Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:20:51 -0400
From: Tom Glendinning
Subject: Vegetarianism
I have stayed out of the fray on this issue for a long time. Now, I will weigh in with the following comments.
I believe this is an argument based on the ability to hear or listen. I see no comments about how many screams there are when the lives hundreds of future tomato plants are cut short by harvesting one tomato. Has anyone ever heard the groan of a mighty oak or statuesque tulip poplar when they are felled, hard to do over the whine of a chain saw. I often imagine that I should wear ear muffs when mowing the grass, millions of eaks from plants not wanting a hair cut. Again, hard to imagine over the drone of the mower.
I was privileged to study with some microbiologists when I learned more about compost and micorflora and microfauna in the soils of our earth. Under the soles of a good size twelve shoe standing on a normal soil, there are more unseen and unheard plants and animals than there are of all the visible ones on the earth – insects, birds, animals, fish, etc., etc., etc. That was an amazing concept. Yet we ignore them while owing our existence to them, for they produce more oxygen and nutrients than all the trees and animals we can see. They literally support life on earth and we know so little about them. They are the faerie world of biology, and, like Rodney Dangerfield, receive so little respect.
This fact was imparted to me because I followed the trail of information inspired by my respect for these plants and animals which did all the work of producing compost from waste materials, transforming them into a magical material much like Lil Abner’s schmoos. Imagine the uses for it and it can be done.
Just one more opinion, like so many before. So, next time you are standing on a parcel of soil the size of your shoes, express a bit of thanks for the plants and animals under your feet are doing. And walk lightly….
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