All in the right measure by Garth McClintock
May, 2010
Recently Sobeys (grocery chain) published some material claiming that occasionally a no meat diet is good for the environment. The response by Sobeys to the many complaints said, this statement reflects [part] of their customer base profile. They were quick to state the obvious, that they buy and sell meat for their other customers which might suggest the other customers don't care about the environment? Regardless, such verbiage is all too familiar to those who follow the written word and it goes to show the degree of ignorance within the masses when it comes to food production and particularly the environment. This segment of Sobeys customer base brought to mind the words of a speaker I recently heard. He told of the need for agriculture to become more productive based on future and global demographic trends. He pointed out that currently around the world we have X amount of land designated to grains and protein production. There is also X amount of arable land being taken out of production due to expanding cities. The combination of which is lessening our ability to produce what is needed when you juxtapose this against the forecast for global population growth. The sum of which is making a bad situation worse. Another curious aspect of his speech was that buying organic/grass fed beef actually does more harm to the environment than traditional methods of raising cattle. Given the greater land use required to grass cattle, their heightened methane production through longer grazing periods, greater water usage (finishing time) and other points of interest, he concluded this niche is not, when dissected, environmentally friendly. Putting it all together he concluded the world needs agriculture like never before and don't be fooled thinking organic is good for the environment.
This issue with consumers not being in the know is somewhat echoed by Bethany Yewsuk who said in the her profile story on page 46, "I think it may take a shortage of food in some areas for people to realize that producers need to be paid even more than the cost of production to continue to stay in business." Her thoughts hit the nail on the head as it seems in order to see the light some people need to experience darkness before they can truly appreciate what they have.
Speaking of light, like the invention itself, technology is somewhat spotlighted this month and no pun intended. There isn't an industry or person in modernized societies today who isn't affected by this growing industry of bits and bytes or 10101010110's. There is within all this, technology questions as to whether it has improved or complicated our lives? Are we making more money or working more to make that money? From Pod casts, to Twitter (really don't get that technology or why people do it), Facebook or YouTube we are all plugged into a socket that connects us to another way of life.
With so much more information and options invading our personal space we find ourselves drifting further out or removed from those more basic values we once deemed important - food, family, health, community and shelter. Certainly in most cities and towns around the world the modern day family is connected to everyone else outside their families. Video games replace card or board games, internet chatting replaces meeting friends, computers and television replaces reading or talking on the phone with someone and they say we are connected? There is of course the "good" to be found in various advances that enable business to perform faster and more efficiently. We highlighted just a few of them and we plan to present more down the road. It's certainly not all bad and can be financially beneficial for many that adopt the various applications available. It's really a matter of exploring what's right for the particular situation. Again, I really don't get Twitter. Who cares that I just finished writing this editorial - that's the kind of information people put on Twitter? Oh yes, I'm going now....
Until next month. |
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