Andy Sturgell

Recent Activity

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  Andy signed the petition | 8 months ago

  Demand CNN and sponsors invite former Gov. Gary Johnson to the June 13th NH Primary Debate!
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  Andy commented on the article | almost 3 years ago

  Researchers: Even "Organically Raised" Cows Are a "Climate Bomb"

  Mr. Boyden - great comment!
  Also, I think there are several misnomers here that I wanted to mention.
  First off, a vegetarian (or vegan) diet isn't suitable for all people.  Many of us had ancestors that did not consume a strictly vegetarian diet; thus, it would follow that our bodies have evolved to need nutrients from animal products.  Indeed, there may be some out there for whom my last sentence isn't true; however, for the vast majority it is true.
  Also, we musn't forget that food quality is an important factor here, both for human health and the environment.  Grass-feeding of cattle provides a vastly superior meat and dairy product.  This is indisputable.  Also, it would follow that as the ruminant (i.e., cow - cows are ruminants) digestive tract is designed to accept grass and not starchy grain, it would perform much better if the cow was fed an exclusively grass diet, as nature intended.  This no doubt would alter significantly the emissions of the animal (surely you can admit that a human's food intake alters their "emissions," yeah?)
  But anyway, in short, I think we need to focus on more sustainable farming techniques rather than elimination of cattle from the world diet.  Grass-fed beef is an enormously healthy food, as is grass-fed raw milk and butter/ghee.  Also, there is much misunderstanding about saturated fat/cholesterol (which is frequently confused with trans fat) - many physicians are beginning to realize that the prior thinking that saturates are unhealthy is completely incorrect - actually, we need saturates for a variety of body processes, including but not limited to hormone production and cell construction.  Further, while the body can indeed produce saturated fat on its own, there are many varieties of saturates which cannot be produced and which have very positive effects on health.  Visit http://www.thincs.org for some interesting reading on this topic.
  In short, again, I hope we'd be willing to examine more sustainable farming techniques rather than simply veganism.  I personally have tried vegetarianism and it didn't work for me; meat and dairy is here to stay for me.  But lets find a better way to produce it that is humane, healthier, and mroe sustainable...let's try to promote free-range grass-feeding.