In my internet wanderings and muses I find myself being drawn to many of the same subjects that interested me 3o plus years ago. It appears the wanna be back to the lander, mother earth news reader, Rodale convert from the ’60’s still resides inside these middle aged bones. Which could explain my disdain for the Industrial Ag nation I find myself in. It could also explain the number of posts you will find relating to sustainable agriculture and locally grown food.
I have stumbled across the Factory Farm Map a couple of times now in my web wandering. The folks at WorldChanging bring it together with a dash of other perspectives…
The Factory Farm Map, a project of Food and Water Watch, is an interactive map showing the distribution of industrial-scale farms across the United States. In addition to breaking down the number of factory farms by state, the map further distinguishes between cattle farms, pig farms, egg farms, and fryer chicken farms–and allows you to overlay multiple categories. You can even zoom in on each state to see where the factory farms in that state are located, and find out more information about the history of factory in that state.
The site defines as “factory farms” those that meet the US Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of a “confined animal feeding operation” (CAFO)–in general, these are farms that hold 500 or more cows, 1,000 or more hogs, or 500,000 or more broiler or 100,000 or more layer hens.
They then go on to offer an alternative viewpoint…
The alternative, of course, is sustainable farming–farming with methods that do not harm the environment, animals, or farmers, and that support local communities. To promote sustainable farming (and show that eating sustainably is becoming an option nearly everywhere in the US), the folks at Sustainable Table are traveling around the US.
WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future: US Farming: Two Views
News from Outer Space
This month we have a couple of things to look forward to in the night sky…
Of meteors and mummified heads at Larry Sessions
This year offers an excellent opportunity for the Perseid Meteor shower, peaking on the morning of Monday, August 13. We already have lots of information about viewing the shower, which you can see elsewhere on Earth & Sky. So I will say a few words here about history related to the shower.
Lunar Eclipse
Heads up and eyes to the moon before dawn on August 28th at Beverly Spicer
I was just reading Deborah Byrd’s post, “Imagine a city illuminated by moonlight,” about city planning that includes lighting adjusted to the variable intensities of the moon light. The whole post and reader comments put me in a dreamy state of mind, so I was very struck by some other imaginative moon talk in news just released by NASA. Looking ahead to a spectacular summer finale, the wee morning hours before dawn on August 28th is the next total lunar eclipse, and scientists tell us to expect to see the moon turn otherworldly colors of sunset reds, with copper moondust and golden hills. The photo above was taken during a similar lunar eclipse in March 2007 by moon gazers Antonio Finazzi and Michele Festa in Festa of Lago di Garda, Italy.
Enough messing around…Gotta get outside and fry for a while…
