana sword.....enjoy ! chow chow ms. dash get behind me. |
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15159
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: I was...
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Dear ms. dash, Migraine today so grammar errors abound for me...I turning myself in to the spell check police so no worries. Full Moon stuff happens. Start trying to speak to me directly if you can we discussed this before...the what I call sniper posting ...remember? Talking about me to another in a post and is sniping is basically gossip. Did you see me talking about you in my posts or in my posts to you about abra? No. Comparing me to yourself is just not going to cut you any slack as if you so noble for saying you do so and so as if it also applies to me for the same reasons. it does not I can assure you so no brownie points for that ms. dash. I am not like you or anyone in this world you ever came across. Vive la difference. If you stop the comparisons it would be better for you but I doubt that's going to happen. You asked for a rant you get what you want so make sure and enjoy it, should be for you a pleasure so chow down cause I don't see you growing. forever ... truly, ~Eve |
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15161
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: I was...
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.. just thinking what a insane world when someone strives to walk in the true commandments to follow a way even as in diet that is best for the environment, animals and their fellow human beings they are called a banshee!!! wtf ????.... It's utterly ridiculous this world just needs to stop killing itself but if one says that and sniper attacked in someone else's vomit verbiage they called a banshee. That is the furtherest thing from the truth EVER! What is wrong with dash? I know whatever it is and I pretty sure I got a clue it's definitely not whats wrong with me cause I am not trying to chop down a tree with a banana! |
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15153
From: _ , [DNS_Address]
Subject: And to Ryan/Bopp, thank you
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Thank you for deleting my own crazy banshee post. While I still think the gist of what I said was true, the way I formulated it was not acceptable. |
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15158
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: to dash
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You gots the wrong formula dash any way you write it gonna be so. I did not see it ...just as well probably missed another dash bashing on Eve. |
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15148
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: changes
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[15150]
15150
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: changes
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Goats Just Want To Have Fun | Michelle Jenkins | TEDxBaldwinHighSchool Published on May 5, 2017 Many dream of changing the world. Michelle will share how people can put that plan into real action and change the world every single day, both in measurable and immeasurable ways. For anyone who strives to be a game changer for the planet, all one needs to do is practice kindness, empathy, and compassion. This talk will focus on how everyday choices can create a kinder world and will share the story of how goats helped the speaker further understand this lesson. Michelle has been teaching in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District for seven years. In addition to her love for teaching and the theater, Michelle enjoys staying active through running and kickboxing, traveling, enjoying the culture of her hometown Pittsburgh, volunteering, and spending time with her family and friends. Michelle has found passion in animal advocacy; in January she volunteered to transport a baby goat with disabilities on a fifteen hour journey across the country to her new forever home at the Goats of Anarchy. She plans to become further involved with animal rights in the future. Michelle would like to thank the following non-profit sanctuaries for inspiring today's talk: Goats of Anarchy, Rancho Relaxo, and Hope Haven This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx ............................................................................. under 3 minutes about Goats of Anarchy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S_QGglx6jc |
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