Few people realize how horribly wasteful commercial meat and dairy production is when water and food input is considered. It takes thousands of pounds of plants to raise an animal, which is then slaughtered to give us maybe a few hundred pounds of flesh. This is horribly wasteful unless the animals are eating a natural diet of grass.I was stuck in the vegan paradigm for many years and thought that ALL animal husbandry was a waste of resources. I watched too many PETA ads and thought that all animals were raised in factory farms. Not until I connected with the permaculture mindset, did I realize that animals can provide a POSITIVE impact on the environment. Its just that usually, greedy people use these animals in horrible conditions that are unsustainable.
Many reputable scientists estimate that there were once 100 million bison roaming the prairies of North America. At this time, there are only 40 million cows in the US. The prairie wants to be grazed. The soil wants to be fed with manure. It is FAR more environmentally sustainable to let animals graze the prairie instead of turning that land into a monoculture of corn, soy, or canola. Those monocropped ways of agriculture are far removed from nature, and supports only one species, whereas natural prairie supports millions of other organisms that live upon and within the fertile soil.
A diet based on locally raised organic foods is the TRUE Global Peace Diet. The smallest amount of fossil fuels are needed to produce our food. These are the same fossil fuels which empower the polluters and tyrants of the Earth and aid to the destruction of our precious planet. Think about all the energy that goes into growing, transporting, and then cooking food. Whats even more ironic is that by cooking food, we are just destroying what we should be eating raw. Madness? What a time to be alive. Have we chosen to live on this planet at this time to create positive change?
Raw foods produced locally and wild foods are the cleanest and most ethical of all foods you can consume. If you consider yourself an ethical person, consider looking into the slow food movement, locavorism, and permaculture.
