Revised Oratory, C & C please and thank you!

[HelpMePlease]

Hey guys, remember my speech thingy? Well I totally changed the second have and altered the first a bit, I like it much more, C & C please!

An unborn goat kid, was presenting incorrectly. He was turned in the wrong direction to be born and was making it impossible; endangering his and his mothers, Kadabra's, life. When Kadabra started hemorrhaging, I knew the only chance of her surviving was if I saved her. But was that something I was capable of doing? In my vet class, we had talked about what to do in a situation like this, but like most of the class, I thought it sounded kind of scary and awful: I would have to put my hand inside and physically turn the unborn kid in order for it to come into the world alive, as well as to save the mother's life.-- and it was daunting, I was terrified, but I had been taught it was Kadabra's only chance I knew what to do, but did I really think I could do it? No. I never did. I never had. Until I was put into the situation—and then I didn't hesitate. It was the thought “An animal is dying, my animal is dying, Kadabra is dying” There was nothing else I could do, but try. My love for animals pushed me to do it, and my love for agriculture taught me to do it, and then I did it. I saved her and her unborn kids life.

Whenever I tell people this story, the reaction is the same “You put your hand inside of a goat!?” this has made me realize how far Americans have come from their agricultural roots: what used to be common knowledge across our country, learning how to breed, raise and care for animals; is a rarely learned life lesson in our country today. As Americans have moved into the cities and away from the agricultural life, we have lost our respect for our world, for our environment, for the very things which help us to survive. Not understanding agriculture or the environment has led to a disconnect between the two groups. Creating two distinct groups one interested solely in agriculture and the other only in the environment. And now they see themselves in total opposition.

Martin Luther King Junior once said “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Living together, working together, being united, all things we can do without agreeing, completely, with one another. Just because we have a few odd differences, in opinion, or the way we do things, it certainly doesn’t mean we have to be enemies. If we look back through history, to events such as the Great Compromise, we quickly realize that if we were always this way, in total opposition, America would have never been founded. And now it is tearing us apart.

I own six goats, five chickens, and a pig. I also founded a non-profit organization to conserve the environment. At times it feels as if I am a walking contradiction: Loving both the environment and agriculture, and trying to learn all I can about both, this has led me to believe that the two groups must work side by side, hand in hand, to make this world a better, more balanced place to live. My love for agriculture and my love for the environment, has given me a unique perspective on both. A perspective that is fair to both sides. Agriculture is something that can and does work with the environment, misconceptions need to be stopped because they are causing so many conflicts, and agriculturalists and environmentalists need to put aside their differences and work together.

Environmentally, I have had unique experiences. I have been a foot away from a wild polar bear cub on a tundra, I have pet an orangutan, I have held a baby meerkat, I have trained penguins, and I have explored glaciers. Agriculturally, I have had incredible ones. I single handedly saved two animals lives, I bottle raised a baby goat, and I have witnessed the miracle of life. These experiences have shaped who I am today--and I love who I am. I wish everyone could have similar experiences, so they too, could view agriculture and the environment the way I do. Not the same way. But with respect for both.

I have lifetime friends, ones that love agriculture, and ones that love the environment, but both hate one another. My agriculturalist friends hate environmentalists, and my environmental friends hate agriculturalists. Neither of them understand that they are both trying to accomplish the same thing; a better world—because they refuse to communicate. Many environmentalists look at agriculturalists like they are all the same. If one producer sells tainted meat, thousands of others are mistrusted. If one is charged for abusing livestock, all of us are prosecuted.

Many misconceptions have been created against both the environment and agriculture. Some of the most common ones in agriculture are that agriculturalists don’t care about the environment and ranchers and farmers abuse animals. While the most prevalent one against environmentalists is that they are all activists who throw blood on fur coats.

 

[HelpMePlease]

Agriculture definitely cares for the environment—and it certainly is not against it. Agriculture depends on the well being of the earth. If the soils erode and deplete, agriculture will suffer along with everything else—if not worse. And if we destroy the environment, the farmers kids will have a future that as just as dim as everyone else's. We're all on the same side of the fence here We all want a better future and a healthier environment.

I have an odd type of goat, it's called a LaMancha, they are born without an external ear. Whenever a person sees my goats, the automatically assume I have cut their ears off, and promptly yell at me for being so abusive. I always explain it's genetic and totally natural. I wish people wouldn't assume the worst of others. I love my goats so much, that it hurts me when people can think that I would. Sadly, many people are never explained why animals are treated the way that they are, or they are explained incorrectly. This had made many misconceptions about animal abuse in agriculture 'common knowledge' in the eye of the public, when it isn't animal abuse at all.

Animal abuse in agriculture is very rare, because many agriculturalists are like me—they love animals. Not only that, but it is against regulations and it has a negative impact on our own production rates. When an animal is stressed, it produces less meat or milk, and will also eat more with a less efficient pound of grain to gain. I have noticed with my own dairy producing goats, that if I walk them every day and let them roam freely on a pasture, they will produce up to three times more milk then usual. We have no reason to harm animals. We love animals-- otherwise we wouldn't have chosen to work with them every day. Farmers and ranchers maintain high standards of animal welfare not only because it ensures a good quality product at market but also because it is the right thing to do.

Many environmentalists have been labeled with PETA activism and illegal or even sometimes violent protesting. I call my self an avid environmentalist—and yet I have never been to one single protest. In fact, I own a fur coat. A fur coat, that Polar Bear’s International, one of the most well known environmental and conservational group in the world, gave to me. Last year, I visited Churchill, the polar bear capitol of the world, to learn about polar bears and the effect climate change is having on the environment. While there, I was given the chance to talk to native trappers.

I learned so much that day. I learned, that hunters and trappers, as long as they are regulated, or as the natives do, regulate themselves, can do wonders for the environment. And not only that, but by stopping support of fur, especially fur that has been produced by natives, we are forcing them out of wild lands they have cultivated for generations—and hurting the wild populations they have been regulating for hundreds of years. One native women told me, that she feels no remorse when she takes an animals life. Nature, she said, is far more cruel. Instead of having traps that are engineered for a quick and painless death; nature will cause animals to starve to death, because of rotting teeth or disease, drown in freezing waters, die from exposure or sometimes they will slowly be eaten to death. And without them there to reduce certain populations, far more animals would die a painful death of starvation, disease, or predator attack.

We all care about the environment. We all want it to be cleaner and more pristine for the future. Therefore, in away, we are all environmentalists. We might not all be active environmentalists, but as long as you have some care, some want to look after the environment, then you are one.

The world is in trouble. We all know this. We could be attacked any moment by terrorists; this has been proven by 9-11. Slowly, as gas prices continue to rise, we have come to realize, that oil will eventually run out. We are on our why to environmental disaster, climate change, deforestation, pollution. Economic collapse. War is raging around the world, people, our own women and men, are dying in Afghanistan. My own brother is being shipped to Kuwait in the spring. All around the world, even in our own country, people go to bed hungry every night. Children, even today, are continuing to starve to death.

I am an environmentalist, not because I think we are destroying the world, eventually, after we are gone, the world will go back to normal. Thousands, maybe even millions of years, but it will. We will be erased off the planet. But right now, I am here. My one year old niece is here. My friends, neighbors, and family is here. And I am working to save them, and I know that we can. But only if we stop fighting and arguing over stupid things, and stop being selfish. The human race is capable of doing anything, but only if we work together.

Agriculture and the environment need to start working together. Not only to make the world a better place—but to save it; climate change, pollution, dependency on oil, war, disease, terrorist attacks; all things that right now, are threatening our very lives. Why do we care so much about vegetarianism or fur, when our children’s futures are at stake? Agriculturalists and environmentalists need to push aside their differences and work together, now, or face the consequences soon in the future; we can no longer say or believe lies that are created for selfish reasons; and agriculturalists and environmentalist can and must stand together as one.

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

 

[Jessica]

Whenever I tell people this story, the reaction is the same: “You put your hand inside of a goat!?”. This has made me realize how far Americans have come from their agricultural roots: what used to be common knowledge across our country, learning how to breed, raise and care for animals; is a rarely learned life lesson in our country today. As Americans moved into the cities and away from the agricultural life, we have lost our respect for our world, for our environment, for the very things which help us to survive. Not understanding agriculture or the environment has led to a disconnect between the two groups. Creating two distinct groups one interested solely in agriculture and the other only in the environment. And now they see themselves in total opposition.



I made some corrections, but only a few, and they may be right x_x My English isn't that good lol.