Vegetarian’s Dilemma

July 13, 2009

I have a proposal for fellow vegetarians.  Create a market for animal products that don’t require slaughter.  Demand organic milk from local farm raised cows.  Eat goat milk products. Why?

This past week we stayed at East Hill Farm.  Farmer Dave Adams discussed why the rare breeds that he raises need to be slaughtered for meat.  He explained that if we can’t create a niche market for these animals among meat eaters who prefer farm raised animals, there would be no way of protecting the survival of these animals.  In other words, to ensure the survival of the population they must be killed.  If not, it will be impossible to afford to keep them.

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Recession Dogs

March 16, 2009

One sign that it is a bad economy is that people are taking better care of their dogs. During the past months the park has been more crowded with people walking their dogs on weekday mornings.  They are also walking at a more leisurely speed . Normally people arrive bundled and scowling, steaming coffee cup in hand,  pulling on the leads to rein in their dogs’ wanderlust.  Lately, the dogs are allowed off leash as their owners chat.Some have no job to hurry to.  Others have a job, but no real work to rush toward.  Free to roam, the dogs amble more spritely, unlike the mornings of a few weeks ago when they hung their heads, nose to the ground, as they accepted another walk on the leash.  I guess the same is somewhat true of the owners. They too had been walking on a leash known as the deriviative based financial tightrope. Now that the fall has taken place, they are more free  to explore.  Its a bit more dangerous, and the worries are very real.  Yet, like their dogs there is a bit of a spring in their steps. Its as though something good will come of this, and not just for the dogs.

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More on Birds

March 16, 2009

One of Riverside Park’s Red-Tail Hawks was spotted in a tree near the tunnel at the 83rd street entrance to the riverwalk.  The kids watched in awe, feeling sprited and enlivened by his presence.  Why do these wild birds make us so happy?  Do they remind us that we can still be free? Yes, but I think it is more complicated than that.  It seems more like running into people you haven’t seen in a while.  If feels so good to know that the connection is still there despite all that has happened.  It is a reminder that the past still lives somewhere even if it is in a memory or a momentarily revived passing connection to an old relationship.  We miss our collective past, a time when the natural world was more a part of us.  A hawk that thrives in a city like NY supports our belief that that a long lost time can still be a part of who we are.

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Spring?

March 14, 2009

The temperature reached 50 degrees in New York City.  Our dog was activated.  He held his head high as he scanned the open field before him, looking for a playmate, sniffing the air replete with the odor of emergent plant life.  A red-breasted robin moved his head side to side while hopping toward a fallen log.  Will people begin to feel better now that the winter is recedes?

The longer days already invite more contact with other people.

We are not separate from each other, this earth and us.  We impact each other daily.

Starting today, I will be tracking small everyday interactions that take place between humans and nature, between  our ordinary selves and our ordinary earth, and thinking about what prevents us from taking care of ourselves, each other and our planet.

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