Break Free Update July 2022
Happy 4th, Bugs, Mindpox and Are Robots Sentient?
This is my first Update that is for paid subscribers only. I hope to see this community grow over the coming months!
For all my American friends, happy 4th of July weekend!
Short history:
The Fourth of July—also known as Independence Day or July 4th—has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, but the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolution. On July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, and two days later delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson. From 1776 to the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence, with festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues.
Let’s all enjoy this holiday! Celebrate with your family and friends. Barbeque, swim, hike, watch fireworks if that’s your thing. Despite all that we are facing the United States is still the freest country on earth.
This is the calm before the storm.
BE THANKFUL THERE IS STILL FOOD ON THE SHELVES FOR YOUR BARBEQUE AND YOU ARE ABLE TO AFFORD TO BUY IT.
Americans will pay 17% more for their July 4 cookout this year.
The price for two pounds of ground beef surged 36 percent to $11.12, two pounds of boneless and skinless chicken breasts jumped 33 percent to $8.99, three pounds of center-cut pork chops climbed 31 percent to $15.26, and 32 ounces of pork and beans rose 33 percent to $2.53.
In Kansas, heat stress killed as many as 10,000 head of cattle…apparently?
There are two sides to every story, and honestly, I think we need to be conscious that it’s become too profitable for both sides to stoke the flames of fear in order to get more clicks.
How about all those food processing plants, etc. burning down. Is this a common occurrence that has been blown out of proportion on purpose?
You can read about the other side of the story here, and draw your own conclusions:
“It’s not unexpected to see fires in these kinds of structures,” said Birgitte Messerschmidt, director of the NFPA Research division. “Fires are not a rare occurrence. We had 490,000 structure fires in 2020 in the United States. We see a lot of fires every year.”
Wow that’s a lot of fires. But it’s just normal, I guess.
WHAT WE CAN DO is take Bill Gates and others at the World Economic Forum at their word when they vow to drastically change our eating habits.
They really want us to stop eating meat and start eating insects.
The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] says that agricultural production worldwide will have to increase by 70% in order to feed a global population expected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050. Yet agriculture is one of the biggest drivers of natural destruction, threatening 86% of the 28,000 species most at risk of extinction, according to a new report by the UK-based policy institute Chatham House and the UN environment program.
Demand for animal protein in particular is increasing the strain on the environment: 80% of the world’s farmland is used to raise and feed livestock, even though animals only account for 18% of global calorie consumption. Decreasing meat production, says the report, would remove pressure to expand livestock operations while freeing up existing land to restore native ecosystems and increase biodiversity.
There is a sustainable alternative to going meat-free, the FAO says: edible insects.
We are assured that many other cultures already eat insects, but what they don’t say is that it is mostly for snacks. You would have to eat a lot of bugs to equal the same nutritional value of, say, a hamburger. A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that “insects contain values of between 9.96 and 35.2 grams of protein per 100 grams, compared with 16.8-20.6 grams for meat.”
Space10, a Copenhagen-based “future living lab,” set up in collaboration with Ikea — yes, that Ikea—and has been quietly experimenting with what a sustainable fast-food menu of the future might look like, and they’re betting on bugs.
For those of us who will soon be required to “reduce our carbon footprint,” insects will be required eating.
FOLLOWING UP WITH MINDPOX…