Some grocery stores have pictures of happy animals and beautiful farms adorning the walls of their stores. There are commercials depicting the same idyllic images, but what if the real picture was not as serene as it seemed? Milk, eggs, butter, meat, yogurt, and many other products sold in grocery stores come from industrialized farming operations. These operations are also called factory farms or confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). The need and the desire for something like these CAFOs is understandable in a growing society, but the conditions are so deplorable, most people would be horrified to know the truth. Animals that are kept, or stocked, in these operations are treated very poorly. The environmental effects are unfathomable
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Scientists do not have a solid idea of the long term effects these farming operations may have on the environment. It has been discovered that American meat eaters contribute one and one-half tons more CO2 than a vegetarian ( qtd. Pluhar 4). These particular types of farming operations produce more than forty times the amount of waste than human bio solids. (Grahman 1). Most of these CAFOs do not dispose of the waste properly. A lot of the waste is watered down and dumped into waste pools until they’re overflowing. Studies have shown that a regional concentration of these CAFOs has led to surface water contamination (qtd. Anomaly 14) in local bodies of water. These kinds of conditions are detrimental to the environment. The earth is not meant to support a high concentration of animal waste in a small, concentrated space. There are regulations in place but they have not adequately kept up with the increase in factory farms. (Anomaly 10). New regulations need to be established that require the farms to find a more environmentally friendly ways to dispose of the waste. Animal waste that has been used in commercial fertilizer is a suitable and resourceful example. However, using the waste in fertilizer is not enough to solve the issue altogether. The argument could be made that this is just a small side effect of the bigger benefit, but that is unreasonable and irresponsible. Humans should not let the
Scientists do not have a solid idea of the long term effects these farming operations may have on the environment. It has been discovered that American meat eaters contribute one and one-half tons more CO2 than a vegetarian ( qtd. Pluhar 4). These particular types of farming operations produce more than forty times the amount of waste than human bio solids. (Grahman 1). Most of these CAFOs do not dispose of the waste properly. A lot of the waste is watered down and dumped into waste pools until they’re overflowing. Studies have shown that a regional concentration of these CAFOs has led to surface water contamination (qtd. Anomaly 14) in local bodies of water. These kinds of conditions are detrimental to the environment. The earth is not meant to support a high concentration of animal waste in a small, concentrated space. There are regulations in place but they have not adequately kept up with the increase in factory farms. (Anomaly 10). New regulations need to be established that require the farms to find a more environmentally friendly ways to dispose of the waste. Animal waste that has been used in commercial fertilizer is a suitable and resourceful example. However, using the waste in fertilizer is not enough to solve the issue altogether. The argument could be made that this is just a small side effect of the bigger benefit, but that is unreasonable and irresponsible. Humans should not let the