Hi -

I'm with you on the fact that knowing where your food comes from is crucial, and an excellent way to ensure that you're not ingesting unhealthy additives or perpetuating the exploitation that are the result of the 'industrial food system' - I still remember Food Inc with horror, and I don't know much about how the food system in the US has evolved in the decade since that movie was made, but I'd hazzard a guess that it's not moved in a Permaculture direction en masse.

However, it is comforting to note that Homesteading is healthy in the US - On the whole meat thing it's interesting that you have a live and let live philosophy on this - as do most people in the movement I think.

However, I think there needs to be some examination of what 'fair shares' in meat consumption would look like - I'm sure from a resource perspective, it takes more input in terms of land to grow (at least certain types of) meat to sustain carnivores than it does to sustain vegans.

Having said that, I don't believe there are any decent arguments for everyone going vegan.

NB It might interest you to know that network analysis of the animal rights movement and wider green movement show that the hardline animal righters are proper fringe, i.e. they don't network outside of their little clique... so you can pretty much ignore them, they have no way of influencing anyone effectively!