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| Special Homegrown String Band Solar Oven Package |
Package Includes :
1 GLOBAL SUN OVEN (Retail Price $299)
2 Stackable Black Covered Round 3-qt Pots (Retail Price $10.50 each)
1 Set of Two Loaf Pans (Retail Price $11.35)
1 Set of Two Cookie Sheet/Brownie Pans (Retail Price $12.85)
1 Water Pasteurization Indicator - WAPI (Retail Price $8.00)
Free Shipping within Continental U.S. (a $29.85 value)
A CD with over 80 SUN OVEN recipes, cooking tips, FAQs, written & video operating instructions, a video on how the SUN OVEN works and emergency preparedness tips.
Save $83. Only $299, for everyone else, but only $274 for you!
If you order by phone at (800) 408-7919 or on line at http://www.sunoven.com and use the discount code: String Band, Paul will take another $25 of the package price. $274 for the entire set, the combined savings is $108, which is an outstanding value.
When you order a solar oven from Sun Ovens International, you are not only helping yourself, you are helping raise the standard of living and improve the environment in third world countries around the world.
"Sun Ovens International is involved in solar cooking programs around the world. We are committed to decreasing the developing world's dependence on fuel wood and dung as the primary cooking fuels. This benefits the environment, raises the standard of living, and improves the health of the poor worldwide. Sun Ovens purchased in the US help to fund our work around the world."
This special offer is good till December 30, 2010
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.
I don't really get the connection between solar cooking and this comment. Perhaps it is in response to a post I made last November urging people to shop locally and donate to charities like Heifer International rather than particip[ating in the consumer orgy of Black Friday.
ReplyDeleteI have no connection to Heifer International other than occasionally donating to them. I cannot vouch for their integrity or efficacy, but I wholeheartedly support their ideals and the philosophy that it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. Mr. Anonymous's post is full of projection and assumptions. I have no idea how Heifer animals are transported—I'm sure it depends on the breed, the source, and the destination—but I don't see how it would serve any of the animals or people involved to have the critters arrive sick, injured, or needlessly stressed in any way. These animals are not being shipped off to factory farms for slaughter, they are being sent to family farms and community agricultural projects where they become part of a diverse agricultural ecosystem. Grazing livestock is an important part of crop rotation in a traditional sustainable agricultural system. Family farmers and community farmers are stewards of the land. Commercial agroindustrial farms using mono crop systems, deep plowing techniques, irrigation, and chemical fertilizers (in place of animal manure) erode and degrade the soil. The livestock Heifer International donates to people around the world provides communities in need with a host of useful products including wool, honey, milk, manure, eggs, and meat.
I think it would be hard for Mr Anonymous to support his claim that people who consume animal products are less healthy than those who don't. People who eat too much meat, too many soy products, or just too much food in general are going to be less healthy than people who eat a balanced and varied diet in amounts appropriate to their climate and lifestyle. The last I heard, the people with the longest life expectancy consume large amounts of fermented milk products like yogurt and kefir. It would be hard to make these products without the help of cows or goats.