Dear Mother: April/May 2008

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Ruta Jordans
Lubec, Maine

The Truth About Beef

A Glimpse of Reality

I can’t thank you enough for What You Need to Know About the Beef You Eat. Many people aren’t aware of the goings-on in factory farms. They need to know, because it’s their money that is keeping these horrible places in business. Your article gave readers a glimpse of the truth. I hope it will inspire readers to purchase their animal products from smaller, local, family-owned farms, at the very least.

Kat Hood
Wilmington, Ohio 

Time to Go Organic

I had to write in regarding the article about beef and what cows are eating. I never dreamed so much unwanted junk was in our food! Immediately after reading your article, my husband and I decided there’s no time like the present to start eating more organic. We’re not rich, so we’ll take it in baby steps: We’re starting with organic milk and local, natural eggs, and have plans to buy half a cow from a local farmer (grass-fed, no hormones or antibiotics). Thank you, Mother Earth, for such a thought-provoking article.

Kelley Blair Ostermann
Janesville, Wisconsin 

Too Many People for Grass-fed Beef

I agree that the beef industry needs to make some drastic changes in the way it does business. Unfortunately, most of the problem lies with the consumer. That is, to get the beef from field to table as soon as possible, that means the end of grass feeding and the end of dry aging. It would be great to have grass-fed beef, but in reality there isn’t enough land in the United States to pasture all that livestock. Our overpopulation has seen to that. More people means higher demand for beef and less land to raise livestock. The need to feed that population has led to the feedlot.

Here in eastern Montana most ranchers have dropped the use of growth hormones, and are finding that calving earlier in the spring gives the added shipping weight. After they reach the feedlot is when the trouble begins.

Jim Reeves
Glasgow, Montana 

The Solar Solution

The Power of Positive Thinking

I wanted to share a few insights I heard from my eighth-grade science students surrounding the global climate change issue and solar technology. After spending the last few weeks studying climate change and exploring alternative energy, I took the class to a Focus the Nation activity with lectures on the topics from local professors and politicians. The students divulged to me that as interesting as everything was, they enjoyed your article Solar is the Solution by Steve Heckeroth more than the lectures. When asked why, several of them stated that all the presenters and audience members were too apocalyptic, whereas Mr. Heckeroth had more of an optimistic view of solar energy and society’s future.

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