Meat Consumption Is Destroying Planet. Bananas. Update.

For Scripture Sunday:

Meat Consumption Is Destroying Planet, Says New Study

“Scientists say livestock production has 'major negative effects on the environment'”

Cows on a feedlot being raised for beef.

Cattle used for beef are commonly fattened up in feedlots, which force animals to live in filthy, overcrowded conditions, and consume inappropriate feed that causes health problems. They are subjected to painful mutilations without painkillers, including “branding,” which scorches third-degree burns into the animals’ flesh; castration; and de-horning, which is the removal of sensitive, nerve-filledhorns.

Eating meat has a number of negative side effects

Eating meat has a substantial effect on people's health, and livestock production can have major negative effects on the environment, according to new research published today in the journal Science.

The data shows that average per capita consumption - as well as total consumption amount - are rising as a result of the growing global population and increasing average incomes. While consumption of many meats has fallen in the UK over recent years, it is rising is countries like China.

Scientists have labeled this a worry, with review co-author Prof Tim Key - an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford - telling The Guardian: "What's happening is a big concern and if meat consumption goes up further it's going to be massively more so. On a broad level you can say that eating substantial amounts of meat is bad for the environment."

Health

Speaking about health, the study says: "In high-income Western countries, large prospective studies and meta-analyses generally show that total mortality rates are modestly higher in participants who have high intakes of red and processed meat. The strongest evidence of a specific adverse effect is the increased risk of colorectal cancer with high intakes of processed meat."

Going on to discuss the impact of animal agriculture on the planet, it adds: "Meat production is the single most important source of methane, which has a relatively high warming potential but a low half-life in the environment compared with that of CO2. Careful management of grassland systems can contribute to carbon storage, but the net benefits are likely to be relatively modest.

"Agriculture uses more freshwater than any other human activity, with nearly a third required for livestock, so meat production in water-stressed areas is a major competitor with other uses of water, including that required to maintain natural ecosystems."

Intakes of certain types of meat are linked with increased incidences of some cancers

Stimulating change

While the health and environmental impacts of meat consumption need to be considered, more evidence is needed, more 'effectiveness of different interventions to influence food selection' is needed, says the report.

While Governments use economic arguments to shape food policy, 'there is less agreement over the degree to which the state should use health, environmental, or animal welfare considerations to control the supply of meat through interventions that affect the production, sale, processing, and distribution of meat and meat products or the price to the consumer' say scientists.

The report adds: "Policy-makers are increasingly grappling with the economic, health, and environmental consequences of rising meat consumption. It is not clear the degree to which policy-makers have the societal license to intervene to influence meat consumption, and if they do, what interventions might be effective. These issues are particularly complex given the multiple narratives about eating meat that influence everyone’s behavior."  From: https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/meat-consumption-destroying-planet-new-study       

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Bananas  

An Amazing Fact: “Bananas are a fruity miracle. They are colorful, nutritious, not to mention the amusing shape is easy to hold, peel, and eat. Bananas also contain three natural sugars—sucrose, fructose, and glucose—combined with a healthy dose of fiber. When a hungry person eats a banana they receive an almost instant and sustained boost of vigor. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. This is why bananas are the favorite fruit of Olympic athletes.

In fact, compared to an apple, a banana has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of most affordable fruits around. So maybe it's time to change that well-known proverb to "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

Studies have shown that bananas can also help overcome or prevent a substantial array of illnesses and conditions ranging from depression, heartburn, and anemia, to stroke and morning sickness. Around the world different parts of the banana plant are used for clothing, paper, and tableware, and the skin of the banana is used to heal everything from insect bites to warts. Indeed, the banana appears almost perfectly designed for human consumption and distribution. It is difficult to conceive of a more practical blueprint for the ideal fruit.

Have you noticed the banana has no seeds? Amazingly the banana is a mutant; it is the result of the cross pollination of two almost inedible Asian fruits. The banana is a freakish genetic amalgamation; one that has survived through the centuries due to the sustained intervention of diligent humans. These fragile fruits can only be cloned from suckering shoots and cuttings taken from the underground stem of existing plants.

Over time, Arab traders carried the new wonder fruit to Africa, and Spanish conquistadors brought them to the Americas.
So if you have ever pictured Adam and Eve savoring bananas in the Garden of Eden you better think again. Bananas only happen through man participating with God’s creation.

This is also true regarding the fruit of the Spirit. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). I wonder what types of fruit will be on the tree of life in heaven.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:2

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Update.   

Well, not really one, as not much has been done around here.  Just the usual mowing, weedwhacking, raking and everyday stuff.  A few more boxes of stuff sorted out to donate the next time I go to Conroe.

I was taking my computer to a gentleman from our church for him to fix the noisy fan in it.  I had to do an emergency stop on the way, it slid forward and banged against something else in my van.  When I got there, the fan was no longer noisy!  Easy fix!

An electrician man, and I will not call him a gentleman, came to look at the open ground in the mini-house.  I don’t want to be around him again, but he said that I need a new breaker box outside.  So I will have to find someone more respectful to do the work.  I wish we had an elecrician in our church!

As I still had 3 lb of that cooked ground beef in my freezer, the Pastor’s wife and I decided, well, she did, that it should be made into a Shepherd’s Pie for the Sabbath potluck.   So, on Friday, I defrosted the meat, reheated it in some Bisto gravy, separated the meat from the gravy, and mashed some potatoes.   But couldn’t assemble it until I got to the church because I didn’t have a big enough pan.  

Now usually, after I have mashed the potatoes, I use the hand masher to pick up the potatoes, bit by bit, to plop them over the meat.  It seems to keep them airy and light, so I did all that at the church, after adding a few peas and sliced carrots to the meat for color.  As you know, I am from the land of Mashed Potatoes and Shepherd’s Pie, Britain, and it never seems to taste right unless it is made with Bisto Gravy Powder from Britain, which I had.  Then the gravy was kept warm in a little crockpot, because if you have too much gravy the potatoes get soggy.   It was very good, according to the people at church.  There was also lasagne, a great big brisket, and lots of veggies, cakes and cookies.  I think the Sabbath is a ‘cheat day’ for all of us! 

The Bible readings were Deut. 3:23-7:11, Isa. 40:1-26, Mat. 23:31_30, and Mark 12:28-34.  The Teaching was about ‘Spiritual Surgery’, how it is painful, but healing.

Well,  I wish I could park my van in the shade at church, but it is too far to carry everything.  It is August, so we are having 100° days.