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H 23°, L 4°Earth Day was a time when we examined our impact on the planet and made personal resolutions to help make the environment cleaner and improve the treatment of animals. Some of us vowed to be more consistent recyclers, others pledged to plant trees in their neighborhoods. What many of us have yet to discover is that one of the most important actions we can take for the planet has to do with our food choices.
Most animals raised for food are forced to live inside massive industrial warehouses. These animal factories are leading polluters of our rivers, lakes and streams. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that hog, chicken and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states. In fact, 2.7 trillion pounds of manure is generated by livestock operations each year. This huge amount of waste is often concentrated around each farm causing nearby residents to suffer from the nauseating stench stemming from the air and waterways. Animals are by far the biggest losers in the growing epidemic of industrial farms. Most egg-laying hens are restricted to overcrowded cages too tiny for them to spread their wings. They’re often starved for up to two weeks to shock their bodies into another egg-laying cycle. These birds are never able to partake in natural behavior, breathe fresh air or even go outside.
Those chickens raised for meat are selectively bred and given loads of antibiotics to reach market weight as quickly as possible. This process takes only 45 days, nearly twice as fast as it did in the ’50s. Forced rapid growth is responsible for an immense amount of suffering, including heart problems and painful leg disorders. These chickens, like their egg-laying counterparts, never escape the stench of their own feces nor do they step foot outside.
Pigs are also intensively confined in factory farms. Both pregnant and mother pigs are held in crates too narrow for them to turn around or move to change direction, while their piglets have their tails cut off and are castrated, both without painkillers.
Right here on campus, students can help animals raised for food by urging dining services not only to offer more vegetarian meals, but to stop purchasing the most abusive animal products. Though this might seem daunting, UW-Madison will not be alone in this effort. With the help of The Humane Society of the United States, students are working to reform their dining facilities at more than 80 universities, including Yale, Arizona State and Cornell. And their efforts are already succeeding: just this month, students at George Washington University persuaded their school store to stop carrying eggs from caged birds. UW-Madison should and can be the next university to make this far-reaching commitment to help egg-laying hens. Such reforms at university dining facilities would go a long way toward phasing out the most egregious practices of abuse in animal agribusiness. It’s hard to imagine a better way to celebrate Earth Day.
Liza Hirsch UW-Madison Senior Madison Coalition for Animal Rights
Josh Balk Outreach Coordinator
The Humane Society of the United States
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Shove it.
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Man, this anti-animal cruelty/no fur movement is so 80’s, isn’t it?
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I have a question about these chickens: Since we are going to eat them anyway, why should we be concerned with their long-term health?
I am serious btw. I mean, I am sure they probably are treated cruelly and all. However, is it better to treat them really nicely and then kill them for meat? It doesn’t really seem so to me.
I think that there are a lot of human rights violations going on in the world and that you all would better spend your time working on that rather than worrying if a chicken has high cholesterol.
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why stop at chickens. Think of all the innocent insects that are killed everyday.
Anytime you drive your car in the summer I would bet a couple hundred insects have to die on the front of the car. We should boycott cars too, because of all the animal death they cause.
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While I agree with your point above poster that is bad logic. It’s known as the slippery slope fallacy. One could say this about anything: drugs, drinking and driving etc.
Note that your argument allows people to eat dogs, and probably aborted fetuses as well.
Laws are about degrees not absolutes.
Doesn’t mean that their article makes any more sense though.
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There’s only one way you’ll get me to stop eating meat: If it stops being so delicious.
Although I will make a deal with the vegetarians and vegans. If you all grind your canines down so that they become just another set of molars, sans painkillers, I’ll be a vegetarian for a year. It’s not like you need them anymore.
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WASB should sponser an all campus Frog Baseball round-robin tourneyment. Field a team of 10 and you can play for the title.
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The authors should recycle even more than they do now, if fact they should EAT SHIT!
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“WASB should sponser an all campus Frog Baseball round-robin tourneyment. Field a team of 10 and you can play for the title.”
Great Idea! One change, I think we should use the terrace ducks instead. They are easier to catch, and it would make the game more difficult from the hitter’s perspective once the ducks caught on…
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I need a good steak.
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But aren’t the mushrooms on my steak grown in captivity?
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I like eating fur burgers!!
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The beauty of it is, the animal-rights clowns will never answer the question, “how will those animals die if we don’t slaughter and eat them?”
They seem to think they just all lay down and go to sleep, no suffering at all.
Believe me, a bolt to the head is a lot better than starvation or getting eaten by a pack of Timberwolves.
The best are the people who are opposed to hunting, and as an alternative think the government should go out and shoot excess animals for population control.
The hell is the difference?
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And the tragic thing? The author actually had a point to begin with.
“These animal factories are leading polluters of our rivers, lakes and streams. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that hog, chicken and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states. In fact, 2.7 trillion pounds of manure is generated by livestock operations each year.”
This is a very valid argument. Forget about how dolphins are cute, how chickens are pretty, or how pigs don’t get painkillers. To offer a quote from Will Ferrell, “I know it’s not your first choice, but keep in mind…….. you’re a fucking dog.”
Let’s look at this another way: water resources. I heard (from a biased source so it may not be true) that we use huge amounts of water and energy to produce meat. If we put this energy towards grains or plants, it would save us a LOT of money. Again, I got that from a proselytizing vegetarian. Sounds true.
Lastly, what about all the overweight people? Being vegetarian would probably be pretty good for public health.
Are any of these concerns addressed? Not really. I think they hold a lot of water, but you never hear them from an animal-hugging fur-spraypainting PETA member.
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“towards grains or plants”
That’s not food - that what food eats.
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“‘towards grains or plants’
That’s not food - that what food eats.”
So we cut out the middleman, saving energy or whatever. As a whole, it’s important to remember how atypical it is for us to eat meat in the quantities we do- for most of human history, very few people were able to. What’s more natural? Eat less meat.
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Look, the bottom line is that these people that bitch about animal cruelty will always find something to bitch about. Say everyone in the world pledges not to eat meat, and we live happily with our animal friends, these people will start bitching about how we use too much oil. So then we build wind farms and dams to generate electricity, totally cutting out oil, and then they will bitch about how the salmon can no longer spawn in their natural habitat because of the dams.
…and on, and on, and on. It’s nice to have extremist views out there because it encourages people to a middle ground. Let them have their say and we’ll go on with our lives.
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vegetarian food is higher in carbs and more fattening than animal products. I am not advocating one side or the other, just saying that being vegetarian doesn’t guarantee you won’t be overweight
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Hunter/gatherer, doesn’t that mean meat sometimes?
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People, we all need to get on board and support PETA.
People Eating Tasty Animals.