Don't Give Up On Giving It Up

As a generally sheltered individual for the majority of my childhood, I found myself oblivious to various important issues in the world. Despite my concern for environmental problems, I was not sufficiently aware of them. The term "factory farming" was foreign to me until my senior year of high school. My AP Environmental Science teacher introduced our class to industrial agriculture; of course, her goal and job was to make us aware of all the consequences that come from factory farming. With the help of many videos, including the "Food, Inc." movie, and our class textbook, she emphasized the suffering of the farm animals and the effects that factory farming has on our own human health. Although the class was solely for educational purposes, it was pretty obvious that my teacher was using her time with us as an opportunity to shape our views and create well-educated teenagers. Mrs. Thaxton
understood that as high school students, many of us ate fast food and other food produced from factory farms. She knew she could not put an immediate halt to that, but she at least wanted us to think for more than a second before eating a McDouble, even if the thoughts were not going to stop us. The thought of giving up certain eating habits was now on our minds, and she wanted us to persist with these thoughts.

More importantly, she wanted us to know what we were getting ourselves into and understand that we could all potentially pay a price much greater than the 99 cents we enjoy spending. Looking back, her intentions were very advanced in a way, and definitely had the content to point us in the right direction. I mean, when we consider the effects of industrial agriculture, they can all be eliminated with a single action, right? If everybody in every single city around the world were to stop eating anything and everything produced from factory farms, all fast food restaurants would go out of business, and the entire industry would lose their customer demands, thus running factory farms out of business. Unfortunately, it doesn't take a genius to realize how ridiculous of a request that would be.

Mrs. Thaxton's family is one of few who strictly stay away from such products, eating only the food produced from their farm or other local organic products. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that it would be hard to meet the expectations of the above solution because a lot of us find all those foods to be appealing. I will be the first to admit that I would definitely struggle to adjust to such a lifestyle. So, what exactly are we facing, in terms of consequences, by choosing to eat from factory farms? In a direct manner, we are significantly more susceptible to foodborne illnesses and diseases. The specifics of these illnesses are described by Tim O'Brien in his article "Factory Farming and Human Health."  From the meat produced by animals who endured factory farm conditions follows the possible risks of illnesses such as salmonella poisoning. A survey of commercial turkey flocks in Canada showed that 86% of the flocks had salmonella, and such statistics should not be surprising when we consider the conditions that farm animals live in, a "haven for disease" (as O'Brien describes), where infections are easily spread. Anyone who sees images such as the one below could not feel comfortable about consuming products from pigs who live in these conditions.

The mere images of the suffering farm animals and knowledge of what exactly you are intaking should alone make you second-guess yourself the next time you go to put a McDouble in your mouth. Additionally, you are putting yourself at risk to an outbreak of E. Coli, which is more likely to survive through the cramped conditions of factory farms as animals are moved to a slaughter house. Between these two potentially fatal illnesses, along with others such as listeria, and the increased likelihood of food poisoning, we are asking for nothing but trouble when we eat from the current meat industry.

Factory farming cannot sit well with us from a moral standpoint either, can it? It is difficult, at least for me, to see images such as the ones in "Food, Inc." that display the gruesome conditions of the poor animals, smashed together in their gestation crates with numerous open wounds, lacking sunlight and space. If we take away the appealing part of factory farming, being that it makes food that tastes good to some of us, we really cannot argue that it has any legitimate benefits, however, we continue to support the industry by buying its products.

So when and how will we develop the "giving up" of these products? It could be many years before we reach an effective solution, and it may be a dire situation that forces the world to turn its back on factory farm products. Personally, I would rather reach the solution in a gradual process rather than watch the world suffer from factory farm consequences until it reaches the breaking point. One small way to start changing is explained in the video at the right, displaying the idea of "Meatless Mondays." As the president of the United States Humane Society, Wayne Pacelle, claimed in his TED Talk, "Animal Factories and the Abuse of Power," the ultimate solution will be found through "human innovation and creativity." I am definitely not offering any innovation or creativity that will suffice, but I believe that we will overcome the issues of factory farming with our resources and intelligence, and nobody should give up on the future goals that we need to achieve in order to improve our world, from a personal health standpoint as well as an environmental perspective. With the awareness that most of us have at this point, I think we are all mature enough to start being more conscious about our food intake and consider more than just taste. Allow yourself to make adjustments in your eating habits and think about what you can give up for the betterment of the world.


Tim O'Brien's article can be found at the following link: http://www.fao.org/prods/gap/database/gap/files/1209_FACTORY_FARMING_AND_HUMAN_HEALTH_1997.PDF

Wayne Pacelle's TED Talk video can be seen at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2pMlY2sJts