PETA Offers $1 Million Reward to First to Make In Vitro Meat

Scientists around the world are researching or seeking the funds to research ways to produce meat in the laboratory—without killing any animals. In vitro meat production would use animal stem cells that would be placed in a medium to grow and reproduce. The result would mimic flesh and could be cooked and eaten. Some promising steps have been made toward this technology, but we’re still several years away from having in vitro meat be available to the general public.

PETA is now stepping in and offering a $1 million reward to the first scientist to produce and bring to market in vitro meat.

Why is PETA supporting this new technology? More than 40 billion chickens, fish, pigs, and cows are killed every year for food in the United States in horrific ways. Chickens are drugged to grow so large they often become crippled, mother pigs are confined to metal cages so small they can’t move, and fish are hacked apart while still conscious—all to feed America’s meat addiction. In vitro meat would spare animals from this suffering. In addition, in vitro meat would dramatically reduce the devastating effects the meat industry has on the environment.

Of course, humans don’t need to eat meat at all—vegetarians are less likely to get heart disease, diabetes, or various types of cancer or become obese than meat-eaters are—and a terrific array of vegetarian mock meats already exist. But as many people continue to refuse to kick their meat addictions, PETA is willing to help them gain access to flesh that doesn’t cause suffering and death.

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I think I’m going to start my own plants-rights activism group and call it the “Vegetarians” – you know, kind of like Humanitarians. I do believe that the food chain exists for a reason. What gets me is that these people treat meat-eating as an addiction…as if we meat eaters are shooting up with heroine and snorting cocaine at the dining table as if it’s nobody’s business. This is just terrible. I AM NOT PRO GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS OR MANUFACTURED RAT MEAT. I’m not interested in the possibility of my children being born with three eyes and ten hands just for the sake of saving some animal that somebody else is going to eat anyway. I don’t think I need to argue this any further, but I think this is a gut-buster (…and to think, these people are actually serious about this…tsk tsk tsk).

Of course Going Green is expensive! If we examine the costs of environmentally-friendly products and goods versus environmentally-unfriendly products (for lack of a better term), the price difference will make anyone queasy. From hybrid cars to recycled paper, you name it, chances are that going green will initially cut a sizable hole into a middle-class family’s budget. And how long does it take for one to break even after investing life-savings and cashing out a 401k to support Green? I HAVE NO IDEA. So here’s the dilemma: Do we starve and contribute to sustaining the environment, or do we continue to burn holes into the ozone layer and contribute to global warming? That’s quite a toss-up…I think that maybe if I was on my deathbed I wouldn’t bother myself with such things.

The real issue is that in striving for oil-independence, some countries have been investing in ethanol production. Buuuuut, in the great U.S. of A they’re using corn, which in turn drives up the cost of corn and exacerbates the scarcity issue. In Germany, they don’t use “food” to make natural gas, but there’s a problem here. In this land of car lovers, people aren’t willing to wreck their precious vehicles by using a fuel that their cars weren’t built to accommodate. Simply put, as hard as times are and as little incentives there are, Joe Blow isn’t going to buy a new car just so that he can use natural gas. Then there’s the obvious issue that consumers are absorbing the transportation costs associated with high oil prices, and are therefore paying more for food.

So, I can either eat my food or put it in my gas tank, but if I opt to eat my food, I’m also paying through my nose to have it shipped to the store. Maybe I’m overcomplicating this conundrum, but I’m sure there’s a simple viable solution and the market will adjust…eventually.

I know I’m critical, but in closing this and every other critical blog, I have to put an objective spin on my opinion. People need incentives, especially when there is significant inconvenience associated with whatever it is that needs to be done. However, over the years, we (humans) have become a gluttonous, wasteful race with absolutely no sense of priority. We’ve allowed consumerism to dictate our lives and we’ve become masters of creating need. I think that before we try to seek out ways in which people can feed their demands at a possibly lower cost, we need to carefully examine ALL our habits and learn to live within our means.

It saddened me that there’s so much going on in the world: so much suffering, so much strife, so much genocide – a little bit too much of everything.  Then I wondered what it would take for things to get better.  Who are the people we need to talk to or cry to so that humanity might have a chance at survival?  I’m deeply bothered because our generation will soon inherit a world that has been turned upside-down and raped by the generations that preceded us – the generations that birthed us.  Not to undermine the good things and all the “giant leaps for mankind” that have precipitated over the years.  There are some who have devoted their entire lives to fighting for social justice and equality.   Quite frankly, I think there our morals and values are rapidly decaying.  Our generation has some major cleaning-up to do – even within ourselves.

Maybe if we could just get along, and all differences were dissipated, and all prejudices were put aside.  Maybe if we could just all come together as one race, a human race, we could improve the present and achieve a great tomorrow for our kids.  Maybe if variety and diversity could be appreciated  and not used to fabricate social, racial,  ethnic, or religious lines of division, WE WOULD ALL BE MUCH HAPPIER.

That being said, I don’t think that it is beneficial to dwell on the past.  However, I do think that we need to be aware of the decisions, actions, and events that have gotten us to where we are.  I think we all need to stop and ask ourselves, “How can I contribute to making the world better?”

I guess I’ve used up my weekend allotment of free speech.

The good thing about this book, is that I read it whenever I need a foot in my ass. You see, the reason I blog so much…and this is my fourth time for today…is that I have to start my social life from scratch.  My boyfriend, whom I had mentioned earlier is in Florida.  Now I’m no sucker for long distance relationships, but  I think he deserves a fair shot : ).  So that being said, with no social life, I have to put my own foot up my ass.  Or put the book up my ass.  Whichever is more appropriate.  I know I made this point in a somewhat unclear and disjointed manner, but I’m sure you get the main idea.

The GREAT thing about this book is that it doesn’t focus on some get-rich-quick crap, given some once-in-a-blue-moon scenario.  As you read along, you find that the author equates success to happiness.  Typing that actually gave me the warm and fuzzies.  So there’s a more realistic approach to being successful, including risk and return, as well as what I refer to as the DIYFS (Do It Your F***ing Self) principle.

I guess a few valuable things I’ve picked out of this book are:

1. Nobody comes by success without failure
2. If you can’t you must, and if you must, you can
3. It takes courage to ask for the things you want

Getting to the meat of the matter. I keep giving little snippets of myself in each entry, so I guess I’m a little cryptic. I’m a web / graphic designer / fine artist / Jill of all creative trades , in Jamaica, looking for a jobbywobby how cute…but not really.

Today, I downloaded a loooooong repetitive list of ad agencies in Jamaica so that I could start my job hunt cold-calling. I think that having to quit my job has left me a little beaten down. But I’m sure everything happens for a reason, and someday I’ll rise up like the Phoenix and bite somebody’s butt. It’s always good to have visions of grandeur you know. Besides, I think that I’m fasting, but I’m not sure I know how to fast.

Anyway…I digress yet again. So I called all these ad agencies…and thus far I’ve had so-so results. THIS… is a learning experience.

I think cold-calling is quite rudimentary…you just have to be cold. I’ve convinced myself of two things over the past two days:

1. You can’t get anything done without asking.

2. You can’t get much done without asking again, and again.

I pride myself on being one of those people who invest just about enough effort in being informed. By informed, I mean to the degree that if the world around me was turning into mush, I’d know about it. I try to stay away from discussing politics, but I’m always down to listen to the mindless babble of politicians.

DISCLAIMER: I believe in freedom of speech but I don’t believe that speech is free.

Yesterday I was listening to the Minister of Agriculture’s delivery on the food crisis that Jamaica is facing . Forgive me, I was listening in intervals. However, in his satirical hem and hawing, what struck my attention was his suggestion of the implementation of an “Urban Backyard Programme”. Awwwww. Here’s an excerpt form today’s Gleaner:

Another initiative to boost agricultural production is an Urban Backyard Garden Programme, which will be implemented immediately within 400 households in Portmore and Spanish Town, St Catherine.

Initially, selected residents within these communities will be given free of cost a backyard garden kit, developed by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority.

Tufton said that, by planting two cycles of tomato, cucumber, sweet pepper and pak choi, the average household would save some $12,000 annually.

“This Government believes that we must return to the days when householders grew a little something for themselves in their backyards,” said Tufton

If I had been present I would be cheering him on, giving him the “Black Power Fist”. If I were American, I would vote for Obama – who wouldn’t? The KKK loves him! And if pigs could fly, the world would be perfect and there would be no more suffering and WE WOULD ALL GET ALONG. Sigh*. Face it, most Jamaican’s aren’t tree-huggers, and most of us don’t have a green thumb…except when it comes to a “certain” crop.

What the Gleaner failed to mention was that Tufton stated that politicians themselves would be participating in this Urban Backyard shindig. YEAH RIGHT. Maybe they can pay someone to do it, or better yet, get their pictures taken in someone else’s Urban Backyard. I’m sorry, but I think that Dr. Tufton might alse end up being lumped in with that bunch of non-participants.

That being said, his intentions are noble and we really do need to take steps towards creating a self-sufficient society. I’m not being a naysayer so I guess I wish him, I MEAN, US the best of luck with that. Maybe they can throw in two chickens and a cow per household as well.

That was just an aside, quite some time ago I came across this Reuter’s article.  They have these odd “Oddly enough” articles.  Ha! How fitting. I guess the article spoke to my fear, or rather mistrust of the mail – SNAIL MAIL as we know it.

WARSAW (Reuters) – It’s official. Postal delivery is as slow as snails, at least in Poland.

An IT worker, after receiving a letter on January 3 that was sent on December 20 as priority mail, calculated that a snail would have made it even faster to his home than the letter.

Daily Gazeta Wyborcza said Michal Szybalski calculated that it took 294 hours for the letter to arrive at his home. He also said the distance between his home and the sender was 11.1 kilometers.

Given the distance and the time, the speed of the letter was 0.03775 kilometers per hour. Szybalski calculated that a garden snail travels at around 0.048 kilometers per hour.

(Writing by Karolina Slowikowska; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)

It’s good to be home although culture shock is getting the better of me. However, I can say this much, readjusting to driving on the left has never been an issue for me. I just figured that if I never thought about it, I wouldn’t have a problem. The changes that have been more than just apparent to me include the slowness of things around here. And perhaps I’m so accustomed to the slave-driver-lightspeed-nation that I can’t seem to appreciate that here in Jamaica, everyone stops to smell the roses or the oh so familiar stench of corruption brewing in some manhole. Either way, people like to take their time here. Sigh*

It’s kind of ironic that nothing has changed, besides the price of food and gas, and yet still I’m having this issue with readjustment. I wonder if this happens to everyone? I wonder if, although I’ve visited Jamaica quite often during my stint in America, the fact that I’m here to stay brings a discouraging and hapless new meaning to life? I could wonder some more, but that doesn’t change the fact that I need a job and I’m WAY too old to be living with my parents…AND YES I’VE BEEN HERE FOR ONLY TWO WEEKS. hmmmm… maybe I should give this more thought.

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