Cattle Ranching to Composting
The Amazon rain forest, Brazil
DID YOU KNOW THAT THE AVERAGE AMERICAN EATS 3 HAMBURGERS A WEEK???
Sure, you could go to McDonald´s and order a classic cheeseburger, simple as that, but where do they get it? Well, the majority of burgers come from Brazil, more specifically, the Amazon rain forest, well where some of it used to be. Here, let me break it down for you.
The soon to be cleared forest
Farmers clear these beautiful, lush rain forests to turn them into grasslands to raise cattle on.
The soon to be killed cattle
Once the cattle has arrived, farmers fatten them up and then turn them into fresh meat to sell to companies, like McDonald's and Burger King.
The soon to be eaten beef
Finally, the beef sells where it takes a long bus ride to the buyer, where you, the consumer, order a classic cheeseburger, grown in the Amazon rain forest.
WHAT CAN BE DONE???
Criteria
Here is one idea, but first we must to set some must haves :
- Stop ALL clearing of the rain forests
- NO more raising cattle on these grasslands
- There MUST be jobs for the farmers to go to
Now for the solution
What we can do is turn the already cleared grasslands into a commercial composting business. Farmer can sell compost, worms, and even make beginner composting kits. Farmer, will make money, buyers of the compost will be able to start composting, and all the burger places will be forced to raise cows on natural lands, making the burgers healthier and better. This idea supports the must have list, they will stop clearing the rain forest, companies will raise cattle on natural grasslands, and the farmers will have another job to go back to, commercial composting. It´s a win-win-win!
BUT WILL FARMERS JUST TURN THEIR WHOLE WORLD AROUND JUST LIKE THAT TO COMPOSTING?
I don't think so, but here is one way they might. Charge the farmers $1000 per acre of rain forest that they cut down / are cutting down. This way, farmers will most likely change to composting, but if they do pay up, the money will go to replanting the Amazon rain forest and to the farmers that did start composting to help get them started.