klamath
11-17-2007, 11:01 AM
For all the people that are worried about RP's environmental stands here is a guy that has written several books and has been featured in Micheal Pollan's book.
He describes himself as a christian libertarian and he has a lot of name recognition in the environmental movement.
It would be great if someone in the Shenendoah valley could contact this guy and get him on our team. He describes himself as a lunatic so he should fit in with us real well:D
Below is his website and a discription of him in wiki.
http://polyfacefarms.com/story.aspx
Joel Salatin (born 1957) is an American farmer, lecturer, and author of several books, including You Can Farm and Salad Bar Beef. His farm, Polyface Farm, is located in Swoope, Virginia, and uses holistic methods of animal husbandry to raise chemical-free livestock. The meat from the farm is sold in a direct-marketed fashion to consumers and restaurants.
His farm is featured prominently in The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, 2006. His unconventional farming practices and the beliefs behind them have drawn wide attention in the alternative agriculture community since, particularly where sustainable livestock management is a concern. For example, Pollan became interested in Salatin because he was intrigued by Salatin's refusal to send food to locations that are not within a 4 hour drive to his farm (i.e. outside his local "foodshed").
Joel Salatin believes that "if you smell manure (on a livestock farm), you are smelling mismanagement." Salatin recommends that chicken houses' floors should be provided with 30cm (1 ft) of sawdust or fine leaf chippings, into which the birds scratch their droppings, and the droppings decompose leaving no odor.
Salatin, a self-described “Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-lunatic farmer” produces high quality "beyond organic" meats, which are raised using environmentally responsible, ecologically beneficial, sustainable methods. He considers his farming endeavors his ministry, and also writes on his farming philosophies and the negative impact upon his livelihood and lifestyle of a more and more liberal socialist approach our government and regulatory agencies take toward farming. His position can be summed up as follows:
"How a culture deals with its misfits reveals its strength. The stronger a culture, the less it fears the radical fringe. The more paranoid and precarious a culture, the less tolerance it offers...When faith in our freedom gives way to fear of our freedom, then silencing the minority view becomes the operative protocol...it is merely another example of fear replacing faith.
Faith in what? Faith in diversity. Faith in each other. Faith in people’s ability to self-educate, thereby making informed decisions. Faith in seekers to find answers. Faith in marketplace dynamics to reward integrity and not cheating. Faith in Creation to heal. Faith in healthy plants and animals to withstand epizootics. Faith in earthworms to increase fertility. Faith in communities to function efficiently and honorably without centralized beltway interference. Faith in Acres U.S.A. to arrive every month with a cornucopia of insight and information.
Our culture’s current fear of bioterrorism shows the glaring weakness of a centralized, immunodeficient food system. This weakness leads to fear. Demanding from on high that we irradiate all food, register every cow with government agencies, and hire more inspectors does not show strength. It shows fear.
Indeed, official policy views all these minority production and marketing systems that have been shown faithful over the centuries to be instead things that threaten everyone and everything. As a teepee dwelling, herb healing, home educating, people loving, compost building retail farmer, I represent the real answers, but real answers must be eradicated by those who seek to build their power and fortunes on a lie — the lie being that genetic integrity can be maintained when corporate scientists begin splicing DNA. The lie that, as Charles Walters says, toxic rescue chemistry is better than a balanced biological bath. The lie that farms are disease-prone, unfriendly, inhumane places and should be zoned away from people...Because things are this way today does not mean they will be this way next year. Hurrah for that.
Often, the greatest escapes occur at the moment the noose becomes tightest. I’m feeling the rope, and it’s not very loose. Society seems bound and determined to hang me for everything I want to do. But there’s power in truth. And for sure, surprises are in store that may make society shake its collective head and begin to question some seemingly unalterable doctrines. Doctrines like the righteousness of the bureaucrat. The sanctity of government research. The protection of the Food Safety and Inspection Service. The helpfulness of the USDA.
When that day comes, you and I can graciously offer our society honest food, honest ecology, honest stewardship. May the day come quickly.
He describes himself as a christian libertarian and he has a lot of name recognition in the environmental movement.
It would be great if someone in the Shenendoah valley could contact this guy and get him on our team. He describes himself as a lunatic so he should fit in with us real well:D
Below is his website and a discription of him in wiki.
http://polyfacefarms.com/story.aspx
Joel Salatin (born 1957) is an American farmer, lecturer, and author of several books, including You Can Farm and Salad Bar Beef. His farm, Polyface Farm, is located in Swoope, Virginia, and uses holistic methods of animal husbandry to raise chemical-free livestock. The meat from the farm is sold in a direct-marketed fashion to consumers and restaurants.
His farm is featured prominently in The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, 2006. His unconventional farming practices and the beliefs behind them have drawn wide attention in the alternative agriculture community since, particularly where sustainable livestock management is a concern. For example, Pollan became interested in Salatin because he was intrigued by Salatin's refusal to send food to locations that are not within a 4 hour drive to his farm (i.e. outside his local "foodshed").
Joel Salatin believes that "if you smell manure (on a livestock farm), you are smelling mismanagement." Salatin recommends that chicken houses' floors should be provided with 30cm (1 ft) of sawdust or fine leaf chippings, into which the birds scratch their droppings, and the droppings decompose leaving no odor.
Salatin, a self-described “Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-lunatic farmer” produces high quality "beyond organic" meats, which are raised using environmentally responsible, ecologically beneficial, sustainable methods. He considers his farming endeavors his ministry, and also writes on his farming philosophies and the negative impact upon his livelihood and lifestyle of a more and more liberal socialist approach our government and regulatory agencies take toward farming. His position can be summed up as follows:
"How a culture deals with its misfits reveals its strength. The stronger a culture, the less it fears the radical fringe. The more paranoid and precarious a culture, the less tolerance it offers...When faith in our freedom gives way to fear of our freedom, then silencing the minority view becomes the operative protocol...it is merely another example of fear replacing faith.
Faith in what? Faith in diversity. Faith in each other. Faith in people’s ability to self-educate, thereby making informed decisions. Faith in seekers to find answers. Faith in marketplace dynamics to reward integrity and not cheating. Faith in Creation to heal. Faith in healthy plants and animals to withstand epizootics. Faith in earthworms to increase fertility. Faith in communities to function efficiently and honorably without centralized beltway interference. Faith in Acres U.S.A. to arrive every month with a cornucopia of insight and information.
Our culture’s current fear of bioterrorism shows the glaring weakness of a centralized, immunodeficient food system. This weakness leads to fear. Demanding from on high that we irradiate all food, register every cow with government agencies, and hire more inspectors does not show strength. It shows fear.
Indeed, official policy views all these minority production and marketing systems that have been shown faithful over the centuries to be instead things that threaten everyone and everything. As a teepee dwelling, herb healing, home educating, people loving, compost building retail farmer, I represent the real answers, but real answers must be eradicated by those who seek to build their power and fortunes on a lie — the lie being that genetic integrity can be maintained when corporate scientists begin splicing DNA. The lie that, as Charles Walters says, toxic rescue chemistry is better than a balanced biological bath. The lie that farms are disease-prone, unfriendly, inhumane places and should be zoned away from people...Because things are this way today does not mean they will be this way next year. Hurrah for that.
Often, the greatest escapes occur at the moment the noose becomes tightest. I’m feeling the rope, and it’s not very loose. Society seems bound and determined to hang me for everything I want to do. But there’s power in truth. And for sure, surprises are in store that may make society shake its collective head and begin to question some seemingly unalterable doctrines. Doctrines like the righteousness of the bureaucrat. The sanctity of government research. The protection of the Food Safety and Inspection Service. The helpfulness of the USDA.
When that day comes, you and I can graciously offer our society honest food, honest ecology, honest stewardship. May the day come quickly.