Greenblade - creation - faith - justice

The Dung Factor

A problem that is occasionally mentioned in environmentalist and animal rights circles, but has until recently been less prominent in the mainstream media is that of what to do with all the manure produced by farm animals, especially the ones cooped up together in the mega factory farms.  Hence the welcome Post article today on manure pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.

Forget about how the animals are fed, handled, or killed: even apart from all of those issues there is the cost-- to our respiratory well-being and the temperature of the planet--of all the methane they produce, and of the dead-zone-producing algae blooms that live off the mountains of manure sliding into our lakes and oceans.  Methane, by some estimates, is 20 times worse as a greenhouse gas than the carbon monoxide produced by our cars.  And these algae blooms rid huge Rhode Island sized swaths of the ocean of crucial, life-supporting oxygen.

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Not on "Eating Animals"

Matthew Halteman and I are developing a book proposal, together with another friend, on the topic of something like the ethics of eating.  But we're trying to agree about a title, and so I thought I'd see if any Greenbladers have ideas.  It's going to be an edited volume with contributions from professional philosophers writing in a popularly-accessible way (insofar as that is possible for philosophers!).

One thought is just to call it "The Ethics of Eating."  Something a bit more literary would be Matt's suggestion: "Wisdom comes to the table: Philosophy and the Ethics of Eating."  An editor has also floated the idea of something like "On Eating Animals," but the worry is that it's too close to Jonathan Safran Foer's recent title and so people would think we've edited a volume of essays on "Eating Animals."

Votes or other ideas welcome... and of course also welcome are suggestions as to ... MORE

"coming from a plant" can be ambiguous

Jane Brody (courtesy of Michael Pollan) provides one of the more helpful (i.e. simple!) food guides online.  "Cook for oneself!" is one of the main pieces of advice...  But for those of us who are usually too busy, there is other helpful advice as well: my favorite is "If it is made out of plants, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't."
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