A segment of a recent PBS program revealed a troubling side effect of the current pandemic. When American beef processing plants were closed, importers turned to Central America to take up the slack. Nicaraguan cattle ranchers, among others, were emboldened to expand their operations, edging further into forested areas which provide a sanctuary for indigenous people. Loss of life and habitat have been the result, a consequence of our seemingly insatiable appetite for meat.
Yet most Americans, Mainers included, continue with their meat-based diets, in spite of the fact that meat production is extremely energy intensive and thus contributes significantly to global warming. We continue driving gasoline fueled cars, heating our homes with oil or gas, placing our retirement savings in stocks that support the fossil fuel industry, and flying rather than taking the train to our vacation destinations.
We mindlessly maintain these habits as though they have no connection to the fires sweeping through forests on the West Coast and in Colorado, to the hurricanes devastating our southern states, and to the tornados wrecking havoc throughout the Mid West. The Arctic ice cap and the continental ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica continue to melt at alarming rates, and right here at home the waters in the Gulf of Maine are becoming too warm for many species of fish.
How much longer until folks understand that we are jeopardizing the futures of our children and grandchildren, truly reaping what we ourselves have sown?
Joe Hardy
Wells
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