RE: Saturated Fat Controversy
November 3, 2019 at 12:19 pm
(This post was last modified: November 3, 2019 at 12:31 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
As noted from the beginning, your view of this issue is tainted by other ideological commitments. If you could find a way to put socialism vs capitalism in it's own box, that would probably help. The US imports food from areas where people are starving. Let that sink in. The producers economic freedom to export to us, and our ability to pay more for an item than the locals, means that the locals...who work in the fields themselves and often do have at least some money to pay for food..get to watch food shipped out. Then, a huge portion of it ends up sitting at dock here, unsold, where it spoils.
As to things too expensive to buy, again you miss the mark, but I understand this one. If you wanted to ease hunger and poverty...helping people to grow something expensive will do that. I suppose it might seem counterintuitive, but there it is. The guy selling grass fed beef can better compete with the american consumer for food, and that's why he's starving, ultimately. Not that I think grass fed beef is going to save the world or end poverty or something, it won't. There's a reason that I'm doing aquaculture in cattle country, instead of grass fed free range organic beef. Nevertheless, grass fed beef demonstrably is more efficient, from a resource use standpoint, than grain fed. I think that Pollan focuses in on this much like you focus in on your own personal attachments. What we have in that product is more environmentally friendly and more valuable...and it's something we should do more of, sure, but not something that we should look to replace other operations with. No more than we should look to replace cattle operations with bean farms.
As I said before, you don't have to assume that anyone got anything right, you can figure all of this out for yourself. That's what Pollan did, and wrote about. Doing so strengthened some of his convictions, disabused him of others, and created new ones he hadn't considered before. Same thing happened to me since I got into this. I came out of electronics manufacturing into ag with alot of strong ideas...the majority of which, utterly and completely wrong. It's at least possible that you might be in the same boat, yeah? Or, you can use them as planks to bitch about socialism and capitalism and conspiracies in production and whatever else you think it ties into.
It would be nice if we'd get our shit together and work on a better model of distribution..but it's not as if there aren't barriers to that. In the meantime, there simply doesn't seem to be a way to address the issue that doesn't involve making more food, and since the earths land wasn't exactly created equal, it will always be the case that some places will need to lean on livestock. Whether they eat it, or sell it. From an animal welfare point of view, though, I'd focus more on getting petrochem out of ag (but that would require even more livestock). Nothing kills, maims, and just generally shittifies more animals lives (including our own)..than our system of turning oil into food.
Quote:It's Not What You Thinkhttps://www.wfpusa.org/explore/wfps-work...of-hunger/
Ending hunger isn’t a question of supply. The world produces enough food to feed everyone on the planet. The problem is about access and availability, both of which are disrupted by things like extreme weather, food waste, one’s gender and – worst of all – conflict.
As to things too expensive to buy, again you miss the mark, but I understand this one. If you wanted to ease hunger and poverty...helping people to grow something expensive will do that. I suppose it might seem counterintuitive, but there it is. The guy selling grass fed beef can better compete with the american consumer for food, and that's why he's starving, ultimately. Not that I think grass fed beef is going to save the world or end poverty or something, it won't. There's a reason that I'm doing aquaculture in cattle country, instead of grass fed free range organic beef. Nevertheless, grass fed beef demonstrably is more efficient, from a resource use standpoint, than grain fed. I think that Pollan focuses in on this much like you focus in on your own personal attachments. What we have in that product is more environmentally friendly and more valuable...and it's something we should do more of, sure, but not something that we should look to replace other operations with. No more than we should look to replace cattle operations with bean farms.
As I said before, you don't have to assume that anyone got anything right, you can figure all of this out for yourself. That's what Pollan did, and wrote about. Doing so strengthened some of his convictions, disabused him of others, and created new ones he hadn't considered before. Same thing happened to me since I got into this. I came out of electronics manufacturing into ag with alot of strong ideas...the majority of which, utterly and completely wrong. It's at least possible that you might be in the same boat, yeah? Or, you can use them as planks to bitch about socialism and capitalism and conspiracies in production and whatever else you think it ties into.
It would be nice if we'd get our shit together and work on a better model of distribution..but it's not as if there aren't barriers to that. In the meantime, there simply doesn't seem to be a way to address the issue that doesn't involve making more food, and since the earths land wasn't exactly created equal, it will always be the case that some places will need to lean on livestock. Whether they eat it, or sell it. From an animal welfare point of view, though, I'd focus more on getting petrochem out of ag (but that would require even more livestock). Nothing kills, maims, and just generally shittifies more animals lives (including our own)..than our system of turning oil into food.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
