Animal Liberation By Peter Singer Summary

As Peter Singer argues in his article titled "Animal Liberation," ‘speciesism' is an attitude or a belief that humans have the right to discriminate and mistreat other species in ways that would be unacceptable to treat other members of their own species. Specifically, Singer refers to the mistreatment and exploitation of animals by humans.
The livestock industry is vital to the American economy as it supplies meat, eggs, milk, and other animal products while providing employment for many people living in the rural areas. Until somewhat recently, the livestock production was incorporated with crop production in a balanced fashion that was beneficial to the society and relatively safe for the environment (Gurian-Sherman). However, over the last several decades, the United States animal food production has taken a drastic turn, which has had insurmountable consequences. Production has almost entirely shifted from small family-operated farms to large farms …show more content…
The CAFOs cause harm on many levels; they pollute the environment, cause increase of diseases in humans, and cause pain and suffering to billions of animals each year. In addition, CAFOs also feed the pockets of ever greedy corporations whose only concern is to continue to fill their pockets. Furthermore, CAFOs are not the only solution to assuring that the United States produces affordable food in sufficient qualities. In fact, there is currently a growing number of farmers who are working against the commercial farms by adopting more sustainable and humane methods such as hog hoop barns (The Hidden) as well as allowing their animals to live and thrive on the open pastures. If the American Government genuinely cares about its citizens, it should ban the CAFOs and implement policies that would help subsidize farmers who care about the well-being of the animals and the people who consume