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
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