Subject: [permaculture] So what do you really think about long term climate change due to pollution-rela
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:49:16 +0000
I've been a vegetarian for nearly 30 years and I think that if one wants to
eat animals then permaculture is the best method by which to raise them.
It's the factory farming methods that create high animal population
densities that are responsible for the high methane output.
Vegetarianism alone may not reduce animal populations. In India there
are hundreds of millions of vegetarians but they still have huge numbers of
cattle. I've read a book on 'going back to the land' by someone who
recommends a vegetarian diet, but he still recommends that his readers keep
domesticated animals, I guess for manure, etc. I think that people should
try to keep as few animals as possible. I prefer to keep no domesticated
animals, not even as pets. I try to follow the Nearings in this regard.
I'd prefer to spend time mulching or planting trees than taking care of
animals. The Nearings grew most of their own food on their homesteads in
Vermont and Maine. In both locations they chose to garden on a patch of
yellow clay. Neighbours told them they could not do it without animals.
They succeeded nevertheless.
It takes less land to grow a person's food requirements for a vegetarian
diet than for a diet that includes meat. Land shortages will reduce
consumption of animal foods dramatically as human populations continue to
rise.