No Meat Diets Will Not Solve Environmental problems

A piece in my semi-local newspaper (yes I still get one delivered!) posited: "If we all did it (i.e. switch to a plant based diet), it could save us" and even if we "just befriend them" (cows are her main focus), we're part of the problem."  That argument is naive.

The negative environmental impacts associated with meat are caused not by the act of eating it, but by the animals themselves...think cows, yes, but all ruminants. I get the simplistic idea of a demand-supply solution but this is a much more complicated scientific, social and economic issue. 

If we all stopped eating cows what would happen to the estimated 1-1.5 billion cows that are alive today? Do we just kill them and make the species endangered if not extinct? The naturalists wouldn't much like that!. And, I doubt that Hindu folks would tolerate a world cull as cows are held to be sacred by many.  If we don't kill them all - and more particularly all the bulls -  then surely they'll have even more cows over time...unless we sterilize them all or let them all have abortions. And if cow families are still around, do we continue to feed and care for them? And if we do,won't there will still be the land use, water and methane gas producing belching and pooping problems? 

Canada has about 12 million cows. Brazil and India are of order, 200 million each! And if we were to go 100% plant based, what about the 22 billion chickens, and the 2 billion pigs and the 1+ billion sheep that share our world? We surely can't adopt them all, and they'd still graze the land, eat, drink, be merry...burping and pooping and emitting tons of methane all the while.

There are many other initiatives being tried that we don't seem to read about. Only the loudest lobby seems to get the ink. There are several different experiments  aimed at decreasing the amount of methane the ruminant actually produces and many others which attempt to harvest the methane and put it to good uses. 

Eating less meat sounds like a good idea, but it won't "SAVE us".

"Baaa (Moo or Oink) Humbug" to the exaggeration proffered by the Stop Meat Eaters Movement. It is full of methane.

Affordability. Life and THE BIG URBAN BOX (BUB)

 Talking about the ever-so-hot subject of "Affordability" (in Toronto and other Ontario (/Canadian/International communities in the western  world),  Rick Salutin said in the Toronto Star Aug 30 that there isn't an affordability crises at all, rather there is  a "class"conflict. I agree to a point. He went on to say the solution is "a redistribution of wealth...not (a redistribution) of population (to Belleville (Ontario) e.g.)" as a colleague had written about recently.  

Well, that's only part of the consideration. 

An aggressive, multi stakeholder (governments and businesses) initiative to redistribute (i.e."decentralize") population and jobs would solve a bunch of problems. Cheaper land and therefore living prices, would be one a beneficial outcome.

More deeply, a better life style and humanity would be enabled. 

The growing and debilitating stress that so many people are under (see G Wayne Miller's article in the Star the same day), could be lessened.  The data referred to by Miller documenting the seriousness of the rise in stress didn't identify where the folks surveyed lived or what they did for a living... 

So I'll posit with some confidence that the stress epidemic is largely a BIG URBAN BOX (BUB) caused phenomenon. Whilst big cities certainly have a VIBE you just can't just shove more and more people into a BIG URBAN BOX without causing a host of problems. And we are witnessing them. And we can't deal with them; affordability, class differentiation, homelessness and toxic stress. Just can't keeping doing the same thing...doesn't work. One big box, all kinds of sweating, stressed people running around to stay the same, terrible traffic and commutes, frustration, violence, stress, gangs, drugs, pollution, destructed infrastructure and de-humanization. 

Time for a new vision. If we are to Keep On, we need to Get On... with a new vision. Let's move the jobs, let the people follow and beat the life-inhibiting epidemic we face.  

Jarvis Collegiate: The School, the Building, the Legends

There was an article in my newspaper the other day that posited there has been spotty and inconsistent development around the Jarvis and Wellesley intersection in Toronto and that more should be done city-wide to respect, protect and showcase old iconic homes like the Massey mansion. I agree.

Notwithstanding some uncoordinated and appealing buildings in the area, there is one structure at the intersection that is very special, viz. the Jarvis Collegiate Institute building on the south east corner. Jarvis the school is over 210 years old. It is the second oldest high school in Ontario and the oldest in Toronto. The current building was built in 1924 and exudes the elegance of Gothic Revival architecture. It has seen two major renovations/additions since then but the beautiful facade and halls of the building have been maintained. The impressive front stairs from Jarvis Street lead into a grand, welcoming foyer. The famous George Reid historical murals in the auditorium have survived and are to be treasured. The walls still speak of the thousands who have studied within them over nearly a century. The school and the building are sources of great pride for former and present students and staff. They should be celebrated by everyone. We should not allow the building to be tarnished by criticisms of other area developments. JCI will continue to anchor that corner proudly and share its personality with the City. It will keep on keeping on eh. Stop and look at it next time you're in the area. It's OK to stare.