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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] EcoPrint Quiz
  • Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 20:56:44 -0500


If everyone lived like you, we'd need 1.0 planets.

However I take issue with the question about animal product consumption.

While perhaps useful for raising awareness amongst the masses, the Ecological Footprint Quiz is simply not appropriate to we homesteaders.

Rather inexplicably, we have now in our neighborhood Dr. Dennis Meadows, co-author with Jorgan Randers and Meadows's deceased wife, Donella, of "Limits To Growth," first published thirty years ago and currently in its third iteration. He gave a talk at our community gathering place on Thursday. He's a typical PhD professor type who shows lots of slides of charts and talks about them. Chris only had to jab me awake twice--in fairness I must say that I had a belly full of pizza and a bit of good Merlot.

Meadows is an accepted expert on how fast we are using up our planet home. In this case he was preaching to the choir, as most of us who have purposefully moved to this area are well aware of the consequences of planetary abuse by we naked apes.

Regarding James's point above, Meadows gave the typical declaration that we are spending several time the energy calories for each calorie of meat we consume. The audience chose not to "but" him with how that is not the case on our homesteads, where we do not raise animals like agriculturists.

Interestingly, he has purchased a house on acreage near us--a hill and a holler due north--to which he does not intend to move permanently just now. It is his escape place.

My view is that, instead of living the answer, he will continue to only talk about it. Perhaps one day at dinner I will tease him with that observation.

Chris will kick me under the table.





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