Factory farms vs. the environment

Factory farms are not self-contained units. By that, I mean the effects of a factory farm are not limited to the suffering that goes on inside of them. The horrors animals endure in these massive torture chambers are beyond belief for most of us, but the effects stretch far beyond what goes on inside the physical structures. The environment is hugely impacted and that means that we are all affected regardless of our food choices.

Let's start with water. All life (including us!) is dependent on it. Sure, this seems obvious, but unfortunately clean water is becoming more scarce. In fact, some experts predict that in the future wars will be fought over water similarly to wars fought over oil. In some parts of the world right now people don't even have access to clean, fresh water. So what does this have to do with factory farming? A couple of things.

Factory farms use water in an extremely inefficient way. According to John Robbins in his book "The Food Revolution" (excellent and very informative read!) it takes 23 gallons of water to produce one pound of lettuce or tomatoes, 24 gallons for one pound of potatoes, 25 gallons for one pound of wheat, 49 gallons of water for one pound of apples, 1,630 gallons for one pound of pork and whoa...5,214 gallons of water needed to produce just one pound of beef. Based on those calculations we could literally produce 30 pounds of lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, wheat and apples and still have 894 gallons of water left. That's 150 pounds of food plus a whole bunch of water which could feed a lot of people vs. one pound of beef, which would feed probably 1-2 people. Some statistics say that half of the water used in the U.S. is used for livestock production. 

In addition to using water very inefficiently factory farming is actually a huge contributor to both water pollution and greenhouse gases which, as we know, contribute to global warming. Think about it: 10 billion animals living on farms eating mostly unnatural diets consisting of grain, soy, manure, dead animals and animal parts, chemicals and drugs (I'll discuss this in a later entry). Besides the sheer number of animals producing bodily waste their diets are so unnatural and upset their digestive systems further exacerbating the output. Where does all that waste go? On real farms manure is often utilized as fertilizer but today there is so much waste it's not feasible to use it. Plus, given the garbage these animals are eating would you want that used to fertilize your veggies? I wouldn't!

Instead of reusing livestock waste as fertilizer they now collect it in giant lagoons near the farms. It is funneled out of the huge sheds that the animals "live" in and collected in lagoons the size of football fields and sometimes 30 feet deep. That means that all over the country and the world there are massive pools containing ridiculous amounts of feces, urine,  dead animals, various bodily fluids and body parts and of course all of the hormones, drugs, and chemicals the animals are fed. As you can imagine these pools are not exactly contained. Rather the waste seeps into the earth, rivers, lakes, oceans and of course, the air, left to make people, fish and other wildlife sicks.

This quote from John Robbins' "The Food Revolution" which is a summary of the findings of the U.S. Senate Agricultural Committee pretty much sums it up: "Untreated and unsanitary, bubbling with chemicals and disease-bearing organisms...(livestock waste) goes onto the soil and into the water that many people will, ultimately, bathe in and wash their clothes with and drink. It's poisoning rivers and killing fish and sickening people...Catastrophic cases of pollution, sickness, and death are occurring in areas where livestock operations are concentrated...Every place where the animal factories have located, neighbors have complained of falling sick." So, yeah, that's what' happens to livestock waste and if it hasn't affected you yet it very well might eventually if we don't stop this. Here's a map of factory farms in the U.S from the organization Food and Water Watch. They're everywhere and if agribusiness has it's way there will be one in your hood before you know it!

Last thing I'll touch on for now is air pollution. All of that livestock waste is accompanied by methane, like any solid waste. A report issued by the United Nations (Livestock's Long Shadow-Environmental Issues and Options) in 2006 that set out to detail the environmental impacts of factory farming said that  "that the livestock sector is one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global (Wikipedia)." Apparently livestock are responsible for about 20 percent of greenhouse gases and that's even more than transportation! The problem is, of course, in the number of animals. 


The good news is that humans can reduce their meat over-consumption which will reduce the profit for big agribusiness and in turn, cause them to reduce the number of animals they're growing for food, and thus, reduce the amount of pollution. Fortunately for us we all have voting power every time we go to the grocery store or to a restaurant. We don't have to support this destruction of our environment  and if enough people stop supporting agribusiness with their buying power, then the environmental impact of factory farms will diminish, creating a safer, healthier, planet for us and for our children.

Sheer numbers

50 billion land animals are killed each year for food. 50 BILLION! There are fewer than 7 billion people on the planet. 10 billion farm animals are killed in the U.S. alone per year.

Number of animals killed in the world by the meat, dairy and egg industries, since you opened this webpage. This does not include the billions of fish and other aquatic animals killed annually.
Based on 2007 statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' Global Livestock Production and Health Atlas.
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My journey to veganism

Like most Americans I grew up eating meat. Barbeques, fast food, steak, all of it. Ironically both of my parents were vegetarian (for health reasons) but they thought it would be difficult for me to be a regular kid if I didn't eat meat. In retrospect I find that disappointing of course, but I never questioned their choice and I never questioned my own eating habits. We never even really discussed it, that was just how things were.

Needless to say, like many Americans, especially kids today, my standard America diet took its toll on me pretty young. When I was ten years old my cholesterol was so high they put me on a special "diet" and made me get my cholesterol checked every week. Of course, I didn't know then that only animal products contain cholesterol and the stuff doesn't even exist in plants. And of course the doctors didn't recommend that I eat more plants, but rather, that I switch from butter to margarine and things like that.

From there I went on to struggle with my weight for many years, trying everything from Weight Watchers to Slim Fast to Atkins. None of it worked. I switched to egg whites and lean meat and skim milk and had a little bit of success with weight loss but mostly my weight fluctuated greatly. I was generally pretty lethargic and had major bouts of depression over the course of many years.

I never really thought about animals or animal rights or the possibility of going vegetarian until my mid 20's. Once I did I honestly didn't even consider that my health might improve. I just knew I really loved animals. I had (and still have) two amazing cats who showed me how smart and emotional animals are. I saw how they interacted and I realized for the first time in my life that animals had feelings. I knew they did--I could see it. I saw it in my cats and I knew my cats were no different than other animals in that capacity and slowly but surely my circle of compassion began to extend out into the world to encompass all beings.

Then one day I saw a video of a factory farm and I was completely blown away. It was the most awful thing I had ever seen it and I could not believe that was what animals were going through just so I could whet my appetite. I didn't stop eating animal products, including meat, right away, but I did continue to watch videos and research the practices of factory farming. As time went on the chasm between my personal ethics and my behaviors became so great I had to choose a side. I realized I could no longer claim to love and respect animals so much if I were going to continue to eat them and support an industry that brutalizes them for profit, especially because I was doing it just to please my taste buds.

So I decided to become vegetarian. I wasn't a huge vegetable person so I was eating mostly fruit, cereal, bread, and eggs; not exactly the healthiest diet. I kept forcing myself to look into the dairy and egg industries after I had given up meat. I knew I had to give those up too eventually but I figured I was moving in the right direction and baby steps were okay. At first I thought at least animals weren't being killed for my food, but I soon realized the dairy and egg industries were just as bad and even worse in a lot of ways. How could I contribute to helping these companies profit at the expense of animals?

I knew it would be a challenge at first, but I had to go vegan. Without letting on my true intentions of actually wanting to go vegan I decided to propose a contest to my boyfriend Brian and our good friend Dave. We decided we would see who could remain vegan the longest and the first one of us to fail would have to buy the other two dinner anywhere we wanted. We started on New Year's Day. The night before I stuffed my face with ice cream and cheese anything else I could find. And then a new day and a new way began. By the time we got to about three months we had all decided the contest was over and we were sticking to veganism. In addition to feeling like we were living in moral harmony, we were actually enjoying eating without dairy and eggs. We experimented so much more with cooking and I actually started to eat veggies-lots of them! I realized all of the delicious whole foods I had been missing out on before. And of course there were still lots of foods we enjoyed before that we could eat like some Italian food, Indian, Ethiopian, and Thai just to name a few. Plus we found excellent alternatives to some of our favorites like coconut milk ice cream and vegan cheese (Daiya).

People always ask me if I miss things now that I've been vegan for so long. I can honestly say I do not feel in any way that I am sacrificing and I don't crave animal products at all. I have access to tons of delicious and varied foods and I feel wonderful about my choice. I am healthier than I've ever been. I no longer need medicine for acid reflux, which I took for years, and I rarely need my inhaler for asthma. I have more energy than I ever have and my levels of anxiety and depression have practically disappeared. Not to mention I no longer struggle with my weight. I've lost almost 30 lbs by doing yoga and, well, not much other than eating--a lot!

Today, several years later, Brian, Dave and I enjoy our vegan lifestyles more than ever. Now every time I eat I know that no animal suffered or died for the food to get on my plate and nothing could taste sweeter than that.