Survey Exposition
Crystal made some good points about the survey:
I responded:
I kind of want to home school my kids too. And I'll probably make them sack lunches. But when I went to school, I often got there before I had time to eat breakfast at home, so I would buy a cookie and a soda for breakfast, and then eat the gross school lunch. That's two terrible meals a day. I was first raised by a single mom who worked, and then by a dad and step-mom who both worked, who all had no time to make lunches.
Cows evolved to eat grass. They have four stomachs to digest the incredibly hard-to-digest stuff. Feeding them corn makes them gain weight more quickly, but also makes their meat have more fat, makes them ill, fosters an acidic environment in their stomachs that allows for the growth of E. Coli O157:H7, and makes their beef unhealthy to eat because of the higher fat content and the lack of vitamins (B-12, omega 3's) that cows traditionally absorbed from grass.
Cows are not omnivores, they are monovores with bodies evolved to efficiently turn grass into beef.
I'm reading The Omnivore's Dilemma right now, which talks all about this. I recommend it.
Our society eats a lot of meat. And I think Mormons excuse themselves from living the word of wisdom because the transgression of gorging ourselves on flesh is so small in comparison to greater sins, so widely acceptable, and so common-place that thinking it wrong nears the point of ridiculousness. The commonality of the practice has trumped the clarity and command of scripture.
Our treatment of the animals we eat is medieval. I'm referring to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. I think the loons at PETA approach this the wrong way, and that their goal of animal liberation is ridiculous. Eating meat is not wrong; but the violence and cruelty we inflict on animals to speed up "protein growth" and harvesting is.
This shows how "downer" cows, (those too weak, depressed, or diseased to stand on their own), are forced to the slaughter.
Remember, pigs are smarter than dogs.
And though this kind of abuse may be the exception to the rule, the rule is to keep them in cages so small that they cannot move or turn around.
And meat farms generally do not allow visitors or cameras. Such lack of transparency allows for abuse.
Eating meat is not a sin. But we continually need to reassess our attitudes and behaviors to verify that we are living in accordance with the gospel.
To avoid eating meat from abused animals, eat less meat, and buy your meat locally, from a farm that you can visit and observe the conditions first hand.
I responded:
I kind of want to home school my kids too. And I'll probably make them sack lunches. But when I went to school, I often got there before I had time to eat breakfast at home, so I would buy a cookie and a soda for breakfast, and then eat the gross school lunch. That's two terrible meals a day. I was first raised by a single mom who worked, and then by a dad and step-mom who both worked, who all had no time to make lunches.
Cows evolved to eat grass. They have four stomachs to digest the incredibly hard-to-digest stuff. Feeding them corn makes them gain weight more quickly, but also makes their meat have more fat, makes them ill, fosters an acidic environment in their stomachs that allows for the growth of E. Coli O157:H7, and makes their beef unhealthy to eat because of the higher fat content and the lack of vitamins (B-12, omega 3's) that cows traditionally absorbed from grass.
Cows are not omnivores, they are monovores with bodies evolved to efficiently turn grass into beef.
I'm reading The Omnivore's Dilemma right now, which talks all about this. I recommend it.
Our society eats a lot of meat. And I think Mormons excuse themselves from living the word of wisdom because the transgression of gorging ourselves on flesh is so small in comparison to greater sins, so widely acceptable, and so common-place that thinking it wrong nears the point of ridiculousness. The commonality of the practice has trumped the clarity and command of scripture.
Our treatment of the animals we eat is medieval. I'm referring to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. I think the loons at PETA approach this the wrong way, and that their goal of animal liberation is ridiculous. Eating meat is not wrong; but the violence and cruelty we inflict on animals to speed up "protein growth" and harvesting is.
This shows how "downer" cows, (those too weak, depressed, or diseased to stand on their own), are forced to the slaughter.
Remember, pigs are smarter than dogs.
And though this kind of abuse may be the exception to the rule, the rule is to keep them in cages so small that they cannot move or turn around.
And meat farms generally do not allow visitors or cameras. Such lack of transparency allows for abuse.Eating meat is not a sin. But we continually need to reassess our attitudes and behaviors to verify that we are living in accordance with the gospel.
To avoid eating meat from abused animals, eat less meat, and buy your meat locally, from a farm that you can visit and observe the conditions first hand.
This is horrifying...I'm finding a local farmer ASAP. They have fresh fruit/veggies/fish markets here... I don't know where any beef/chicken farms are.
ReplyDeleteCrystal, To find local farms you can click on the links on the left side of the page. Or you can copy and paste these onto your browser:
ReplyDeleteFor meat:
http://eatwild.com/products/florida.html
For fruits and veggies:
http://www.pickyourown.org/FL.htm