Zucchini August 19, 2009March 15, 2017 BRAVE NEW WORLD Kathryn Lance: ‘I liked your comment Monday: ‘Brighter days do lie ahead, disruptive as getting from here to there may be.’ I believe we are in a period of transition as great as any civilization has seen, and that is one reason there is so much craziness going on everywhere. As an example, in the last five to ten years my ENTIRE INDUSTRY (book publishing) has collapsed, although not everyone yet recognizes that fact. All the models of writing, publishing, and distributing will be completely different within five years. Newspapers, magazines, physical books, the post office as we know it, all will be gone. As a writer, I could be in despair. But instead, I’m mostly excited and happy to have the privilege of witnessing such an awesome turn of the historical wheel. It’s scary, yes, but also exhilarating!’ EAT MOUNTAIN GOATS Marge Wright: ‘I disagree that ‘It’s actually better to eat a salad in a Hummer than a cheeseburger in a Prius,’ as Bill Maher said. Meat, especially lamb and goat, can provide high-quality protein on land that is too steep/rocky/poor to grow vegetables. The problem is grouping cattle together in a filthy pen and then transporting hay and grain long distances to them. If we could get back to eating grass-fed beef, or eating more lamb, it would be sustainable. Of course, as a nation we eat far too much meat and not enough fresh vegetables.’ ☞ And more jobs for shepherds and flute-makers. Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow; and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go. So one cold day Bo followed her, a trudgin’ through the snow; and killed and ate that little lamb. Dam! Ewe didn’t know? Zucchini, anyone? LIVE LONGER, BETTER Peter J. Costello: ‘The China Study by T. Colin Campbell is eye-opening, credible, well-articulated and full of common sense. It ‘lifts the veil’ on the health care and diet industries and empowers you to take control of your health (as personally powerful and important a concept as it gets).’ The [China Study] research project culminated in a 20-year partnership of Cornell University, Oxford University, and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, a survey of diseases and lifestyle factors in rural China and Taiwan. More commonly known as the China Study, ‘this project eventually produced more than 8000 statistically significant associations between various dietary factors and disease.’ The findings? ‘People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease . . . People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease. These results could not be ignored,” said Dr. Campbell.