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Stephen Beidner's avatar

So called regenerative agriculture or rotational grazing as well as free-range, grass fed, cage free are just advertising terms brought to us by the meat, dairy and egg industry. They are greenwashing and part of the humane hoax. As the saying goes "there is no right way to do the wrong thing." Some of these methods may be a very tiny bit better for the animals. But in the end they wind up in the very same slaughter houses. There is nothing good that happens in slaughter houses. Raising animals anyway you do it causes extreme animal suffering and wastes massive amounts of land, food, energy and water. Pasture raised cattle are actually worse for the environment than feed lot raised animals (and believe me I do not advocate either).These animals require more land, as they move around a lot. The get more exercise, so they require more feed and a lot more water. The United Nations told us years ago in their report "Livestock's Long Shadow," that animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gasses than ALL forms of transportation combined. Other studies have shown that the problem is even worse. Animal agriculture destroys forests, wetlands and other wildlife habitat. Irrigation for the crops used to raise animals for food is the largest consumer of piped water in the U.S. Animal waste does not go into sewers, but in huge lagoons. It eventually winds up destroying rivers, lakes, oceans and reefs. Raising animals for food is a very inefficient way to feed people: cycling crops through animals and then eating the animals, instead of just raising the crops for food. A whole-food vegan diet is not some woo- woo thing. The science is clear that it is the best thing for our health. Following this diet can not only prevent, but actually reverse heart disease, the #1 cause of premature death. As Kim Williams, MD, past President of the American College of Cardiologists has told us "There are two kinds of cardiologists. Vegan doctors and those who have not read the literature." Generally there is no need for supplements...except for Vitamin B12. It comes from bacteria. We live in a generally clean environment so we don't get the B12. We also don;t get cholera either, which is a good thing. If one lives in a cold climate with little sun in the winter Vitamin D might be required. Otherwise supplements can sometimes unbalance your system and cause other health problems. Studies have shown that supplements often do not contain what is on the label. I went Vegan over 32 years ago ( and a few years vegetarian before that). I can honestly say that it was probably the best decision I have ever made. At 75 I have no major health problems and take no medications ( I did get all my COVID vaccinations though). Friends I grew up with who still eat the Standard American Diet (SAD Diet) have many many bad health problems and take numerous medications.

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Rondi Lightmark's avatar

“So called regenerative agriculture or rotational grazing as well as free-range, grass fed, cage free are just advertising terms brought to us by the meat, dairy and egg industry. They are greenwashing and part of the humane hoax. As the saying goes "there is no right way to do the wrong thing." “

No Stephen, they are terms that speak to the restoration of soils around the globe, the way Nature intended, in a symbiotic relationship. Ruminants built the soils of the world, which is why they exist on every continent except Antarctica. Overgrazing, plowing and deforestation destroyed the soils—we have less than 50% of the groundcover that the Earth had originally. Dead soils are dry soils. Dry soils have no relationship with the water cycle, thus, the planet is drying up – from Great Salt Lake to the Panama Canal. Only by restoring soils and ecosystems with different management practices with ruminants, other animals and other soil management practices can we heal the planet. There is even a ranch in Mexico that has restored so much moisture in the soil with managed grazing, it only rains above that land, and everywhere else is desert. https://youtu.be/ANZNt8LXM6o?si=tBA_qHVYFSjgh-G2

If you don’t understand these relationships, you are a big part of the problem. For example, according to the World Wildlife fund: https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/grassland-decline-continues-at-alarming-pace-with-1-6-million-acres-of-the-great-plains-destroyed-in-2021-alone.

The government is working towards restoration to an extent, teaching how to change plowing methods for example, and teaching managed grazing to restore soils. I agree that slaughter houses are terrible places for industrially raised cattle. But on regenerative farms and ranches, there are more humane practices in place. And on such farms the land is healthier, thus the animals are healthier, thus the product is healthier.

“Livestock’s Long Shadow” and its hyped data has since been debunked. The “more greenhouse gases than ALL forms of transportation” for example. That piece of data came from measuring the entire life cycle of an animal and then comparing it ONLY with the emissions from the tailpipe of a car. Crazy. Nothing about the mining, processing, producing, etc. of our vehicles. Just comparing a cow burp to a tailpipe emission.

The real story: according to the Environmental Protection Agency, agriculture in ALL forms (not just livestock raising), contributes 10% of US greenhouse gas emissions, including livestock, commercial agriculture and rice growing. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions

Also: livestock are a constantly renewable resource which deliver products from their carcasses that are invaluable. Without livestock, all of those products, from leather to pet food to bone meal, blood meal for organic fertilizer, to heart valves, to gelatin for vitamin coatings, plasma protein, crayons, candles, floor wax, shaving cream, lubricants, tennis strings, insulin, epinephrin and much more...will then become industrially made (probably with plastic), increasing CO2 emissions from industry, toxic chemicals in environment. Real leather can last for centuries. Fake plastic leather, only 3-5 years.

Vegan diets can work for some and I’m glad it has worked for you. But it is especially problematical for women and is not recommended for women trying to get pregnant, for young children and teenagers and as well as for some elders.

If your whole foods vegan diet is organic, then most of it was fertilized with animal manure.

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