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Selina Rifkin
Trumbull, CT
Recent Activity
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Selina signed the petition | -
Selina started the petition |
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Selina commented on the article |
I think we aren't very close to a 50-year sustainable farming bill. Just too much money involved on the other side. But blogs like this are the sort of thing that builds momentum.
and then there is the idea of using perennial switchgrass for ethanol...
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Selina signed the petition | -
Selina commented on the article |Browbeating is definitely bad! And Money is an issue for sure. It's stupid that you can get a McD's cheeseburger for less than an organic cucumber. I'm a local chapter leader for the Weston Price Foundation and cost is often an issue. Dr Price found that humans can thrive eating a wide variety of foods and it is perfectly possible to be quite healthy with less meat, as long as one is getting the right nutrients.
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Selina commented on the article |Mr Maltz is not acknowledging (perhaps unaware) that small integrated farms produce much more food per acre than mono-cropping or CAFOs. Also, livestock can be used to revitalize desert areas that would otherwise be useless for food production.
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Selina commented on the article |
I'm afraid I have to disagree with Pamela. It is entirely possible to to be ecologically sound while eating meat. But it cannot be from factory farms. There is a downside to being Vegan. Unless one is only buying plant foods from organic small farmers, one is feeding into a system that is equally damaging. Mono cropping is how the vast majority of plant foods are produced. Vegans still need protein, and soy is the plant of choice for most. But soybeans require hundred of thousands of pounds of herbicides every year, and corn – with which soy is most often rotated – demands petroleum-based fertilizer and pesticides. Most farmers hedge their bets by using more fertilizer than the plant actually needs, and the excess runs off into streams, and from there into the ocean where it causes massive algae blooms that kill fish. Pesticides also get over-used, with almost every vegetable field receiving ten sprayings of chemicals annually. Growing food plants in a factory-farm setting creates an ecological wasteland. These fields are un-naturally large and leave no room for hedgerows, willow thickets, and natural water-courses, that are home to birds, native pollinators, and small animals. Nor does eating only plants prevent animal death; up to 300 per acre of mice, voles, moles and ground nesting birds are sliced and squashed by heavy farm equipment needed to plow and harvest these vast tracts of land. Livestock can be raised on marginal lands - that would otherwise require vast inputs of chemical fertilizer for plant foods - and improve the health of the soil in the process. Animal impact is the most effective way known to restore damaged and desertified land in arid and seasonally dry (brittle) areas. Grazing animals are our best, and most eco-logically sound choice for preventing and repairing soil erosion, as well as making new top soil at a rate of up to 1” per year. Mimicking Nature’s patterns can also control invasive weeds, repair damaged riparian areas, and even re-vegetate old mine dumps. The blessings bestowed by grazing ruminants can be profound: meat and milk for vibrant health, and healing and nourishment for the soil. It is counter-productive - and perhaps even unethical - to ignore these benefits when they could mean so much to both humans and the planet. In CAFOs, livestock lack the ability to express their basic beingness; cows cannot behave like Cows, pigs cannot behave like Pigs, chickens cannot behave like Chickens. But avoiding meat will not put CAFOs out of business. Not enough people would do it. But choosing meat that has been ethically bred, raised, and slaughtered not only allows animals to Be, but helps to heal the Planet.
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Selina signed the petition |
