Farm Meat

The Meat That You Eat The average American will consume one calf, eleven cows, 1,096 chickens, and 15,655 chicken eggs in his or her lifetime (Catalano). It is, for some odd reason, fairly easy for people to see animals in their diet as different from the animals that they have as pets. However, due to recent outings of companies such as Tyson Foods, INC. that included video footage, people have begun to actually think about the meat that they eat. Consumers saw the way that animals are treated, and killed before appearing on their dinner plates, and were mortified. The modern method of raising farm animals is referred to as “factory farming”(Patterson). Factory farming, in addition to being immensely inhumane, can be just as detrimental …show more content…
The first time that a chicken experiences the outside, fresh air and sunlight, will also be their last, as they will be on their journey to the slaughter house (Patterson). That is a very depressing thought, but it is regrettably very true in most cases. Chickens, and a majority of all livestock, will never experience true nature. They are born, raised, and killed in what is said to be a “farm”. During a TED talk on the current food system, 11 year old Birke Baehr explained the sad realism of modern day farming. “I also used to think that all of our food came from these happy little farms where pigs rolled in mud, and cows grazed on grass all day. What I discovered, was this is not true” (Baehr). Mentally, being held captive in spaces too small to even move a muscle, animals can experience drastic changes in demeanor. For example, pigs, typically smart and friendly, resort to brutal fighting and barbaric behaviour when confined in tiny cages (Catalano). The overcrowding that comes with the mass production of livestock has calamitous effects on animals both physically, and …show more content…
It is important to try and find alternatives when possible, in order to cut down on the damage to animals, one’s health, and the environment. Ultimately, 70% of agricultural resources are used by factory farms, to produce on 30% of the food in the world (Bittman). Through actual people, it can be grasped that there are lifestyle changes that can help to make a difference. Nancy Weinheimer, a student at Wilson High School, began her lacto-ovo-pescatarinism in March of 2015 after hearing Jane Goodall discuss the harms of factory farming. She continues to be a vegetarian because it is “good for the environment and my health.” Nancy is motivated by her older sister’s friend Dani. “[Dani] informed me that processing meat causes more emissions than all transportation combined, and it uses 100 times more the amount of water than processing vegetables uses.” Nancy feels that she is making a change by “reducing the need for meat” (Weinheimer). Nancy refusing to eat meat may not end factory farming, but it is helping to decrease the demand for such large production of