Comments amatthews138 has made

  • I found myself feeling really excited when reading about this prospect of solar roadways, without thinking of the how and how much, because this would allow us to continue to live without changing our habits or consumption levels.  Solar roadways would mean that I could continue to drive everywhere, anytime, and continue to use all of my electronic devices as I do currently!

    We're on the brink (if we haven't already passed) peak population, peak oil, peak water, and peak all other finite resources.  It's time to realize we can't grow and consume indefinitely!

    I'm surprised no one has mentioned the limited metals needed to produce said solar technology.  Check out this article about how these metals and resources are already scarce.  If they're already scarce, relying on them to build an alternative, sustainable society is unrealistic.

    A more hopeful look into the future reveals that we'll need to live more locally and more simply, cooperate with our neighbors, and reduce our reliance on far-away and declining resources.  The Transition Initiative provides a strategy for avoiding future resource wars and chaos, while living a high quality of life.

    On Could we replace the nation's pavement with solar panels? posted 3 months ago 30 Responses

  • Reconnecting

    I was so happy to read this article because I have a need for the holidays to be a time of reconnection with family and loved ones, and like most cultures, we do this through food.  As vegetarians, April, and Stephanie in the last post, mentioned that it is possible to be vegetarian and still share food with our families, so that the focus is on great-tasting comfort food, with less focus on the lack of meat.  I couldn't agree more and I appreciate their sharing this reminder that we can all reconnect with one another, as well as with our own values, during the holidays.

    I wanted to contribute an idea to this discussion.  Many vegetarians overlook the use of dairy and eggs because, for one, we don't want to exclude ourselves from society too much, and two, we know that we are not killing the animal. I will focus, for the sake of space here, on dairy. Unfortunately, supporting the dairy industry does support the meat industry.

    Dairy cows would live more than 25 years naturally, but on a dairy farm, where they are forced to produce one calf per year, they are exhausted after 3 or 4 years, and are then sent to slaughter for ground beef, leather, or animal feed.

    Dairy cows are herbivores forced to be carnivores and receive hormone injections, the result for both being larger milk yields.  Naturally, the mother would produce 25 pounds of milk per day at the climax of calf feeding, but are forced to produce 90 to 110 pounds of milk on a dairy farm.

    As soon as the calf is born, it is forcibly stolen from the mother.  Mothers and babies of all mammals experience emotional distress from this separation.  The mother will be inseminated on the rape rack again, the babies have a few "options".

    A female calf will experience the same fate as her mother. A male calf could be immediately loaded onto a truck for the veal industry, or raised for beef.  If the demand is low in either of these industries, however, the male calf would be killed in order to extract the rennet in his stomach for making cheese.

    As most of the readers here are educated and informed readers, I am sure that many choose organic milk or hormone-free milk, and I am thankful that more healthful options are available. However, this of course does not stop the cycle of abuse and distress from separation that occurs for dairy cows and their babies.  

    I have added this information to the discussion here because I would like to encourage the use of nondairy items in our recipes, when possible. I'm not making a radical statement that everyone should be vegan and should be ashamed if you aren't.  But in the spirit of love for not just our own families, but all beings, give it a try, maybe once in a while.

    My partner and I have hosted several family holiday parties which were vegan (although we didn't call it that), and even our meat-eating conservative relatives loved our food and have insisted on eating more of it and getting recipes.  I'm sure April's sweet potato rolls are delicious, I have no doubt she is a wonderful cook. Here is a link to a recipe for sweet potato biscuits which are nondairy, which I made throughout the holiday season last year, and were a great hit:  http://www.recipezaar.com/Sweet-Potato-Biscuits-Vegan-104 ....

    For peace and love during the holiday season,
    AmyOn Thanksgiving can reconnect families and revive traditions -- like sweet potato rolls posted 1 year ago 15 Responses