Thank you for reading my difficult article, and thank you for commenting. When I started a few years ago, I was gentler, but the clock is ticking. Try not to be overwhelmed. You can pick one thing and focus on that, which may lead to others. Inhumane treatment of animals is tough for anyone with a heart. Any of us who has pets know they have thoughts, preferences and emotions, and those who raise livestock humanely will tell you the same about a pig or a cow.
I stopped eating fast food 30 years ago when I learned McDonald's was the biggest cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest from slash and burn practices to graze cows and grow feed. I also learned that during the ice age, such places were the only ones where temperate areas remained. When the ice receded, those pockets of life grew back together, which accounts in part for the remarkable diversity of life in the rainforests. Scientists theorize these pockets could have been as small as five square miles, independent areas evolving unique species in each one. So leveling and burning the forests means likely losing species we've never even discovered.
I quit beef entirely ten years ago, and pork shortly after, and don't miss them. Dairy unfortunately is problematic as well in terms of emissions and animal treatment, so I limit that. I eat vegetarian a few days a week, but I can do better.
The problems, including the dehumanization you mention, are largely hidden from us. I started writing because I am aware of this and how short main stream media falls, particularly the gravity of the climate emergency and the 6th extinction. When I'm out, I try to plant little seeds in my conversations, and it's stunning how uniformed or misinformed people are. So I write, have improved my diet, and try to educate when I have a chance, mostly easy stuff (the writing not always so much)!
Many say you and I can't have the impact needed to make the difference needed. I wonder when the words conservation and boycott were eliminated from our vocabulary? Where we put our money is powerful. Bill McKibben and ThirdAct have been advocating putting pressure on banks that sponsor fossil fuel projects. Moving accounts isn't terribly difficult and could make a difference if enough of us take action. Here's a good list of the baddies. https://www.fossilbanks.org/fossil-banks
Maybe I paid extra attention to this because my name is Mary and I knew of the song. This is a really tough read. But you are right. And it's making me think harder about what I can do. It's overwhelming as a big picture but there are things I can do. The thing that really shook me was, although I "know" about environmental impacts of meat etc, and a little about factory farming although I confess I try to block it out, the thing that shook me was thinking about the people int eh plants, killing the animals and butchering , especially in a large plant as opposed to a small farmer, and the dehumanization that must cause to the workers. There is so much dehumanizing/desensitizing of people, it is a root of so much of our problems as a species, our degradation of the world and each other. I know this already but the picture you painted is hard to get out of my head. I think humans are a failed species and I doubt we can ever get out of the trauma loop.
Thank you for the restack, it's appreciated. America's democracy has been wildly imperfect, but there has been progress, albeit slow and fitful. Each one of us has a part in realizing the ambition of a truly free and open country.
Thank you for a remarkable article-- clearly the most thought-provoking thing I've read this week. Difficult to not be overwhelmed when we consider the enormity of what faces us-- which is why we block it out, I suppose. Wishing you the best going forward.
I restacked this with a quick quote from you. Maybe even though America is still following the failed model of past empires, it can still be fixed. We created the model, we can change it.
I read this right after sending a copy of “last week in collapse” to a few select people in my address book. My note was accompanied by the assurance that activists, despite accusations to the contrary, do not “enjoy bad news”; we simply have the courage to read it and deal. Yeees, courage and numbness.
Thank you for reading my difficult article, and thank you for commenting. When I started a few years ago, I was gentler, but the clock is ticking. Try not to be overwhelmed. You can pick one thing and focus on that, which may lead to others. Inhumane treatment of animals is tough for anyone with a heart. Any of us who has pets know they have thoughts, preferences and emotions, and those who raise livestock humanely will tell you the same about a pig or a cow.
I stopped eating fast food 30 years ago when I learned McDonald's was the biggest cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest from slash and burn practices to graze cows and grow feed. I also learned that during the ice age, such places were the only ones where temperate areas remained. When the ice receded, those pockets of life grew back together, which accounts in part for the remarkable diversity of life in the rainforests. Scientists theorize these pockets could have been as small as five square miles, independent areas evolving unique species in each one. So leveling and burning the forests means likely losing species we've never even discovered.
I quit beef entirely ten years ago, and pork shortly after, and don't miss them. Dairy unfortunately is problematic as well in terms of emissions and animal treatment, so I limit that. I eat vegetarian a few days a week, but I can do better.
The problems, including the dehumanization you mention, are largely hidden from us. I started writing because I am aware of this and how short main stream media falls, particularly the gravity of the climate emergency and the 6th extinction. When I'm out, I try to plant little seeds in my conversations, and it's stunning how uniformed or misinformed people are. So I write, have improved my diet, and try to educate when I have a chance, mostly easy stuff (the writing not always so much)!
Many say you and I can't have the impact needed to make the difference needed. I wonder when the words conservation and boycott were eliminated from our vocabulary? Where we put our money is powerful. Bill McKibben and ThirdAct have been advocating putting pressure on banks that sponsor fossil fuel projects. Moving accounts isn't terribly difficult and could make a difference if enough of us take action. Here's a good list of the baddies. https://www.fossilbanks.org/fossil-banks
Thank you, glad the article had some meaning for you. The enormity of our situation can indeed be overwhelming. The lack of unified world leadership is disheartening. We need profound societal changes no one has the courage to talk about. Just read this on the Guardian about AMOC, perhaps good for your chronicle. We're running out of time. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/09/atlantic-ocean-circulation-nearing-devastating-tipping-point-study-finds
Maybe I paid extra attention to this because my name is Mary and I knew of the song. This is a really tough read. But you are right. And it's making me think harder about what I can do. It's overwhelming as a big picture but there are things I can do. The thing that really shook me was, although I "know" about environmental impacts of meat etc, and a little about factory farming although I confess I try to block it out, the thing that shook me was thinking about the people int eh plants, killing the animals and butchering , especially in a large plant as opposed to a small farmer, and the dehumanization that must cause to the workers. There is so much dehumanizing/desensitizing of people, it is a root of so much of our problems as a species, our degradation of the world and each other. I know this already but the picture you painted is hard to get out of my head. I think humans are a failed species and I doubt we can ever get out of the trauma loop.
I just can say thank you…. And deeply know in the heart the wind also brings love, from elsewhere
Thank you for the restack, it's appreciated. America's democracy has been wildly imperfect, but there has been progress, albeit slow and fitful. Each one of us has a part in realizing the ambition of a truly free and open country.
Thank you for a remarkable article-- clearly the most thought-provoking thing I've read this week. Difficult to not be overwhelmed when we consider the enormity of what faces us-- which is why we block it out, I suppose. Wishing you the best going forward.
I restacked this with a quick quote from you. Maybe even though America is still following the failed model of past empires, it can still be fixed. We created the model, we can change it.
Thanks for your essay.
I read this right after sending a copy of “last week in collapse” to a few select people in my address book. My note was accompanied by the assurance that activists, despite accusations to the contrary, do not “enjoy bad news”; we simply have the courage to read it and deal. Yeees, courage and numbness.
So, what kind of tumor?