Monday, April 23, 2012

Cow Wars

People are a source of what the world calls pollution. CO2, methane, and similar byproducts are the normal consequence of mammalian metabolism. But the same is true for animals, particularly farm animals. And there is a surprisingly strong variation in yield of animals across cultures. So food yield from a cow in India is 5% of an American cow, Mexican cows yield 20% of American cows. This means that it takes 20 Indian cows to produce what 1 American cows produces. This also means that the energy requirements to raise cows in India, and the pollution that those cows produce, is vastly higher than in the United States.

So.......if you were a Progressive manager who knows how to improve the world, would you allow the Indians and the Mexicans to raise cattle or should this enterprise be reserved for advanced, efficient Western nations?

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