"This book shows the real West, not the one seen in postcards or imagined from romantic movies and novels. With photographs and essays, it shows not only the most shocking cases of overgrazing, but also the subtle changes that signal ecological disruption on a massive scale. Welfare Ranching explains the cultural and historical causes of the wasting of the West and offers a vision of the renewal that is possible if citizens are willing to demand that their government shift land management priorities to serving the public and natural good, rather than facilitating private gain. Ultimately, this book points the way to the greatest opportunity yet remaining for ecological restoration and wildlife protection in this country."--BOOK JACKET.
When the first version of this book came out in 1996, on the heels of "Welfare Reform," it was received with great popular acclaim. As Jim Hightower put it, "At last, the real welfare scandal [is] revealed in one handy little -volume." But the scandal was still in the making. The total amount of taxpayers' money going to subsidize corporations and rich individuals has grown from about $448 billion to over $800 billion--and the amount of that tax money that comes from those flush companies and individuals continues to shrink. In this greatly expanded and updated version of Take the Rich off Welfare, Mark Zepezauer still details who's on the government dole and how much they're getting. This time around, though, he has slowed down his rapid firing of the latest names and numbers in order to reveal how it all works. Using accessible language and revealing graphics, he takes the time to explain how programs once intended to profit the public have been warped to benefit only the corporate bottom line; how administrations manipulate the tax code to slide their extortion from the bottom half past congressional oversight; and how the politicians from both parties employ budget doubletalk and paper trickery to make it look as if the economy isn't being sucked further into a sinkhole in order to line the pockets of the few. A prolific writer of humorous but cutting analyses of government policy and its fallout, Zepezauer provides us with the tools we need to expose the political chicanery of current and past administrations, and make it much more difficult for politicians to play Three Card Monte with our money and our future. To the rallying cry of fiscal conservatives who claim that government must shrink, Zepezauer offers an easy answer. Shrink you. Mark Zepezauer has worked as a journalist, editor and publisher since 1985. His articles, columns and reviews have appeared in the Village Voice, In These Times and the Arizona Daily Star. Zepezauer also wrote two Real Story books (now published by South End Press): The CIA's Greatest Hits (1994) and the first version of Take the Rich Off Welfare (1996), which have sold over 25,000 and 22,000 copies respec
A rational exploration of the ethical and welfare issues in all areas of equine use. This book addresses controversial and emotive issues surrounding these iconic creatures, providing a reliable source of information to support informed debate. It will enable all those with an interest in horses and the uses they are put to gain an awareness of the problems and abuses that occur. The book draws on the expertise of a range of acknowledged leaders in equine health and welfare. The first part of the book explores general issues of the horse’s needs and nature. The second part contains chapters each covering a specific human use of horses and the abuses that arise as a result. This book is part of the UFAW/Wiley-Blackwell Animal Welfare Book Series. This major series of books produced in collaboration between UFAW (The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare), and Wiley-Blackwell provides an authoritative source of information on worldwide developments, current thinking and best practice in the field of animal welfare science and technology. For details of all of the titles in the series see www.wiley.com/go/ufaw.
Discover the quintessential roadmap to transforming your calling into a thriving 10-acre ranch with "The New Ranch Owner's Guide." Crafted for the aspiring ranch owner, this comprehensive eBook is your proverbial fence-post to hang your hat on – a complete guide that doesn't just skim the surface but dives into the rich soil of ranch ownership. Embark on a journey starting with "Setting the Stage for Your 10-Acre Ranch," where you'll uncover your land's hidden potential and draft the blueprints for your agricultural aspirations. Next, traverse through the maze of "Zoning and Legal Requirements," ensuring your dream is not only robust but also regulation-compliant. Building your empire necessitates insight and "Infrastructure and Equipment Essentials" deliver just that. With practical advice on construction and investment, watch your ranch foundations set as solidly as the convictions that drive you. Then hone your attention to the heartbeat of any ranch – the land. The chapters on "Soil Health," "Water Resources," and "Land Management" equip you with sustainable tactics, making you the custodian of a land legacy. "The New Ranch Owner's Guide" is not just about the ground beneath your feet or the roofs over your head; it's about the life that animates your land. From "Selecting Livestock" and "Pasture Management" to "Raising Poultry," your journey is anchored in the intricacies of nurturing a resilient and productive ecosystem. As the seasons change, so must your strategies. The seasonal cycle of activities laid out in the "Seasonal Ranch Checklist" keeps you proactively engaged, ensuring your ranch thrives rain or shine. And with "Marketing and Selling Your Products," transform your toil into profit, linking farm to table in the most innovative ways. However, a ranch is more than crops and cattle; it's about community and continuity. Learn how to sow the seeds of "Community Involvement" and chart a course for the future with "Succession Planning." In facing the unpredictable, "Dealing with Challenges and Setbacks" offers solace and solutions ensuring that your spirit weathers every storm. The visions of sustainability and stewardship in "Innovations in Small-Scale Ranching" and "Ethics and Welfare in Ranching" will be your compass to a fulfilling ranch stewardship. Finally, relish the personal anecdotes of those who've walked this path in the "Case Studies of Successful 10-Acre Ranches," providing real-world examples that inspire and guide. Enter the gates of "The New Ranch Owner's Guide," where every chapter is a stepping stone to self-sufficiency and the realization of your pastoral dreams. Welcome to the first day of your life as a ranch owner – may it be as boundless and fruitful as the land you're about to shape.
"This book shows the real West, not the one seen in postcards or imagined from romantic movies and novels. With photographs and essays, it shows not only the most shocking cases of overgrazing, but also the subtle changes that signal ecological disruption on a massive scale. Welfare Ranching explains the cultural and historical causes of the wasting of the West and offers a vision of the renewal that is possible if citizens are willing to demand that their government shift land management priorities to serving the public and natural good, rather than facilitating private gain. Ultimately, this book points the way to the greatest opportunity yet remaining for ecological restoration and wildlife protection in this country."--BOOK JACKET.
This book investigates how fish experience their lives, their amazing senses and abilities, and how human actions impact their quality of life. The authors examine the concept of fish welfare and the scientific knowledge behind the inclusion of fish within the moral circle, and how this knowledge can change the way we treat fish in the future. In many countries fish are already protected by animal welfare legislation in the same way as mammals, but in practice there is still a major gap between how we ethically view these groups and how we actually treat them. The poor treatment of fish represents a massive animal welfare problem in aquaculture and fisheries, both in terms of the number of animals affected and the severity of the welfare issues. Thanks to its interdisciplinary scope, this thought-provoking book appeals to professionals, academics and students in the fields of animal welfare, cognition and physiology, as well as fisheries and aquaculture management.
In the West, shortsighted human self-interest has resulted in devastating environmental losses. The fur trade decimated beaver populations, and streams and wetland ecosystems deteriorated. Though most mining ceased by the late 1920s, water running from the Pacific Mine nearly a century later still carried ten times the lead level standard set by the federal Clean Water Act. Where grazing depleted native bunchgrasses, fire-prone cheatgrass grew in its place. Migrating from Idaho streams, salmon once reached the ocean in ten to fourteen days. Now it takes fifty or more. In 2016, a snowstorm blew a flock of snow geese off course. They landed on contaminated water, and about three thousand died. Author Niels S. Nokkentved takes a fresh look at environmental challenges affecting Northwest residents. His essays examine cultural conflicts over resource extraction, threats to watersheds from abandoned mines, wolf recovery in the northern Rocky Mountains, the lingering effects of livestock grazing on western rangelands, and the rapidly disappearing sage grouse. They discuss the importance of forest fires, the value of beavers, the failed promises of salmon hatcheries, the reasons behind the decline of the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest, and how unlikely allies learned to set aside their differences in order to resolve long-standing disputes. Nokkentved’s goal is to encourage people to think like a mountain--in other words, to consider the long-term consequences. He shares his connection to each concern as well as his own evidence-based perspective. He believes that it most profits society--collectively and as individuals--when people respect the balance of nature, and he wants to draw others to the same conclusion.
In A Place for Dialogue, Sharon McKenzie Stevens views the contradictions and collaborations involved in the management of public land in southern Arizona—and by extension the entire arid West—through the lens of political rhetoric. Revealing the socioecological relationships among cattlemen and environmentalists as well as developers and recreationists, she analyzes the ways that language shapes landscape by shaping decisions about land use. Stevens focuses on the collaborative Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan initiated by Pima County, Arizona, the ubiquitous use of scientific argument to defend contradictory practices, and the construction and negotiation of rancher/environmentalist identities to illuminate both literally and metaphorically the dynamics of land use politics. Drawing specifically upon extensive interviews with a diverse array of agents on all sides of the debate—ranchers, environmentalists, scientists, land managers, government officials—on historical narratives, and on her own conflicting experiences as someone who grew up with those who work the western lands, she demonstrates that it is possible to use differences to solve, rather than to aggravate, the entrenched problems that bridge land and language. By integrating her richly textured case study of a fragile region with rhetorical approaches to narrative, science-based argument, and collective identities, Stevens makes a significant contribution to the fields of rhetoric, land management, and cultural studies.
“A big, bold book about public lands . . . The Desert Solitaire of our time.” —Outside A hard-hitting look at the battle now raging over the fate of the public lands in the American West--and a plea for the protection of these last wild places The public lands of the western United States comprise some 450 million acres of grassland, steppe land, canyons, forests, and mountains. It's an American commons, and it is under assault as never before. Journalist Christopher Ketcham has been documenting the confluence of commercial exploitation and governmental misconduct in this region for over a decade. His revelatory book takes the reader on a journey across these last wild places, to see how capitalism is killing our great commons. Ketcham begins in Utah, revealing the environmental destruction caused by unregulated public lands livestock grazing, and exposing rampant malfeasance in the federal land management agencies, who have been compromised by the profit-driven livestock and energy interests they are supposed to regulate. He then turns to the broad effects of those corrupt politics on wildlife. He tracks the Department of Interior's failure to implement and enforce the Endangered Species Act--including its stark betrayal of protections for the grizzly bear and the sage grouse--and investigates the destructive behavior of U.S. Wildlife Services in their shocking mass slaughter of animals that threaten the livestock industry. Along the way, Ketcham talks with ecologists, biologists, botanists, former government employees, whistleblowers, grassroots environmentalists and other citizens who are fighting to protect the public domain for future generations. This Land is a colorful muckraking journey--part Edward Abbey, part Upton Sinclair--exposing the rot in American politics that is rapidly leading to the sell-out of our national heritage. The book ends with Ketcham's vision of ecological restoration for the American West: freeing the trampled, denuded ecosystems from the effects of grazing, enforcing the laws already in place to defend biodiversity, allowing the native species of the West to recover under a fully implemented Endangered Species Act, and establishing vast stretches of public land where there will be no development at all, not even for recreation.
PUBLIC LANDS RANCHING: Is it a harmless, romantic, remnant of the Old West? Or is it the rural West's most destructive influence? Controversy rages & continues to spread. Some are saying this will be the next major environmental struggle in the Western United States. WASTE OF THE WEST is-- & probably will remain--the most complete account of public lands ranching ever assembled. With easy-reading text & more than 1000 photos, drawings, cartoons, graphs, & charts on 600 (8 1/2" x 11") pages, Lynn Jacobs explores every facet of this obscure yet vitally important issue. Chapters: introduce public lands ranching & describe its historic & present situations; detail its economic ("welfare ranching"), political, social/cultural, & (especially) environmental impacts; discuss livestock abuse; take a global livestock-production tour; discredit the many excuses stockmen use to justify their 100-year reign over the rural West; predict the future; present alternatives; & provide many ideas on what people can do to help end this destructive & unjust situation. Final pages offer ideas for activism, contacts, public lands ranching statistics, inspirational quotations, a 500-source bibliography, & a thorough index. WASTE OF THE WEST is for people who care about Nature. As much as an eye-opening educational tool, it is a call to action.
