Extinctions

A news item last week was that the last male Northern White Rhino has died. Although there are two females of the same species remaining, procreation demands a male as well as a female. This marks the end of the species. Species extinction. I found the accompanying commentary noteworthy. The commentary: “The Northern White Rhino DNA has been preserved.” The obvious implication was that the extinction is not so serious, because technology, yet, will solve this problem. In my opinion, a more appropriate comment would be: “Here is yet another extinction. What's next?” This particular extinction may not affect us here in southern Manitoba, but which one will?

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Bacon: Do you know what you're Eating?

Processed meat is a big part of Canadian culture and an even bigger part of the economy of south east Manitoba. You just can’t get away from it, bacon, ham, salami and hot dogs are a constant feature of Canadian cuisine and are eaten at breakfast, lunch and supper. We are constantly reminded that the Manitoba Hog Industry is a great success story but, in the journey from pig to plate the meat industry turns healthy pork into a poisonous substance that is killing its customers.

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The Great Deal, The Compost Pile and the New North

Being raised in a low-income family has shaped the way I see the world, partly for the better but also for the worse. On the one hand, it gave me a strong tendency to seek out value in things that others didn’t necessarily see. A broken bike or a used toy, for example had more value to me than to some of my schoolmates who had more. To this day, I can’t look at a discarded item without thinking that there is certainly still some use for it. But my upbringing also had another effect, which was to set my mental compass on a new North: getting the “Great Deal”. I doubt that I am alone in this.

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Regenerative Agriculture

At the February Prarie Organic conference in Brandon, a number of speakers spoke about the principles of regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture improves soil health compared to sustainable agriculture which only maintains the soil as is. Since our soils have degenerated considerably over the last 150 years, regeneration is a good strategy. The principles of regenerative agriculture are:

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Our High-Cost, High Input, High Emission Food System

Archaeologists tell us that agriculture, the nurturing of plants so they can be harvested and consumed, probably began about 10,000 years ago. Prior to that our ancestors depended on hunting and gathering. When agriculture began, the inputs going into food production were labour, and sometimes, depending on the sophistication of the system, manure fertilizer and irrigation water.

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