Have Your Cow and Eat it Too
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Three cyclists embark on a trip from Alaska to Panama in an effort to advocate sustainable livestock practices. By documenting their adventures on their blog CowSpokes, Tim Whittemore, Sam Stickney, and Noah Hoskins-Forsythe hope to gain donations for the charity, Heifer International. The underlying message is that you can have sustainable rolling pastures for your cow to play, and eat it too.
Through the donation of livestock and offering agroecology training to communities in need, Heifer International has, cleverly, set out to solve the hunger and environmental crises. Their argument is that by providing food and income, livestock can also be catalysts for many changes that benefit the earth.
Not everyone agrees. But Heifer International says problems arise when people are desperate for food: “Many farmers have no alternative to cutting trees for firewood or putting animals on overgrazed land — practices that harm the earth.” But long term practices such as zero-grazing and an efficient allocation of resources, can make livestock agriculture a sustainable practice.
Environmentally conscious chef, Dan Barber, discusses why cattle farming and a healthy environment are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
