Good fight...

...So I had some big plans for good conversation today but I'm just getting settled into my hotel bed right now (Hampton Inn king sizes are dope...) and my plans have changed. New topics have arisen which must be discussed in moderate detail. The topic is vegetarianism. I'm not going to touch the "meat is murder" argument. I just find that to be so off based I don't plan to ever waste my time arguing about that. I would like to discuss the idea that not eating meat is better for the environment and better all around and you're a better person for doing it. That they are somehow morally superior to meat eaters. We'll I've got words for you: In January there's no such thing as fresh fruits and vegetables in New England. Just getting that out there. So your environmentally sustainable dinner is flown into the states on aeroplanes that use jet fuel, then trucked throughout the various states in the union on diesel fuel. By my calculations, that's not really sustainable at all.

We need to wake up and realize that the problems are not chickens or beef but the industrialization of the food industry. I don't have the time to find citations in texts and other places but the answer is small time farming which is able to produce everything, meat and produce (Michael Pollan gets into this significantly in his works but he's rather overzealous going about it He makes good points but it can be a challenge to swallow all at once). Cattle and chickens are able to fertilize soils without the crazy nitrogen runoff of commercial farming enterprises which don't rotate crops and just strip the soil of vital nutrients. This leads to erosion and groundwater contamination and a host of other things which do not occur on smaller, well-designed farming enterprises. The answer isn't cutting the beef, the answer is going back in time 100 years and relying on small scale operations for all of your needs. Milk, eggs, meat, fruits, vegetables, and eating based on the seasons, not on what you like to eat every day. Apples are a fall treat. Chickens fatter sooner than cows so they are eaten earlier in the summer. Winter months you're only eating things that could be safely stored...via canning or root cellars or frozen if you lived in an area where temps hit freezing continually. And that was how it went.

And that's how it should be. I'm not at a point in my life when I can make this commitment because there's not a huge movement of that in Maine (though community supported agriculture are starting to take off, if i'm here after the summer i'll be buying into that) but I'd enjoy getting into crop and animal raising if I'm able to convince myself to get a legitimate job, save some money and buy a spread. It's a little dream I have. To raise chickens. For now all I can do is call out vegetarians for their shortsighted beliefs. But when I have my loft on 20 acres, you'll all see. And that's change you can believe in. Cheers.

And when I get there I want to get into stop motion animation. I've got some random ass aspirations. But not only is this my favoritie smashing pumpkins song of all time the video is also insanely well done. See, it's not that I'm directionless, it's that I'm lacking direction. Write that down.

Cheers (for real this time).