Today’s intelligence from state and/or national reporting
“Where did all the water go? New study explores water use in the Colorado River basin” by Kyle Dunphey, Utah News Dispatch; reposted on Source NM April 2, 2024
Diana Tittle, a member of the board of Sierra County Public-Interest Journalism Project, was the editor of the Sierra County Sun, the Citizen's precursor. A former resident of Truth or Consequences who now lives part-time in northern New Mexico, she spent her 42-year professional career in Cleveland, Ohio, where she worked as a newspaper reporter, magazine writer and editor, book author and publisher and publishing consultant. She is the recipient of a Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature.
I love meat. I also know that a diet comprised of a lot of meat is not good for me. To discover/realize that it is also not good for the planet is not really surprising. I am appalled at the amount of water being used to sustain that industry even more than I was appalled at the subsidies granted to ranchers to raise cattle on land that is simply NOT suitable for grazing cattle. When ranchers raise cattle on land that requires over 200 acres per head and claim subsidies to support the amount of feed that’s trucked in – then something is off! Granted. the mystic of the western cowboy is rooted deep in our history but that is NOT our present reality. With transportation advances making it more reasonable to raise cattle in places where a cow can happily give us meat in a place where the water for grass falls out of the sky with some regularity and still get it to our stores in the desert Southwest economically, it seems a folly to continue the fantasy. We need to also consider the health impact of a heavily carnivorous diet. We ARE actually an omnivorous species. Meat protein is good for us but ONLY when balanced with grains and veggies. We’ve been ‘trained’ since childhood to ‘eat more meat’ to our health detriment.
All that said, we also need WATER!! And with the increased population and climate changes, WATER is increasingly difficult to provide to the populations that actually need it MORE THAN IT NEEDS MEAT!!! It’s a sorry state of affairs but a romanticized version of American life on the range will not suffice for the future. We need to adapt to a new reality; it happens…….. it always has and we have always adapted – it hurts but life hangs in the balance.
Mr Dunnum brings up a very good point regarding the need for a balanced diet. Obesity and diabetes are a very common part of today’s population dynamics. Billions are made treating them while farmland in more congenial climatic conditions with actual top soil are condemned by imminent domain to become housing developments and shopping centers and parking lots. Sadly, there seems to be little intelligent planning in a “wholistic” sense. At least our government subsidizes the meat industry so it is affordable unlike fresh vegetables.
I love meat. I also know that a diet comprised of a lot of meat is not good for me. To discover/realize that it is also not good for the planet is not really surprising. I am appalled at the amount of water being used to sustain that industry even more than I was appalled at the subsidies granted to ranchers to raise cattle on land that is simply NOT suitable for grazing cattle. When ranchers raise cattle on land that requires over 200 acres per head and claim subsidies to support the amount of feed that’s trucked in – then something is off! Granted. the mystic of the western cowboy is rooted deep in our history but that is NOT our present reality. With transportation advances making it more reasonable to raise cattle in places where a cow can happily give us meat in a place where the water for grass falls out of the sky with some regularity and still get it to our stores in the desert Southwest economically, it seems a folly to continue the fantasy. We need to also consider the health impact of a heavily carnivorous diet. We ARE actually an omnivorous species. Meat protein is good for us but ONLY when balanced with grains and veggies. We’ve been ‘trained’ since childhood to ‘eat more meat’ to our health detriment.
All that said, we also need WATER!! And with the increased population and climate changes, WATER is increasingly difficult to provide to the populations that actually need it MORE THAN IT NEEDS MEAT!!! It’s a sorry state of affairs but a romanticized version of American life on the range will not suffice for the future. We need to adapt to a new reality; it happens…….. it always has and we have always adapted – it hurts but life hangs in the balance.
Mr Dunnum brings up a very good point regarding the need for a balanced diet. Obesity and diabetes are a very common part of today’s population dynamics. Billions are made treating them while farmland in more congenial climatic conditions with actual top soil are condemned by imminent domain to become housing developments and shopping centers and parking lots. Sadly, there seems to be little intelligent planning in a “wholistic” sense. At least our government subsidizes the meat industry so it is affordable unlike fresh vegetables.