the backswing

a couple of weeks ago i mentioned being wow'ed by allan savory's ted talk about reversing desertification.

now, i've waxed lyrical on the topic of political veganism and i've shared my displeasure with the community's methods quite vocally, but here, look, we have a way to achieve their goals while simultaneously continuing to provide for the meat-eaters amongst us:

all we need to do is ban industrial farming techniques, and force the farmers to follow the planned grazing methodology with their combined herds.

this would achieve a number of goals. first and foremost, it would reclaim land that all these farmers would continue to use, so there's a massive incentive for them right there. second, animals out to pasture are already in a much happier and healthier position than they are at present, and we could use this as a springboard to push for greater animal rights. third, as healthy as the vegan lifestyle may be, most people do not want to give up eating meat and, quite frankly, the more of them the better.

say what???

that's right, the meat and dairy industries are pretty much our only hope of resuscitating the planet. so instead of antagonizing them, let's go win-win and play nice: if they succeed with planned grazing, we win, the farmers win, and the animals win.

---i watched vegucated, and it reinforced my belief that people can be made to care enough to actually get this done. it's just an idea, but we can all share it, and make it ours, and turn it into reality. we can do better, without much sacrifice, and here's a way.