Similarities shared between humans and bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees).

Nature poems.

Part 1: the seeing.

Penned nature poems
In the darkness of twilight
For your child's pleasure.

Purple sky streaked with
Milk, and a Moon of pale death
Throwing light on trees.

The outlines are framed
In front of mountains and creeks;
Carried down river.

Part 2: the calling.

Coyotes beg the
Moon to come down and play; far
From its starry friends.

The trees seperate
As if channeling nature's
Will; wind scowls: deep tones.

And the night is writ
Like it's for my eyes only,
And I write the night.

Part 3: the being.

Nature poems: my
Play thing, in the dead of night;
When all has made winks.

Submerged in deep sleep,
But hearts thud in baritone;
In my mind, I hear.

Water is the life;
For the life of me, never
Might we become merged.

Part 4: the becoming.

When all is quiet,
I see your eye above the
Trees; you call to me.

You whisper in my
Ears and caress my senses
With autumnal words.

When my eyes open
I can smell your life and waste,
And I see clearly.

The inequities of meat production.

Here are some disturbing facts about meat production and farming in general:

• It takes around 450 gallons of water to produce a pound of red meat;
• It takes 26 kilograms of grain to produce a single kilogram of red meat (whereas it takes only 3.4 kilograms of grain to produce a kilogram of chicken);
• Cattle consume half of the world's fresh water;
• Male chicks are often automatically killed after being sorted from female chicks - the preferred way of doing this is via a grinder;
• Farming is responsible for 18 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions (especially methane, which is twenty times more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide);
• Livestock occupy more than 30 per cent of the Earth's entire land surface;
• In Latin America, more than 70 per cent of natural rainforests have been turned over to food production - this causes topsoil erosion and is gradually causing land to dry out irreversibly (this process is known as desertification);
• Because of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), farmers are guaranteed to be paid a certain sum - regardless of whether quotas are reached. Our taxes guarantee farmers this sum;
• If excess food is produced, it's bought by the government and sold - again, we pay for this through taxation;
• If countries like America reduced their meat intake by 10% this year, 60 million people in the third world could be prevented from starving to death;
• Artificial fertilisers such as nitrates and phosphates require huge petroleum inputs and can cause eutrophication (the process of which kills fresh water fish and other fresh water species every year in their thousands);
• A meat-based diet requires seven times as much land as a vegetable-based diet;
• In a given year, a land area of 0.2 hectares can produce 1.5 kilograms of grain, whereas, on the same plot, the yield of root vegetables would be 6.8 kilograms;
• In 1993, US farm animals were fed 192.7 million tonnes of feed concentrates - the bulk of it being corn - in order to produce 31.2 million tonnes of carcass meat – making for a ratio of 6.2 to 1;
• Because energy is lost to cattle and chickens through natural processes, such as excretion, movement, respiration and reproduction, many animals are now farmed in a battery way - i.e. they live in enclosed, small spaces with their movements restricted. Because of the extraordinary amount of weight some cattle carry, cattle regularly experience agonising pain in the form of leg troubles;
• Even though the average bull or cow will excrete 40 kilograms of manure for every kilogram of beef produced, farmers prefer to use chemical fertilisers rather than utilising manure (as a natural fertiliser);
• Farmers are responsible for the deaths of many rare and beautiful predatory species, including different types of wolf (the Red Wolf has almost been hunted to extinction in the lower American states);
• Around 80,000 coyotes are killed each year in the US;
• Organic farming saves energy, uses less land, is less wasteful, prevents erosion and is more humane;
• Unlike meat, some grains require no further treatment and don't need to be refrigerated;
• Roughly a fifth of the world's land area is used for grazing - twice the area required to grow crops;
• Grazing species displace wild species;
• Fish farming in coastal areas can spread disease, and faecal matter can pollute local water systems;
• Sea nets often trap seabirds and such things as turtles, porpoises and cetations;
• In some Pacific countries, sharks are caught, their fins are removed, and then they're thrown back into the ocean to bleed to death - shark fin soup is a delicacy in many Asian countries.

Behind the above points there lingers a deep philosophical question. It regards human nature. On one level, we are animals - the same as all other species. We need food. We are mammals and we are omnivores. We need sustenance. On another level, we are evolved, moral beings with primate brains. On which level we operate is our choice, but it's an interesting one and it says a lot about human nature. We can see what consequences our actions have and we can see the suffering our actions impose indirectly on animals and people all over the planet. What actions should we take?

What are the solutions?

Eating low on the food chain is a powerful way to reduce the amount of land needed to support your existence (your ecological footprint). Less farmland means more natural areas. It also means less soil erosion, fewer dams, less pesticide use and less energy use.

A vegetarian diet is also healthier for the body. Numerous studies show that vegetarian foods greatly help in the prevention of heart disease, cancer and many other diet-related diseases (whereas red meat consumption has been linked with such ailments as heart disease and high blood pressure - due to the high calorific content of red meat).

As the earth's human population continues to expand, two things are critical for our survival: adequate food resources and intact wilderness areas. One sure way to achieve both is a dramatic shift in food choices, away from animal products toward plant-based foods.

The transition to vegetarian and vegan lifestyles from meat-eating lifestyles is ideal, but it isn't essential: all that is necessary is a reduction in meat consumption, coupled with a change in eating habits - more pulses, chicken, salads and root vegetables. An emphasis on organic farming is also needed.

We in the west have to ask ourselves this question: can we continue to live like kings at the expense of millions of other people? It's a moral question, and it's an issue which is going to greatly affect our lives in the future whether we like it or not. Something's gotta give....

On nature.

Since the dawn of human evolution, we've been growing distinctly separate from nature; we've developed consciousness. Where most animals have no sense of inward reflection and just are, we somehow see our lives to be purposeful and meaningful. This is the curse of consciousness.

Around 10,000 years BC we mastered agriculture and we've been wielding fire now for around 500,000 years - whether or not we've always been able to create fire or whether our earliest ancestors merely carried it around is open to contention. However, it's a moot point.

American Indian tribes worshipped nature. They saw the balance of life; the need to make as little impact on nature as possible and be respectful to all living things - from the mighty bear to the humblest of trees.

The Old Testament was written around 1,500 BC. In the book of Genesis, we're told that Adam was made out of 'dust' (no bullshit) and Eve was made from one of his ribs. We're also told that the first humans were given 'dominion' over every other animal. Since then, people have referenced these texts to reinforce their actions and have found a basis for bypassing any sense of morality in being able to rape and defile the Earth. People of most religious backgrounds believe they can do this without any consequence because their deities claimed such actions would be just fine and dandy.

We forget that we're part of nature and we're bound by natural law. We're just another organism; another species - but our insatiable appetites for consumption are out of control. We're circling the drain. Our ignorance of nature has been revealed only in the past 40-50 years (since the environmental movement of the early 60s).

We go on 'nature' walks and we go to the countryside to 'see' nature. When will we learn that we're part of nature? When will we learn we're bound by natural law and can never overcome nature? When will we look in the mirror and see we're just lucky apes? We're lucky apes whose fortune could be rescinded at any time - we're not infallible; we probably never will be.

We try to 'save' the Earth. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Life is 3.9 billion years old. This Earthly home of ours has survived innumerous cataclysms. Life goes on - the Earth doesn't need saving; we do. We are only going to destroy ourselves and our ability to live on this planet.

As we warm our planet and its many climates begin to alter, we are going to inexorably change it. Although many species will become extinct if we don't change our habits within the next two decades, life will adapt - but many people will die; and many, many more will be forced to leave their homes and migrate to liveable places. When will these blinkers be removed from our eyes? Well, we are the only ones who can answer that. No politician can change the future of our world; every person must be in on it. To not care about the environment is to not care about life, for without the Earth's many environments there can be no life.