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Re: Mad Cow disease, BSE; Justice is served.



Robert Blackburn wrote:

> STOP EATING BEEF!
> Free our land for organic arrable farming / tree growing.
> Cows produce huge amounts of methane, which is a greenhouse gas.
> 

I really would like for you to visit the western half of the North American 
continent, the mid-latitude steppes of Asia, Patagonia, and the bulk of 
Australia.  And then I would like for you to tell me what kind of trees or 
crops are going to grow in podzolic and other low organic matter soils 
where the mean rainfall doesn't exceed 30cm per year and monthly mean 
temperatures range from -5 to greater than 30C.  The next task will be to 
fill me in on how to harvest a profitable crop and still maintain 
productivity over the long run without destroying the topsoil in these 
ecosystems.  And when you can give me an answer that is superior to a 
self-replicating, mobile system, capable of converting the cellulosic 
products of climax grasslands into a product that has sustained mankind 
throughout his evolutionary history, I will be willing to listen to your 
politically naive plans for humanity.  Until then, I will regard you as an 
extremist (read: idiotic fool) who has not the slightest idea of the role 
of beef cattle and range management in helping feed a world gone slightly 
mad.

Steve Denham



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