tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537965748256551796.post7991052153285358893..comments2023-09-24T10:19:01.383+01:00Comments on John's Green Issues: Getting my goatJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14197399895034972279noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537965748256551796.post-56322777810552642102005-12-10T09:25:00.000+00:002005-12-10T09:25:00.000+00:00Well written about the goat problem!I was wonderin...Well written about the goat problem!I was wondering if I was the only person on the planet who thought this!I wrote to Oxfam last Xmas about my view of this and got a bland reply.I`d also suggested that charities like Oxfam should be looking for sustainable ways of producing food in semi-intensive ways eg Mopane moth breeding,lizard/snake breeding using kitchen scraps.I`d also suggested that investment should go into using solar technology to have solar cookers thus reducing the need for so much firewood collection.<br>I note as well that goats are the biggest selling product that people are buying....conspiracy theorists could think that it`s another way for the First World to hold the Third World in thrall but it`s good,old-fashioned ignorance!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537965748256551796.post-90354144224559266582005-12-16T13:14:00.000+00:002005-12-16T13:14:00.000+00:00I agree. It's a marvellously attractive scheme - s...I agree. It's a marvellously attractive scheme - simple, easy to achieve, excellent feel-good factor of doing something worthwhile for individual people. If only it was not so disastrous!<br><br>However, I fear that the best form of aid gift for long-term sustainability - packets of condoms - would not have the same appeal to donors or recipients!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537965748256551796.post-30429813055342249102007-04-16T22:33:00.000+01:002007-04-16T22:33:00.000+01:00your entire take on this is wrong. you seem to pla...your entire take on this is wrong. you seem to place the blame of a continent-wide problem on a livestock animal. that's ridiculous. poverty in africa was and is caused by rampant war and societal unrest. you don't even clearly point out a logical link of a goat to poverty, all you do is say "look at these numbers. isn't that suspicious." most people today should know that's not a legitimate answer.<br><br>so for very little effort goats provide much needed resources for the starving african people with insignifigant damage to other resources. and if they breed out of control you can slaughter them for meat and feed the starving african people. they are easy to raise and perfect for the small isolated villages suffering in africa right now.<br><br>Far from exacerbating the problem in africa goats could help. that's why organizations like oxfam are trying to increase their numbers. goats provide a healthy and bountiful supply of milk, fur, and eventually meat and skins. they're not being sent over there just to distract africans from their situation by looking cute. and they're very easy to feed. they graze on their own and mainly eat weeds and woody plants rather than crops and they don't compete for food supplies of other livestock like cattle.<br><br>don't be so freakin jumpy because a few numbers happen to correspond. THINK about it. research it. look for a logical connection. and stop creating problems where there isn't one. especially when in trying to solve it you hurt another.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537965748256551796.post-89432977178815948152007-04-17T09:39:00.000+01:002007-04-17T09:39:00.000+01:00This is the first response out of many, that actua...This is the first response out of many, that actually seems to support more goats in Africa<br><br>Ms Blakenship, unfortunately reflects the simplistic thinking that is so dangerous. As she states about goats :"... they graze on their own and mainly eat weeds and woody plants rather than crops and they don't compete for food supplies of other livestock like cattle."<br><br>Or to put it another way, they eat just about anything green and living that most domestic livestock can't or wont eat, -- leading to desertification.<br><br>And to state that poverty is caused by war, is, apart from stating the obvious, using facts selectively, since war requires armaments which require wealth. War, like poverty is often caused by inequalities of wealth, and inequality of access to resources.<br><br>Finally I have never put the entire blame on goats.There are plenty of other factors that cause poverty in Africa. <br><br>A large part of the blame, in my view, should go to aid agencies that do not bother to consider the long term environmental impacts of their short term interventions. Ask any of the aid agencies for copies of their environmental impact assessments for a particular project and you will find out what I mean. [Environmental impact assessments do not exist for most of the aid projects in Africa managed by NGOs]Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com