Factory Farms and the Environment

Factory Farms and the Environment

Industry not only revolutionized the manufacture of goods but also made farms more efficient and cost saving. This cost savings is what consumers demand but it comes at a high cost when the product is a living creature. Factory farms are not only harmful to animals but also to the environment and ultimately to people too.
So what exactly is a factory farm? Well, a factory farm is large-scale industrial operation that houses hundreds or thousands of animals in extremely cramped conditions that are bred to be slaughtered for mass production of meat for grocery stores. In these factory farms cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys are crowded into tiny cages with no room to walk or move. They are crowded with one another, wounded with no veterinary care, kicked and thrown around by workers. Their lives are not valued and they are given no gentle care at all because they are seen as beneath humans and only there to serve a purpose to humans as food. Their throats are cut while fully conscious and often dunked in scalding hot water all while still alive. Chickens have their feathers pulled, their beaks cut and are scalded while still alive. Piglets are castrated with no pain medication. These are only some of the things that happen to animals in factory farms. The animals in factory farms are bred for the sole purpose to be killed so humans can eat.
The dairy industry is even worse than the meat industry. Female cows are forcefully impregnated so that they can continue to produce milk. Their infants are taken from them. The male calves are kept in individual crates in the dark and fed a milk replacer that is low in iron so that they become anemic. In their crates they are unable to move so that they experience muscle atrophy. This happens so that their meat stays tender. Eventually they are sent to slaughter to be sold as "veal." Dairy cows are kept pregnant until they become too sick or no longer can get pregnant or produce milk. Then they are also sent to be slaughtered.
The factory farms have a very negative impact on the environment. Rainforests are cut down to make room to raise more cattle but rainforests are vital to life on Earth. Rainforests regulate the global climate and the water cycle, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and provide humans with medicines, food and much more. According to www.happycow.net "every second, one football field of rainforest is destroyed in order to produce 257 hamburgers."
Factory farms create pollution in land and water and produce carbon dioxide. Happycow also states that eating one pound of hamburger does the same damage as driving your car for three weeks. Eating a vegan diet reduces waste and devastation of Earth's precious resources. It takes up to 5,000 gallons of water to raise one pound of beef. According to the US Department of Agriculture statistics, one acre of land can grow 20,000 pounds of potatoes but the same acre of land when used to grow cattle feed, can produce less than 165 lbs of edible cow flesh.
People who live in close proximity to factory farms often complain of high incidents of illness. California officials identify agriculture, including cows, as the major source of nitrate pollution in more than 100,000 square miles of polluted groundwater. High levels of nitrates in drinking water also increase the risk of methemoglobinemia, or "blue-baby syndrome," which can kill infants. Animal waste contains disease-causing pathogens, such as Salmonella, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, and fecal coliform, which can be 10 to 100 times more concentrated than in human waste. More than 40 diseases can be transferred to humans through manure. The facts are scary enough to make a horror movie.
In the U.S. alone, roughly 29 million pounds of antibiotics, about 80 percent of the nation's antibiotics use in total, are added to animal feed every year to speed livestock growth. This widespread use of antibiotics on animals contributes to the rise of resistant bacteria, making it harder to treat human illnesses. Large hog farms emit hydrogen sulfide, a gas that most often causes flu-like symptoms in humans, but at high concentrations can lead to brain damage.
Nutrients in animal waste cause algal blooms, which use up oxygen in the water, contributing to a "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico where there's not enough oxygen to support aquatic life. The dead zone fluctuates in size each year, extending a record 8,500 square miles during the summer of 2002 and stretching over 7,700 square miles during the summer of 2010. I don't think I am wrong when I say that is insane!
So we have determined that factory farms are destructive and harmful to animals, people and the environment but what can we do about it? I personally think that factory farms should be outlawed. The only reason they exist is to make greedy people a lot of money. These people have a hand in the pocket books of the goverment and lawmakers so I don't see that ever happening. The best thing we can do is to not eat meat at all. We can adopt a vegan lifestyle, buy local fresh organic produce and not purchase animal products that come from factory farms. If the demand for the meat and dairy produced in these factory farms is reduced then the people running them will no longer be making a profit and will eventually shut down.
Factory farms are unnatural and not healthy for anyone or anything. We need to stop supporting these destructive facilities and begin to repair the damage they have caused. Those who say "change begins with you" are right. Decide today to make that change.