Two things--what are the soybeans being grown for?
Answer: cattle feed for Europe, because they dont want GMOs.

Now, besides the obvious--not making GMOs

there is the little thing about NOT EATING MEAT.
Dont eat it.
You might not be able to give up a car but you sure the hell can give up meat if you are on this website.

And secondly--the Nature Conservancy pays hunters to wipe out innocent pigs on islands where they were dumped by humans.

If that is what we do to pigs, why are we being so kind to ranchers and loggers that are threatening the oxygen supply of the planet?

Do indigenous people have the right to destroy the planet? Is it racism or colonialism to want to stop pollution?

I fear that we will be destroyed by the combined actions of greedy stupid westerners and greedy stupid "farmers and peasants.

kelmer, the capitalists have far more power to destroy than the peasants do. The peasants are distributed so their damage is more effectively mitigated by the biosphere. The peasants' natural damage potential is very modest compared to that when they are "empowered" by the capitalist's synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, etc. The peasants readily adopt methods that better preserve the biosphere. The peasants have more humility and respect for the biosphere. The capitalists want to conquer and control it.

How come Brazil is not using INDUSTRIAL HEMP in place of trees? At least in Brazil, Cannibas isn't outlawed, right?

Sometimes there's a wonderful sense of irony in what these writers slip past the corporate censors. For instance, the opening sentence of this article that describes how kidnapping and the threat of violence are used to prevent these people from getting a bad image.

Naturally in today's wonderful world, those who are willing to use violence and terror got their way and that symbolic tree trunk gets left behind. Note carefully how the terrorists and the government work together, ie the actions of the terrorists cause the government to act to stop what Greenpeace was trying to do. There almost certainly won't be any legal action against the terrorists, and they got what they wanted in the end. This of course reinforces the message that we can't oppose the terrorists and there is no alternative to us accepting the clear-cutting of our world whenever some terrorist sees he can make a buck.

It will also embolden the terrorists. We've had at least one other case of murder being committed by forces similar to these terrorists in this part of the world. This sort of government support in Brazil for the terrorists just makes that more likely to happen again.

When will people learn that Greenpeace is for the people,
not against them.
I gave up meat 15 years ago, for ethical reasons alone, now I have also included our earth.
Even Al Gore refuses to talk about the meat industry.
I guess because most of his life his father was a rancher.
They say that the Animal and Earth Activist's are terrorists, what a joke.
The true terrorist's in this world are the Bush type people that o.k. all of this crap they are doing.
They are terrorizing the Earth and the Animals.
Kelmer,
Great post!

in brazil, cannibis is outlawed. Being from there, i can definately say that the situation in the amazon and the line between capitalist and local devastaters is thing, however the locals dont know better, the school situation there is so dire that world issues dont really reach the locals. The capitalism obviously breed this ignorance. The answer isnt staight up blaming the locals and farmers.

Earth is doomed if worldwide mandatory mass sterilization is not talked about by everybody.

Good Judith for boycotting beef. I have for two years and my health has improved dramatically. Subtitute veggies and fruits with a little fish and chicken and you will be rewarded with good health for saving the biosphere.

Put all ranchers and loggers out of business. Boycott all products made by the Fortune 500. Live simply, save money. Poles will still melt but maybe we can stablize the greenhouse temperature situation some.

pac

If you were not supposed to eat meat you would not have incisors. You would have molars all through your mouth. You need to eat meat. Look at a vegetarian and I'll show you someone who is sickly and pale. You also need to eat mostly fruits and vegetables - much of it raw. You should not be eating a lot of meat except in the winter months. The human body is biologically designed to get through the seasons. It will be interesting to see how we can adapt as the seasons begin to become less pronounced and eventually go away. In the meantime, killing for resources has been with us since the beginning. We need to change our way of thinking in terms of land ownership and ownership "rights". The concept of owning the earth is relatively new and has been largely responsible for the increase in violence to claim those rights. Try following the teachings of any religious leader like Jesus, Buddha or others and theyt all basically say the same thing - you are your brothers keeper and love your enemies.

Or we can continue to invest in the markets that perpetuate the killing and violence while buying the cheap products produced with those same resources all the while pretending nothing is related to the other. Namaste.

Al Gore's family weren't ranchers, they were tobacco farmers, as far as I know. Regardless, it would be nice to see him talk about vegetarianism/veganism... PETA had a truck at his "Inconvenient Truth" talk I saw which had a big caricature and the words "too chicken to go vegetarian?" It was funny.

As for Greenpeace being for the people, eh... Perhaps instead of being taken hostage while trying to display some tree they could have actually done something that would have made a difference? (Maybe being taken hostage is the best they can do? At least they got some attention for it.)

And what does it matter about foods being gmo or not? Gmo cattle still have to eat the same amount of food... and if I ate meat (which I don't) I'd rather it be non-gmo.

Well, I eat meat, as a side, with veggies and a starch, only grass fed organic, wild fish, fresh, and only organic birds. But so what?

These folk are US supported terrorist loggers killing folks for money to feed their kids probably with a fat ass boss drinking champagne all day long raping the girls and slaving the locals workers for fun. I don't care what you eat damn it. You can be veggie all you want with a huge "carbon footprint" or a meat eater with enough sense to stay wild. I eat meat because I have to. I'm a carpenter. A skilled one at that. If you want to save the planet, you cant push idealism, you push reality. As a "Wood Butcher" as some like, me, call me, you have to realize that your job is to educate folks to lessen their consumption and to reuse. Use skill and intelligence to further yourself. Not rape the land because its cheaper. This is the end of the legacies like Ian and Oriya Douglass lived in Africa. The wilderness is now our back yard in the city, not the back forty. The Amazon you can now go see in a week. Go!

I can see the size of the catch the Greenpeace activists caught. A huge tree worth thousands on the American market, one that only rich folk buy, only to have the biggest slab on their block.

"I don't see any Global warming", I don't want to use environmentally safe products, I want to use something that is easier and faster!, I like plastic coated wood!" I have heard it all! What can you do? You can argue. Wood is beautiful in all your approaches to it. All you can do is teach the craft and its lessons.

Burn a small fire. Support these folk. These....Activists!

I too am an ethical vegetarian . And the answer to what ails our planet is ZPG .

kelmer, have you ever been to Europe. I have never seen cattle munching on soybeans. It is the low grade beef that is served at McDonalds in the United States that are munching the rain forest away. Meat is a normal part of an omnivores diet. Evolution and nature made it so. Without the introduction of meat in the diet man would never evolved his large brain. Check out the brain size of an known vegetarian like the elephant. The elephant had evolved earlier than man, but yet does not possess the same ratios of grey and white matter.
Jungleboy, you only have to wait. I left the US. I know that when gas hits $5.00 a gallon, I will read of Americans shooting their neighbors dead for siphoning gasoline. This is just around the corner. I hope you live in the southeastern United States. More guns and religion than anywhere else in the states.

Shikantanza says: "You need to eat meat. Look at a vegetarian and I'll show you someone who is sickly and pale." What utter nonsense, I personally know many people who eat no-meat and are perfectly healthy. I also know many "sickly and pale" people who eat meat, and the fact is that people who are eating mainstream factory farmed meet in the USA are eating as much poison as they are eating protein.

"Sickly and pale" does not describe the average vegetarian or vegan that I know, where do you get this crap? The rest of your post seems perfectly reasonable and informed, except the tripe about needing to follow teachings of religion for moral clarity.

shikantaza

Canines, not incisors. Just look at a lion or a wolf.

Horses don't eat meat. Anyone ever see a horse with nothing but molars?

Teeth show how a species evolved. We are not carnivores, we are omnivores. It is highly unlikely that our distant ancestors ate meat to anywhere near the extent that modern Americans do. That is why, with few exceptions, (such as the Inuit), people are not equipped to handle meat in large quantities - not even in the winter months. (As I recall, Admiral Byrd had a very large supply of dried beans and legumes at Little America.) Eating greater amounts of meat in the winter is only necessary if you live in an area that has no available fruits, vegetables, and grains during the winter, and no way of importing them - like the ancestors of the Inuit. If you doubt this, just look at the rates of coronary-artery disease, (as just one example), in the US as compared with the rates in countries where meat is not a main course.

To any pale vegetarians out there: please get more fresh air and sun!

Funny, I do know more sugar junkie Vegans that are sickly and pale but that is because they are young and don't eat at home enough. We all forget that vegan joggers are the first to break a bone and suffer ill health. Meat eating should be left to only 20% of your diet with the rest veggies and fruit. In our "sit on your ass society" you can be a perfectly health vegetarian, but, it doesn't mean you can be as physically active as a weight lifter or a roofer, framer or bicycle messenger. I know some, but the rate in which your bones weaken will depend on your B vit uptake and we all know we don't go to the doc for a b vit shot often enough. Ask your doc for a B vit panel if you want to find something out about yourself if you are veggie, or not. Do you think a veggie could be a fisherman or a seaman on a small boat and stay healthy? I think not. Think about your environment and the foods you eat. Most of you all are office jerks. Clerks, sorry. Think about your daily activities. If you stay at home and do yoga all day you can eat enough lentils... maybe.

But we all digress.

Bob Van den Broeck - Why would you hope I live in the south with all the guns and religion? Fortunately I live in the North West and I hope that just fully ruins your day! I would never hope that on anyone, you should be ashamed for hoping for harm. Sorry,(for you) I support these Greenpeacers in their fight to disseminate knowledge and in their fight to save the planet from corporate interests. What do you do for a living thats any good, how bout a hobby? Ass surf the couch? I don't really care what you eat, I care about what you fight for. I work hard to try to convince my clientel to always go green and use recycled materials all the time when you can. I just recycled 300sqf of old growth Fir flooring, with the straitest grain you have ever seen in your life, 15 foot lengths and a full 3.5 inches wide. It was all in the trash pile on someone else's site. I invested my time and labor and broke even financially on the flooring, but, I made an entire second floor trim package out of it with plinth blocks and backband, base and a custom shelving unit, 100% recycled materials with environmentally sensitive finishes only. What you doing with your thumbs up your ass? Work to make a change buddy! "The craft is so long to learn" So, GET TO WORK!

I still don't really understand where being veggie is really any good "Religiously" or "for moral reasons". Your food is all fertilized, even organic food, all that goes into the ground water. Nothing is grown on a small farm these days so you are still supporting the MONSTER AGRO FARMERS. O.K. you might feel better in your conscious but that isn't the reality. Cow shit kills but the majority of chemicals in the ground water come from veggie farming. Growing your own is the best idea but not on the east coast unless you get lucky and your soil test comes back clean. If you want to really do good for the earth, don't eat out. You don't know where they get "your" food and you really don't want to.

Just something to think about. Where I live there are three main restaurant supply companies. Count yours. They all get foodstuffs and repackage to their own containers. All three are national companies. They sell to every restaurant in the states unless the restaurant shops "only" locally. Name two.

Check out and join Greenpeace:

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/