Factory Farming is having a large impact on our environment. The commons, mainly land, fresh water, and the atmosphere, are being negatively altered by the pollution and waste produced by factory farms. The human behaviours which cause the problem are predominantly the factories’ attempts to minimize costs and maximize profit while ignoring any environmental effects their choices will make. Degradation of land occurs heavily because of overgrazing and when dealing with farms with thousands of cows, that pressure on the land really accumulates. 26 percent of land globally is used for grazing and 33 percent of arable land is used for feed crop production (Steinfeld et al, 2006: 271). Feed crop production for factory farm use takes up a lot of …show more content…
Americans are accustomed to their beef, they love their burgers, and they love their steaks, but we’re finding out recently that diets based on whole foods consisting of mostly plants and vegetables with less meat are actually much healthier (The Permanente Journal, 2013). The American diet needs to move away from this high concentration of meat and dairy not only to get rid of factory farming, especially in cattle, but to be healthy as a species and create more sustainable sources of food. Factory farming not only promotes a lifestyle with unhealthy levels of meat consumption, but it causes a lot of disease in humans. E. Coli, Salmonella, and mad cow disease are just a few of the cases of disease outbreaks factory farming has been responsible for, not to mention the diseases that a meat-based diet causes, and as James McWilliams of the New York Times states, “Factory farming is the epitome of a broken food system” (Mcwilliams, James E. "The Myth of Sustainable
Moreover, this system of mass farming leads to single crop farms, which are ecologically unsafe, and the unnatural treatment of animals (Kingsolver 14). These facts are presented to force the reader to consider their own actions when purchasing their own food because of the huge economic impact that their purchases can have. Kingsolver demonstrates this impact by stating that “every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we
After reading McKibben and Hurst’s articles in the book Food Matters, both authors present arguments on “industrial farming”, and although Hurst provides a realistic sense on farming, McKibben’s suggestions should be what we think about.
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.
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. ☺
The next time you go to sit down and enjoy a nice juicy steak, take a moment to think about how that piece of meat came from a cow and became your rib eye steak. Many people in our nation have no idea where their food comes from, what exactly is in the food they consume, and the effects it has on their health and the health of our environment. This is largely due to the industrialized, factory farming way of producing our meat and poultry. It has left our bodies sickened and our earth battered but with an elimination of animal products and an addition of a more plant based diet we can begin to restore …..
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.
There are multiple ways to help reduce the polluting effects of factory farming. People can make a difference by simply avoiding factory farmed products, reducing their animal product intake, or by going either pescetarian, vegetarian, or vegan. Those concerned with the polluting effects of factory farming can also make a difference by encouraging others to eat less animal products, raising awareness towards animal and worker conditions in factory farms, supporting farm animal sanctuaries, and signing petitions to end factory farming. It is important for people to become involved in reducing the amount of pollution caused by factory farming.
Factory farming is where animals are packed as closely together as attainable, most never see or feel the sunlight, able to get fresh air or even able to turn around. These terrible conditions have serious effects on the animals physically and mentally. Illness spreads and fights break out between animals. This worldwide epidemic known as factory farming began when greedy people began to modify farms to maximise profit for themselves, but because of this, it not only has a terrible impact on animals but
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.
There is much to be said about how exactly meat is being produced. In the present day, there are hardly any farms out there that still practice the traditional and environmental - friendly way. Animal agriculture is widely used all over the world and greatly contributes to climate change. Meat production leads to global warming because of the combination of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The process of raising animal is the major source to these harmful gases. It is vital to save the world from the worst impacts of climate change by reducing meat consumption. However stopping this meat eating system is extremely difficult, given that we had been consuming meat ever since our ancestors domesticated animals for that purpose. Over the decade Animal agriculture has been getting worse and worse. In 1973 when the Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz announced ‘’ what we want out of agriculture is plenty of food’’, overproduction was encouraged and lowering the price of meat was carried out; this originally started when there was a massive increase in corn (Wolfson). In order to keep up this mass production of meat, multiple pounds of grains are fed to livestock. Livestock industries depended on corn and soy based food and used over half of the artificial fertilizer used in the United States (McWilliams).
Poultry is by far the number one meat consumed in America; it is versatile, relatively inexpensive compared to other meats, and most importantly it can be found in every grocery store through out the United States. All of those factors are made possible because of factory farming. Factory farming is the reason why consumers are able to purchase low-priced poultry in their local supermarket and also the reason why chickens and other animals are being seen as profit rather than living, breathing beings. So what is exactly is factory farming? According to Ben Macintyre, a writer and columnist of The Times, a British newspaper and a former chicken farm worker, he summed up the goal of any factory farm “... to produce the maximum quantity of edible meat, as fast and as cheaply as possible, regardless of quality, cruelty or hygiene” ( Macintyre, 2009). Factory farmers do not care about the safety of the consumers nor the safety of the chicken, all the industrial farmers have in mind are how fast they can turn a baby chick into a slaughter size chicken and how to make their chicken big and plumped. Factory farming is not only a health hazard to the well-being of the animals, but the environment, and human beings ;thus free range and sustainable farming need to be put into practice.
Cruelty toward animals, huge economic problems, and major health concerns are just three reasons why factory farming should be banned worldwide. Many people argue that factory farming is the only way to meet growing demands for food in the world today. However, factory farming is just not necessary, especially when it comes down to killing innocent animals in order to feed people. A way to put an end to the factory farming system is by buying our food from smaller, sustainable farms. These businesses still aim to profit from their labor, but that’s not their only objective. (The Issues: Factory Farming, n.d.) They simply will not sacrifice the health of the land or the quality of food simply to make a few extra dollars.
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 ...
Phasing out animal agriculture and replacing it with stronger, safer plant cultivation would greatly reduce pollution released into the environment as animal waste, burning fossil fuels, and contaminated water runoff. The animal waste produced in factory farms is dumped into immense open-air lago...
Firstly, the threat to the environment, as a result of factory farms poorly managing the waste produced, thereby contaminating the air, ground, and water in their communities is often not acknowledged. This is because the industry does not want to admit to the harmful environmental impacts created by Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). According to Daniel Imhoff, "100 acres of land for an animal food factory generates the same amount of sewage as a city of 100,000 inhabitants." (CAFO xii) This idea was exemplified in a study in the United States, where the waste was measured; it was found that 500 million tons of waste was produced per year, which is three times the amount of the population of the U.S (CAFO xii). Another study found that more than one ton of 'dry matter' of animal waste was produced for every c...