In this podcast the Running Iron crew are joined by modern day explorer and adventurer Brent McGregor. McGregor is a former logger, a woodworker, a mountaineer, a nationally recognized photographer, and an accomplished glacier cave explorer who — along with his caving partners — discovered the largest known glacier cave in the lower 48 states — the Snow Dragon complex far beneath the ice of Oregon’s Mt. Hood. Brent shares stories of his incredible life, from solo kayaking the northwest coast to logging camps in the Black Hills, from building a cabin nine thousand feet in the Rockies to running sled dogs and living in a tipi in remote Alaska. This episode of the Running Iron Podcast is a classic campfire conversation with modern implications — and an interview you don’t want to miss.
Hosts: Craig Rullman & Jim Cornelius
Audio Engineer: Pete “Oil Can” Rathbun
Music Credits: Saor Patrol “Clansman”, Lynyrd Skynard “Simple Man”
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I saw a bumper stick today that “Vegan Chick” says if you wear leather or fur you are an accomplish to murder! Immediately made me feel guilt—NOT!
I just saw someone with a T-shirt(in the grocery store, no less!) that stated “I did not rise to the top of the food chain to become a vegetarian”! My all-time favorite is still the one with the beautiful portrait of a Native American chief that had written below it: “Vegetarian: Old Native American term for BAD HUNTER”! Like so much urban vegan ignorance, that bumper sticker is incredibly inaccurate–most modern meat eaters are woefully separated from the process of actually killing and preparing their own meat. And vegetarianism (intensive modern agriculture) destroys more wildlife and wildlife habitat than meat eating ever did. And when the veggies like to throw out that statistic that agriculture can feed FAR more people than meat-eating can, just remind them that yes, that’s exactly the problem with it! And hand them a copy of “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn to read.….
Eating meat might not directly affect habitats, but the majority of habitat is altered, fragmented and destroyed through the creation of cattle land to raise the cattle for meat consumption and through agricultural land to grow food for the animals we eat. The latter of which, by the way, uses up a multiple of the land used to grow food directly consumed by humans. Therefore excessive meat consumption supports the destruction of habitats (not only forests) andis very water costly in its production process. I am a meat eater myself, but everyone should be aware of the impact that eating meat has on the environment. Eating regional products (which is more expensive but also more sustainable) and eating less meat are a start. And if everyone took the last bit to heart everyone would be helped. And if you don’t beleive me you might have a look at the numbers yourself, they’re very self-evident. Alternatively, go to Google Earth, zoom in to Paraguay and look at the historical satellite data — the land use change you see between 1984 and today is horrific.
With that best regards to both of you, it’s not my intention to outrage you but merely to draw your attention to different perspectives.
Besides that I’d like to send a big THANK YOU to the Running Iron Report team for this fantastic interview!!
Thanks for stopping by the campfire and weighing in. You’ll get no argument from us against the proposition that our footprint on the planet is too broad and too deep.
Bucking the national trend, we are, I think, incredibly difficult to “outrage”. That said, the root problem seems to be overpopulation and an exceptional blindness concerning the problem of diminishing resources. A lack of what Wendell Berry refers to as affection in “growth economies” is a cousin to that fundamental problem. Everything else is a symptom of the underlying disease.
TOO MANY PEOPLE is the problem, regardless of WHAT they eat, and though I will agree with you that most modern INTENSIVE livestock operations destroy lots of natural habitats too, there is still more wildlife friendly habitat left in livestock range(properly managed) than what remains after intensive agriculture. There are some reports/studies now that are showing some livestock in certain areas can actually have beneficial effects on the environment as a whole, so long as they are not OVER-stocked.…..But the POINT I was trying to make is that most vegans/vegetarians that don’t eat meat because of their philosophy that it is cruel to animals(and not denying that, either!), never seem to consider that their vegetarian diets are STILL cruel to wildlife, and largely, if indirectly, responsible for their eradication and demise from habitat destruction, and directly through competition when such ungulate populations take to raiding crops to survive. Just goes to prove you CANNOT LIVE on this planet without killing SOMETHING, alas. That is simply a fact of life that certain holier-than-thou vegans never seem to grasp. THAT is the point I was making.….
“There’s no such thing as life without bloodshed. I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea. Those who are afflicted with this notion are the first ones to give up their souls, their freedom. Your desire that it be that way will enslave you and make your life vacuous.”
― Cormac McCarthy