(C) 2010 M.Parker

SPOILER ALERT:

If you haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t already know how it goes (and can’t guess) then DON’T read this post. I won’t tell you exactly how it ends, but guessing will be child’s play after reading this.

Don’t get me wrong; I loved this movie. I’m listening to the soundtrack right now. It was visually stunning. Beautiful. Could easily develop a fantasy crush on one or two of the Na’vi men.

BUT……

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Ranching, recreation collide in the great outdoors

The mountain biker was excited about her big race in Colorado’s wilderness. And nothing irked the sheepherder like the sports crowd. It was a disaster waiting to happen…

Working Dogs

Many people seem to believe that every natural place should be available for recreation, and that all other uses should defer to them.

People who try to raise animals ethically and naturally repeatedly come under fire, but I don’t see all of North America going vegan any time soon, so eventually, the ONLY way left to raise animals for meat will be through factory farms. That means all of our meat (and the billions and billions of other animals products that end up in almost everything we touch) will be ‘rendered’ by enormous corporations headquartered in urban centers who care primarily about the bottom line, and who have powerful lobbies that ensure that NO-ONE sees what they really do – only how cheap it is to buy a McNugget or a Big Mac, and how smoooooth their skin feels after using their creams.

Here’s another scenario:

1. The sheep rancher’s dogs will be put to death for doing their job.
2. The sheep rancher will go out of business because the local predators will eat too many of his sheep.
3. The wolves, coyotes, and cougars who have been keeping their distance because of the livestock guarding dogs will now move into the territory.
4. Some hapless tourist will get attacked and possibly killed by a cougar.
5. Trigger happy (dare I say it? bloodthirsty) hunters will demand the ‘freedom’ to go in and get rid of those terrible savage animals, and the urbanites will let them.
6. Top level predators will be wiped out from the area, but the tourists will have safe passage (for a time).
7. Prey animals will multiply until they either become diseased or starve due to overpopulation.
8. The entire district will get paved over to become a new residential neighbourhood, or become a  tightly controlled “ranchland” where cattle (owned by giant corporations) change the landscape forever. All remnants of what it used to be will be gone.

That’s better, isn’t it? Who cares about the prairie chicken anyways – ya can’t make McNuggets out of ‘em. The only things that REALLY matter is that we continue to be able to get cheap food, we get to recreate where ever and however we please (freedom and all that, right?) and that the NRA rules.

How different the story might have been if only someone had done the neighbourly thing and inform the ranger of the event.  His dogs (and probably his sheep) would have been confined for the day. No-one would have been hirt, and there would have been no story.

Too bad we don’t get to hear more about the non-stories – those that DON’T result in a trip to the hospital…..

My husband and I had dinner with a friend last night whom we both like and respect a great deal. He’s a decent, smart man and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with him. We talked about many things, among them our attitudes about the human use of animals. My friend is a vegan, and we’re not. I had no intention of trying to convince my friend to change his ways, and I am pretty sure he had no intention of changing mine. We are all the sorts of people who think deeply about things and do not make lifestyle decisions like what to eat or not eat without thinking about what that might mean.

In many ways our lives are very different – my friend lives in New York City and I live on a farm nestled in the eastern foothills of the Canadian Rockies. I didn’t ask, but I don’t think my friend has any pets or other animals who share his life. I have many animals, most of which I use in one way or another. I adore my animals and would find a life without them impoverished indeed. However, (and here’s the rub) sometimes, I eat one of my animals.

I struggle with the moral issues involved and so I continued to think about this after dropping our friend off at his hotel. My husband and I talked about it on the way home. I thought about it while falling asleep and again in the morning. I try very hard to be logical and reasonable in my arguments. I like to think of myself as an ethical person (I gave up a 23 year career over principles). I suspect I may not have succeeded in being entirely logical on this one. But neither did my friend.

This morning, I found this in the New York Times, so I thought I’d respond. I suspect my friend subscribes to some of the arguments made below, but I don’t know if he subscribes to all of them. In any case this is not directed at him specifically. Rather it is an attempt to pull the camera back to show more of the picture. It ’s more complicated than people want to think. Unless you are prepared to live in the wilderness completely off the grid, being a vegan, even a strict ethical one, does not spare you from having animals killed on your behalf.  Fewer to be sure, but they still die for you.

permalink: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/opinion/22steiner.html

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It’s the same old same old – human cry from those that have because they fear they might have to share. A Well-written article worth the time to read.

Now, I’m a big fan of Serious Games, but I’m also quite sure that this is one of those cases where more is not necessarily better. What is important is balance. I suppose it may be difficult to make sure students have exposure to natural things too, given that they are in Manhattan (http://q2l.org/), but I am quite convinced that ultimately, a lack of connection with nature and living things will have far more negative consequences than spending too much time online.

I’m talking negative on an epic scale.

Here is the article:

New York Launches Public School Curriculum Based on Playing Games

I don’t usually talk about political stuff online, but I am starting to get really tired of the American “Health Care Debate”.

Much of the rhetoric is, to be honest, ridiculous, and does little more than show the rest of the world just how ignorant (as in, uninformed and, apparently quite proud of it) many Americans really are.

Wake up.

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