Dr. Jude Capper is a livestock sustainability consultant, professor of animal sciences, and a “bovidiva” according to her blog of the same name. Last week she did a great post entitled “Activism 101 – How to Write Like An Angry Internet “Expert” on GMOs.” An asterisk after the word “expert” points to a footnote: *Note that being an “expert” does …
CommonGround Volunteers Show How Farming in the Snow Is No Cake Walk
Most consumers associate the cold, wintery weather that swept the country this week with staying indoors and keeping warm. Envisioning farming as a sunny day, warm weather gig, they often forget that farmers work to care for their land and livestock 365 days a year. As snow and ice reign down on the roads, keeping kids home from school and …
Can we Find Common Cause with HSUS?
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack raised more than a few eyebrows this week at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting when he suggested that animal agriculture should “sit down and make common cause” with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and that those who are “engaged in constructive engagement … shouldn’t be faulted for doing so.” Now I …
Thanks Dominos For Not Caving to HSUS Whims
Farmers are always getting asked these days to get involved; write a letter, call your Congressman, but how about eat a pizza? Now activation by the slice is something I think we can sink our teeth into and all wrap our minds around. With many corporate players caving in to environmental whackos and misinformed consumer groups it is refreshing to …
Deprivation Does Not Automatically Equal Ethical Superiority
If something is mainstream, why bother defending it? Popular logic would dictate that behaviors considered normal by the majority of society do not require an active defense. Society relegates personal accountability for maintaining our cultural norms to elite academics and social leaders. Action takes an investment of time, energy and emotion. With so many tasks requiring daily, immediate attention, who …
Coldplay, Cartoons and the Clowns Over at Chipotle
For years now, musicians and actors have taken time out from patting themselves on the back during awards ceremonies to advance politicized causes. The mega-produced shows, which take a public willingness to indulge the already pampered in self-congratulation all the way to the bank, now serve as a platform for entertainers to remind us that they are thoughtful, culturally-aware types. …
The Cruelty of Missouri’s Prop. B Hypocrisy
A sad story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this morning tells how one of the area’s animal shelters was raided and 195 dogs and cats were rescued for the second time in their miserable lives. In today’s economy, donations are down at shelters and more pets are being abandoned and dropped off, creating a bad situation for people who want …
Prop. B’s Slippery Slope Begins
One of the chief arguments used by opponents of Proposition B in Missouri, which passed by a small margin in Tuesday’s election and restricts the size of dog breeding facilities and places burdens on them it exempts others from, was that it was a “foot in the door” for the Humane Society of the United States that would lead to …
New Way to Help Chickens Cross to the Other Side
Years ago I wrote a blog asking what “happy chicken” tastes like. It was in response to a small but growing number of people who preferred free range chicken. The theory being that it was more humane letting them roam and fend for themselves than living in a building or in a cage. Funny thing is that chickens have a …
World Vegetarian Day? Who Knew?
Ribeyes and bacon and wings oh my! In case you missed it, today is World Vegetarian Day, the annual kick off of Vegetarian Month. The effort even has a web site to try to convince you of the benefits of the practice of going meatless. There they say vegetarianism helps to create a better world because vegetarian diets have proven …