Five Foods That Are Killing the Planet

[bhikkhu]

10. They do specifically mention factorey farming, but then they go on

to bundle that with grazing on public lands, which is a whole different thing. Where I live we have a lot of grazing on public lands, and it causes no problem that I know of. All the criticism comes from outside, generally from people who don't know much about livestock but who might have read an uninformed article or two.

For example, we have a large wetland area wildlife refuge. A particular kind of forage grows there that gradually chokes off the open water areas. Cows are very fond of it, so every five years or so the managers have brought in a big herd in the dry fall to graze down the forage and open up the waterways again. Its worked very well, but this year a group from out of the area filed a lawsuit to prevent it, based on the idea that grazing is universally harmful and shouldn't be allowed on public land. The people who run the refuge are beside themselves - another two years and it won't even be wetland any more without grazing. The deer would have done the job in the past, but there aren't enough deer now and the migratory herds disappeared a generation ago.