When from sunup to sundown we labored For the worthy cause of sustainable crops The vigil was more than an obligation: A congenial familial style of life— simple The steady income that made life abundant When in reverence to earth we exchanged Our sweat for that of her bounty Our homes were fed as were farm hands’ as well. When in the name of progress Innovation quelled the need for more hands Idle, workless & hungry till sundown, lured to big cities families obliged to survive Learning machinery that spun more in seconds Required less sweat and less smarts But then fewer mouths knew of full stomachs And fewer pockets jingled as a result of that When man is replaced by faster methods Eventually something has to give Get ready for greed and starvation The blind spots of evolution of man Morals and God went out the window When inbreeding and culling Bob Bakewell style Changed man’s minds from God brands to self-made Bobs’ Meat, meat, meat— fatty meat at that! This changed diets & farts after lack of old staples starved-men forgot: culling. & brainwashed common folks into believing They showed wealth and good common sense of innovation by wearing the fat of their meals: one more effect of unnatural inbreeding. *** © 2022 selmamartin.com
The poem is written for Earthweal Weekly Prompt: Global Assembly where Ingrid is hosting.
…But this problem isn’t restricted to impoverished African nations. Across the UK and much of the rest of the world, the cattle farming industry is facing increasing challenges due to environmental pressures as well as the consequences of genetic selection programmes aimed at increasing income.
Research has shown that between 2000 and 2014, nearly 100 native livestock breeds worldwide became extinct, as farmers attempted to boost falling profit margins by either cross-breeding or replacing them altogether with a small handful of industrial breeds.
“If we don’t do anything to change this, it could spell long-term disaster for the farming industry particularly in the context of climate change,” says Catarina Ginja, a researcher in biodiversity and genetic resources at the University of Porto’s Cibio-InBio laboratory.
“The industrial breeds may not be capable of resisting new disease epidemics, which could arise as the climate warms over the next century.
“We already had some alarming examples of how vulnerable these breeds can be to a deadly pandemic in the recent past, for example, the mad cow disease outbreak in the 1990s, although that was unrelated to climate change. It’s a serious concern.”
The Guardian Article- October 2018
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/14/how-profit-driven-inbreeding-could-bring-the-world-dairy-herd-to-its-knees
I read the article mentioned in the guardian and couldn’t understand why we need to save this industry. Milk? Try soymilk. Meat? Revert to the abundance Mother Earth already provides for us.
- It’s a serious concern
- The economic returns are not viable, and the carbon footprint from rearing them is extremely high due to the large amounts of land they need.
>> You Wear What You Eat <<
>> Power to The People: Go Vegan <<
Thanks for reading.
AN UPDATE FROM INGRID AT GLOBAL ASSEMBLY FEEDBACK #earthweal I invite you to see click on this link to view her message and to get a feel for the hard work this wonderful woman, my friend, Ingrid, is doing for us. She says, "Below you will find some of the quotes I fed back to the Global Assembly" On behalf of all of us, Thank you, Ingrid.
Watusi Breed Cattle, The Ankole Longhorn
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
I wish us all miracles and awareness.
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Thank you for adding your voice to the Global Assembly, Selma! You trace the roots of the problem so eloquently, but as you point out, in the end it all boils down to greed. We have grown beyond our ability to control ourselves and I see disaster on the cards if we don’t find a way to do that!
Greed and fear, yes. Fear that we wouldn’t be able to sustain our population growth with what Nature provides AND the financial paradigms got in Mother Nature’s face. SMH, we were gifted with everything we could ever need… We need to remember. This prompt made me go into deep waters, and I’m not a good diver. But I’m sure we’ve been brainwashed. Hope alone will not do, but still, I have hope that people are smart. Thanks, Ingrid.
I think you are an excellent diver, Selma, thank you for taking that dive!
Your poem neatly and succinctly puts the blame on our unthinking so called improvements that only ever improved the lives of a very few.
I love your quotes. I admit that I’m a milk addict, but I do now love unsweetened soya milk too!
Our kind learns and adapts. It’s our superpower. *wink* Thanks for adding your voice here in the comments. So glad to have you. I grew up on KLIM (see the reverse spelling of MILK) which is powdered milk. That’s what people in my country, the Caribbean, drank. Distilled in water. The first time I tasted cow milk was in America. A real dream come true for me, believe it or not. This made me feel “Foreign” and I loved it. The feeling and the taste of milk which I didn’t know then was fortified for my enjoyment. I loved that creamy taste for years. But now I drink only soymilk. And you know what, I am in love with it. Of course, unsweetened– of course! I appreciate your comment. Sorry for the delay: It’s the emperor’s birthday today– a national holiday. Stayed away from PC. I bless you. xoxo
Our family is involved in raising beef so the article from The Guardian gives me food for thought. We definitely need to consider more than just milk and meat production when planning herd genetics. Our son and wife are experimenting with natural supplements and remedies to boost cattle health. Honestly, a lot of the beef industry profit goes to cattle buyers and packers, not the hard-working farm families. I’m not convinced that we can feed the world adequately on a vegan diet. Meat and milk provide vital protein and animal fats nourish our brains and nervous systems. We’ve worked with subsistence farmers in Nicaragua and raising a few livestock boosts their sustainability. Just offering another point of view… thanks!
Hi, Lynn dearest. Food for thought for me too. Farm families are the backbone of our livelihood. And we need farm families to survive without fear of the future. Still, we all need to learn ways to do it. Learn. Your family is learning ways to boost cattle health. I think that’s the way to do it. I am trying to learn, too.
Our world is wildly abundant, but the current economic system touts insufficiency, promotes the notion that important things are missing from our lives. Yes, it is a fact that half the world IS starving, but the other half (those well-fed: haves) throw away too much: enough to feed those that have not.
I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this. (sorry, for the late response: today is a holiday for me) I want to continue learning. All the best. xoxo. And let’s remember that every problem (?!) already comes with a solution. Let’s go into the future/let’s learn to find it together. I bless you.
Dear Selma, thanks for your kind and thoughtful response. I like your reminder that every problem (difficulty, challenge) comes with a solution. We just have to find it…together! Blessings to you too.
Together. Yes. 😉 I wish us miracles xoxo
Very well said Selma, this is something that really needs to be heard. 🙌
Thanks, sweet Daphny. You are part of the solution, my sweet. We need young minds like yours and your friends to help us figure out how to alleviate the imbalance we are experiencing. It’s all related. And we don’t have a lot of leisure time to keep dragging our feet. I thank you so much for acknowledging my puny efforts here. Let’s do more together. I bless you.
You’re welcome Selma! That is absolutely true and I do hope we can bring the change and the balance needed. Yes, let’s do more together. Many blessings to you as well. xoxo
XoXo 🤗
Powerful write, Selma! ❣️
Thanks, Tricia. I’m glad you read and commented. Times call for all of us to wear our superhero capes. haha. I bless you. xo
💖
I have always thought the change from family farming to “corporate agribusiness” was the fork in the road leading to profit (for some) being the only objective. The carbon footprint, as you say, is high, as is the misery of the animals involved in factory “farming”. The other day I was horrified to read a report that the PLANET only has 60 years of arable soil that can grow crops. Whoa! Since there are always crises going on that retain focus, it seems the climate crisis, steadily worsening, is leading us to the consequences of our choices. It is very frustrating to know what we know, and see leaders so apathetic, wanting to stay in office more than serve the people. Sigh. Glad you are spreading the word.
xoxo. Bless you, Sherry. When profit is the only objective we do ourselves a great disservice. Let’s save the herds because that’s the right thing to do. Saving them for fear of losing our position in the pyramid scheme is wrong. Very wrong. Miserably wrong. And if I may be so bold to say, this inbreeding should stop. Nothing “entirely good” could result from that all-the-time. The effects might take decades to show, but they will show. It scary. Just like you point out: the consequences of our choices. We need to pray for the people leading, serving, representing us. We need them. But we need them to see the problems of the get-rich schemes that are no longer working. If they don’t… silence… it will be the end of us. But fear not, the populate is waking up. I have confidence in the intelligence of humans– still. Let’s continue voicing our concerns. Thanks for reading and commenting, sweet Sherry. I bless you. xoxo
I really don’t know much about this, Selma ~ but this poem is very powerful!
<3
David
Aww, David, my sweet friend. Thanks so much. I appreciate you checking me out. Be well. I wish you miracles. xoxo
I really like this poem Selma. I agree. The old ways of farming were sustainable. Modern agriculture and the raising of enormous amounts of cattle to feed the hunger of so many for meat, meat, meat is really an important issue when it comes to climate change. I think we need to return to the traditional agricultural practices of our forebears.
You got me, sweet Suzanne. Those traditional agricultural practices served us the right way. People saw the abundance. Lived happy. This upgrade we have in place right now is not serving us. Angry people cannot think straight. It’s bad for tackling the enormity of the crisis we face right now.
Thanks for reading, liking, commenting. You got out of your rest-time to do it. Please take the time you need. I bless you.
Thanks Selma. I’m working on finishing my book and will back blogging sometime in March. 🙂
Cow’s milk is for baby cows!
You’re so right, Ruth! Give that mother cow the privilege to do what God meant for her to do.
Thanks for the comment.
Mothers Unite! 🤜🏼 🤛🏼
You’ve raised some very important issues here Selma. Our entire lives need to be redone so they will be sustainable. They were, once upon a time. Greed will indeed be the death of us. You can’t eat money. (K)
Kerfe, our biggest failure 😣 indeed, unless we change our ways. Cannot eat money.
Thanks for adding to the conversation. I appreciate you tons. xoxo
True, true–the shortsighted industry of labor saving ruins more than the soil and water–it ruins us! The owners and the owned is an unholy pyramid. There have been some slow returns, but not enough yet, not enough. How did we become so coaxed and bullied into what is? Certainly we’ve been dumbed down.
Unholy pyramid, indeed. It’s awful. Best we can hope for is that we’ve reached the bottom and now the only way to go is up. This time, let’s do it fully awake. Thanks so much for the comment. So happy you read. Blessings.
a powerful call to action in your poem and your words Selma.
Thanks for sharing this valuable piece! 💖💖🙏
so glad you read. And commented. Hope you’re having a good weekend in your corner (as we all send up heartfelt pleas for our brothers and sisters in places where they need our prayers). I bless you.
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Meat (beef) isn’t the best thing for adults, especially older adults to digest. Milk – only humans continue to force feed milk after a child is weaned. There are many ways to get the protiens we need. We need land to grow plants. We need sustainable forrests.
Greed is a disease as much as consumption of that which is unnessesary. How many mega mansions need to be built when so many families lack basic housing. Each country seems to deal seperately with these issues. I have no answers.
Simplicity is a hard thing to return to when one has been exposed to so much ease. We don’t need to know how to shoe our own horses, because we now take our cars to others to change the oil. While thtere are some advantages to modern advances… it is hard to say how we can correct human error when the news spouts how one country not satisfied with their own take another by warring force.
May we learn sooner than later to save that which is truly valuable.