In addition to health and safety concerns, factory farms are also imposing a threat to the environment. Anders Nordgren claims in his article printed by the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, “…since livestock production is an important contributing factor to climate change, we should undertake mitigation measures [… ] However, technological solutions do not seem sufficient in the livestock sector, leaving us with the option of reduced meat production and consumption.” (Nordgren, August 2012.) Harmful gases, such as methane, are being released because of irresponsible disposal of manure. These greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere are also contributing to climate change and global warming. Negligent disposal of manure also causes health and social problems. Because factory farms confine a large mass of animals on a small piece of land, the management of excrement from the animals is a crucial problem. “On a factory farm with 35,000 hogs, over 4 million pounds of feces and urine are produced each week. That amounts to over 200 million pounds of waste each year – on only one farm,” (Grace Communications Foundation, 2014.) According to Wendee Nicole in a journal printed by the Environmental Health Perspective, there is an irrational difference between the treatment and disposal of human waste to animal waste. “Whereas human sewage is treated with chemical and mechanical filtration before being released into the environment, CAFOs channel waste from hog houses into pits or lagoons, where it is stored untreated until it is applied to land.” (Nicole, June 2013). When manure is cleaned from the facilities, it is usually collected, mixed with water and stored in open lagoons. When needed, it is then spre...
... middle of paper ...
...p.121-a182 [online 01 June 2013]
Nordgren, Anders. “Ethical Issues in Mitigation of Climate Change: The Option of Reduced Meat Production and Consumption” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. August 2012, Volume 25, Issue 4, pp 563-584.
Abramovitz, Janet N., and Anthony Weis. "Exporting Factory Farms." Food Empowerment Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. http://www.foodispower.org/exporting-factory-farms/.
"Our Work | Food Recovery Network." Food Recovery Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. http://www.foodrecoverynetwork.org/about-us/our-work/.
"factory farm." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/factory%20farm.
Bell, M. M. (2012). An Invitation to Environmental Sociology.Pine Forge Press, SAGE Publications, Inc. (pp. 25, 74, 81, 228). 25 Oct. 2013.
The world in which the human race lives in relies heavily on factory farming to provide food to over seven billion people. This method of food production is deemed normal and efficient in today’s society, yet has minute advantages. If we took the time to learn the conditions and technicalities of how factory farming actually operates, we would discover that the overall effects to the environment and human health are detrimental. Realistically, people are not going to stop consuming animal products, so instead, people should be conscious of how their food is being produced so that they may be informed in order to make changes in their dietary habits to better their own well being, as well as that of the environment’s.
What if you were born to die and live a miserable, torturous life in between? This is everyday life for animals on factory farms. Factory Farming is a system of rearing livestock using intensive methods, by which poultry, pigs or cattle are confined indoors under strictly controlled conditions. [add in citation for definition] Factory farming isn’t only inhumane, but it’s also hurting our health, and we don’t even have the slightest clue. With our culture today, we believe whatever the media tells us; we trust them. Each and every year, the meat industries put mounds of money into advertising, brainwashing us and telling us what food we should eat. They run their advertisements on the television, radio, and Internet ads, and have even partnered with schools in exchange for free educational resources. We like to imagine that the meat we are eating was once free, happy, and had a fast death. But that is a lie. If we don’t do anything, who will? Did you know that more than 19 million animals are killed every hour? That means 19,011 animals are killed per minute (2013d). Animals in factory farms are born, raised, and slaughtered in confined buildings. They are never allowed out to run, to enjoy life. They are born to be killed and tortured in-between. This isn’t just about one farm animal, but a variety of them. +++ Last sentence is unnecessary, include in other sentences to tie in what different animals AND how it’s effecting humans. ++THESIS STATEMENT. ☺
Factory farming has changed drastically over past 6 decades. We often believe that our food comes from a peaceful, happy farm, but in reality farm animals are put through misery on a daily basis. Regardless of whether it is an independent farm or contracted farm, livestock is mistreated and then harvested for meat or dairy production. The way production animals are treated on factory farms should change for the safety of the animals and the people who consume them.
In the book “Eating animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer, he points out the many negative effects of factory farming has on the environment. More particularly, in “Chapter 6:Slices of Paradise/Pieces of Shit”, Safran Foer talks about the environment tolls of animal agriculture waste, which results in killing wildlife, polluting air, water and land . He states “the problem is quite simple: massive amount of shit”. According to farmsanctuary.org “In the U.S. alone, animals raised on factory farms generate more than 1 million tons of manure per day, three times the amount generated by the United States population”. Because of this Safran Foer state factory farms use unorthodox methods to get rid of the excess waste. According to Safran Foer, one of the methods that factory farms use is dumping it into natural rivers, which results in killing wild marine life by pollution. Factory farms typically store animal waste in vast, air exposed lagoons, often the size of several football fields, which are likely have spills and leaks. In 2011 it was reported by the state-journal register that an Illinois factory farm spilled over two hundred fifty thousand gallons of manure into a creek, which killed over one hundred thousand fish. Because of their negligent choice the Illinois factory farm were fined over eighty thousand dollars. “Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan 's office said in a news release
Over the past few decades, small and medium sized farms have been taken over by large-scale factory farms. These farms house billions of animals used for consumption each year. The conditions on factory farms are filthy, overcrowded and disease ridden. Animals forced to live out their lives on these farms are subject to extremely harsh conditions, such as mutilation, confinement and living spaces piled high with feces. Not only do conditions on factory farms make life for livestock absolutely miserable, but factory farms are also negatively impacting human health and the environment. The production and sale of meat has become a billion-dollar industry based upon the bloodshed of other sentient beings. With this being the case, at the very least, factory farms need to be properly regulated and companies involved need to be held accountable for their abuse.
According to author Sally Driscoll the writer of “Factory Farming an Overview” Along with animal cruelty factory farms create a large mass of diseases like influenza, e.coli and mad cow disease which can be spread easily among animals who are held in small spaces or cages. most of the diseases from factory farm animals are antibiotic-resistant, which many health officials blame on the overuse of antibiotics among factory farm livestock. factory farm animals consume an estimated 70 percent of all antibiotics annually in the U.S. The hormones and antibiotics used also pose a threat to human health in many ways. the excrement from animals that contains all the hormones and antibiotics are stored in lagoons and often the lagoons spill or leak out into water systems. as the excrement decomposes, it releases methane, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide into the air which pollutes the atmosphere. research shows that people who live near hog farms suffer a large amount of respiratory problems. The unnatural and inhumane things put into animals inhabiting factory farms won't only affect the animals themselves, because they will eventually find their way into consumers
When most people picture a farm, their minds usually entertain the idea of acres upon acres of green land with cows roaming the pastures, chickens making nests, and pigs galavanting in the yard, however the reality is much more sinister. The cows are no longer roaming fields but standing in their own manure, the chickens are being shoved into small metal crates, and the pigs will never see the light of day. Factory farming is an industrial process in which animals and the products they generate are mass produced. The animals arent seen as individual sentient beings w/unique physical and psychological needs but as eggs, milk, meat, and leather. Because factory farming is a business its goal is to maximize production and, consequently, profit. Since the animals are seen as mere commodities, they are bred, fed, confined, and drugged to lay more eggs, birth more offspring, and die with more meat on their bones. According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, “There are currently no laws governing the conditions in which farmed animals are raised.” I believe the consequences of this agribusiness are environmental
Around the world, incessant debate swells over the matter of industrial farming. Today, arguments over organic versus industrial farming are analogous to a salmon swimming downstream in a murky nitrogen runoff stream – it’s stalled, hazardous, and rather convoluted. From meticulous inspection of the facts, one realizes that both sides’ arguments can often overlap and contradict each other, often with disputable claims backing up certain viewpoints. In this regard, David Biello, associate editor of Scientific American, argues that in developing countries, industrial farming is preferable to organic farming in developing countries because it is more suitable and safe. However, Biello fails to address industrial farming’s most dangerous and deadly aspect – pesticides. The effects of pesticides are so dire that it is nearly impossible to suggest that industrial farming is more innocuous and suitable for third world countries.
The term abuse refers to the harmful use or treatment of something. We are well aware of child abuse, spousal abuse, drug abuse and so on with in our society; but does the word abuse bring to mind images of farms and your dinner table? Well it should, because there is another form of abuse that has been on the rise since the 1930's which has tortured animals and placed them in our homes all while making millions in profit. Its called factory farming and for the past 80 years it has worked to put independent farmers out of business and used unethical methods of production while still avoiding all the legal consequences that their practices should have evoked. Factory farming should be banned not only because it uses cruel methods to produce meat, but also because it causes economic problems, and results in many various health concerns.
“isn’t it strange how upset people get when about a few dozen baseball players taking growth hormone, when we’re doing what were doing to food animals and feeding them to our children?” This is true when some famous sports player takes hormones all of America gets upset, but we do not even think about all of the hormones that we put into the chickens, cows turkeys and other animals that we eat to make them grow faster and how it is affecting us. Americans should be informed about the way that the factory farms are treating the animals. There are very few farm that grow anything organic, the only way the food is truly organic is if it does not have any hormones, antibiotics or man-made drug inside of the animals. Furthermore, we should not be
There are two sides to every story, alluding to the question is factory farming a defensible practice? Ethically factory farming is immoral, wrong, and has many negative externalities. However, there is the fact that factory farming provides an economic benefit, that makes meat affordable to the average American in our society today. The position I take on this matter is the benefits of factory farming economically do not out way the animal cruelty and negative externalities that factory farming creates for the communities around these large conglomerates. Organizations such as Greenpeace have taken a stand to not only seek justice for these unethical practices, but to change the way society views them. After researching the lies that big
Livestock agriculture, that is any farming situation that raises animals for product, is undeniably responsible for the misuse of earth's rescources. From soil to air and everything in between, each aspect of the environment is affected by its presence.
A United Nations report states that land used for animal agriculture, both for grazing and production of crops fed to livestock, takes up an astounding 30% of land on Earth. ("Meat Production Wastes Natural Resources") To meet the industry’s demands, over 260 million acres of forest in the U.S. have been cleared to grow grain fed to farm animals. ("Meat Production Wastes Natural Resources") With that in mind, the meat industry also dumps disease-causing pathogens through animal waste that pollutes water and forces the need for waste lagoons to be constructed, which are susceptible to leaking and flooding. ("Facts about Pollution from Livestock Farms”) Scientists say that about 14% of the world’s greenhouse gases are released by said agriculture industries, which is a growing concern for climate change and global warming. (Silverman) The meat industry uses one-third of all the fossil fuels consumed in the United States. (Moore) There is no question that farming animals has a negative effect on the environment and steps should be taken to mitigate air and water pollution risks and future deforestation. If animal agriculture was phased out, land used for animal grazing could be returned to forest land and some of it converted into fields for cultivating crops for humans. A global shift toward veganism, resulting in the elimination of the meat and animal agriculture industries, would protect the environment from various detrimental effects.
Before farms, the human race was made up of hunters and gatherers. Farms are what allowed humans to finally settle down. At first the farming was done by a family for themselves. But, as time went on and the population grew, a new type of farm had to rise to meet the needs of a larger population. These large scale farms came to be known as extractive or “mega” farms. Some people do still keep smaller farms for themselves, these are called family or marginal farms. But which one is better? As it is with all things, it is very important to have a moderate amount of information on both sides before being able to make an argument for either side.
Furthermore, factory farming can also be very dangerous for the environment. Gale (2013) states, “...the livestock industry accounts for 80% of the greenhouse gas emission, while the methane produced by cattle and their manure has a global warming effect equivalent to that of 33 million automobiles.” By working together to stop factory farming, people can save their environment. They will also have a cleaner air to breath ...