THE SHAME OF POINT REYES - Blog

MALT Myth 2 - Sustainable Businesses

6/7/2022

Itâ€™s strange to hear people state that Marinâ€™s ranches should receive public funding because they are sustainable businesses worthy of saving. This always struck me as an oxymoron. Sustainable businesses shouldnâ€™t rely on outside funding.
In contrast to being self-sufficient, these ranches receive federal subsidies, state grants, state and federal bailouts, the use of incredible amounts of land, and grandfathered water rights for the land (which essentially means they get to use copious amounts of water for their businesses without paying for it while operating in a drought state). As if all that wasnâ€™t enough, these ranches also apparently need multi-million dollar conservation easements to help them keep operating (enter MALT and Measure A).
At what point do you finally realize you are using the definition of UNSUSTAINABLE to describe sustainable businesses?
If in fact these businesses are struggling I gotta ask, how many generations are required for these people to finally figure out a good business model? Why is it our responsibility to bail them out? What other businesses do you know like that?
The reality is that these businesses were never sustainable, but they had access to plentiful resources thus they could operate in an unsustainable manner and still be profitable. Mother earth has finally reached the point of not being able to handle the constant abuse and therefore these businesses need even more financial help (trucking in water, drought disaster relief, etc.). Maybe instead of continuing to spend tax dollars keeping businesses that hurt the planet going it's finally time to look at what should replace those ranches.
#sustainable #ranches #unsustainable #economicdrain #ranching #landabuse #cattle #animalagriculture #MALT #MeasureA #conservation #conservationeasement #ranching #marincounty #cattle #livestock

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MALT Myth 1 - Threat of Urban Development

6/6/2022

Many people believe a consequence of not funding private ranches with millions of public and private dollars will be for that ranch land to be turned over to urban developers.

First, this is not a real threat. Zoning laws prevent such development from taking place. However, thatâ€™s not the topic of focus for this post.

Iâ€™m curious why we must live under the cloud of threat that these so-called â€œstewards of the landâ€ would choose to doom the land to such development? The people who love the land and have a connection with the land are willing to doom it for a payout? Hmmmm.

Next, why do we think the fate of land must exist on only these two extremes? Why do we perceive no other options? The argument is always proposed as â€œItâ€™s either ranching or skyscrapers, wouldnâ€™t you rather have the open space of ranching?â€ Make no mistake, this land is highly desirable and many would-be buyers are interested in doing good things with the land, such as natural restoration.

I happen to be familiar with a recent purchase of ranch land in Marin that fits the scenario I just described. The buyer was required, as part of the zoning law, to continue with agriculture of some form on the land while also being prohibited from subdividing it into multiple housing developments. So we can put this myth of development to rest.

Making the scenario above even more interesting is the fact that the ranch had already received a multimillion dollar MALT easement. Remind me again what the importance of those easements wasâ€¦wasnâ€™t it to encourage the ranchers not to sell? With this one example we already see evidence that( A.) The land is already protected from urban development and (B.) these easements donâ€™t prevent the ranches from selling anyway.

Letâ€™s go back to pretending that the myth of urban threat is real. These are all heralded as multi-generational family ranches so Iâ€™ve got to ask, how many generations are required to get your business to be self-sustaining? And after decades of using up the land and water to yield private income the final act is to sell the land off to developers? Thatâ€™s pretty messed up. Anyone with an ounce of ecological sensibility can see that this land is abused and degraded. They used it for all it could give and now that earth is finally throwing in the towel the ranch owners final act is to finish the land off?

Iâ€™ve been examining urban sprawl in California for the last few years and this is absolutely a massive environmental threat so Iâ€™m thankful for conservation efforts that protected places like Marin from suffering the same fate. But the existence of the ranches is not the savior. After all, it is the ranch and farm owners who are selling to these urban sprawl developers. The practice of ranching simply prepared the land for development by killing off nature ahead of time. Ranching is the disease that cripples the land. Urban development is the death blow that follows.

#MALT #MeasureA #conservation #conservationeasement #ranching #marincounty #cattle #livestock #urbansprawl

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What you need to know about Measure A

6/1/2022

I've created a dedicated page regarding MALT and Measure A, linked here.

If you support Measure A it is likely because you support parks. It's also likely that you saw part of MALT's misleading $300,000 advertising campaign, after all, MALT will be thing winners if this passes. What you likely don't realize is that Measure A will allocate 20 percent of public funds—some $30 million—to Marin’s largest landowners.. Private, wealthy land owners get 20% of your tax dollars that you thought were going toward parks and restoration. The financial aspect of this sneaky allocation of tax dollars is bad enough, but from an ecological aspect I can say that supporting ranching is the same as hurting nature.
Go to the page to learn more.

#MALT #Marinagriculturallandtrust #measureA #ranching #marincounty #pointreyes #cattle #nature #parks #openspace #shameofpointreyes

Phyllis Faber is at it again

5/28/2022

In order to help her fellow board members and ranching buddies procure more riches from the tax payers, Phyllis Faber is back telling lies to the media. Dear Ms. Faber, please take us on a tour of one of these flourishing ecosystems on MALT land!

#MALT #RAGG #Marincounty #ranching #unsustainable #ecosystems #nature #agriculture #animalagriculture #livestock #resources #water

The Significance of Marin Ranches

5/27/2022

Response to 'Significance of Marin Agriculture'.

It's really something to read these letters to the editor from ranch supporters which are actually testaments to the opposite of their proposed arguments. For example, this recent letter regarding “ranching significance” actually proves a point that I recently made in a presentation for one of my ecology courses; Marin agriculture uses an absurd amount of land to produce very little. And yet here we have letters proclaiming how many farms and ranches there are and and actually bragging how many acres these businesses occupy as if it's an argument in their favor. Do you not understand that the output is minuscule considering how much land was required for that output? It's as inefficient a use of land as is possible while simultaneously consuming a shocking amount of natural resources and tax dollars. I'm not saying I am an advocate for industrialization or development, I'm just pointing out the ratio of production to land use is inefficient on the level of being ludicrous. Despite the repeated abuse of the word “sustainable” by these industries, the reality is that they match the very definition of unsustainable. There are many options for land use that extend beyond commercial development and almost all of them are more eco-friendly than these "family" ranches.

#pointreyeslight #ranching #pointreyes #marin #marincounty #significance #agriculture

Another Ignored Public Comment Period?

4/8/2022

It's hard for the number one thing on my mind not to be, "Will the comments be as thoroughly ignored as last time?" Even after PRNS discarded nearly a thousand comments opposing ranching, the opposition to ranching was still an avalanche burying the support comments, all of which were submitted by ranchers and ranch associations.

When questioned why the comments were ignored PRNS responded, "It's not a popularity contest."

On the other hand, after a letter to the PRNS staff from the PRNS Ranching association was revealed, it showed that the management plan the park drafted was essentially a mirror copy of the ranchers' request letter.

So, I ask the public, does it feel good to know that your comments mean nothing?

Sustaining Stupidity

4/6/2022

I decided to share my Environmental Science presentation on YouTube in 2 parts. All data sources are listed there. Youtube.com/watchinghumans
It appears that the definition of UNSUSTAINABLE matches what we are currently calling SUSTAINABLE. Why are we so easily duped by this word?

#sustainable #marincounty #marin #ranching #water #drought #subsidies #taxes #land #dairy

Marin Conservation League Continues to Undermine Conservation

1/25/2022

In response to the MCL’s, Nona Davis’s, completely intangible argument defending the planet-killing, habitat-destroying, tax-payer-draining, wildlife-murdering, pro-ranch plan, may I remind everyone that the Marin Conservation League is responsible for hindering the initial creation of Point Reyes National Seashore in the first place dating back to 1961. Why did MCL reject the plan back then? For good reason? For tangiblee reasons? For scientific reasons? No, according to Point Reyes National Seashore’s own historical document, ‘An Administrative History of Point Reyes’, the Marin Conservation League obliged The Ranchers Assocation’s request to reject the plan without even looking at the plan. Let me repeat, the MCL was so thoroughly controlled by ranchers even back then that it took nothing more than the request of ranchers to reject a federal plan to create a National Seashore.

With a society more corrupted than ever by the financial and political power of animal agriculture and other influential, destructive industries it’s no wonder that Marin Conservation League publishes such embarrassing statements.

The Marin Conservation League has been and continues to be, in reality, a cover for its actual title, The Marin Cattle League. You can love cows and ranchers and the death of natural habitat all you want, but lies are lies and deception is deception. Just be honest about who you support when you support an organization like this.

Citizens of Marin, take control of Marin County before the county is one big cow turd.

For those willing to look at the evidence rather than live in denial, here's a link to the Administrative History hosted on the NPS website.
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/pore/admin.pdf

#marinconservationleague #marincattleleague #pointreyes #pointreyesnationalseashore #cattleindustry #ranchers #marincounty #shameofpointreyes #dairyindustry

I'll supplement this blog post by including an excellent rebuttal by Deborah Moskowitz

Point Reyes debate more than ‘philosophical’
In an article published in the IJ (“Suit targets elk, ranch plan,” Jan. 11), the Marin Conservation League’s Nona Dennis implies that our lawsuit is unwarranted, based on nothing more than “philosophical differences” about the future of ranching in Point Reyes National Seashore.
In fact, the complaint was filed because the National Park Service’s General Management Plan Amendment clearly violates multiple federal laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act. It also makes a mockery of the park service’s Organic Act and the Point Reyes Act that entrust it with preserving the area unimpaired for public enjoyment.
The plan was roundly opposed in public comments and by scientists, park advocates, environmental groups, social equity groups, animal rights activists and the Coast Miwok, whose historic stewardship is sidelined by the commercial ranching that dominates cultural interpretation. Officials are ignoring the public and the experts, relying instead on an inadequate environmental impact statement presenting almost no baseline data for making critical decisions about allocating water and other resources, determining viable elk herd size or limiting the spread of infectious cattle diseases to wildlife.
Dennis suggests that agencies “will work to resolve many of the impacts caused by ranching over time.” But the plan shows almost nothing of how the park service intends to comply with federal laws, remedy environmental damage and prevent further degradation as we face the climate crisis. Instead, it authorizes renewable 20-year leases and expands ranchers’ privileges to include row crops and livestock diversification, mobile slaughter facilities, tourist venues and — for the first time — the killing of Drakes Beach tule elk.
Clearly, these are serious, far-reaching matters of law, public policy and environmental protection. I think the District Court will hold the National Park Service to account.
— Deborah Moskowitz, San Anselmo

What's the Point?

11/3/2021

Humans are ready to give up...but only when it comes to helping the planet.

An old friend recently watched ‘The Shame of Point Reyes’ and while he included a compliment in his message he also said, “Part of me thinks, what’s the point, that area is going to be underwater soon anyway.”

Two immediate thoughts come to mind in response; One being that people who say things such as my friend did may truly believe that earth is screwed, but that doesn’t stop those people from getting up and going to work or paying the mortgage or the bills. As modern humans it seems that fighting for the future is a futile gesture, but robotically earning paychecks until we finally retire to the grave is not.

The second thought being that we are a society that seems to accept just about any ghastly behavior as long as an excuse was provided.

It’s not that I can’t relate and it’s not that I haven’t said similar things at some time or other in my past, but regardless of my own level of guilt the fact remains that collectively our species has become better at justifying mistreating the earth than at doing whatever they can to help it. Part of that has been our shift in values; earning money seems to take precedent over almost all moral choices. Forget the morality of it, earning money has erased personal desire to pursue the very lives most of us once considered worth living.

Humans have become quite adept at providing excuses to justify their behavior. Doesn’t even seem to matter if we’re talking about a lack of professionalism in the workplace or justification for animal cruelty, as long as you can provide an excuse…
The “give up” mentality of those who say “What’s the point” is just an extension of this. It reminds me of all the people who came down hard on Greta Thurnberg when she was at the peek of making her stir; they found ways to rip on a little girl who was trying to inspire change, not because it was important to point out her flaws, but because those same people were looking for excuses not to improve. “If we pull Greta down, we don’t have to rise up.” So many excuses of why we shouldn’t listen to Greta were thrown out there ranging all the way to “She didn’t have to walk to school uphill in snow so how dare she criticize us!?” Anything they could think of as a manner to dismiss Greta and continue life as they were, i.e., any excuse not to change.

I actually wrote a blog about that when it was happening and was reminded of it recently when a friend said, “What’s the point?”, regarding my efforts to save Point Reyes. It’s not that he thinks my efforts are unfounded, it’s more that convenient adoption that the world is doomed anyway so why try. One problem with that approach is that we only adopt the doomsday mentality when it comes to seeking excuses not to be better. These people still get up and go to work, even if they hate their jobs. They still worship the almighty dollar. They are content to earn paychecks, to go to social events, to groom themselves and dress nicely. They didn’t stop raising their children nor did they stop paying the bills, and they didn’t tell all their friends goodbye and seal themselves off from the world because, “Hey, what’s the point?” No, it’s just when it comes to us being faced with altering our selfish, destructive habits that we suddenly point at the end of the world. Why bother to save an endangered species, to protect habitat, to learn to be more compassionate toward other creatures? Why plant native plants? Why reduce plastic use? Why stop paying someone else to steal babies from mothers so we can drink bovine pregnancy lactations? Those things are childish, now excuse me, I have to get back to my Zoom meeting to make sure the company’s quarterly financials are looking good, you know, like an inspiring, intelligent homo sapien who truly understands the meaning of life.

My conclusion is the same as it was in the first blog. We should be behaving correctly all the time, not now because the need is more urgent than ever and not because some critical jerk like me cut through all your excuses. Even if the planet was in great condition, why should that lead to the conclusion that we should start fucking it up? What is this strange desire to be destructive? Do we not know how to define ourselves as a species otherwise?

Be better because it is the right way to behave. It is about holding ourselves to a higher standard and letting our children witness their parents engaging in that higher standard as inspiration instead of showing our children that all you need is an excuse to be bad.

If we’d been striving for goodness all along perhaps we wouldn’t be facing doomsday today.

An incomplete list of examples I've heard just this year:

“That cow is going to be killed anyway, so what if it begins life without a mom?”

“Yeah, the dog is chained up in a backyard all day, but it’s better than being in a kennel, right?”

“It’s not endangered so who cares if they are getting killed.”

Or the convenient flip side to that one,

“It’s an endangered species doomed to disappear anyway so why waste resources trying to save it?”

“I hate where I live, but I can afford a bigger house here at half the price of where I was living before.”

“Solar isn’t perfect, we should stick with fossil fuels.”

“You have a car, right, so don’t talk to me about renewable energy.”

“Plants have feelings and you eat plants so don’t tell me I can’t buy the flesh of animals that lived a hellish existence before slaughter.”

“What about jobs?” (Apply this to everyone who destroys the planet for a paycheck; loggers, miners, drillers, fishermen, ranchers, developers).

“Yeah, these ranches are damaging to the land and animals, but at least they aren’t factory farms.”

"Gotta eat."

"Gotta live somewhere."

Or the two go-tos that people use to get out of just about anything;
“It’s just a" (insert species name here)” and “It’s cultural”.

Using culture as an excuse to do just about anything seems to have gotten particularly out of hand. And there’s always human superiority and the need to reduce other living creatures to raise ourselves or make ourselves feel better about treating other creatures poorly so we simply say, “It’s just a (cow, dog, sheep, shark, monkey, whale…).

Regenerative Ranching Exposed

9/24/2021

Finally some intelligence emerging on this ridiculous notion of #regeneativeranching. Amazing what happens when the #meatindustry doesn't do the reserach.
The only flaw is that the land the cattle are depicted on in this art isn’t accurately beaten to hell.
The #ranchers of #pointreyes have turned a #biodiversityhotspot into a literal and figurative #shithole all while the #destructivelyobedient masses ignorantly applaud the destruction.

Jumping on the shoulders of this article can I please please please implore you to watch my Debunking Regenerative Ranching Series as well as listen to my podcasts regarding the glorification of #grassfed #beef?

MY FULL SERIES ON REGENERATIVE BULLSHIT

THE MORONITY OF GLORIFYING GRASS-FED

SCIENTISTS, RATHER THAN RANCHERS, TALK ABOUT REGENERATION

#regenerativeranching #debunked #pointreyes #ranching #cattle #dairy #beef #wildlife #cattle #biodiversity #theshameofpointreyes