#protect large scale agriculture and so many other things. people hunting to eat is on a whole different level and

[wormthe]

[ image description: a screenshot of a quote that reads:

"When people say 'This is my baby,' they don't always mean a baby. Sometimes they mean a dog."

— A Somali student, on what has surprised her most about the United States.

/ end ID ]

one last thing is that it is very easy to love animals, because they cannot speak back to you. the global south knows this, we know that pets matter more to usamericans than human lives, i remember that a flight was chartered for dogs while afghanis waited desperately as the taliban bore down, palestinians joke that animal charities in gaza are more popular than their pleas are, tribal communities in india are subject to the establishment of no go sanctuaries that destroy their access to subsistence to protect endangered animals. behind the mask of animal liberation sometimes hides the hatred of liberation.

[theexleynatureblog]

Tundra Trouble

A dramatic population increase in “Light Geese” is threatening sensitive tundra habitat.

What are Light Geese?

"Light Geese” are actually three separate species of goose named after their mostly-white plumage. They include...

Ross’s Goose

The Greater Snow Goose

And the Lesser Snow Goose.

The main different between these birds is size (which can overlap) and slight variations in color. If they are this hard to differentiate in photos, imagine how it much be for duck hunters to identify them. Don’t worry! None of these birds are threatened in any way. In fact, the problem is the exact opposite...

Tundra Geese

All three of these species breed and nest in the tundra habitat of North America.

The little spots of red on this map signify where the geese nest in the spring. All three geese nest in the same kind of habitat: Tundra.

Now, let’s talk about Tundra.

Tundra is a kind of biome found in cold climate or very high elevations. It is dominated by mosses, roots, and tubes, all ‘short’ plants without deep roots. This is because of a permanently frozen layer of the soil, known as permafrost.

Plants that live here also have to deal with low precipitation, and a growing season that can lasts between 50 to 60 days, or about 2 months. This makes the biome incredibly fragile. If something were to come along and remove all the plants or disrupt the soil, it could take many years for the foliage to recover, if it does at all. Compare this biome to a place with a longer growing season, like the Midwest United State. All the grasses can be removed by grazing and burning, and within the same season, new seeds can take root, and within a couple of years, the grassland is completely back to normal. This is why oil and mining projects in the artic are a big deal, because the kind of damage we see them cause in relatively robust ecosystems will be so much worse in a tundra.

Tundra’s have relatively low biodiversity - there’s only a handful of species that live there in the productive months, and even less in the winter. However, it is a major producer of birds, especially migratory species. Breeding habitat is critical for every species. Tapering with it can directly alter a population’s ability to replace itself with the next generation. It is far more effective to reduce a population by tapering with habitat than removing individuals through hunting.

Light Geese and the Tundra

Like I said earlier, all three species of ‘light geese’ are not threatened. In fact, their population has boomed significantly. Since the 1970′s, the population of light geese has grown by more than 300 percent, and continues to increase by 5 percent each year. According to an article on Ducks.org, waterfowl managers estimate the total population is up around 17million.

Now, is this actually unnatural based on science? It’s hard to say. We don’t really know if this population number matches historic numbers, because we didn’t really take bird surveys until the late 1900′s. Some bird populations, like the extinct carrier pigeon, was so big they would supposedly black out the sky. Maybe, ecologically, we are suppose to have millions of light geese. But there is one thing we do know: they are over-grazing the tundra.

That little square of green once covered a much larger area. Researchers protected it with nets to keep geese out, and all the red in the picture is bare overgrazed soil. Geese don’t just eat the green, the dig up the roots, preventing new growth. Once an area is grazed up, the flocks move to another green space and repeat the cycle. There is nothing much left in terms of food or habitat for other animals on the tundra.

But how?

Nature has ways of balancing populations with available resources. When resources are used up, populations go down until resources go up again. So how did the light geese population rise to the point of environmental destruction? If you guessed agriculture, you’re right!

The later half of the 1900′s came with a boom of farmer productivity thanks to new machinery and chemicals. It helped support a booming human population, and apparently, geese as well.

Usually, migratory birds loose weight during the migration. They have to depend on their fat storage for through the summer and winter to make the 1,000m+ trips. It serves as an important environmental pressure: only the best equipped birds will survive the trip, and have the opportunity to pass on their genes. Lack of food fuels competition between individuals to establish dominance or territory, and at the same time reduces competition as it weeds out unfit individuals. Take the pressure away, and you are a step closer to the light geese problem. Light geese actually gain weight during their migration thanks to all the food available. By the time they return to their nesting ground, a lot of individuals are healthy enough to breed and rear offspring.

The parental habits of light geese are another piece in the problem puzzle. They all practice lifelong monogamy, and both parents are constantly around to guard the young. The young themselves are precocial, meaning the are fluffy and walking around almost immediately after hatching. They can even feed themselves. The only thing the parents need to do is fight off predators - and geese do this exceptionally well.

There are nest predators, like owls and foxes, but they are only able to take so many. Predation alone never has much of an effect on a population - it has to be coupled with a signifanct habitat factor. For example, if you released a fox into a small pen of 10 geese, the fox would immediately reduce the population in the pen. But, if you released a fox onto a large plot of land full of 100 geese, the single predator would never be able kill all of the geese. This is of course, a small-scale example. 

Another problem is the flocking. Snow geese flocks can easily exceed a hundred individuals. This makes it easy for hunters to shoot a large amount of birds, but the thing is, they have to get the birds within range first. Duck hunters lure flocks over a body of water by setting out wooden decoys. Since birds feel safer in large numbers, they are drawn to the groups of fake birds. This works if you, for example, put out two decoys, and it attracts a lone duck. However, a flock of over a hundred is not going to find any reason to join a fake flock of 2. To decoy for geese, hunters need a lot of decoys, which is more expensive and time consuming.

Geese are also uncannily smart. They live long lives and can remember places where they were shot at, so avoid them in the next years. That means that most geese that end up shot by hunters are the younger, inexperienced ones who do not contribute much to the population anyway.

Solutions

Managers and researchers are currently searching for ways to fight this problem and protect the tundra, while also not totally wiping out light geese populations. One of the most effective ways to reduce the population would be to disrupt the breeding habitat, but that’s option is not likely. Remember: the tundra is a delicate ecosystem. No disturbance could be significant enough to affect the light geese and not effect other species. Targeting food supplies isn’t realistic either - we can’t poison the tundra grasses, and we can’t throw giant nets over crop fields.

The usual solution to overpopulation of a game animal is lessening hunting restrictions. Hunters can take over a hundred geese in a season - if they can get a flock within range. But that leads to another issue - who wants to carry, clean, and process over a hundred birds? Ammunition availability and prices are another concern. 

Another factor that makes any management work in the tundra difficult is accessibility. There are few towns and fewer roads that give people access to nests, so sending in people or dogs to collect/destroy them isn’t always a practical option. Article on possible solutions.

Fish and Wildlife’s suggested lists of actions:

Expanding hunting seasons/limits

Expanding hunting methods (allowing electronic callers).

Far north harvesting.

Egging.

Increase incentive to harvest by award programs, donations, market hunting.

Improve private land access.

Information and education programs.

Bird trapping and culling by wildlife managers.

Refuge management.

Sources

https://www.fws.gov/birds/management/managed-species/light-geese.php#:~:text=Ross's%20geese%2C%20lesser%20snow%20geese,to%20remain%20at%20high%20levels.

https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/tundra.php

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-019-01308-5

https://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/pdf/management/snow-geese/light-gooseFEIS-QAs.pdf

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-46487-z

https://www.wildfowlmag.com/editorial/whats-the-best-method-to-control-the-snow-goose-population/280168

[interstellar-elf]

A little Nourasian/worldbuilding rant sort of

Given the focus I give to world building in series, I feel like I need to reiterate this. Early in the fandom history, there was a person who headcannon (though the way it was brought up, it wasn’t so much headcannon as “I say it’s true because there isn’t any evidence saying I’m not even though there is”) that Nourasians were a vegan (not vegetarian) society and had “walls” to keep out “barbarians”. I feel like I need to bring this up in lieu of worldbuilding and how “not” to worldbuild, even if it���s for established fictional worlds like Oz and Oban. 

Let me start this out straight: I have nothing against veganism or vegetarianism, but I feel like when writers make a fictional society/culture vegetarian because “they love nature”, it really doesn’t feel so much as “you did your research”, it’s more of “I think vegans are morally superior people and my mary suetopia is definately vegans, despite using hunting weapons and wearing leather, because fuck you” and it doesn’t really work in the long run. In fact, large scale agriculture, even growing just fruits and vegetables, isn’t ideal for the environment, especially an environment that doesn’t get enough rainfall per season to sustain a large amount of plants to grow. Making your fictional culture vegan/vegetarian doesn’t make them look morally good and upright in any case, it just makes you look like a total a-hole or a vegan who has an agenda and needs a soapbox. It also reeks of colonialism (given how white vegans won’t go after industrial farming practices but willingly go after Alaskan Inuits for hunting whales), classism (given how you can get a couple of apples costs more than a happy meal), and laziness/ametuerness due to how many times this gets by for just without any research.Just don’t do it. I don’t care if you are writing something inspired by AtLA; unless you put some thought behind the fact that your fictional culture is vegan, it won’t sell. 

Now the reason why I had a problem with this outset, is mostly because in order to be a vegan society, Nourasians should not have weaponry associated with hunting. And that is bows and arrows. The bow in general is first and foremost a weapon associated with hunting prey animals, though for the most part it probably started with animals like deer, birds and other swift and small animals. Arrows have been developed for hunting different kinds of animals, such as birds, deer, and even fish. Before they were used in warfare, bows, be it longbows or shortbows, were originally used for hunting, and the fact that Nourasians have it probably indicates Nourasians hunt animals using bows and arrows, and it also indicates what kinds of animals Nourasians hunt, as if Nourasians hunt on the backs of flying insects, they probably are hunting large scale herd animals they can get close to. In addition, if I’m not mistaken, there was a spear. Spears are also another original hunting weapon that is mainly used for hunting large animals either close up (probably on a domesticated riding animal like a horse) or from a distance depending on the type of spear. But for the most part, it indicated that Nourasians hunt animals. Another piece of evidence of Nourasians not being vegetarians is the fact that they wear and use leather. Leather cannot be made from plants, and cannot be produced unless using animal skin, salt, and a mineral or plant compound to tan it. And it may indicate that Nourasians may have some access to large domesticated animals or hunt animals that are used for every piece, since the tanning process may also include the brains to soften leather. What one needs to understand about societies that relied on animals that they hunted or herded, is that these cultures would use almost everything from an animal to work for them. Bones can be used for glue and carved for utensil handles or other objects, meat would be used for eating and salted/smoked to perserve for the future, fat was used for making tallow, soap, shortening, and pemmican, etc. Literally an entire “this society is vegan” concept gets thrown off the cliff when you realize there are huge faults in that assumption. And having a “love of nature” has little to do with being vegan; if anything considering how Aikka cares for G’Dar his insect mount and the canon of Nourasian culture that we do know, Nourasians as a whole, respect nature. “Respect” is the keyword here. You can love nature, but to respect nature, to understand that nature isn’t a happy land that doesn’t have predator prey dynamics or hazards or dangers, is almost better when you consider world building. 

Another aspect of worldbuilding is understand that you cannot just put something in that is easily debunked in canon itself. And that is with the whole concept of walls existing on a world that has flying insect mounts. It doesn’t fucking work when you apply logic. If you have flying insect mounts or domestic animal mounts that can climb up vertical walls or can destroy walls, it just doesn’t make sense to put up walls around your fantasy city. It’s like having a city trying to protect itself from fire and water elementals with fences made of cardboard. Hell, walls didn’t even work in series in which they did help keep out the invading force, like Attack on Titan or Pacific Rim. And to say “oh but lots of medieval cities had walls!” is not going to work. There are many civilizations that never needed walls, because they were on an island (such as the Minoans) or in a hostile environment (such as a desert, rainforest, etc.). In other words, don’t put walls in a fantasy world were flying animal mounts, dragons, and airships are the norm. If anything, you could use another form of protection, such as towers with archers or giant crossbows. Use your imagination and models from history when it comes to anti-aircraft weapons.

The last point would have to be applying xenophobia to a culture that doesn’t display it. Just because you take the whole idea of Nourasia being based off of “feudal Japan” wholecloth and apply “Japan is xenophobic” and then justify that in lieu of how canon treats that, it doesn’t work. By and far, Aikka gives us a good look for the Nourasian outlook on how they treat people who look and act different from them. The very first thing Aikka does is help someone who isn’t a Nourasian. Aikka could have allowed Molly to get trampled, but he doesn’t. And given how Aikka is basically supposed to be the “representative” of Nourasia in the series, and how he talks about Nourasians as being “peaceful” and “friendly” seems to contridict a kind of “xenophobia” argument. 

The one thing I just want to point it out is to reconsider simplistic worldbuilding on a scale and understand logic with established things in the fictional world you’ve created or that’s been created that you are adding headcanon/fanon to. 

[ezatluba]

The next pandemic is already coming, unless humans change how we interact with wildlife, scientists say

Karin Brulliard

April 3, 2020 

The new coronavirus, which has traversed the globe to infect more than 1 million people, began like so many pandemics and outbreaks before: inside an animal.

The virus’s original host was almost certainly a bat, scientists have said, as was the case with Ebola, SARS, MERS and lesser-known viruses such as Nipah and Marburg. HIV migrated to humans more than a century ago from a chimpanzee. Influenza A has jumped from wild birds to pigs to people. Rodents spread Lassa fever in West Africa.

But the problem is not the animals, according to scientists who study the zoonotic diseases that pass between animals and humans. It’s us.

Wild animals have always had viruses coursing through their bodies. But a global wildlife trade worth billions of dollars, agricultural intensification, deforestation and urbanization are bringing people closer to animals, giving their viruses more of what they need to infect us: opportunity. Most fail. Some succeed on small scales. Very few, like SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, triumph, aided by a supremely interconnected human population that can transport a pathogen around the world on a jet in mere hours.

As the world scrambles to cope with an unprecedented public health and economic crisis, many disease researchers say the coronavirus pandemic must be taken as a deadly warning. That means thinking of animals as partners whose health and habitats should be protected to stave off the next global outbreak.

“Pandemics as a whole are increasing in frequency,” said Peter Daszak, a disease ecologist who is president of EcoHealth Alliance, a public health organization that studies emerging diseases. “It’s not a random act of God. It’s caused by what we do to the environment. We need to start connecting that chain and say we need to do these things in a less risky way.”

Some 70 percent of emerging infectious diseases in humans are of zoonotic origin, scientists say, and nearly 1.7 million undiscovered viruses may exist in wildlife. Many researchers are searching for the ones that could cause the next animal-to-human spillover. The likeliest hot spots have three things in common, Daszak said: lots of people, diverse plants and animals, and rapid environmental changes.

They also are home to many of the likeliest zoonotic disease hosts: rodents and bats. About half of mammal species are rodents, and about a quarter are bats. But bats make up about 50 percent of mammals in the most biodiverse tropical regions, and while they are valuable pollinators and pest eaters, they are also astounding virus vessels. Bats have a superhero-like immune system that allows them to become “reservoirs to many pathogens that do not impact them but can have a tremendous impact on us if they’re able to make the jump,” said Thomas Gillespie, a disease ecologist at Emory University.

Increasingly, we make the jump easier.

Late last year, a horseshoe bat coronavirus is thought to have leaped in China, scientists say, where commerce in exotic animals is driven by luxury tastes in game and demand for parts used for medicinal purposes.

At a “wet market” in Wuhan linked to an early cluster of coronavirus cases, at least one store sold creatures including wolf cubs and masked palm civets for consumption. Such markets, experts say, feature stressed and ill animals stacked in cages, bodily fluids sprinkling down, as well as butchering — prime conditions for viral spillover.

Although horseshoe bats are hunted and eaten in China, how the suspected bat virus first infected people will not be easily deduced. An early cluster of cases was traced to the sprawling animal market, but it was closed and sanitized before researchers could track down what animal might have been implicated. And it was probably not the location of the spillover itself, which could have happened weeks earlier, possibly in November. Some of the first cases had no connection to the animal market.

Because the new virus isn’t identical to any known bat virus, somewhere between the bat and human beings, the virus mutated in at least one intermediary, perhaps the endangered pangolin, a mammal heavily trafficked for its scales, scientists say.

The 2003 SARS outbreak, which eventually was linked to horseshoe bats by scientists who spelunked through slippery caves lined with bat guano, was also traced to wild animal markets. Scientists think that coronavirus jumped from bats to masked palm civets — catlike mammals sold for meat — to humans.

“One of the key interfaces for these spillover events to occur are markets and the international trade of wildlife,” Chris Walzer, executive director for the Wildlife Conservation Society’s global health program, told reporters on Thursday.

In Africa, dwindling populations of large mammals mean game is increasingly from smaller species, including rodents and bats, said Fabian Leendertz, a veterinarian who studies zoonotic diseases at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. While some is consumed for subsistence or traditional purposes, exotic meat sales are also a “huge economy” in the fast-growing megacities, Leendertz said.

“That’s something I would stop first,” he said. “The risk is not because the meat travels … but it results in higher hunting pressure and higher contact rate for those who go hunting and those who take it apart.”

The international trade in exotic pets such as reptiles and fish is also a concern, because the animals are rarely tested for pathogens that could sicken humans, Daszak said. So are large farms packed with animals, Gillespie said.

“When I think about what’s the primary risk factor, it’s influenza A that’s linked to pig and chicken production,” he said.

But harvesting and raising animals are not the only venues for spillover. Humans increasingly share space with wildlife and alter it in perilous ways, researchers say.

Lyme disease, caused by a bacteria, spreads more easily in the eastern United States because fragmented forests have fewer predators, such as foxes and opossums, that eat mice that host Lyme-spreading ticks, studies have found. Building leads to a closer coexistence with some wild animals, including bats, Leendertz said.

Scientists point to the 1998 emergence in Malaysia of Nipah virus, which has killed hundreds of people in several outbreaks in Asia, as a vivid example of spillover fueled by environmental change and agricultural intensification. The clearing of rainforests for palm oil and lumber and livestock displaced fruit bats, some of which ended up on new pig farms where mango and other fruit trees also grew, they say. Bats “drop more than they eat,” Gillespie said, and their saliva and feces infected pigs below. Pigs sickened farmworkers and others close to the industry.

“Wherever we’re creating novel interfaces, this is likely a risk that we need to be seriously considering,” he said. “It’s forcing wildlife to look for new food sources. It’s forcing them to change their behavior in ways that puts them in a better position to transfer the pathogen to us.”

As Earth’s human population hurtles toward 8 billion, no one thinks human-animal interaction is going to decrease. The key is reducing the risk of a devastating spillover, scientists say — and not by killing bats. But they acknowledge that cultural and economic pressures make change difficult.

The Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups have called on countries to prohibit the trade in wild animals for food and close wet markets. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-diseases expert and the face of the U.S. response to the pandemic, said Friday that the world community should pressure China and other nations that host such markets to shut them down.

“It just boggles my mind how, when we have so many diseases that emanate out of that unusual human-animal interface, that we don’t just shut it down,” Fauci told Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.”

China, which briefly stopped the trade in civets after the SARS outbreak, announced in January a ban on the transport and sale of wild animals, but only until the coronavirus epidemic is eliminated. Permanent legislation is needed, said Aili Kang, executive director of WCS’s Asia program.

Not everyone agrees. Bans could cause markets to move underground, some say. Daszak noted that Westerners also eat wild animals — seafood and deer, for example. Instead, he said, trade should be regulated and the animals rigorously tested for pathogens.

Stronger surveillance for illness in wild animals — regarding them as “sentinels” — is needed, Leendertz said. So is a widespread realization that building in wild habitats can fuel public health crises, Gillespie said.

Many researchers say the coronavirus pandemic underscores the need for a more holistic “one health” approach, which views human, animal and environmental health as interconnected.

“There needs to be a cultural shift from a community level up about how we treat animals, our understanding of the dangers and biosecurity risks that we’re exposing ourselves to,” said Kate Jones, chair of ecology and biodiversity at University College London. “That means leaving ecosystems intact, not destroying them. It means thinking in a more long-term way.”

Joel Achenbach, Paulina Firozi and William Wan contributed to this report.

[wetrumpfeed]

Afternoon MAGAthread: YOUR WEEKLY PRESIDENTIAL RECAP!

HAPPY SATURDAY PATRIOTS!

I hope everyone is having a tremendous Saturday! This is u/Ivaginaryfriend here to deliver all things spicy & dank from the past week! Before we get started on that, if anyone has not seen GEOTUS speak at CPAC live earlier, be sure to do that by clicking this link!!! For those that missed any past recaps you can check those out here!

Now onto the show!

Sunday, February 24th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Trump Attends the Governors' Ball

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

HOLD THE DATE! We will be having one of the biggest gatherings in the history of Washington, D.C., on July 4th. It will be called “A Salute To America” and will be held at the Lincoln Memorial. Major fireworks display, entertainment and an address by your favorite President, me!

Very productive talks yesterday with China on Trade. Will continue today! I will be leaving for Hanoi, Vietnam, early tomorrow for a Summit with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, where we both expect a continuation of the progress made at first Summit in Singapore. Denuclearization?

President Xi of China has been very helpful in his support of my meeting with Kim Jong Un. The last thing China wants are large scale nuclear weapons right next door. Sanctions placed on the border by China and Russia have been very helpful. Great relationship with Chairman Kim!

Chairman Kim realizes, perhaps better than anyone else, that without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the World. Because of its location and people (and him), it has more potential for rapid growth than any other nation!

Poll: Suburban women are coming back into the Republican Party in droves “because of the Wall and Border Security. 70% support Border Security and the Wall.” Not believing the Walls are immoral line. Beverly Hallberg, Independent Women’s Forum @KatiePavlich A great USA issue!

93% Approval Rating in the Republican Party. 52% Approval Rating overall! Not bad considering I get the most unfair (BAD) press in the history of presidential politics! And don’t forget the Witch Hunt!

The only Collusion with the Russians was with Crooked Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee...And, where’s the Server that the DNC refused to give to the FBI? Where are the new Texts between Agent Lisa Page and her Agent lover, Peter S? We want them now!

I am pleased to report that the U.S. has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues. As a result of these very...... ... ....productive talks, I will be delaying the U.S. increase in tariffs now scheduled for March 1. Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement. A very good weekend for U.S. & China!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Im so proud to finally be a Sailor, I love this country more than the air I breathe.

Companies can use their power for good. Or they can use it for evil.

Jr. Trump // Major lulz

Venezuelans Now Regret Giving Up Their Guns - This is What Happens to a Disarmed Populace - The Truth About Guns

Will Witt at the Oscars...With a subway sandwich too.

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Hehe. Rent Free. #Oscars

No Mr. President, the belt’s for you...

What the nice lady with all the juicy "Likes" said

Bernie 2020: When standing in line to vote leads to standing in line to eat

Monday, February 25th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Nominations Sent to the Senate

President Trump Participates in the 2019 White House Business Session with Nation's Governors

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

We have a State of Emergency at our Southern Border. Border Patrol, our Military and local Law Enforcement are doing a great job, but without the Wall, which is now under major construction, you cannot have Border Security. Drugs, Gangs and Human Trafficking must be stopped!

Highly respected Senator Richard Burr, head of Senate Intelligence, said, after interviewing over 200 witnesses and studying over 2 million pages of documents, “WE HAVE FOUND NO COLLUSION BETWEEN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND RUSSIA.” The Witch Hunt, so bad for our Country, must end!

Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President, who has done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts,etc.) than almost any other Pres!

Oil prices getting too high. OPEC, please relax and take it easy. World cannot take a price hike - fragile!

(Retweeting Ivanka Trump) This Admin is committed to ensuring more Americans have the skills needed to secure better jobs in our strong economy. I look forward to participating on a panel to discuss our work and hear what is happening on a State level. #NGA

So funny to watch people who have failed for years, they got NOTHING, telling me how to negotiate with North Korea. But thanks anyway!

Meeting for breakfast with our Nation’s Governors - then off to Vietnam for a very important Summit with Kim Jong Un. With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!

Former Senator Harry Reid (he got thrown out) is working hard to put a good spin on his failed career. He led through lies and deception, only to be replaced by another beauty, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer. Some things just never change!

I hope our great Republican Senators don’t get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security. Without strong Borders, we don’t have a Country - and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, don’t fall into the Democrats “trap” of Open Borders and Crime!

“Why on earth would any Republican vote not to put up a Wall or against Border Security. Please explain that to me?” @Varneyco

Since my election as President the Dow Jones is up 43% and the NASDAQ Composite almost 50%. Great news for your 401(k)s as they continue to grow. We are bringing back America faster than anyone thought possible!

Congratulations to @DJohnsonPGA on his 20th PGA Tour WIN. Not only is Dustin a truly great golfer, he is a wonderful guy. Big year ahead for Dustin!

It is my honor today to announce that Danny Burch, a United States citizen who has been held hostage in Yemen for 18 months, has been recovered and reunited with his wife and children. I appreciate the support of the United Arab Emirates in bringing Danny home... ... ...Danny’s recovery reflects the best of what the United States & its partners can accomplish. We work every day to bring Americans home. We maintain constant and intensive diplomatic, intelligence, and law enforcement cooperation within the United States Government and with... ... ...our foreign partners. Recovering American hostages is a priority of my Admin, and with Danny’s release, we have now secured freedom for 20 American captives since my election victory. We will not rest as we continue our work to bring the remaining American hostages back home!

China Trade Deal (and more) in advanced stages. Relationship between our two Countries is very strong. I have therefore agreed to delay U.S. tariff hikes. Let’s see what happens?

Heading over to Vietnam for my meeting with Kim Jong Un. Looking forward to a very productive Summit!

If a deal is made with China, our great American Farmers will be treated better than they have ever been treated before!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

UCLA Students Support Concentration Camps for Trump Supporters

She’s got a degree in economics...Boston university needs to be shut down

Army vet to be buried alone Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 11:00 a.m. at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen, Texas. – public urged to attend

EVIL CUNTS

EXCLUSIVE: UN Secretary General in his speech at Human Rights Council, doesn't mention Maduro's dictatorship, or civilian attacks but instead takes a swipe at Donald Trump: "[He] is Poisoning With False Narratives Linking Refugees and Migrants To Terrorism" || Why are we still funding the UN?

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Ouch.

James Woods with the most SAVAGE burn. Clinton's BTFO!!!

Leftists hate rich people unless they're vapid celebrities who wear jewelry worth millions of dollars

Free Stuff vs Free Speech

TFW you see ur BFF walk into the Summit...

Tuesday, February 26th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Individuals to Key Administration Posts

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Just arrived in Vietnam. Thank you to all of the people for the great reception in Hanoi. Tremendous crowds, and so much love!

Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize. The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un. We will know fairly soon - Very Interesting!

The Democrats should stop talking about what I should do with North Korea and ask themselves instead why they didn’t do “it” during eight years of the Obama Administration? ... ....This will be remembered as one of the most shocking votes in the history of Congress. If there is one thing we should all agree on, it’s protecting the lives of innocent babies.

Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children. The Democrat position on abortion is now so extreme that they don’t mind executing babies AFTER birth....

(Retweeting Ivanka Trump) No I did not. I support a minimum wage. I do not however believe in a minimum guarantee for people “unwilling to work” which was the question asked of me.

I have now spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, the third rate Senator from Connecticut (how is Connecticut doing?). His war stories of his heroism in Vietnam were a total fraud - he was never even there. We talked about it today with Vietnamese leaders!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Woman Charged With Attacking Man Wearing MAGA Hat Now In ICE Custody

President Trump has just arrived in Vietnam. We are very pleased to have you here (I am Vietnamese). People here (Hanoi) flooded the street to welcome Mr. Trump. Very crowded and fun, like a festival.

Ed Henry on Fox: "We heard a crowd roaring and thought that Kim Jong Un must have showed. Nope, it was a mass of people waiting to see Donald Trump"... Pedes, Trump's a damn Rock Star, but we already knew that.

Charlize Theron adopted a child and has been crossdressing and transitioning him into a girl.

CNN disguises lobbyist interns and democratic politicians as "mothers, voters, and students."

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Who Would Be More Willing?

Brave NY Pede spotted in the wild today. #godblessamerica

Trump landed in Vietnam today. He now has more time in country than this piece of shit.

It's absolutely insane that someone could more punishment for killing a preborn eagle then a preborn human.

Communists are not people.

Wednesday, February 27th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint Individuals to Key Administration Posts

President Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the President of the SRV

President Trump Participates in a Working Lunch with the Prime Minister of the SRV

President Trump Participates in a Greeting with the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission

President Trump Participates in a 1:1 Conversation with the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission

President Trump Participates in a Social Dinner with the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission

President Trump Participates in a 1:1 Bilateral Meeting

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Fiat Chrysler will be adding more than 6,500 JOBS in Michigan (Detroit area), doubling its hourly workforce as part of a 4.5 Billion Dollar investment. Thank you Fiat Chrysler. They are all coming back to the USA, it’s where the action is!

All false reporting (guessing) on my intentions with respect to North Korea. Kim Jong Un and I will try very hard to work something out on Denuclearization & then making North Korea an Economic Powerhouse. I believe that China, Russia, Japan & South Korea will be very helpful!

Retweeting a White House Video

Retweeting a White House Video

Great meetings and dinner tonight in Vietnam with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Very good dialogue. Resuming tomorrow!

Great meeting and dinner with Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam tonight. Looking forward to continuing our discussions tomorrow! #HanoiSummit

Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately). He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time. Using Crooked’s lawyer!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

HE WAS COACHED ON WHAT TO SAY BY THE FUCKING DEMS. I AM SHOCKED!

Michael Cohen Admits to Coordinating Scripted Testimony With Lanny Davis, Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings…

BREAKING VERITAS: Facebook Insider Leaks Docs; Explains "Deboosting," "Troll Report," & Political Targeting in Video Interview

Vietnam is really throwing a lot of love at the POTUS. He even played along with them and waved a Vietnamese flag after seeing Vietnamese kids wave U.S. flags.

did Cohen forget wikileaks ANNOUNCES THEIR LEAKS IN ADVANCE

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Reddit Today

And Then I Said "Because You'd be in Jail..."

My little sister wore MAGA for spirit week in high school today. She was threatened with a fight from another girl, received more hate and bullying on social media than I ever saw growing up, and kids’ parents were calling the office. She stood her ground and prompted dialogue. -Proud older bro!

The left's idea of bravery.

The_Donald hasn't forgotten!

Thursday, February 28th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Trump Participates in a Press Conference

President Trump Participates in an Expanded Bilateral Meeting

President Trump Delivers Remarks to Troops

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

(Retweeting The Dept. Of State) President @realDonaldTrump and @SecPompeo participate in a Press Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 28, 2019.

THANK YOU to our generous hosts in Hanoi this week: President Trong, Prime Minister Phuc, and the wonderful people of Vietnam!

Everyone MUST watch the opening to @TuckerCarlson - A Classic! @foxnews

I will be interviewed by @seanhannity at 9:00 P.M. on @FoxNews. Enjoy!

Retweeting a White House Video

Retweeting a White House Video

Today in Alaska, it was my great honor to visit with our brave men and women of the United States Military at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. We are forever grateful for their service and sacrifice. THANK YOU!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

MORE WINNING - Travel Ban Ends Nearly All Immigration from Terrorist-Sanctioned Nations

President Reagan's address after walking away from a bad deal with Gorbechev in 1986. The media had the same reaction as today.

Video made for CPAC absolutely BTFO's the radical left!

Finally

EXCLUSIVE: California Refused 5.6K Requests to Turn over Criminal Illegals to Feds

Trump cuts short North Korea summit after dispute over sanctions: 'Sometimes you have to walk'

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

TFW you realize the left hates Trump so much, they celebrate no peace being currently reached

meanwhile on /r/politics

THAT FACE WHEN you've been living a cushy life as an illegal alien in the U.S. for 25 years, and all you had to do to keep it going was not assault someone over a hat, but you couldn't help yourself and now you're getting your ass deported.

Dear Dem Children in Congress: Daddy’s On His Way Home, Better Clean Up the House From That 7 Hr Kegger You Threw Yesterday. #UrGonnaGetIt

Friday, March 1st:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Presidential Proclamation on Irish-American Heritage Month, 2019

Presidential Proclamation on Women’s History Month, 2019

Presidential Proclamation on American Red Cross Month, 2019

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Great to be back from Vietnam, an amazing place. We had very substantive negotiations with Kim Jong Un - we know what they want and they know what we must have. Relationship very good, let’s see what happens!

Wow, just revealed that Michael Cohen wrote a “love letter to Trump” manuscript for a new book that he was pushing. Written and submitted long after Charlottesville and Helsinki, his phony reasons for going rogue. Book is exact opposite of his fake testimony, which now is a lie!

Congress must demand the transcript of Michael Cohen’s new book, given to publishers a short time ago. Your heads will spin when you see the lies, misrepresentations and contradictions against his Thursday testimony. Like a different person! He is totally discredited!

Oh’ I see! Now that the 2 year Russian Collusion case has fallen apart, there was no Collusion except bye Crooked Hillary and the Democrats, they say, “gee, I have an idea, let’s look at Trump’s finances and every deal he has ever done. Let’s follow discredited Michael Cohen..... ... ...and the fraudulent and dishonest statements he made on Wednesday. No way, it’s time to stop this corrupt and illegally brought Witch Hunt. Time to start looking at the other side where real crimes were committed. Republicans have been abused long enough. Must end now!

Michael Cohen’s book manuscript shows that he committed perjury on a scale not seen before. He must have forgotten about his book when he testified. What does Hillary Clinton’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, say about this one. Is he being paid by Crooked Hillary. Using her lawyer?

I never like being misinterpreted, but especially when it comes to Otto Warmbier and his great family. Remember, I got Otto out along with three others. The previous Administration did nothing, and he was taken on their watch. Of course I hold North Korea responsible.... ... ....for Otto’s mistreatment and death. Most important, Otto Warmbier will not have died in vain. Otto and his family have become a tremendous symbol of strong passion and strength, which will last for many years into the future. I love Otto and think of him often!

I have asked China to immediately remove all Tariffs on our agricultural products (including beef, pork, etc.) based on the fact that we are moving along nicely with Trade discussions.... ... ....and I did not increase their second traunch of Tariffs to 25% on March 1st. This is very important for our great farmers - and me!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

THE ART OF THE DEAL: Kim Jong Un willing to meet with Trump again on denuclearization, North Korea state media says

Michael Cohen pitched book praising Trump right before the FBI raid

New spokeswoman for Bernie Sanders won't be able to vote for him in 2020 -- she's an illegal immigrant

A Hole C warns moderate dems that voting against progressives will get them put on (dramatic music) A LIST!

Poll: 3-in-4 Voters Favor 'America First' Immigration, Trade, War Platform

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

MAGA Bromance: Don Jr. & Brad Parscale (What happened to Brad's hair???)

Hey you sorting by New, you're a patriot. That is all.

R.I.P. Andrew Breitbart, Died 7 Years Ago Today. You Didn't Live to See it, But You Helped Spark the Trump Movement

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

THIS IS NOT A “CONGRESSWOMAN”. This is TAQIYYA. This is Islam attempting to work its way into western culture under a false pretense. Stop her NOW!

Saturday, March 2nd:

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!

[Will be speaking at CPAC at 11:30 this morning. Record crowd, live broadcast. Enjoy!](Will be speaking at CPAC at 11:30 this morning. Record crowd, live broadcast. Enjoy!)

(Retweeting Official Team Trump) Get your OFFICIAL campaign merchandise @ http://Shop.DonaldJTrump.com or, if you’re at @CPAC, check out our Official booth!” #TeamTrump

(RetweetingThe Washington Examiner) Pence says President Trump has "no higher priority than the safety of the American people." #CPAC2019

Thank you @marklevinshow!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Construction Begins On 30-Foot-High San Diego Border Wall

CNN on suicide watch: Gab releases "Dissenter" app that allows commenting on any site. First comments are encouraging.

Rashida Tlaib's campaign paid her $17,500 in salary after Election Day, in possible violation of FEC rules: Swamprat!

I wonder why they changed their minds...🤔

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Co-founder of Greenpeace calls out A Hole C on her Bullsh*t.

Laughs In American

No clever title. Just 7 patriots singing the anthem.

I know some pretty tough broads that would beg to differ and these country girls are a way different breed than the city folk that she is used to. Does this comment of hers qualify as sexist?

WEEEW LAD!

Of course, no recap is complete without some tunes to help get through all this winning!

Here's To The Night

Instant Crush

Hanging By a Moment

I Believe

Plush

If You Could Only See

MAGA ON PATRIOTS!

submitted by /u/Ivaginaryfriend [link] [comments]

[tibbysun-blog]

Reflective Journal

The First Week

On 29 October, I went to Dewis the dining hall. I took much more than I could really finish, so I had to waste a few of them. On the next day, I bought some nutcracker toys for me. I already had some and I know actually I don’t need that many. However, I still bought another two impulsively, just for the different uniform they have. On that same day, my favorite novelist, master Zha Liangyong passed away. Master Zha’s novels peopled my youth and lit up my way into the publishing industry. While I suddenly realized I don’t have posses any novels of his, so I bought a collection (paper books) online to show my final respect to him. 

The First Week Consumption Summary

At the end of this week, I began to recall my consumption behaviors of the week and figured out four damaging influences my behaviors could possibly lead to: 

1. Unnecessary Kitchen Garbage. The kitchen waste can only be dumped into the landfill, or burned in an incinerator and then buried in a landfill. Either way, they both pollute the air, land, water, and change the climate. Burning the garbage will release the toxic up into the air, even worse, it can make new super toxic, like dioxin, which is the most toxic thing human-made substance know to science (00:17:13-00:17:44). In addition, what I did was also a waste of natural resources. In the past decade alone, one-third resource of the planet is consumed. If we continue to consume like this, we would need at least 3-5 planets, while unfortunately we only have one. (00:03:48-00:03:55). We are not the last generations in the world, and it is our responsibility to make the natural resources sustainable for our descendants to utilize.

2.  Excessive CO2 Emissions. I refueled my car twice a week. I think I must be a great contributor to CO2 emission because I drove everywhere, even to the small playground close to my house. According to the vast majority of the scientific community, motor vehicle CO2 emissions, as part of the anthropogenic contribution to the growth of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, is causing climate change (Stocker, T.F… & Midgley P.M. (eds), 2013). According to the State of the Climate in 2017 report from NOAA and the American Meteorological Society, global atmospheric carbon dioxide was 405.0 ± 0.1 ppm in 2017, a new record high, indicating that the global temperature is  exposed to more dangers of rising than ever before. If we want to stop climate change, what we individuals can do is really important, and I believe reducing the use of cars is one significant method.

CO2 Abundance (1986-2018)

3. Deforestation. We all know paper books are made of wood, and my consumption on books means there possibly would be more trees cut down. The estimate suggests that about 15 billion trees are cut down annually and about 5 billion are planted. In the 12,000 years since the start of human agriculture, the number of trees worldwide has decreased by 46% (Crowther et al., 2017). It is rather detrimental since the deforestation can lead to the bare soil drying out and result in erosion accelerated by the sun and wind, after this, the uppermost layer of soil, which is the most fertile, is blown as dust or washed away with rainwater that no longer sinks into the soil, but simply runs off immediately (Roorda, 2012). As a result, the more trees we lose, the more human beings will suffer. It is really urgent we take actions to stop that from happening.

4. Affluenza. As to the toys, actually, I don’t need to possess that many nutcrackers at all. The very nature of affluenza (a severe form of materialism) is the desire of having things that we really do not need, or acquiring more than we need, and thinking that it is acceptable to do so. It is true that many people may not realize the overabundance of material possessions can be detrimental.  The obsession with consuming, of having more than what is needed, or having items that are not needed at all, is what often drives a wedge between an individual, their community, their family, and even their bank account. Moreover, research by Goldberg et al. (2003) shows that “parents who are more materialistic tend to have children who are more materialistic”. So I agree what Mattison says in the dissertation that it is a civic duty to holding individuals personally accountable for their behavior, primarily in the form of awareness, and conscientious consumerism (Mattison, 2012).

The Second Week

On 5th November, I had a hot discussion with my classmate, we are both super fans of <Game of Thrones>. But I realized that I have just watched the TV series, and never read one book, so I decided to buy one (eBook this time) and read when I have time. On 10th November, since winter is coming, I had to prepare some warm clothes for it, including 2 Canada Goose parkas. When I chose which parka I should buy, I thought of the discussion we had on 29th October, about the Canada Goose’s use of coyote furs. I feel pathetic for the coyotes, so I chose the one without their furs around the hood. Then it comes a horrible day: Single’s day. This is a shopping festival started by Alibaba, and it’s quite similar to the Black Friday in the US. On that day, many commercials have promotions to attract consumers to do more purchases. I failed to resist the temptation, so despite I made up my mind not to do impulse consumption again last week, I still bought some unnecessary toys and house decorations.

The Second Week Consumption Summary

Comparison

I made a little progress since last week, however, impulse consumption management needs to be better.

1. No unnecessary kitchen garbage. This week I took what I really demanded to eat, so I produced almost

2. Excessive CO2 emission. I feel sorry that I have to keep the bad habit of driving everywhere, cause it’s getting colder and I cannot ride.

3. Forest Protection. For the eco-friendly purpose, this time I bought an ebook. I hope I could help save the trees, even just one.

4. Affluenza. Lost in the commercial promotion and bought things I don’t really need impulsively again.

5. Animal protection. Canada goose has long been criticized for its use of coyote furs. Although no data shows that the population of coyote is endangered and some scientists even found that coyotes could withstand as much as a 70 percent yearly kill rate without suffering any decline in their total population (Floras, 2016), too much hunting or overuse of coyote furs can still possibly lead to coyotes’ extinction in the long run.  When species die out, the consequences could be unexpected. When part of a breeding system or a food chain disappears, the entire ecosystem can be affected, with the result being that other species can also be extinct (Roorda, 2012). I chose the one without coyotes furs with the hope of doing some contributions to help prevent them from extinction.

Closing

Sustainability needs to be a daily preoccupation for all of us because our capacity to live sustainably begins with our existing environmental impacts and our modes of interaction with other people and society at large. Actually, there are much that individuals can, and should do in our daily life to help protect the sustainability of our planet: such as determining our use of energy and etc. By analyzing my consumption behaviors during the last two weeks, I believe I have a little bit contribution, although it is just a little. While still, it is not enough, what I should do better is focusing on how to do less impulse consumption.

Reference

Crowther, T. W., Glick, H. B., Covey, K. R., Bettigole, C., Maynard, D. S., Thomas, S. M., …& Duguid, M. C. (2015). Mapping tree density at a global scale. Nature. 7568, 201–205. doi:10.1038/nature14967

Floras, D. (2016). Stop Killing Coyotes.https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/opinion/stop-killing-coyotes.html

Mattison, Merri.  “Emancipation from affluenza: leading social change in the classroom.” Dissertation, Antioch University, 2012.

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: Global Climate Report for Annual 2017. (2018). Retrieved on November 11, 2018 from https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide

IPCC.( 2013). Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Stocker, T.F., Qin D., Plattner G. K., Tignor M., Allen S.K., Boschung J., … & Midgley P.M. (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Priggen, E., & Fox, L. (Director). Story of Stuff. USA: Free Range Studios

[theexleynatureblog]

Veganism for Conservation

Wikipedia defines veganism as “ the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan.”

This is different than vegetarianism, which is a non-meat diet. Vegetarians still use animal products like eggs and dairy, while veganism does not. Some people that practice veganism extend the philosophy to their clothing, not wearing leather, and sometimes even wool. 

A lot of us have probably interacted with vegans on the internet in posts such as this:

Personally, my interactions with people who practice veganism have been limited to glimpsing internet brawls like this. Because of this, vegans get a bad name. I’m sure Christians can relate: that one wild-eyed priest going on about how homophobia is a sin. He may speak for all Christians, but he cannot represent them.

My point of this is, going into this post, please approach veganism or vegetarianism with an open mind. This post is not hating on vegans, and it is not trying to convert anyone to veganism. By pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of vegan and non-vegan philosophies, I hope to increase understanding.

Where Veganism Succeeds

When it comes to images like this, vegans and vegetarians are sometimes the first to call out animal cruelty. This is not without substance. This PDF article from the University of Kentucky covers some of the issues very well. The main issue is Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) or “factory farms”.  The ultimate goals of the factories are ‘cheap food’. Animals are kept in confined spaces, and given antibiotics and growth hormones to counteract the spread of diseases and parasites (in some cases it doesn’t work). Ironically, some of these drugs are outlaws in the UK, due to the adverse human health effects. Factory farms are a monopolized industry free of heavy regulations of other large-scale operations. Though the FDA and USDA oversee inspections and health regulations, it only helps so much. The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 does not extend to farm animals.

A common response is “Shut down farms!” But it’s not as simple as that.  The next article covers the Pro’s and con’s of farming. Farms are run different in different places of the world, and always full of contradictions. Livestock can improve the health of prairie grasslands, but also overgraze them. Animal manure can improve soil health and pollute rivers. While places like America need less meat, poor families in Cambodia may need more protein in their diet. I whole-heartedly support shutting down CAFO’s, but farming in general. Small-scale family farms are a great example of farming with ecosystem and animal health in mind.

One problem with holding animals indoors - even if you feed them well, make them comfortable, keep them from getting sick - is lack of mental stimulation. No species on Earth processes the world the same way. Cows don’t think they same way humans do, but they are living animals designed to do certain things.  A video I watched last year for my animal behavior class (If I could find the video, I’d add it) followed a group of hens brought from a factory farm to a new free-range home. A series of experiment were set up to observe their behavior. When presented with building materials, the hens proceeded to build a nest - even though a nest was already made for them by the caregivers. Animals have inherent behaviors that they will carry out if giving the opportunity. This may not have any impact on the health/quality of the meat or products, but it can give the animals mental exercise and therefor reduce stress.

Recent years have brought in increased in what is dubbed the “locavores.” Locavores is basically a person who eats locally, or within a 100mile radius. They may buy more produce from farmers markets, or get their meat from hunting and fishing locally. (Minnesota has a bag limit of 5 whitetail deer. A successful hunter could stock up food for their family for an entire year without ever buying meat from a grocery store!). Food handling, processing, and transportation takes up a lot of our yearly energy costs, not to mention food shipped from another country is going to be more expensive, and sometimes, less fresh.

The Locavores Movement wasn’t exactly pushed by vegans, but I’m going to include it here because it’s a win for everyone. After WWII, agriculture was becoming more commercialized. Big, industrial farms with lots of land and machinery was out-competing small family farms. Later on, the 60′s and 70′s sparked a ‘back to the land’ movement (a big time for environmental policies). It encouraged relationships between communities and local farmers. Though many small family farms are still financially struggling, the Locavores movement is increasing, as people are becoming more aware of where their food is coming from and their dietary health.

Where Veganism Fall’s Short

Animal anthropomorphization - defined as ‘ the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities’. Giving animals human-like appearances such as walking on two legs, fingers, eyebrows, and having them think and act like humans. This is present in any Disney cartoon regarding animals. Bambi is the most famous, and even created what is known as “Bambi Syndrome”, a belief based on the movie that paints nature as a garden of Eden with no natural predators - which is grossly inaccurate.

Anthropomorphization is not inherently bad, I enjoy watching Disney cartoons and sometimes its fun to imagine animals acting like people. However, there are people who seem to believe than animals really do process the world exactly like people do, and their interactions with the environment and other animals are similar to human - situations. Ex: a bunny rabbit and a deer chase each other around - they must be best friends! People forget that for wild animals, even suburban wild, is a constant struggle for survival. Humans partook in this once to, but now we have grocery stores and houses. We take for granted our ability to get food every day, and go home to a warm night’s rest. Animals don’t have that. Wild animals are focused 24/7 on survival - where to get food, are there any dangers around, ect. Once an animal has gained enough resources to survive day to day, then they can focus on reproduction. After that, in some cases, the focus is on rearing young. And then the cycle is repeated.

 The biggest argument comes down to the idea of death. Vegans argue that the act of killing animals is immortal because animals fear death just as humans do. This is true: the fear of death is present in all species. It is an important driver for evolution. Organisms are constantly coming up with new ways to avoid death caused by changes in the environment.

But death is still a really important thing.

Death is something that has to happen, because that is how nutrient cycling works. One organism collects material from the environment until it stops, and those nutrients are redistributed to other organisms. The longer an organism lives, the longer it holds onto those nutrients instead of redistributing them. 

The argument that ‘all animals want to live’ is obvious and does not address the fact that death is a natural and important part of our world - just as important as life. Why do humans make such a big fuss about it? Because we have the time and the resources to do so.

Giraffes don’t have time to sit around and contemplate life and death - they’re busy living. They’re busy foraging and migrating and kicking lions in the head. We have to remember the human experience of the world is unique to us - we are the only species that exploited resources so efficiently, we had the time and energy to build Society. Every word and concept in our mind is a imaginary construct, or translated from what we’ve seen in nature. This includes death - a natural process we witness and created an abstract essence around that both increases and diminishes our fears of the inevitable. (Sorry to readers experiencing existential crisis’ - hang in there, take your time. This really is mind-bending stuff when you think about it). Death didn’t have a name until humans created one. We created stories of Grim Reapers and Angels and Demons. We see shadows out of the corner of our eyes and call them ghosts.

But, do we have a right to cause the death of other organisms? Well, in nature, what is a ‘right’? Does the gazelle or the leopard have a greater right to live? My arguments may see really heartless and objective, but I am a biology student, so I have to look at this from an ecological perspective. Why do we look at the animal world through a tight lens of human understanding when we now have to tools to see more? How can we assign human concepts to a world that exists beyond our understanding?

One of emotions we have created do to the development of society is ‘guilt’. Its possible this emotion exists in other animals too, such as a mother who couldn’t protect their young. Guilt has evolutionary advantages of strengthening social bonds, and inciting a change of behavior. But humans are unique in that we extend this guilt beyond our immediate families to multiple other species. Pet owners may experience this when they accidentally step on their pet’s paw. 

This philosophy of including other species in our perception of the world is amazing, and very important. Aldo Leopold, a professor of ecology at the University of Wisconsin, wrote in A Sand County Almanac that extending human ethics to the land and its animals was essential for conservation. We need more people involved in biology and environmentalism, but we need them to have a proper understanding of life and death processes of other animals.

Wild animals deal with death much more often than humans do, and not in the same way. An article from Stat News claims half of Americans now die at home in hospice care. I can’t hypothesize numbers, but its same to say that a lot of people, especially in rich countries, get a ‘gentle’ death - in bed, surrounded by family members, eased with pain medications. Animals don’t get that. The quickest, non - human way for animals to die is by being kill by something else. Lions tend to bite the jugular of prey to asphyxiate it. The animal is dead by the time the lions start eating it, but it did not die quickly and peacefully. It’s last moments were being chased by lions, having lions dig their claws and teeth into its body to knock it down. It will take at least a full minute or two to suffocate the animal before it dies. Imagine the last thing you see is a lion biting into your neck - that’s terrifying!

Some deaths are quicker - think of birds picking up ants or insects, quickly crushing them in their beats or swallowing them whole. The thing is, as mammals, we can’t really relate to insects on an emotional level, so that example doesn’t get us far...

Non-predatory causes of death are disease, parasites, starvation, injuries, and old age. Older animals are at risk for all of these combined. A wolf with a broken leg may be fed by the pack for a while, but eventually have to be left behind and starve to death. There are no gentle deaths in the animal kingdom.

Ironically, the fastest and least painful death animal can experience from humans are euthanasia, and a gunshot (as long as the shot is lethal). Euthanasia is common for pets and livestock by first putting them to sleep, and then injecting them with a lethal drug they cannot feel. Its the closest thing to a human dying in a hospital bed. 

Gunshots have the potential to be the least painful and the most painful - depending on the skill of the hunter. A ethical shot to the heart or brain means that the animal will be dead before it even feels the bullet enter its body. That sounds a lot nicer than being chased or ripped apart by wolves, or stumbling around, infected by CWD.

Shortcomings of Non-Vegan Philosophies

Hunters and anglers don’t have all fail-proof ideas either. When it comes to conservation, America tends to prioritize animals useful for human consumption - as in, harvesting or observing. “Game” animals, like deer, elk, grouse, and waterfowl, have most of the public’s attention and protection. “Non” game animals like reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates, are overlooked and at greatest risk for extinction due to lack of funding. 

Americans in general, eat too much meat. A quick Google search pulled up multiple articles that said the same thing. These articles are not pushing vegan/vegetarian philosophies, they are approaching the problem from a healthy diet standard. This article from Popular Science covers the American heritage around meat and animals that dates back to colonial times. In medieval Europe, many of the large game animals like stag and bison were gone due to overhunting, and the remaining wild lands were reversed for nobility sport hunting. Important predators like wolves and bear were also removed due to fears and superstition, so, the ecosystems of Europe were...a mess. When settlers came to America, they discovered a land of bounty, and developed a ‘take whatever you want’ philosophy that led to the extinction of the passenger pigeon, and near extinction of the bison and turkey. We eventually realized our mistake and worked up some protection, but still have a ways to go. 

Is Veganism helping conservation?

Yes and no. It has it strong and weak points. The strongest, like I said, being pointing out the flaws of factory farms. However, the belief that replacing animal products with plant/synthetic materials will help the planet is troublesome.

The picture is one that comes up when Googling ‘soil degradation’. The land is so dry, it is cracked. The vegetation looks dead and dying, and the soil color itself is a light sandy brown - lacking the deeper shades that indicate the presence of organic material, essential for soil organisms and plant growth. Soil degradation is a problem all around the world, appearing in various forms. It’s leading cause is poor management of agricultural fields. A vegan lifestyle means greater dependence on these farms, but there is never any mention of this problem.

Vegan or not, as an American, I believe it is in our best interest to eat less meat - not totally get rid of it, but have more balanced diets. Soil degradation is a problem for everyone. Luckily, soil scientists are at work discovering new ways to put nutrients back into the soil and lock them in, increasing the health of the soil ecosystem. The plants and animals that depend on it (including us) will be healthier, and some of these techniques can even take greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere. The Soil Conference at Gustavo's Adolphus College brought in some of these speakers. Video are available on YouTube, and posted to my blog.

A trademark of veganism is refusing authentic leather. It is replaced by synthetic and plant based materials called ‘pleather’, ‘faux leather’ and ‘vegan leather’. 

Some sites say these terms are interchangeable, but some say they’re each a little different. Leafy Souls defines ‘pleather’ as leather made from plastic. This is a big problem, because plastic materials, when washed, release micro plastics into waterways. The major problem is these plastics aren’t as easily identifiable are water bottles washed ashore on the beach. Not a lot is yet known about these pollutants, but we have found them everywhere - including inside our bodies.

Luckily, not all vegan leather products are made of plastics. Alternatives have been made from plants, leaves, cork, and even stone!

The big argument against leather and fur products is - it is cruel to kill animals just for there skins. And I actually agree with this. I was never one to buy into the fashion industry, and personally, I think it’s a little outdated, and pointless. 

The process of factory made leather from cowhide is a bit disturbing. The manufacturing of leather is contributing so some major environmental issues like the release of greenhouse gasses and water pollution. Some questionable chemicals are also used to treat the leather. 

The good news is livestock are not being killed solely for their skin. The cattle sent to slaughter are the same cattle that we get most commercial leather from. Of course, this doesn’t really comfort anyone heartbroken over the commercialized treatment of animals.

Leather manufacturing is also being linked to child labor and poor warehouse conditions. It’s a common American business practice to send labor production oversees to places labor is cheaper - cheaper because workers are paid less for longer hours in poor conditions. The leather industry is not alone in doing this. How we change this? Boy-coting certain products is one way, but some of these companies have monopolies on products. A book by a Michigan State University professor discusses the growing monopolization of food products.

How do we solve problems like this? I don’t know, but something this complex needs a just - as complex solution that may take years to undo. 

Fur

Minnesota got its early start as a center for fur-trading between Canadian pioneers and native tribes. Unfortunely, the luxury that was fur turned the market extremely competitive. Since nature is not built for capitalism and competitive markets and commercialism, the fur bearer populations of the state took a dive. (Luckily, all have now recovered).

Fur markets were as bad as market hunting in terms of conservation, but unlike the latter, fur trapping is as persistent as ever today. Thanks to protections and regulations, trapping is able to persist at nearly the same capacity as it was in the 1800′s without threatening a population. (Also, there are significantly less people partaking in trapping).

Personally, I do not care for killing animals solely for the fur or leather. I would prefer to trap animals that also provide food - like rabbits. My believes are that if you kill an animal, you use as much as you can from it - meat, skin, and maybe even some of the bones. Its a way to pay respect by making sure the animal didn’t die for no reason.

Like leather, fur has synthetic replacements. However, I could not find as much environmental information. The main material for faux fur is acrylics, which are basically plastics that do not degrade when released into the environment. It is another source of micro plastics. 

Manufactured fur, like real leather, is treated with chemicals like formaldehyde to keep from degrading. Naturally, after discovering this, I Googled health affects of wearing real fur. Problem 1: I couldn’t find a trustworthy website. The websites that came up were strongly anti-fur. I wanted to find information from a neutral website, like a college university article. Problem 2: I could not find anything. I expected to find articles about odd rashes or allergic reactions, but there was non. Instead, I re-discovered an article I used in a previous post about vaccines. Vaccines actually use doses of formaldehyde in them. It’s a scary substance, because we automatically think about it in the process of embalming bodies, but the truth is, it has many practical uses that are safe to human health. Any substance can be harmful or helpful, it all depends on the dosage and chemical makeup. I was reminded that formaldehyde isn’t as scary as everyone makes it out to be. It is actually naturally produced in our bodies, and it probably doesn’t have any adverse effects to being added on our clothes.

Another problem arises when questioning the affects of formaldehyde in the environment. When we wash our clothes, dirt and chemicals end up in our water systems, including micro plastics and formaldehyde. The usual dosages of the chemical is to small to cause us individuals adverse health affects, but the story can change when dumped in large qualities. Our tendency to dump large amounts of waste into confined areas is not natural - animals tend to discharge (biodegradable) waste evenly across a habitat, or at least in quantities than can be broken down. The way humans discard waste in large quantities means that basically anything - including caffeine from our coffee consumption - can have adverse environmental effects. So, the problem of releasing formaldehyde is not on the chemical itself, but more on our system of waste treatment and pollution in general.

Conclusion

I am overwhelmingly tired of the vegan vs non-vegan argument. The more I see people pointing their fingers at each other, the less I want to partake in either one of their ideologies. Great minds think alike but fools seldom differ.

I believe it all comes down to balance. No matter how we exploit resources, there is going to be a downside. Vegan or non-vegan, there is an up and down to every choice. We have to work together and find a middle ground.

If we completely stopped using animals today, there would be changes. CO2 emissions would drop a little, but they may change sources. The same amount of people would need the same amount of food, and 1/3 of that food would come from a different source. There may be more habitat loss from increases agriculture farms, and come communities may became protein-deficient.

If the opposite were to happen, and we increases animal products, there would also be adverse effects. To feed those animals would also require more agricultural land. Factory emissions could rise, along with health effects of too much red meat, like increased cholesterol. 

The fact of the matter is, we all kill animals, directly and indirectly, simply by taking up space. The things that make you you - the proteins and carbons and lipids and nutrients - came from another organism. The fact that you have them now means something else is denied them. The cars we drive, the fields we plow, the pollutants we throw out, those are all killing animals as I type this. It sucks. I absolutely hate it. It has happened for the past millions of years, but right now, we are doing it at a faster rate than anything before us.

I cannot fully support veganism in regards to animal ethics, due to the tendency of anthropomorphization and biological misinformation. But I due support the legitimate environmental concerns, and I think a lot more people need to understand them as well.