I believe that it is everyone's duty to know where their food comes from.
There are so many problems with how we currently mass-produce, not just food, everything. But with food, it's at the expense of another living being's life. I think there are many reasons to be vegan, and I won't go into a long lecture about them all, but I have provided a summary of my opinions followed by links to resources for more information. Note: I did not include any disturbing images, but the links do.
First and foremost, an omnivorous diet means animal cruelty. With our culture of mass-production, there's not a great way around that. Animals are packed into stalls, cages, pens or sheds as tightly as possible in order to maximize economic gain. Take the poultry industry: anywhere from 20,000 to 25,0000 chickens can fit in a shed with no windows or room to move freely. Chickens are originally social creatures that have families and social hierarchies, but with that many birds packed so tightly, any social structures are impossible. And what does it matter anyway -- the average chicken sent to slaughter is only 42 days old. How does it put on enough weight at such a young age? Its food contains hormones that cause it to gain more weight, but often the bone structure is too fragile to support that weight. Because of this, countless chickens have their legs crumple underneath them and must live out the rest of their lives seated in one spot with no access to the food or water dispensers. In the case of egg-producing hens, they are kept in cages, arranged in rows for efficiency, and often have less than one square food of space to move around. In these conditions, they can hardly move and as they are pressed up against the metal bars of the cage, their feathers get rubbed off and their skin is rubbed raw. So, what about "cage-free" or "free-range"? It's a good idea in principle, but in practice the only requirement for this certification is that the chickens be given the "opportunity to go outside." That means that a shed with 25,000 chickens with one door and ramp at the end counts as "free-range," which is an unbelievable scam. Dairy cows are separated from their mothers almost instantly and the males are sent to slaughter for veal while the females are placed in their own tight stalls to be hooked up to the mechanical milking machine as soon as they can be. What about "organic"? This is another label that's easier to come by than it should be. A company like Aurora Organic Dairy can boast that it's product is better than the next milk product, but it's cows are kept in Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) just like all the others. Similarly confined, are hogs. Pigs are raised for bacon, for pork, and for breeding purposes. They are all kept in separated cells, on concrete floors, without enough room to even lie down. They cannot turn around. When a female gives birth, she is placed into another cell, of equal size, but that has an opening in the bottom so that her piglets can feed. But she is not allowed full contact with them, for fear that she might accidentally lie on one and destroy a potential economic profit. All of these animals are separated from their natural environment; cows are some of the only animals that see sunlight and experience the outdoors in their short lifespans since chickens and pigs are kept inside sheds for the entirety of their lives.
Second, animal products have a large negative impact on the environment. The FAO estimates that 18% of greenhouse gas emissions are from livestock. This should not be so surprising since we know that cattle are the major producers of methane, globally, and according to some estimates, produce 100 million tons a year. Also, simply the fact that animals take up a lot of space is costly. Often, this is precious, fertile land, like that of the Amazon Rainforest. Every year thousands of acres are deforested to make way for agriculture and cattle ranching, destroying one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth. That is land that could house natural wildlife but that has been turned into something like a CAFO for economic profit. These large-scale operations produce tons upon tons of animal waste and need somewhere to put it. As a solution, some production companies spray manure one nearby fields but that can spread diseases from the animal feces. More often, they create their own nearby lagoons. These lagoons are infested with animal feces, carrying diseases, and are more toxic substances than they are water. They leak into the nearby water systems (as in North Carolina in 1995) and thus can spread to larger water systems, causing serious pollution in the vital water sources for other organisms, including humans. Finally, feeding animals is very resource-intensive. It takes tons of food to feed these animals, and since many are on a corn-based diet, that is tons of corn going to animals that could be feeding humans. Globally, approximately 870 million people go hungry every day (FAO, 2012). It seems ridiculous that we would want to produce meat over grains, when 70% of grains are fed to animals, and when we only get 1lb of meat protein out of the 6 lbs of wheat protein that went to feed the cow. Additionally, keeping livestock requires huge amounts of water. The Water Education Foundation states that it takes 2,464 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef in California. Broken down, that water could provide you a seven minute shower every day for the next six months. For contrast, one pound of wheat only takes 25 gallons of water to produce, which seems a much more sustainable option. Aquifers around the world are being depleted at faster rates than they can be naturally replenished, which will inevitably lead to an extreme water crisis; it is only a matter of time.
Third, a vegan diet is a healthy diet. Admittedly, I don't know much about this topic, but there is a lot of literature circulating about it. One of the biggest things people worry about with veganism is how to get vitamin B12. Personally, I take a vitamin for it every morning, but there are other options like foods fortified with B12 available to vegans so that it is not an unhealthy diet. The requirement is very small but it is vital for cell division and blood formation. I have chosen not to go into detail with much research on this topic and instead want to provide links to resources for you to do your own research if you are interested.
Resources:
Vegan Health
Vegan Starter Kit
Vegetarian Resource Group
Vegetarian Times
How to go vegan resources:
Happy Cow
New York Times Blog
PETA
Vegan Starter Kit
Additional resources:
Animal Equality
Documentaries
Environmental Impact
Vegan Action
No comments:
Post a Comment