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effects of agricultural on the environment
industrial farming effects
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When people are eating meat, have they ever stopped and asked themselves what they 're eating, or what type of life the animal they 're eating went through. The articles “An Animal’s Place” by Michael Pollan, explains the moral issue if it 's correct to consume meat. “The Omnivore 's Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals”, by Blake Hurst, defends himself against critics who says negativity about industrial farming and the ways animals are treated. After close examination of both articles, the reader would be able to determine what type of farming is more logical. In Michael’s Pollan article, the author seeks to inform whether or not it 's correct to consume animals and the treatments they receive. Many animal right activist believe …show more content…
Pollan believes that American factory farms are places with technological sophistication, where animals are machines incapable of feeling pain (368). In other words, factory farms use plentiful of technology where they do not pay attention to animals feelings. For example, beef cattle who live outdoors are standing in their own waste, and factory farmers do not considered that wrong and unsanitary. Hurst alleges that “turkeys do walk around in their own waste, although they don’t seemed to mind”(5). This shows that factory farmers think that animals really don’t have feelings and really don’t care. Pollan also disagrees with industrial farming because he states that, “American industrial farms itself is redefined- as a protein production- and with it suffering” (369). He affirms this because industrial farming cages their animals. Interestingly, both authors believe that animals still die and suffer no matter what circumstances an animal is living. Pollan believes animals should be treated with respect and not be caged. On the other hand, Hurst asserts that “farmers do not cage their hogs because sadism, but because being crushed by your mother really is an awful way to go, as is being eaten by your mother”(6). So Hurst say that he cages animals to protect them. Also both authors believe that there needs to be ways to enrich the soil, so the farms can have bigger harvest, healthy plants, and keep cost down. However, Pollan believes that farmer should use compost. He states that “the finish compost will go to feed the grass;the grass, the cattle; the cattle , the chickens; and eventually all of the animals will feed us” (370). So he thinks compost is good for the farms. Hurst on the other hand, think manure and commercial fertilizer is good for the farms. Hurst spread poultry litter on pasture and this made cattle production possible in areas
The argumentative article “More Pros than Cons in a Meat-Free Life” authored by Marjorie Lee Garretson was published in the student newspaper of the University of Mississippi in April 2010. In Garretson’s article, she said that a vegetarian lifestyle is the healthy life choice and how many people don’t know how the environment is affected by their eating habits. She argues how the animal factory farms mistreat the animals in an inhumane way in order to be sources of food. Although, she did not really achieve the aim she wants it for this article, she did not do a good job in trying to convince most of the readers to become vegetarian because of her writing style and the lack of information of vegetarian
Jonathan Safran Foer wrote “Eating Animals” for his son; although, when he started writing it was not meant to be a book (Foer). More specifically to decide whether he would raise his son as a vegetarian or meat eater and to decide what stories to tell his son (Foer). The book was meant to answer his question of what meat is and how we get it s well as many other questions. Since the book is a quest for knowledge about the meat we eat, the audience for this book is anyone that consumes food. This is book is filled with research that allows the audience to question if we wish to continue to eat meat or not and provide answers as to why. Throughout the book Foer uses healthy doses of logos and pathos to effectively cause his readers to question if they will eat meat at their next meal and meals that follow. Foer ends his book with a call to action that states “Consistency is not required, but engagement with the problem is.” when dealing with the problem of factory farming (Foer).
Taylor, Alexander and Sunaura Taylor, “Is It Possible to Be a Conscientious Meat Eater?” Rpt in Current Issues and Enduring Questions. Barnet, Sylvia and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford/St.Martins. 2011. Print. 199-204.
When most people hear the words "factory farming" they think of animals that are overpopulated in small cages, while some people truly don 't understand the term at all. The actual definition of factory farming is a farm on which large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost (Merriam-Webster). When farms were family owned they used to employ very humane methods of raising and killing their animals, however, in the last few decades these farms have been taken over by large corporations that only have their businesses in mind and turned into what is now called a factory farm. Most people can only hope that the meat they are eating came from animals that didn’t have to suffer, but they don’t care to learn about it. They are ignorant to the fact that the animals living in factory farms are not seen as living creatures anymore, but rather seen as objects and profit. All of these animals have to live through years of distress, pain, brutality, and fear.
In the article “An Animals Place” by Michael Pollan he addresses the problem of Animal
He contrasts the way animals are treated in industrial farms to the Polyface Farm to discuss what is the ideal place set for animals. He mentions Matthew Scully’s book Dominion. In this book, Scully calls the contemporary farm “our own worst nightmare” (par.44) The hens are “force-molted” and animals are treated as machines incapable of feeling pain. The scene of Polyface Farm is totally different. Each species can fully express its nature. Six different food animals are raised in an ecologically sound and humane way. Cows can graze happily, pigs and chickens have their open pastures. This kind of comparison proves that animals here are happy and we can eat these animals in an ethical way, which contradicts Singer’s point. In this way, Pollan illustrates that not all the farms are full of mistreatment of animals, there still exists a farm that works for animal welfare, and we can choose to eat the animals that have been slaughtered in a peaceful
Bost supports his claim by comparing the process of raising meat to the process of harvesting of crops; he argues both systems have their flaws, in the sense, they produce pollution into the Earth’s atmosphere and kill animals whether it was their intent or not. The author’s purpose is to inform both non meat eaters and meat eaters the ethics of eating any food in general in order to create an understanding of where their food comes from and how their food choices affect the surrounding organisms as well as the environment. The author writes in an objective tone for his audience who may be biased on the issue of the ethics of eating meat or crops, he equally provides the pros and cons of both opposing views and compares the overall effects they have on organisms, in the end Bost advices both sides to reflect on the ethics of eating
Anthropocentrism—the belief that humanity is the central element of the universe, is a concept that Michael Pollan grapples with in his essay “An Animal’s Place.” Written in response to famous philosopher Peter Singer’s position on animal rights, Pollan builds upon Singer’s own positon while adding in his own personal cautions about Singer’s extremism. He calls to mind many common positions that omnivores commonly use to defend their habits: one of these is that animals kill each other, so why is it wrong when we do it. He shows that we don’t want to lower ourselves to the animal kingdom: “…do you really want to base your morality on the natural order? Murder and rape are natural, too. Besides, humans don’t need to kill other creatures in order
One objection Norcross states in his essay is that “perhaps most consumers are unaware of the treatment of animals, before they appear in neatly wrapped packages on supermarket s...
Is it morally permissible to eat meat? Much argument has arisen in the current society on whether it is morally permissible to eat meat. Many virtuous fruitarians and the other meat eating societies have been arguing about the ethics of eating meat (which results from killing animals). The important part of the dispute is based on the animal welfare, nutrition value from meat, convenience, and affordability of meat-based foods compared to vegetable-based foods and other factors like environmental moral code, culture, and religion. All these points are important in justifying whether humans are morally right when choosing to eat meat. This paper will argue that it is morally impermissible to eat meat by focusing on the treatment of animals, the environmental argument, animal rights, pain, morals, religion, and the law.
In the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, the author talks about, not only vegetarianism, but reveals to us what actually occurs in the factory farming system. The issue circulating in this book is whether to eat meat or not to eat meat. Foer, however, never tries to convert his reader to become vegetarians but rather to inform them with information so they can respond with better judgment. Eating meat has been a thing that majority of us engage in without question. Which is why among other reasons Foer feels compelled to share his findings about where our meat come from. Throughout the book, he gives vivid accounts of the dreadful conditions factory farmed animals endure on a daily basis. For this reason Foer urges us to take a stand against factory farming, and if we must eat meat then we must adapt humane agricultural methods for meat production.
Michael Pollan presents many convincing arguments that strengthen his position on whether slaughtering animals is ethical or not. He believes that every living being on this planet deserves an equal amount of respect regardless of it being an animal or human, after all humans are also animals. “An Animal’s place” by Michael Pollan is an opinionated piece that states his beliefs on whether animals should be slaughtered and killed to be someone’s meal or not. In his article, Pollan does not just state his opinions as a writer but also analyzes them from a reader’s point of view, thus answering any questions that the reader might raise. Although Pollan does consider killing and slaughtering of animals unethical, using environmental and ethical
“An Animals’ Place” by Michael Pollan is an article that describes our relationship and interactions with animals. The article suggests that the world should switch to a vegetarian diet, due to the mistreatment of animals. The essay includes references from animal rights activists and philosophers. These references are usually logical statement that compare humans and non-human animals in multiple levels, such as intellectual and social.
Factory farms have portrayed cruelty to animals in a way that is horrific; unfortunately the public often does not see what really goes on inside these “farms.” In order to understand the conditions present in these factory farms, it must first be examined what the animals in these factory farms are eating. Some of the ingredients commonly used in feeding the animals inside factory farms include the following: animal byproducts, plastic, drugs and chemicals, excessive grains, and meat from members of the same species. (Adams, 2007) These animals are tortured and used for purely slaughter in order to be fed on. Typically large numbers of animals are kept in closed and tight confinements, having only little room to move around, if even that. These confinements can lead to suffocation and death and is not rare. Evidence fr...
Let me begin with the words by George Bernard Shaw: ‘Animals are my friends and I don’t eat my friends’. This indicates the ethic aspect of meat consumption. In fact, people often don’t realize how animals are treated, but they can see commercial spots in their TV showing smiling pigs, cows or chickens, happy and ready to be eaten. My impression is that there can’t be anything more cruel and senseless. It is no secret that animals suffer ...