This thread is very nostalgic!
Back in the '70s and '80s, I lived for each new issue of Mother Earth News and Organic Gardening! I feasted my eyes and imagination on the photos and descriptions of backyard chickens, home made vertical axis wind generators (made from 55 gallon drums), and even YURTS! Since we lived in a little mobile home on 2 acres, we actually got to try our hands at chickens, turkeys, goats, and various methods of organic gardening. Never made any home made energy devices, though.
Now we live on 20 acres, but there are so many raccoons and other small predators that we never set up chickens here because they would need to be cooped up. But I am growing some nice tropical greens during the summer, and some garden veggies in the winter. I do miss the chickens, though. Now I raise feeder roaches to recycle the kitchen waste that I used to give to chickens.
After my experience as a hobby farmer, I can say that some small scale livestock raising can be a really thrifty use of resources. Actually, I believe that one of the BEST recycling, "back to nature" projects that could be encouraged for typical suburban homeowners would be for each interested household to keep a few hens. Compared to a pet dog, a few hens would be quieter, make less mess, be less risky as far biting or attacking neighbors, etc, all the while producing eggs, fertilizer, AND recycling kitchen waste that would normally go into the disposal or landfill. And possibly the MOST important benefit is that suburban children who normally grow up divorced from almost everything natural, believing that meat is manufactured and wrapped in plastic, would get to learn about "the circle of life", and the whole food chain, FIRST HAND!
Most of our grandparents did all of this, and more. They actually killed and butchered the chickens and other meat that was put on their table. Although most suburban parents probably would not be that "brave", I think there would be great merit for those who were able to follow through the whole process, if they choose to eat meat. It is my personal opinion that if a person chooses to eat meat, they should, at least once, take the responsibility to either hunt, or raise, their own meat animal, butcher and process it, and eat it. That may sound brutal to most city dwellers, but I believe such an experience would provide a link to nature and the food chain that is totally lost to super market shoppers. Perhaps those who can't stomach facing the reality of meat production, even once, should reconsider meat eating and become vegetarians. Back on our old 2 acre homestead, we regularly butchered and ate our own chickens, turkeys, and rabbits. Not my favorite thing, but a necessary part of being a carnivore. AND the meat eaten was SO MUCH more healthful, tasty, and easier on the environment, than the factory farmed meat most of us eat now.
I dislike the use of emotional appeals to try to guilt people into doing whatever somebody thinks is "the right thing to do." But I am for the greatest possible variety of personal choices, based upon logical reasoning, the best efficiency of resources, and above all, the acknowledgment of reality and responsibility of the actual consequences of our choices. After taking all of those variables into account, you should do whatever is right for you - IMHO, of course!