Organic Milk Sucks

[livingdeb]

I've been reading No Impact Man in preparation for the Texas Book Festival where the author will be speaking tomorrow. It occurred to me only yesterday that the book might be in a nearby library, and, what do you know, it was.

I've read a bit of the No Impact Man blog*, describing an interesting experiment where a man tries to get his family to the point of making no net negative impact on the earth. Of course he can't do it, but he gets far closer than I would have imagined and his life is far better than I would have imagined while he was trying. (To read about that journey online, I recommend starting here.)

One quote from the book confirmed something terrible I suspected. For milk to be certified organic, dairy cows cannot have any antibiotics ever. That is so stupid. They are trying to get people to quit giving their cows antibiotics for no reason. But when the cows are actually sick in some way that can be cured by antibiotics, I want those cows to get antibiotics. If you want your dairy to stay certified organic, however, and a cow gets an infection that can't be cured without antibiotics, you have to get rid of the cow. (The dairy farmer quoted says you have to send it to slaughter.) I really don't want to support that kind of idiocy anymore. I'm going to look more closely at my options at Wheatsville.

* Currently, the blog link starts a video, with sound. Usually it's not that annoying, but I'm warning you in case you're at work with the sound on.

Comments

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

I was at that session, for about ten minutes; I was on call at Trauma Center (as you know, just a ten minute walk from the Capitol), so I chanced attending the TBF. Oh well, looked like it would've been an interesting talk. I didn't see you there, though - were you there?

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Yes. I ended up being in the seat directly in front of the author. I could easily see that he still carries around his old peanut butter jar for water.

Yup, being on call really stinks when you have inflexible activities you'd like to be at.

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the book, but I might do so now! You have, though, it seems from your comment. Would you recommend it?

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Yes, I would recommend it. I still haven't decided if I'm going to buy a copy for myself yet. (I'm trying to buy only books that I will read over and over and/or lend to everyone I get to know. I'm not sure I would read this one over and over, but actually I might, the same way I read The Tightwad Gazette, to re-inoculate myself against opposing influences.

My favorite part of the story is how he actually found alternatives to what he is doing. However, that is just a small part of the book, which is mostly research into why we should care and why he thinks the changes he made are a good idea. I don't like these depressing parts, plus I've heard most of that stuff before; I much prefer the parts about his own story.

I'm actually thinking of giving this book to my brother, though. He's getting religious and we are starting to have talks about my problems with being religious and his problems with believing in evolution(?!). I think this book is a good example of the kind of spiritual book that an agnostic or atheist might like. It reminds you to try to be a good person and help those around you and reduce the harm you are doing, and these are some of the goals of religions, too.

I do quite like the writing. He writes a lot like how I write though he has a different personality. It's very informal, narrative-based, and humorous, but not afraid to address complicated topics. He talks about both data and his feelings, and he talks (way more than I do) about his own weaknesses.

There are currently six copies, all checked out, in Austin Public Libraries, and I've checked out UT's copy.

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the detailed response! I put a copy on reserve at APL; I'm in line :-)