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.
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Ryan,
ReplyDeleteThis is rough but it's a start. Here's a few things to consider in expanding and revising.
1) There is not any research evident here. There is knowledge but it tends toward the general and is not backed up or elaborated.
2) Your start with pigs but seem to scope out to include all factory farming.
3) Pig farms stink really bad-smell pollution over a large area from the shit ponds.
4) How does a humane pig farm look, smell, and operate in comparison to the factory model?
5) You need to argue that the meat is compromised.
6) I think your man Pollan has written about pig farms. Check it out. There should be plenty of sources.
7) You seem to advocate not eating bacon. As you know, bacon comes from one part of the pig.
So, while you have a topic, it is not yet clear what issues you are focusing on. I think that most readers have no idea how pig factories are run, what it means for the pigs, the meat, the land etc. So you need to more thoroughly educate the reader on it. Pictures would help! The more one knows about these operations, the more disturbed one gets. Make the readers disturbed. That will take some careful writing. You need to offer alternatives. They are there. I buy local pork at Kroger and it is not factory method.
These places are very private and protected. They don't want anyone to know what goes on inside.
Pigs are as intelligent as dogs. Puppy mills are routinely protested.
Dr R