Humans love food; I would say this is logical given the fact that it is necessary to survive. Personally, I am in love with food, but not all food. Some food I can’t stand, finding it alarming that it is still legal to produce and sell. The Factory farming of animals is one of the most disgusting and ethically questionable practices still overlooked by most of society today. The mass concentrated production of pig farms in particular, poses a great amount environmental concern for the entire world. Unless something is done now, the ecological consequences will never revert back!
“Factory farm production is intensifying worldwide, and rates of new infectious diseases are rising. Of particular concern is the rapid rise of antibiotic-resistant microbes, an inevitable consequence of the widespread use of antibiotics as feed additives in industrial livestock operations.”(Mother Earth) This public knowledge still goes without serious action taken to promote a more sustainable form of farming.
When you enter the home of swine you must wear a respirator, otherwise the terrible smell and air contents will seem quite harsh on the lungs. Yet the inhabitants of this facility don’t seem to have this same pleasure. “The air inside hog factories is so polluted with dust, dander and noxious gases from the animals' waste that workers who are exposed for just a few hours per day are at high risk for bronchitis, asthma, sinusitis, organic dust toxic syndrome (ODTS) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Unlike these workers, the pigs have no escape from this toxic air, and roughly half of all pigs that die between weaning and slaughter succumb to respiratory disease.”(Farm sanctuary) Door knobs have be replaced yearly in these facilities due to the corrosive air that is a result of these pigs waste. Thousands of pigs kept on one small plot of land, confined to a small cubicle, no room to move or borough, only metal grates for a floor.
Grates for a floor seem like quite the surface you would enjoy spending most of your life on. Literally eat, sleep, and shit all day without any room to turn around or fresh air to breath. The grates do make clean up a bit easier, yet all of the pigs shit sits under the farmhouse until enough has accumulated to be pumped outside. This cocktail of waste is pumped into massive lagoons where they “can cover six to seven and a half acres, and hold as much as 20 to 45 million gallons of wastewater”(food and water watch)
The current method of containing this shit through the lagoon system leaves tons of fecal matter in pools waiting to be sprayed on fields. This spraying is apparently to utilize the waste as fertilizer, yet these farms produce so much shit that they end up over spraying their fields. This has a chain reaction with the ability to ruin entire ecosystems and streams due to such an immense amount of pollutants. (Food and water watch)
Factory farming has a huge impact on the environment, not only in terms of the fuel that is dispensed to ship this mass produced meat, also with the vast animal waste that has no place to reside. When animals naturally roam their impact is small because their excrement is absorbed. When animals are factory farmed, too many animals produce too much waste for one small plot of land to utilize. This fact alone makes the issue of factory farming a dilemma with a difficulty to utilize this animal waste.
Once you add to this waste the abundance of pharmaceuticals and chemicals that these animals need to remain alive long enough to slaughter, you have a problem. In reality you a have a huge ever present load of shit, with absolutely nowhere to put it with out having an impact. Even scarier is what happens when there is a flood and all of that waste ends up in the waterways. Fish die by the millions, people get sick, and the environment still continues to suffer, all for bacon to eat every day.
In 1995 a lagoon burst in North Carolina and spilled 25 million gallons of shit into the new river. This had a huge impact on fish and shellfish with an estimated 10 million fish dead as a result. This massive accident has had dire consequences on aquatic life, yet this farm still produces meat, seeming to not look at the impact they have. (food and water watch)
Surrounding factory farms is another unseen tragedy; people are negatively impacted through the concentration of these animals. Similar to the pigs that are basically stuck with not much room to move, humans, due to their ever-diminishing property value near farms are also stuck. Either they can move and attempt to sell or stick it out and suffer the consequences. The health consequences for humans living near or working on factory farms are abundant. Many of the health affects as a result of spraying waste into the air are headaches, shortness of breath, wheezing, excessive coughing, and diarrhea. (nrdc) Many surrounding residents speak of the disgust that they feel from the terrible odors outside their homes.
Factory farming has been under intense scrutiny sense an abundance of sources have informed the public of its vile conditions. This knowledge has yet to change many people’s opinions of the meat that they continue to eat year after year. Many organizations have led the fight to stop this type of farming from occurring with much concern of over the actual animals themselves. The animals obviously should be a major concern with their well being actually considered.
The time is now and you must take a stand in the name of our environment. How can you sit around any longer just listening without any reaction to some of the knowledge you have gained? It is interesting how we are such advanced creatures with an abundant amount of knowledge. Yet we do not take our knowledge and relate that to choices we make day after day. Now you must choose, sure you could be a vegetarian, but who wants to do that. Really it is simple to still eat meat that is without a horrible impact, you might just not do it as often as previously .
We all must switch to eating pastured meats without hormones, insecticides, and antibiotics. These products are becoming widely available with their popularity sure destined to increase. Not only does this meat taste better but also it is healthier for you due to the fact that it was not corn fed. It is a sustainable natural process where the animals actually have a quality of life. The choice is yours but know whatever you choose will have a lasting impact long after you die.
Sources
Mother Earth News, The Hidden Link Between Factory Farms and Human Illness,
Feb/Mar2009, Issue 232, p76-83, 8p:(AN 36237132)
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/pubs/reports/smithfield-foods
http://www.farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/pork/
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/factoryfarms/dairy-and-meat-factories/lowdown/factoryfarmspdf.pdf
http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/nspills.asp
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Paraphrase
The current method of containing this shit is through the lagoon system where tons of fecal matter sits in pools waiting to be sprayed on fields. This spraying is apparently to utilize the waste as fertilizer, yet these farms produce so much shit that they end up over spraying their fields. This has a chain reaction with the ability to ruin entire ecosystems and streams due to such an immense about of pollutants.(Rolling Stone)
Looking down from the plane, we watch as several of Smithfield's farmers spray their hog shit straight up into the air as a fine mist: It looks like a public fountain. Lofted and atomized, the shit is blown clear of the company's property. People who breathe the shit-infused air suffer from bronchitis, asthma, heart palpitations, headaches, diarrhea, nosebleeds and brain damage. In 1995, a woman downwind from a corporate hog farm in Olivia, Minnesota, called a poison-control center and described her symptoms. "Ma'am," the poison-control officer told her, "the only symptoms of hydrogen-sulfide poisoning you're not experiencing are seizures, convulsions and death. Leave the area immediately." When you fly over eastern North Carolina, you realize that virtually everyone in this part of the state lives close to a lagoon.
Each of the company's lagoons is surrounded by several fields. Pollution control at Smithfield consists of spraying the pig shit from the lagoons onto the fields to fertilize them. The idea is borrowed from the past: The small hog farmers that Smithfield drove out of business used animal waste to fertilize their crops, which they then fed to the pigs. Smithfield says that this, in essence, is what it does -- its crops absorb every ounce of its pig shit, making the lagoon-sprayfield system a zero-discharge, nonpolluting waste-disposal operation. "If you manage your fields correctly, there should be no runoff, no pollution," says Dennis Treacy, Smithfield's vice president of environmental affairs. "If you're getting runoff, you're doing something wrong."
In fact, Smithfield doesn't grow nearly enough crops to absorb all of its hog weight. The company raises so many pigs in so little space that it actually has to import the majority of their food, which contains large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus. Those chemicals -- discharged in pig shit and sprayed on fields -- run off into the surrounding ecosystem, causing what Dan Whittle, a former senior policy associate with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, calls a "mass imbalance." At one point, three hog-raising counties in North Carolina were producing more nitrogen, and eighteen were producing more phosphorus, than all the crops in the state could absorb.
As we fly over the hog farms, I notice that springs and streams and swamplands and lakes are everywhere. Eastern North Carolina is a coastal plain, grooved and tilted towards the sea -- and Smithfield's sprayfields almost always incline toward creeks or creek-fed swamps. Half-perforated pipes called irrigation tiles, commonly used in modern farming, run beneath many of the fields; when they become unplugged, the tiles effectively operate as drainpipes, dumping pig waste into surrounding tributaries. Many studies have documented the harm caused by hog-waste runoff; one showed the pig shit raising the level of nitrogen and phosphorus in a receiving river as much as sixfold. In eastern North Carolina, nine rivers and creeks in the Cape Fear and Neuse River basins have been classified by the state as either "negatively impacted" or environmentally "impaired."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12840743/porks_dirty_secret_the_nations_top_hog_producer_is_also_one_of_americas_worst_polluters/3
Looking down from the plane, we watch as several of Smithfield's farmers spray their hog shit straight up into the air as a fine mist: It looks like a public fountain. Lofted and atomized, the shit is blown clear of the company's property. People who breathe the shit-infused air suffer from bronchitis, asthma, heart palpitations, headaches, diarrhea, nosebleeds and brain damage. In 1995, a woman downwind from a corporate hog farm in Olivia, Minnesota, called a poison-control center and described her symptoms. "Ma'am," the poison-control officer told her, "the only symptoms of hydrogen-sulfide poisoning you're not experiencing are seizures, convulsions and death. Leave the area immediately." When you fly over eastern North Carolina, you realize that virtually everyone in this part of the state lives close to a lagoon.
Each of the company's lagoons is surrounded by several fields. Pollution control at Smithfield consists of spraying the pig shit from the lagoons onto the fields to fertilize them. The idea is borrowed from the past: The small hog farmers that Smithfield drove out of business used animal waste to fertilize their crops, which they then fed to the pigs. Smithfield says that this, in essence, is what it does -- its crops absorb every ounce of its pig shit, making the lagoon-sprayfield system a zero-discharge, nonpolluting waste-disposal operation. "If you manage your fields correctly, there should be no runoff, no pollution," says Dennis Treacy, Smithfield's vice president of environmental affairs. "If you're getting runoff, you're doing something wrong."
In fact, Smithfield doesn't grow nearly enough crops to absorb all of its hog weight. The company raises so many pigs in so little space that it actually has to import the majority of their food, which contains large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus. Those chemicals -- discharged in pig shit and sprayed on fields -- run off into the surrounding ecosystem, causing what Dan Whittle, a former senior policy associate with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, calls a "mass imbalance." At one point, three hog-raising counties in North Carolina were producing more nitrogen, and eighteen were producing more phosphorus, than all the crops in the state could absorb.
As we fly over the hog farms, I notice that springs and streams and swamplands and lakes are everywhere. Eastern North Carolina is a coastal plain, grooved and tilted towards the sea -- and Smithfield's sprayfields almost always incline toward creeks or creek-fed swamps. Half-perforated pipes called irrigation tiles, commonly used in modern farming, run beneath many of the fields; when they become unplugged, the tiles effectively operate as drainpipes, dumping pig waste into surrounding tributaries. Many studies have documented the harm caused by hog-waste runoff; one showed the pig shit raising the level of nitrogen and phosphorus in a receiving river as much as sixfold. In eastern North Carolina, nine rivers and creeks in the Cape Fear and Neuse River basins have been classified by the state as either "negatively impacted" or environmentally "impaired."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12840743/porks_dirty_secret_the_nations_top_hog_producer_is_also_one_of_americas_worst_polluters/3
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Rough, rough, rough draft of position paper
When I tell you what I am about to tell you I don’t think you will change, in fact I know you won’t! This being said, it is no surprise I am about divulge some things that might make you think twice prior to eating your next piece of bacon. Although, you might just say man I really like bacon. It really sucks for the pig, my body and the environment yet in the end bacon in just too damn good. If this is how you feel you’re not alone there are many more out there just like you still eating their bacon.
When you enter the home of swine in the winter months you must wear a respirator, otherwise the terrible smell and air contents will seem quite harsh on the lungs. Yet the inhabitants of this facility don’t seem to have this same pleasure. Door knobs have be replaced yearly in these facilities due to the corrosive air that is a result of these pigs waste. Thousands of pigs kept on one a small plot of land, confined to a small cubicle, no room to move or borough, only metal grates for a floor.
Factory farming has been under intense scrutiny sense an abundance of sources have informed the public of its vile conditions. This knowledge has yet to change many people’s opinions of the meat that they continue to eat year after year. Many organizations have led the fight to stop this type of farming from occurring with much concern of over the actual animals themselves. The animals obviously should be a major concern with their well being actually considered. Still one thing that many people fail to ponder is what happens to all of the waste that these massive farms produce.
Factory farming has a huge impact on the environment, not only in terms of the fuel that is dispensed to ship this mass produced meat, also with the vast animal waste that has no place to reside. This waste is a cocktail of urine, antibiotics, hormones, steroids, and various excrement produced from the animals. When animals naturally roam their impact is small because their excrement is absorbed. When animals are factory farmed too many animals produce too much waste for one small plot of land to utilize. This fact alone makes the issue of factory farming a dilemma with a difficulty to utilize this animal waste.
Once you add to this waste the abundance of pharmaceuticals and chemicals that these animals need to remain alive long enough to slaughter you have a problem. In reality you a have a huge ever present load of shit, with absolutely nowhere to put it with out having an impact. Even scarier is what happens when there is a flood and all of that waste ends up in the waterways. Fish die by the millions, people get sick, and the environment still continues to suffer, all for bacon to eat every day.
When you enter the home of swine in the winter months you must wear a respirator, otherwise the terrible smell and air contents will seem quite harsh on the lungs. Yet the inhabitants of this facility don’t seem to have this same pleasure. Door knobs have be replaced yearly in these facilities due to the corrosive air that is a result of these pigs waste. Thousands of pigs kept on one a small plot of land, confined to a small cubicle, no room to move or borough, only metal grates for a floor.
Factory farming has been under intense scrutiny sense an abundance of sources have informed the public of its vile conditions. This knowledge has yet to change many people’s opinions of the meat that they continue to eat year after year. Many organizations have led the fight to stop this type of farming from occurring with much concern of over the actual animals themselves. The animals obviously should be a major concern with their well being actually considered. Still one thing that many people fail to ponder is what happens to all of the waste that these massive farms produce.
Factory farming has a huge impact on the environment, not only in terms of the fuel that is dispensed to ship this mass produced meat, also with the vast animal waste that has no place to reside. This waste is a cocktail of urine, antibiotics, hormones, steroids, and various excrement produced from the animals. When animals naturally roam their impact is small because their excrement is absorbed. When animals are factory farmed too many animals produce too much waste for one small plot of land to utilize. This fact alone makes the issue of factory farming a dilemma with a difficulty to utilize this animal waste.
Once you add to this waste the abundance of pharmaceuticals and chemicals that these animals need to remain alive long enough to slaughter you have a problem. In reality you a have a huge ever present load of shit, with absolutely nowhere to put it with out having an impact. Even scarier is what happens when there is a flood and all of that waste ends up in the waterways. Fish die by the millions, people get sick, and the environment still continues to suffer, all for bacon to eat every day.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Farm This FInal Revision
“All right, I’m up”
“We are out front,” exclaims my sister “ I called you three times already!”
“I will be out the door in two minutes.”
I roll out of bed man my head hurts; I chug two glasses of water and brush my teeth vigorously. Throw on some shorts, a wrinkled shirt, my Birkenstock sandals, and of course my shades, without these the sun would be blinding this time of year. I jump into my sister’s car, my mom and her waiting patiently.
It’s 9:45 on Saturday the third week of July. I am beyond excited and hung-over, my breath the topic of conversation more than once, reeking of Liquor. Why the hell am I up, only sleeping four hours after walking two miles home drunk? Seasonal, local fruit and vegetables of course, the amazing Athens Farmers Market is my destination. Look nowhere else for some of the best tasting food you will ever experience. Lettuce that was picked yesterday, vine ripened heirloom tomatoes of all varieties, mushrooms, and my favorite the wide array of fruit. Even some farmers carrying a few Asian vegetables, locally made cheddar and goat cheeses, along with middle eastern salads and desserts, only to name a few of the many options.
Since I can remember my mom has shopped at this market, arriving before it opens to ensure that we eat the best fruit and vegetables. We were not the typical family; we ate together nightly, enjoying nourishing balanced meals made from scratch. Today this seems to be a novelty, with the masses rushing to the closest fast food chain just to fill their stomachs, with no thought about what it took to make that cheap unhealthy meal.
My mother has also loved to garden my whole life and beginning last year my mom, sister, and I started our own garden at my sister’s house where we grow mostly vegetables. The feeling of working the land, plating the seed, weeding, watering, caring for the plants, and then finally harvesting it, is one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had. This is an experience that many never have had, lacking the feeling of what truly fresh food tastes like.
My environmental ethic has been influenced not only by my mother but also through the media, books in particular. Authors such as Michael Pollan, Carlo Petrini, and Alice Waters have shaped my environmental ethic exponentially. Reading the compelling stories and facts that they divulge in their various writings has truly changed what I eat. No longer do I frequent fast food chains; I eat as locally or organically as possible, only trying to eat whole unprocessed food.
Food is my main concern when it comes to the environment because that is where I feel humans have messed things up exponentially. We have GMO’s instead of natural varieties that are harsher on the environment because they require more chemicals. We have animals that are fed diets in contrast to their natural diet solely to fatten them for profit. We have a meat grading system that encourages that kind of behavior, and then after all that, we ship this food worldwide.
In reality it is sadly no longer possible for all to eat this fresh, due to the fact that not everyone lives in a location that has land to grow crops. Although, many do have land and should take the time to grow some of their own food. We have come too far from where our food originates; this disconnect has dire consequences on future generations. No longer are many people able to identify food in its natural environment, kill for themselves, let alone cook for themselves.
If we fail to change the way we eat, the cost on the future of the environment and humans is a concern. The water ways get polluted daily with run off from farms due to too much animal waste and the water pumped full of antibiotics and steroids. The animals themselves are fed mostly a diet of corn only to fatten them up, which in turn makes more profit, but in reality this costs us our health due to the excess fat in our diet. Vegetables are grown on soil that is so bare from all the chemicals used that the only way to make it fertile is to use more chemicals, a never-ending process that seems only to get worse.
What can you do, how can you help, what needs to change? People need to eat locally, especially in season. Why not if the food tastes better and benefits local farmers? People need to not eat out of season produce that was grown in South America and then shipped far. As a whole if we don’t change you might not see a difference immediately but eventually it will have an impact. What would you do one day if the grocery store ran out of food, where would you find your food supply?
“We are out front,” exclaims my sister “ I called you three times already!”
“I will be out the door in two minutes.”
I roll out of bed man my head hurts; I chug two glasses of water and brush my teeth vigorously. Throw on some shorts, a wrinkled shirt, my Birkenstock sandals, and of course my shades, without these the sun would be blinding this time of year. I jump into my sister’s car, my mom and her waiting patiently.
It’s 9:45 on Saturday the third week of July. I am beyond excited and hung-over, my breath the topic of conversation more than once, reeking of Liquor. Why the hell am I up, only sleeping four hours after walking two miles home drunk? Seasonal, local fruit and vegetables of course, the amazing Athens Farmers Market is my destination. Look nowhere else for some of the best tasting food you will ever experience. Lettuce that was picked yesterday, vine ripened heirloom tomatoes of all varieties, mushrooms, and my favorite the wide array of fruit. Even some farmers carrying a few Asian vegetables, locally made cheddar and goat cheeses, along with middle eastern salads and desserts, only to name a few of the many options.
Since I can remember my mom has shopped at this market, arriving before it opens to ensure that we eat the best fruit and vegetables. We were not the typical family; we ate together nightly, enjoying nourishing balanced meals made from scratch. Today this seems to be a novelty, with the masses rushing to the closest fast food chain just to fill their stomachs, with no thought about what it took to make that cheap unhealthy meal.
My mother has also loved to garden my whole life and beginning last year my mom, sister, and I started our own garden at my sister’s house where we grow mostly vegetables. The feeling of working the land, plating the seed, weeding, watering, caring for the plants, and then finally harvesting it, is one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had. This is an experience that many never have had, lacking the feeling of what truly fresh food tastes like.
My environmental ethic has been influenced not only by my mother but also through the media, books in particular. Authors such as Michael Pollan, Carlo Petrini, and Alice Waters have shaped my environmental ethic exponentially. Reading the compelling stories and facts that they divulge in their various writings has truly changed what I eat. No longer do I frequent fast food chains; I eat as locally or organically as possible, only trying to eat whole unprocessed food.
Food is my main concern when it comes to the environment because that is where I feel humans have messed things up exponentially. We have GMO’s instead of natural varieties that are harsher on the environment because they require more chemicals. We have animals that are fed diets in contrast to their natural diet solely to fatten them for profit. We have a meat grading system that encourages that kind of behavior, and then after all that, we ship this food worldwide.
In reality it is sadly no longer possible for all to eat this fresh, due to the fact that not everyone lives in a location that has land to grow crops. Although, many do have land and should take the time to grow some of their own food. We have come too far from where our food originates; this disconnect has dire consequences on future generations. No longer are many people able to identify food in its natural environment, kill for themselves, let alone cook for themselves.
If we fail to change the way we eat, the cost on the future of the environment and humans is a concern. The water ways get polluted daily with run off from farms due to too much animal waste and the water pumped full of antibiotics and steroids. The animals themselves are fed mostly a diet of corn only to fatten them up, which in turn makes more profit, but in reality this costs us our health due to the excess fat in our diet. Vegetables are grown on soil that is so bare from all the chemicals used that the only way to make it fertile is to use more chemicals, a never-ending process that seems only to get worse.
What can you do, how can you help, what needs to change? People need to eat locally, especially in season. Why not if the food tastes better and benefits local farmers? People need to not eat out of season produce that was grown in South America and then shipped far. As a whole if we don’t change you might not see a difference immediately but eventually it will have an impact. What would you do one day if the grocery store ran out of food, where would you find your food supply?
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