Does it matter what his credentials are? Does it matter what the history books say? Does it matter what physical evidence is set before your eyes? Probably not if your morals are dictated by selfish gluttony. But here's the data for those willing to learn.

​#dairy #ranching #regeneration #regenerativegrazing #ranchingmyths #juddhowell #drhowell #thecostofmeat #suffering #coexistence #watchinghumans #skylerthomas #thecoexistenceinitiative

It’s strange to hear people state that Marin’s ranches should receive public funding because they are sustainable businesses worthy of saving.  This always struck me as an oxymoron.  Sustainable businesses shouldn’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 wasn’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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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, that’s not the topic of focus for this post.  

I’m curious why we must live under the cloud of threat that these so-called “stewards of the land” 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 “It’s either ranching or skyscrapers, wouldn’t you rather have the open space of ranching?”   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 was…wasn’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 don’t prevent the ranches from selling anyway. 

Let’s go back to pretending that the myth of urban threat is real.  These are all heralded as multi-generational family ranches so I’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?  That’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?  

I’ve been examining urban sprawl in California for the last few years and this is absolutely a massive environmental threat so I’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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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

Response to 'Significance of Marin Agriculture'.
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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 

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

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