Comments on: A small example of how our economy went terribly wrong

By: david ware

david ware — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:12:09 +0000

Ouch! Mort’s points may be well taken but the bird-seed example suggests what’s unbalanced with the supply-chains of much of what we eat, wear and both work and play with. Thirty-odd years ago, I wondered why in London I was being served New Zealand butter. I knew that there had to be creameries _somewhere_ in the UK that could supply pats of butter, but no, either New Zealand or, almost as inexplicably, Danish butter, was what I was served. Was it good butter? I think it was. Did it cost more than the semi-local product? it must have, at least in a real sense, but somehow it made sense to someone to ship a commodity halfway ’round the globe, just so I wouldn’t have to fall back on mixed-fruit jam for my breakfast rolls.

It’s not just “specialist” food that we’ve gotten into the habit of shipping. Cheap transportation has made possible the sourcing of any commodity from the place that can make it or grow it or pack it cheappest–and this behavior has some dire long-term costs. If you seek its monument, look around: imbalances of trade, sapped manufacturing sectors, toleration of environmentally-insensitive production…as long as it’s a continent or two away from us. Grr!

I’ve always liked the idea of a slab of suet , tacked up to a tree limb in winter. Birds have liked it, too. As for bread, alas, the dogs get jealous!

By: Natalie Bennett

Natalie Bennett — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:29:47 +0000

Lard and stale bread – basically using up leftovers, is exactly what I’m advocating, rather than specialist food grown and transported around the world for the purpose.

By: judith weingarten

judith weingarten — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:13:32 +0000

I’m happy to say, Natalie, that my lawn is a weedy mess. I am lazy and the birds are cock-a-hoop. But what to do in the winter when it freezes? I put out pieces of lard and stale bread. Human handouts might be wrong but, as Mort says, it’s partial recompense.

By: Vidi: Various things seen « Archaeoastronomy

Vidi: Various things seen « Archaeoastronomy — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:05:22 +0000

[...] A small example of how our economy went terribly wrong – Philobiblon Now I thought feeding the birds was a good thing. Natalie Bennett on why you might want to rethink that. [...]

By: mort

mort — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:50:33 +0000

I can see your point about wastefulness but a couple of things

Commercial bird seed is usually a by-product from grain grown to feed humans or livestock – rarely is it grown solely for bird seed as it just doesn’t pay enough.

Here in Australia, scraps from the human table can be very harmful to the health of native birds & animals even positively toxic. In a balanced environment the majority of wild birds and animals thrive with their wild forage. Unfortunately finding these wild places with no contamination or destruction of the habitat is getting harder & harder. Creating a total dependency of wild animals on human handouts can be just as damaging but the occupational treat is at least some recompense for the what we are doing to their habitats.