[Subjectivist]

You should be a big fan of lambsquarters (the plant not the cut of mutton).

It grows almost anywhere with little water and is even better for you than spinach, which it is related to, English colonists introduced it to North America, it was a common garden plant in the 1600's. I like the taste and can't figure out why it stopped being a popular leafy green food source. When Spinach was introduced to the colonies for some reason lambsquarters Fell out of favor, maybe it was too associated with England/UK in the years following the revolution?

https://youtu.be/OZDY1uR2ZSc

[dohboi]

Yup. I usually leave it when it sprouts up in the yard or garden and just grab leaves an munch.

Like some other greens, it is important not to make it too large a portion of your diet because the oxalic acid can lead to kidney stones, iirc.

[Subjectivist]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dohboi', 'Y')up. I usually leave it when it sprouts up in the yard or garden and just grab leaves an munch.

Like some other greens, it is important not to make it too large a portion of your diet because the oxalic acid can lead to kidney stones, iirc.

[dohboi]

Good points all.

"wood sorrel, which is very tangy because it has oxalic acid as well"

In fact, "oxalis" is the Latin name for wood sorrel!

[Shaved Monkey]

Heres some good news
China's plan to cut meat consumption by 50% cheered by climate campaigners
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')ew dietary guidelines could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1bn tonnes by 2030, and could lessen country’s problems with obesity and diabetes.
New dietary guidelines drawn up by China’s health ministry recommend that the nation’s 1.3 billion population should consume between 40g to 75g of meat per person each day.
Meat has gone from rare treat to a regular staple for many Chinese people. In 1982, the average Chinese person ate just 13kg of meat a year and beef was nicknamed “millionaire’s meat” due to its scarcity.

The emergence of China as a global economic power has radically altered the diets of a newly wealthy population. The average Chinese person now eats 63kg of meat a year, with a further 30kg of meat per person expected to be added by 2030 if nothing is done to disrupt this trend. The new guidelines would reduce this to 14kg to 27kg a year.

China now consumes 28% of the world’s meat, including half of its pork. However, China still lags behind more than a dozen other countries in per capita meat consumption, with the average American or Australian consuming twice as much meat per person compared to China.

[dohboi]

I don't know.

In 2004, percapita per annum rates of meat consumption in Denmark were about 147 kg/person/year.

So unless they've dropped substantially, they've still got you licked, so to speak!

[dohboi]

File under 'gratuitous eye-candy' !!

http://metro.co.uk/2016/06/21/hottest-v ... s-5958171/

[dohboi]

I always suspected the way to your heart and stomach was thru your enormous vanity, pstarr!!

And I'm sure the Friday 'veal' will be mock veal harvested from a mock cow!

Surely not from one of these nasty critters that do so much damage to ecosystems...surely...not...

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/0 ... -hotspots/

Cattle Grazing Is Now Causing Massive Deforestation Hotspots In The Peruvian Amazon

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')Deforestation in the Amazon has been a growing problem over the past five decades, with ranchers leading the way in clearing rainforest for cattle and cultivation. But while Brazil, the largest country in South America, seems on track to reduce deforestation, other major Amazonian countries like Peru are increasingly struggling to protect their share of the world’s largest rainforest.

In fact, a new wave of deforestation is underway in the Huanuco region of central Peru, which now has the highest concentration of the deforestation in the country, according to an Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) report published this month. The report is based on algorithms of satellite data from 2013 through 2015 and points to cattle grazing as the main culprit, Matt Finer, senior research specialist at the ACA told ThinkProgress. “We just hadn’t really dealt with that driver before. You hear that more in the context of Brazil.”

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dohboi', 'I') always suspected the way to your heart and stomach was thru your enormous vanity, pstarr!!

And I'm sure the Friday 'veal' will be mock veal harvested from a mock cow!

Surely not from one of these nasty critters that do so much damage to ecosystems...surely...not...

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/0 ... -hotspots/

Cattle Grazing Is Now Causing Massive Deforestation Hotspots In The Peruvian Amazon

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')Deforestation in the Amazon has been a growing problem over the past five decades, with ranchers leading the way in clearing rainforest for cattle and cultivation. But while Brazil, the largest country in South America, seems on track to reduce deforestation, other major Amazonian countries like Peru are increasingly struggling to protect their share of the world’s largest rainforest.

In fact, a new wave of deforestation is underway in the Huanuco region of central Peru, which now has the highest concentration of the deforestation in the country, according to an Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) report published this month. The report is based on algorithms of satellite data from 2013 through 2015 and points to cattle grazing as the main culprit, Matt Finer, senior research specialist at the ACA told ThinkProgress. “We just hadn’t really dealt with that driver before. You hear that more in the context of Brazil.”

[dohboi]

True, and well put.

But even in those grazing environments, cattle can do a lot of damage.

http://www.agriculture.de/acms1/conf6/ws4lives.htm

But perhaps careful management of both cattle and pasture could alleviate some of these stresses. In the real world, such careful management is relatively rare.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dohboi', 'T')rue, and well put.

But even in those grazing environments, cattle can do a lot of damage.

http://www.agriculture.de/acms1/conf6/ws4lives.htm

But perhaps careful management of both cattle and pasture could alleviate some of these stresses. In the real world, such careful management is relatively rare.

[ennui2]

There are some who would argue there is no such thing as truly sustainable agriculture, just degrees of unsustainability.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ennui2', 'T')here are some who would argue there is no such thing as truly sustainable agriculture, just degrees of unsustainability.

[dohboi]

I did not say nor do I think that 'farmers are idiots.'

But I do find it curious that you claim that farmers were doing just fine till [they created] the Dust Bowl!

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dohboi', 'I') did not say nor do I think that 'farmers are idiots.'

But I do find it curious that you claim that farmers were doing just fine till [they created] the Dust Bowl!

[ennui2]

Anything that involves tilling the soil is ultimately unsustainable. I understand the "perfect is the enemy of good" argument but I don't like the casual overuse of the term 'sustainable'. There are plenty of pre-industrial cases of agriculture wearing out the soil, even with crop-rotation. Doing things the old fashioned way doesn't automatically make it sustainable. It just seems that way because of how monstrous green-revolution big-Ag practices seem in comparison.

[dohboi]

Farming was sustainable afterwards because a number of good practices were put in place, such has wind break on every farm, something still visible throughout the midwest and parts of the west.

But yes, there was not just one cause of the Dust Bowl, which is true of pretty much everything in history.

We do in fact know now more about how to make agriculture (and horticulture) more sustainable than most of our ancestors did. The lessons just aren't mostly applied right now, for all sorts of reasons, including the perverse financial incentives mentioned by T.

[Shaved Monkey]

Beef is the new iron ore
Australia has signed a free trade agreement with China and they want live cattle

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')emand from China set to supercharge live cattle prices
Australia's live cattle exporters could soon enjoy another surge in prices as turbocharged demand from China makes beef the new iron ore.

Abattoirs on the mainland are almost ready to begin importing live cattle, a decade after Chinese demand drove iron ore prices to historic highs.

The first shipments are set to arrive in China early next year, potentially providing a further leg up to Australian cattle prices, which are already trading at record highs.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')f you ever wanted to marginalise veganism and do further damage to the public perception of veganism, there is most likely no better way than to kamikaze into a slaughter truck. Not only does it tell the public that all vegans are maniacs, it implies that there is no substantive moral argument for veganism. It tells the public that vegans are merely acting on a desire for self-gratification and nothing more. Most importantly, however, it gives people yet another reason to ignore their own partipation in animal exploitation by associating veganism with violent and anti-social behaviour.

Judith Armstrong, a 26 year old woman from Hull, Georgia, drove her car into a chicken-transporting truck multiple times on Highay 72. She then fled the scene leaving numerous pieces of her car behind, including her licence plate. Police officers eventually identified Armstrong and ended up at her home, where she initially refused to come out and spoke to the officers through “multiple windows.” She admitted that she had purposely caused the crash and, according to the police report, “she was a vegan and hit the truck due to it being a chicken truck.”

This sort of behaviour not only trivialises the very real violence involved in animal exploitation by putting both human and non-human lives at stake, it merely drags out the impending doom awaiting the birds on the truck and most likely caused them greater suffering and stress in the process. Aside from the immorality of engaging in violence, such actions could only be considered reasonable to those who have failed to consider that the issue of animal exploitation is an issue of demand. No matter how many trucks are stopped or damaged, the same number of animals will be raised and slaughtered in order to meet the demand for animal products. Meddling with supply, in whatever form, does absolutely nothing to alter the demand. It actually implies that the issue isn’t with demand at all and that it’s the supply side of things that needs to change. That merely plays into the hands of welfarism and suggests to the public that the problem isn’t with what they put in their mouths and on their bodies every day, it’s just a case of how it gets there. So not only has Armstrong encouraged people to equate veganism with anti-social behaviour, she has reaffirmed in their minds the idea that animal use is a legitimate practice and we need only concern ourselves with how they are supplied and brought to us.

She eventually surrendered to police and is facing charges of hit-and-run, aggressive driving, driving under the influence, and obstruction. As far as we’re concerned, they can add the normalisation of animal exploitation to that list too.