Unfortunately the vast majority of farmers are so used to taking this for granted, the positive environmental protection decisions made are rarely mentioned, let alone discussed publicly.\u00a0 Caring about their environment is so fundamental to who they are and why they do what they do.
\n<\/em><\/p>\nWe all become blind to our own everyday environment. Most people who live in the bush, are struck by the level of pollution in cities, when visiting. From poor air and water quality, to rubbish lying around; and the lack of native birds (unsurprising, given the lack of native plants grown in most Australian cities).<\/p>\n
It’s impossible for human existence to not have an impact on the lives of animals. The best way to minimise negative impact<\/strong> is to consume only a moderate amount of food, as sustainably produced and locally grown as possible, from as wide a range of food groups as possible.\u00a0 To reduce waste and recycle as much as possible. And it’s vital to acknowledge that humans need protein to survive. If humans don’t consume protein by eating meat then this nutrient will instead have to come from other sources. That means crops. In order to efficiently & economically feed the large majority of the world’s population who now reside in cities, crops must be grown as large-acreage monocultures.\u00a0 These monocultures are not environmentally friendly as they usually rely on outside inputs (rather than fertiler from livestock in rotation) and are devoid of native plants and animals, by necessity. Not only are all native animals displaced, native and feral invaders have to be dealt with, otherwise animals would eat all the crops and there would be nothing left for human consumption.\u00a0 Thus someone who chooses to not eat livestock is relying more heavily on a form of agriculture that disadvantages or even actively dispenses with other types of animals.\u00a0 This is a fundamental fact overlooked by the vast majority of vegans who claim to love animals. What they’re really doing is favouring a few types of animals over the vast majority.\u00a0 It’s a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ – living in denial.<\/p>\nIt’s also worth mentioning that even a very keen beef eater would be flat out eating 2 steers per year.<\/p>\n
Something that continues to puzzle me – many vegetarians refuse to eat sustainably and ethically raised red meat, but will happily consume wild-caught fish<\/strong> – without having a clue as to whether it has come from a sustainably managed fishery, and whether much by-catch was involved.\u00a0 Again, living in denial.<\/p>\nIt’s also vital to understand the big differences between agriculture in different countries<\/strong> due to huge soil and climate variations. In Australia the majority of livestock are raised in large paddocks with native plants and animals in abundance – especially in northern Australia.\u00a0 This differs from the UK, where in some areas inclement winter weather means housing animals is much better for the livestock and for soil\/plant protection; and in the US, where there are many more large-scale feedlots and crops grown specifically for animal consumption.<\/p>\nConservation & humane livestock production costs more. So ask where your food comes from, how it is produced, and be prepared to put your money where your mouth is to help farmers do the best job they can.<\/p>\n
Ultimately – I’ll listen to the views of someone whose own backyard is full of native plants supporting native animal species who is living in as environmentally friendly fashion as possible. The number of vegans who have fully thought through their real impact on the planet is fairly close to zero. Most are simply paying lip service to fashionable propaganda that they’ve swallowed whole without understanding the big picture. As for those promoting the use of petrochemical products rather than sustainably produced natural fibres – please explain how helping to add to the world’s pollution is good for the animals you purport to care about!<\/p>\n
PS: If you have any suggested additions to the above list, please let me know.\u00a0 Originally written in 2013 & updated many times since (most recently, 2019).
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Below are a variety of research\/study\u00a0sources from around the world plus some well thought out personal opinion pieces that refute misinformation portrayed as truth by those intent on eradicating all meat from the menu. Please note more references are added to this blog post\u00a0as they are discovered, and sometimes links to articles may be broken, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,7,68,226],"tags":[82,147,176,179,227],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2945"}],"version-history":[{"count":92,"href":"https:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7176,"href":"https:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945\/revisions\/7176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}