November
1996
The
Search for the Real American West
Guest Editorial By Philip Goff |
|
|
Having recently watched the beautifully
produced PBS special, "The West," and having just moved across
country (via tox-mobile), I have thought a lot about the western
American landscape. The 3400 miles of the American landscape
that I have recently experienced is not quite the beautiful setting
shown in PBS specials. Our country used to be covered with lush
forests, endless prairies, clean streams, towering mountains,
and pristine deserts. Only a little more than a hundred years
ago, the great conifer forests and rolling grasslands were still
extant, at a time when most of the deciduous forests of the northeast
and south were being obliterated. The West is still defined by
its landscape and scale, although it is gradually becoming as
settled and developed as the eastern states. But it is a landscape
not of healthy and productive ecosystems, but instead one of
manipulation, compromised due to our voracious appetite for land
and resources.
What struck me most about the West was that so much of the "natural" landscape
is defined by what we eat. Sure, the open-pit strip mining operation
in Wyoming was no pretty sight, nor was the endless procession of housing
developments in the hills outside of Boise, and certainly not the clearcut
Oregon forests. But just as our obsession with automobiles has defined
our "built" landscape, America's insistence on a meat-oriented diet has
defined our "natural" landscape.
The insidious and inefficient growing of crops to feed livestock knocked
me over the head while crossing the country. In Indiana and Illinois,
I saw mile after mile of corn, most o`f which is fed to cattle. In Wisconsin
and South Dakota, there were millions of acres of soy beans, most of
which is fed to cattle. In Wyoming and Montana, wheat fields extend to
the horizon, most of which is fed to cattle. And, of course, in nearly
every state in this nation are the cows: 103 million of them, according
to Montana's Predator Project. Even if you don't see them, you know they're
still there. The ubiquitous barbed wire fences followed me along nearly
every road and highway I drove on out West. The cattle (and sheep) are
everywhere! They are on private ranches, they are on Bureau of Land Management
land, they trample fragile grasslands and erode the soil, they defecate
in the once pristine streams, and they even roam through many of our
national forests. It was demoralizing to see so much of our country degraded
because our citizens eat too many hamburgers, steaks, and lambchops,
and wear too much leather and wool.
Luckily, while visiting some of the national parks along the
route, I did catch a glimpse of the "real" American West. It's
ironic that tens of millions of people visit the parks every
year simply to see a vestige
of what their lifestyles haven't yet destroyed. They come to see not
just the mountains and waterfalls, but also to see the few remaining
prairies and grasslands and to glimpse a herd of buffalo or wolf. I wonder
if it really matters how many wolf or bison reintroduction programs the
government funds. As long as grazing cattle dominate the range, hundreds
of millions of acres are usurped to feed livestock, and tens of thousands
of predators and competing herbivores are exterminated, a functional
ecosystem will remain elusive.
The decimation of the West has been on the American agenda for many years.
People are horrified that only five percent of our original forests remain.
The President has opposed the construction of an enormous mine near Yellowstone
and has decreed a huge chunk of Utah protected wilderness. There is even
opposition to massive highway projects and sprawling housing developments.
Yet very little attention is given to the millions of cows whose big
appetites have dominated land-use in so much of the western U.S. The
refusal to eat meat is far beyond an animal rights, environmental, or
human health issue. It is an issue of efficient land use and scenic preservation.
It is that of returning land to the Native Americans from which it was
stolen. It is of conserving what makes America great: the land.
The compromise of the West's landscape should inspire millions of patriotic
Americans to throw away their steak knives, replant their gardens, and
prepare for the vegan revolution!
Philip Goff is currently studying urban design in
Portland, Oregon.
|
|
© STEALTH TECHNOLOGIES INC. |
|
