We, as human beings, the stewards of the earth are all on a road trip together. First we passed, wild animals, running freely through forests and open grass lands, then we saw a herder, guarding his flock carefully, as he moved it from place to place. Next we saw many farmers and their families, tending to their animals on small individual plots of land. Fostering each one with the utmost care, he used no hormones or other unnatural methods, as he substituted them with responsibility and attention. Now we are driving on a long stretch of road, all we can see are large mettle storehouses, with no windows. Inside their are thousands of animals packed into tiny spaces, where they can barely breath, let alone move freely. They are given hormones to make sure they grow to be the biggest, fattest stores of meat possible. We as a species must turn around. We cannot continue going in this direction. It is one where the Environment is desolated, animals are mistreated, and the people are fat and sick.
According to the united nations food and agriculture organization 13 billion tons of fecal matter is produced just by cattle, pigs, sheeps, chickens and goats. 65 percent of this is methane gas, which once released into the environment traps heat at 23 times the rate of carbon dioxide. According to the documentary cowspiracy, this accounts for 53 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. To put that into perspective, transportation accounts for about 13 percent. That means, even if everyone in the world, drove an electric car and it would not even come close to helping the issue, as if we all stopped buying meat and animal by products from large scale farms. This spells out, a large contributor to global warming. While the effects on the ozone, are detrimental, they are a side note compared to the damages large scale animal agriculture provide on earth's water supply. According to cowspiracy, animal agriculture takes around 7 trillion gallons of water per year. Fracking accounts for roughly 70 billion gallons of water a year, this is a fraction of the water used in animal agriculture. The water supply in the U.S. is being dangerously damaged, and yet legislators would hardly even mention regulating fracking, so don’t expect any new legislation to limit the water use in animal agriculture. Thus it is our responsibility to regulate the industry, by voting with our wallets. Buying meat and other products from small scale vendors. Who care for their animals and do not just throw them into cages, like prisoners.
In large scale animal agriculture, animals are treated worse than most criminals, and yet (Point at picture) what crime did they commit? According to the centre for integrated animal agriculture, in most large scale operations chickens are in 10’ by 10’ cages. These animals are stuffed into tiny cages, for their entire lives, never even seeing the light of day. They only freedom to look forward to is death. Some may say that they are just animals, and have no feelings or awareness, to them I would say would you treat your dog or cat like this? Animals were not meant to be confined, they were meant to graze and wander across large spaces. Those participating in animal agriculture are committing an atrocity. And we must do all we can to stop, them.
Animal agriculture does not just confine animals to prison, it confines humans to an entirely different type of prison, OBESITY and DISEASE. According to cowspiracy, the average american eats 209 POUNDS of meat per year. While some meat and dairy and animal byproducts in moderation are part of a healthy diet, large scale animal agriculture has made meat accessible in excess quantities. Eating large amounts of meat is considered a HEAVY contributor to obesity. Even in small quantities, the hormones used in most large scale operations have detrimental effects on the human body. Maybe obesity is not the most important thing to you, even though it is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., disease surely must catch your attention. Because of the tightly packed nature of large scale animal agriculture, disease is highly common, and because these people are not farmers, attending to the needs of their small group of animals, many times, this goes unnoticed and this diseased meat is sent out to be consumed.
Large scale animal agriculture is a recent stop on the road trip of humanity but it is one the we must not linger long at. Rather we need to turn the car around, and go back to small family farms, who care about what they are sending to market as they themselves are part of the community, and we must drive away from large scale animal agriculture as fast as we can, as we have only been at this stop for a short period of time and the effects have been detrimental.
Cowspiracy. Dir. Keegan Kuhn. Perf. Kip Anderson. 2014. Netflix. Web. 1 July 2016.
This documentary follows Kip Andersen as he describes what he considered the greatest threat to our ecosystem, the mass raising and slaughtering of cattle around the world. Anderson recounts the many adverse effects the raising and slaughtering of cattle has on the ecosystem, from one of the leading causes of climate change, due to the absurd amounts of methane produced, to the depletion of the earth's water sources, as a result of the cattle. While doing many interviews with high ranking officials in multiple eco friendly groups, very few people will address large scale agriculture and cattle production as a cause. This documentary is important as it allows the viewer to get a glimpse of how detrimental these large scale productions can be on not only the ozone but the rest of the ecosystem. The Documentary also shows that there is very little currently being done to stop these operations or at least bring them down to a smaller scale, which would greatly reduce their effect on the environment.
Vegan Street. Vegan Street. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 July 2016.
This picture shows a hospital full of sick patients, insinuating their diseases are a result of animal agriculture. The ad lists the fact that 70 percent of human disease is a result of animal agriculture, this provides a compelling reason to stop our reliance on animal agriculture. This ad is also compelling as it takes a different perspective than most people regularly take when discussing animal agriculture. Few people think about the pathways to spread diseases that animal agriculture provides, that were not around prior to the industrialization of animal agriculture. Many people chose to ignore the facts of climate change, or pretend we are not depleting our water resources and poisoning the earth with nitrogen, but disease is something that is clear to see and impossible to ignore. Many recent outbreaks such as swine flue are results of animal agriculture. These outbreaks directly involved the lives of people in a way that no one can ignore. Thus the approach involving disease is more immediately threatening and as a result makes this ad very compelling.
Vrbicek, Andy. "The World's Leading Driver of Climate Change: Animal Agriculture." New Harvest. N.p., 18 Jan. 2015. Web. 1 July 2016.
This article recounts the many ways in which animal agriculture is affecting our ecosystem and to what degree. This article is effective as it uses many shocking facts on things like the percentage of co2 and methane that is put into the ozone by humans is significantly due to animal agriculture. This article is shocking and does well to motivate the reader to change their ways. This article is also effective as it not only motivates the reader but gives them a sense that their contribution will actually begin decreasing climate change in the next 15 years. By offering solutions that would seemingly start to help immediately, the article allows the reader to have a sense of how much they are helping rather than being ineffective. The bystander effect, in which no one helps as they believe other will, is one of the main reasons people continue to do things that harm the environment. If a person can see that what they are doing is helping they will be more motivated to help, thus this article is extremely effective.
"Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options." Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
"Safeway Has a Vegan Cake! - Vegan Outreach." Vegan Outreach. N.p., 23 May 2016. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
"Emerging Issues in Animal Agriculture." MSU Extension. Michigan State University, 10 June 2014. Web. 01 July 2016.
This source provides new perspectives on the detrimental effects of animal agriculture. In this source, details on how the basic biology of soil can be changed when large amounts of manure are added. While some amounts of manure have been know to help add necessary nutrients to the ground, to much can cause the soil to irrevocably go bad. The source provides an entirely new motivation, as the issue has spread into plant based agriculture. This makes this source very compelling, as it now affects our entire food source not just a part of it. The source also adds a increases the risk of disease as a result. of animal agriculture. As farmers over medicate animals to keep them healthy, new strains of bacteria grow stronger through a rapid form of natural selection. Some fear some bacteria will soon overpower even the strongest antibiotics. This is a compelling source as it provides new aspects and dangers of large scale animal agriculture and adds new perspectives on to old ones.
Pollan, Michael. Omnivore's Dilemma. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
This book follows three ways of obtaining food, the industrial, organic, and hunter gather form. The book centres on the many choices that we now have on what to eat, that hundreds of years ago were limited by culture, area and seasons. Now through globalization we are able to eat anything we want at any given time, no matter where or when, thus creating the omnivore’s dilemma. The book is compelling as it discusses the negatives to large scale animal and plant based agriculture not only on the environment but on the body. This book is compelling as it also provides solutions. Yet again, simple and convenient solutions must be a compromise between the absolute right thing for the environment and the most convenient thing to do, if not no one would be willing to do them. This book provides easy compromises that allow the reader to continue some of their dietary habits in a reduced or changed sense.
"Large-scale Pastured Poultry Farming in the U.S. (Research Brief #63) | Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems." Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
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