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Just so you know -- my intent here is to start a community wide conversation: Do the people of Lawrence (and Merc member/owners) think it is in everyone's best interest to allow small groups in leadership positions, based upon their personal bias, to exclude thoughtful perspectives they don't like, from participating in the venues they control -- often without the public even knowing the censorship has occurred, or do you want to create a cultural imperative that opposes such censorship as undemocratic? Do you value free speech?
More has happened since this powerpoint was posted. You can read about it here: The Merc Makes Another Move -- JoAnn Farb responds
Feb 26, 2016 update to this post: When I was creating this power point, in preparation to give it to The Merc's board, I went to their meat department at that time and looked to see what beef they were selling. I recall they had some from a farm that I think was in Arkansas, and when I called that farm, they told me that ALL of their beef was "finished" for three months on grain (making it NOT truly "grass' fed) I then brought this up with a woman who worked in the Merc's meat department and asked if they had any truly grass fed beef and she apologetically told me that they did not, and I included that fact in my power point. A few days ago, The Merc just advertised that they have grass fed beef for sale and when I went to the website of this newer vendor, I saw that they state that their cows are 100% grass fed. People should be aware that with regards to climate change, this is actually worse. Cows fed grain grow more quickly then grass-fed (even though they feel miserable eating grain and are more likely to be sick and their flesh contaminated with more pathogenic strains of bacteria) and the more quickly they reach slaughter size, THE LESS methane and CO2 is emitted per pound of beef. Also -- any farms feeding their cows alfalfa in the winter (and I don't know if they do or not) that has been grown in California is very unsustainable. Alfalfa is one of the most water intensive crops grown in that state, and a big contributor to their water crisis.
The only good alternative is to go vegan.