Believe it or not, but in parts of the United States, milk is more expensive than gasoline. There are reports of cows being stolen on Wisconsin dairy farms. Driven by a combination of climate change, trade policies and competition for cattle feed from biofuel producers, global milk prices have doubled over the past two years, says the International Herald Tribune.
“There’s a world shortage of milk,” said Philip Goode, manager of international policy at Dairy Australia in Canberra.
“What is unusual, and somewhat confusing, about the milk boom compared with other booming commodities is that milk is not like oil: You can’t stick it in barrels and stockpile it. It goes sour. Even in powder form, the most commoditized version, milk has a shelf life. As a result, only about 7 percent of all the milk produced globally is traded across borders. The rest is consumed in domestic markets, which are protected by geography and just as often by tariffs or subsidies.”
Photo above: A statue in the New Zealand town of Te Awamutu, where milk is big business. (Courtesy Victoria Birkinshaw for The NYT)
In Hinduism, the cow is a symbol of wealth, strength, abundance, selfless giving and a full Earthly life. More here…
Indian Parliament’s standing committee on science and technology some time ago suggested a part of biotechnology research be devoted to breeding special cows which naturally produce low-fat milk and are engineered to produce less methane to help slow climate change. Green cows, they call them.
“Methane, emitted by ruminant livestock which isn’t efficiently fermenting feed in the rumen (one chamber of a four-chambered stomach), is one of the greenhouse gases believed to be hastening the process of climate change. So, the belching and dung — the source of emissions, to put it politely — are of some concern.
“It is no laughing matter, we are assured. The world has over two billion ruminants, including cattle, sheep, goats. India alone is home to 200 million cows and 90 million buffaloes. Not to forget sheep, goats, camel. All emitting methane.” More here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.