Wednesday, November 18, 2009

WP: Bellying up to Environmentalism (11/16/09)

The livestock industry as a result of its reliance on corn and soy-based feed accounts for over half the synthetic fertilizer used in the United States, contributing more than any other sector to marine dead zones. It consumes 70 percent of the water in the American West -- water so heavily subsidized that if irrigation supports were removed, ground beef would cost $35 a pound. Livestock accounts for at least 21 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions globally -- more than all forms of transportation combined. Domestic animals -- most of them healthy -- consume about 70 percent of all the antibiotics produced. Undigested antibiotics leach from manure into freshwater systems and impair the sex organs of fish.
It takes a gallon of gasoline to produce a pound of conventional beef. If all the grain fed to animals went to people, you could feed China and India. That's just a start.
Meat that's raised according to "alternative" standards (about 1 percent of meat in the United States) might be a better choice but not nearly as much so as its privileged consumers would have us believe. "Free-range chickens" theoretically have access to the outdoors. But many "free-range" chickens never see the light of day because they cannot make it through the crowded shed to the aperture leading to a patch of cement.
"Grass-fed" beef produces four times the methane -- a greenhouse gas 21 times as powerful as carbon dioxide -- of grain-fed cows, and many grass-fed cows are raised on heavily fertilized and irrigated grass. Pastured pigs are still typically mutilated, fed commercial feed and prevented from rooting -- their most basic instinct besides sex.
Issues of animal welfare are equally implicated in all forms of meat production. Domestic animals suffer immensely, feel pain and may even be cognizant of the fate that awaits them. In an egg factory, male chicks (economically worthless) are summarily run through a grinder. Pigs are castrated without anesthesia, crated, tail-docked and nose-ringed. Milk cows are repeatedly impregnated through artificial insemination, confined to milking stalls and milked to yield 15 times the amount of milk they would produce under normal conditions. When calves are removed from their mothers at birth, the mothers mourn their loss with heart-rending moans.
Then comes the slaughterhouse, an operation that's left with millions of pounds of carcasses -- deadstock -- that are incinerated or dumped in landfills. (Rendering plants have taken a nose dive since mad cow disease.)
Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/15/AR2009111502210.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

SciAm MIND: Parents & Peers

"There is no doubt that peers matter."

Duh - any parent or kid knows that - BUT...

"The research shows they matter more when the parents ignore their impact, do not address their impact or do not take actions to ameliorate negative impact."

Enter family time (i.e. ghar sabha).

Full Article: Scientific American Mind; Nov/Dec2009, Vol. 20 Issue 6, p4-4

SciAm MIND: Empathy Heals

"There was a direct relation between a physician's empathy level and his or her patient's level of IL-8, a chemical that summons immune system cells to fight microbial bad guys."

Full Article: Scientific American Mind; Nov/Dec2009, Vol. 20 Issue 6, p10-10.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Lifeline relationships

I stumbled upon this presentation by Ferrazzi - he wrote Never Eat Alone, a book my cousin gave me that exemplifies the power of networking (when done with heart). It maybe be useful to you as well. He takes the next step in this presentation focusing on what Gunatitanand Swami said - to remain strong in satsang one needs to keep the strong attachment with two sadhus and two satsangis - it is essentially a Lifeline Relationship. P. Mahant Swami use the same idea when he talks about mountain climbers tying ropes to each other to ensure that they do not fall.

Nice read. Useful for katha, presentations, or meetings. You may find it useful in seva, work, school.