On the Environment

Environmentalist?

People often accuse me of being an environmentalist. Like that is a bad word. They even string it out to make it sound like a dirty four-letter word. An environmentalist is just like anyone else who doesn’t want to breathe bad air or drink contaminated water. An environmentalist wants to eat clean food and create a cleaner life on earth for their children and grandchildren.

I once sat on a Tree and Landscape Board in New Braunfels to help write a landscape ordinance. The developers called me a crazy environmentalist. The one environmentalist called me a closet developer. I am a realist. You can’t have development without some environmental problems. The secret is to minimize the problems and look for natural solutions.

What I am about to relate may be hard to believe and sounds like a conspiracy theory. But Bill Gates the billionaire has invested 26.5 million dollars in a start-up company to develop a vaccine that will reduce methane production in livestock. Really! This has been reported by Morning Star and Bloomberg News. A vaccine to reduce cow belches and farts? I guess he and many others think this will save the world. And he is using the environmentalism banner to further his project.

First, I don’t think people like Gates invest this amount of money without first considering his return on investment. And yes, this is the same Bill Gates that is buying up thousands of acres of land and using chemical fertilizers and pesticides to grow GMO crops in order to make artificial meat. I have heard interviews where he clearly thinks he is doing the world a favor. And there is a faction of environmentalist who think he is right for making fake meat.

But back to the cow fart vaccine. Will ranchers really want to spend time vaccinating their cattle for cow farts? This vaccine is just another fool’s gold scheme. The vaccine is probably targeted at beef feedlots where cattle are fed food that makes them get fat and fart. When cattle are raised on natural pastures, they can eat a few weeds that keep the farts and belches to a minimum. Oh, but oops! That sounds like an environmentalist instead of a progressive agriculturist. Perhaps there are environmentalists on both sides of this issue.

Folks like Bill Gates label people like me a crazy environmentalist. That generally puts me in good company as far as I am concerned. For humans there is a product that reduces flatulent called “beano.” It is a natural enzyme supplement. Instead of investing in finding natural food supplements that could be added to the cattle’s food mix at little cost, investors want cattle owners to use RNA technology similar to that which made the Covid vaccine work so well. But I have faith in the American rancher. I believe ranchers can find a natural solution to this problem.

I suppose there will be arm twisting in the Department of Agriculture to make this mandatory for all cattle feeding operations. Now if or when environmentalists make it mandatory to treat all cattle with something to make farting less of a problem, I am certain that the feeding operations folks will look hard at the numbers. If giving a vaccine is cheaper than a supplement, then they will use a vaccine. But if a natural supplement is cheaper, the vaccine company will need to find somewhere else to peddle its product. Yes, it will be the environmentalists who try to force this practice. After all they want a world with less methane.

A similar scheme that is still around is the electronic ear tags to trace animal movements. Some people think that tracking every chicken (with a wind tag), pig, lamb and cow in the U.S. will help prevent disease. It was defeated years ago but will become law in November if we don’t stop it again. Environmentalist like me and ranchers who don’t want to put electronic ear tags on cattle and vaccinate cattle for farts are just called crazy. Well, if you think food is expensive now, just let this “tag item” pass Congress. If you raise any animals (or eat meat) call your Congressional representatives and demand a stop to the National Animal Identification System- type plan before it becomes law. I believe this is another environmental extremist proposal and they are not giving up. Neither will I. Another article will follow.

There are a fairly large number of crazy environmentalist. But there are extremist on both sides of all environmental issues. There are generally good arguments on both sides of most issues. We need to carefully examine all arguments for their merit. Bill Gates and people like him will use the environmentalists who side with him to further their goals. Whether you consider yourself an environmentalist or not, you need to be informed.

I just want to get ahead of these crazy ideas and voice my opinion in hopes that others like me will continue the movement to shut them down before they go much further. I am glad this column is generally printed in the opinion section of the paper, because, for whatever it is worth, this is my opinion. I always like to hear what readers thinks. You can send your opinion to the editor or to me.

David E. Will is a local rancher and consultant. He can be reached at (830) 629-9876 or by email at dwill207@satx. rr.com.