The thunder rolled, rain let loose last night and now it is clearing into what is expected to be a yummy 70 degree day-September is my favorite! It is a month of so much abundance (I get to harvest my friend's pear tree today), both cool and warm weather and although work is slower with less visitors in town, the streets and woods keep getting quieter and calmer...and then the locals come out to play!
Ma-in law and I harvested grandma's tree and churned the fruit into amazing apple cider using a great old school press we have in the family. The sacred Juice is soo yummy and sweet that you almost have to dilute it. Then, I use some of that cider to make applesauce from our tree (rather than using the sugar water that most recipes call for). I also chopped up apples, tossed them in lemon juice and have them dehydrating at 105 degrees in the radical Excalibur dehydrator as we speak.
So many things are calling me to Arizona this weekend, but I won't be there. My gorgeous nephew is turning 2 years old and there is a family birthday party. I usually go home 2-3x/year, but haven't been yet as I was traveling this Spring and the call to the Old Pueblo (where I grew up) and my family is strong. Also, Raw Spirit Fest is happening in Sedona, which I would love to go to, but why is it planned right during harvest season? It's probably gorgeous there right now. I send BIG LOVE to my family that will be gathering and also to all the amazing folks I have met (even it is is via computer) in this amazing raw food community!
This weekend is still going to mega-fabulous with sunshine and 70 degree days expected. I am going camping with my love, and while he is exploring the woods with his bow, I will have my trusty bucket strapped to my belt, stuffing fat huckleberries into my mouth, I mean my bucket, by the purple handful! Quite the little hunters and gatherers, aren't we?!
If you haven't read We Like It Raw lately, here is some crucial info on greenhouse gas emissions and commercial meat. That being said, I would also like to put a shout out to my uncle in Maine who works for Wolfe's Neck Farm and all other cattle farmers who work at a more sustainable level. Keep up the Love! (Wolfe's Neck Farm is a historic 626 acre farm on the Maine coast dedicated to sustainable agriculture, environmental education, and community well-being...Hallelujah!)
Back in November 2006 the UN published a study that concluded "Rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases than driving cars."
The calls to action that the UN attached to the 2006 study primarily focused on better factory farming methods. But no one from the UN was publicly recommending that the world eat less meat.
But that all changed this past weekend.
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Nobel Prize winner and chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has announced that if we as a world society want to get serious about climate change, we must eat less meat.
Although eating less meat was always implied by the UN, no formal statements were ever issued. Considering that the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the world authority on global warming, you can bet that this is the boldest action challenge ever issued on the topic of warming to date.
You can also bet that there are thousands of meat lobbyist around the world who are totally pissed!
Via the Guardian
People should have one meat-free day a week if they want to make a personal and effective sacrifice that would help tackle climate change, the world's leading authority on global warming has told The Observer.
Pachauri, who was re-elected the panel's chairman for a second six-year term last week, said diet change was important because of the huge greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental problems - including habitat destruction - associated with rearing cattle and other animals. It was relatively easy to change eating habits compared to changing means of transport, he said.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that meat production accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. These are generated during the production of animal feeds, for example, while ruminants, particularly cows, emit methane, which is 23 times more effective as a global warming agent than carbon dioxide. The agency has also warned that meat consumption is set to double by the middle of the century.
'In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity,' said Pachauri. 'Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there,' said the Indian economist, who is a vegetarian.
Who would have ever expected that an international organization, or even a national one for that matter, would have ever taken a public stand on food and how it effects our planet?
