Rock Out...for Cows!Livestock Boston plans to liven up New England’s dreariest months with great local music for a great cause. Benefiting Heifer International, Livestock will hold events at venues like the Middle East and Church as well as on college campuses, helping bands reach new audiences in their hometown.
Livestock will warm up with Eli 'Paperboy' Reed and the True Loves mid-January before kicking into high gear with some Rock’N’Roll in the Middle East Upstairs Feb. 5th. Music will keep on coming every weekend until March, featuring a different genre each week. Hard Rock to Soul, Electronica to Folk, no fan will leave dissapointed.
Conceived by a musicians looking to use their art to do some good in the world, Livestock is Boston’s way of giving back to the world with music. All proceeds go to Heifer International, world famous for their work combating poverty. In addition to show revenue, there will be an online donation drive to help reach $5,000 by March 1st. Have a good time and help save the world, what more could you want?
Heifer International (HI) is an organization that claims to work against world hunger by donating animals to families in developing countries. Its catalog deceptively portrays beautiful children holding cute animals in seemingly humane circumstances. The marketing brochure for HI does not show the animals being transported, their living and slaughter conditions, or the erosion, pollution and water use caused by the introduction of these animals and their offspring.
ReplyDeleteBy definition, animals raised for food are exploited in a variety of ways. The animals shipped to developing countries are often subject to; water and food shortages, cruel procedures without painkillers, lack of veterinary care resulting in extended suffering as a result of illness or injury.
A large percentage of the families receiving animals from HI are struggling to provide for themselves and cannot ensure adequate living conditions, nutrition, and medical care for animals they have been given. HI provides some initial veterinary training to individuals and the initial vaccines. But, long term care for these animals and their offspring is up to the individuals.
To make matters worse, animal agriculture causes much more harm to the environment than plant-based agriculture. The fragile land in many of the regions HI is sending the animals cannot support animal agriculture. Although they say they encourage cut and carry feeding of the animals to avoid erosion, the reality is often quite different.
The consumption of animal products has been shown in reputable studies to contribute significantly to life-threatening diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and a variety of cancers. Regions that have adopted a diet with more animal products see an increase in these diseases. The remote communities supposedly served by HI have no way of dealing with the health consequences of joining the high-cholesterol world.
While it may seem humane and sustainable to provide just one or two dairy cows here or there, the long term consequences are an increased desire for animal products in local cultures leading to an increase in production. These communities may be able to absorb the additional water use of one or two cows, what happens when there are hundreds or thousands of dairy cows, each consuming 27 to 50 gallons of fresh water and producing tons of excrement? The heavy cost to animals, the environment and local economies is not figured into HI's business practices.