pet connection

On NPR’s Science Friday a couple days ago, host Ira Flatow explored the possibility of bio-engineered animal-less “meat,” prompted by a pledge from PETA for a million bucks for the person who:

[...] is able to make the first in vitro chicken meat and sell it to the public by June 30, 2012. The contestant must do both of the following:

• Produce an in vitro chicken-meat product that has a taste and texture indistinguishable from real chicken flesh to non-meat-eaters and meat-eaters alike.
• Manufacture the approved product in large enough quantities to be sold commercially, and successfully sell it at a competitive price in at least 10 states.

OK, not withstanding the fact that PETA probably picked up more than a million dollar’s worth of free publicity and probably quite a bit in donations, too, for more grandstanding nonsense — the chances of there being a competitively prized, commercially available product in four years would have to be pretty darn small — who on earth would want to trust the people responsible for food safety for us and our pets — corporate agribiz, foreign nations and a neutered U.S. regulatory system — with the production of synthetic meat-like food?

Um … not me.

Many of the points PETA makes in its “go veg” campaigns — aside from not eating meat for philosophical or religious reasons — would be made moot by the move away from factory farming and toward humanely, sustainably produced meat along with enforcement of standards already on the books.

Check out the Slow Food organization for some good information on what’s good for us all. And make your choices in line with what you yourself believe to be right.

Yes, my day job “green blogging” is leaking over here. My boss says: “Why does everything you write about “green living” seem to be about food? Can’t you write about compact fluorescent light bulbs a little? We ARE a community-owned electric utility!” But to me, feeding the world in a sustainable way is the bottom line — and we need to do it in a way that protects both us (pets included) and our ability to keep this big blue marble we’re all riding on from breaking down because we ain’t got no spare.

And speaking of food, Agatha this morning was sitting on two beautiful large brown eggs. Oh my gosh? Fresh eggs … is it really this easy? And the hens are so cute and friendly! I thanked Agatha and them scrambled the the eggs for breakfast. Update: Make that three big brown eggs, but I’m not sure who laid the third. Update No. 2: The Aruacunas are here, duly named Paloma, Isabella and Viviana (thanks, Nadine!)

Update on the kitten front: He’s doing great. I brought the two quietest and most gentle of the dogs — Drew and Heather — into the office for him to get used to while I work this morning. The others are on the other side of the baby-gate. Ilario is doing just fine with it all.