Re: Alexander Cockburn on beef

[boddhisatva <kbevans@xxxxxxxxx>]

                Mr. Proyect,



        Overgrazing has been with man since he settled.  Cattle are nothing
compared to goats, which were the first major livestock animals.  Greece may
have fallen because of environmental degradation from overgrazing.  The
Zimbabwe may have fallen because of cattle, and large parts of the middle
east may have been turned into desert from overgrazing.  Actually, there is a
theory that the native Americans burned thousands of acres of plains forest
to support buffalo grazing.


        Why not include fish in your thesis.  Fishing may even have been more
destructive.  Whales gone, salmon gone, trout gone, cod gone, drift-netting,
turtles, dolphins, sharks, seals, sea lions, manatees killed for nothing.
The November '95 Scientific American has an article on fishing which points
out (among other things) that marine fisheries account for more of world
protein than any other single animal source (poultry, beef, etc.), but its
price has risen fster than all those and fish takes peaked in '89 and have
stagnated or gone down since.



        peace





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