Re: Thoreau on the Moose, Paul Theroux

["C. L. Rawlins" <rawlins@carbonpower.net>]

For me, a curious aspect of the vegetarian/hunting debate is the idea 
that it can be resolved in a single way, regardless of where one lives, 
and how.  

Having formed some of my values when the bioregional movement was in 
full cry, I still think it makes sense to incorporate one's knowledge of 
what one's place can supply, without harm, in any idea about right 
livelihood.   What works for a village Sami deer-herder, or an Alaska 
Inupiak (whose family has fished and hunted for millennia), or for me in 
rural Wyoming (where the landscape supports elk, deer, and pronghorn, 
but the frost-free growing season is about 45 days) is obviously not 
practical, ethical, or sustainable for an urban professional.   If I 
moved to Sitka, I'd learn to fish.  Here, I hunt when it feels right, 
and am building a greenhouse.   Being a good gardener, I'd like to grow 
much of our fresh food with a bit more to barter or sell. 

Even with willing growers, there are barriers to locally-based food 
economies.  For a recent article, here's a cut & paste link.

http://www.wyofile.com/wyoming_farmers_markets.htm

So many with corporate or academic jobs move on such a regular basis 
that it's difficult to maintain a practical connection to a place, and 
no less difficult to relearn the rules with each move.  The present, 
narrowly-focused interest in "local food" reflects the loss of that 
learned and constant link to one's place, through growing, foraging, 
hunting, fishing, or whatever makes sense there:  in NYC that would be a 
profession, a trade, artisanship, commerce.  By sense I mean both 
ecological sense and human sense as a continuum, since I think some of 
our deepest yearnings are ecological, i.e. the result of our 
evolutionary process.  

A generalised, one-size-fits-all dietary ethic discounts both the 
transport costs, and the potential political and humane horrors of 
international production agriculture, such as the theft of Indio land in 
the 1900s by the American Fruit Company and others to grow bananas and 
beef for the US market.  (My uncle, who grew up farming and ranching, 
worked for them running a huge 'ranch' in Colombia, and I recall his 
stories, and a strong sense of what he left unsaid.) 

Since you tossed this out, Tom, do you have anything to say about it?

cheers,
Chip