(Written for a college English course in 2005.)
We take our children to Sunday school and guide them on a path of respect and the “Golden Rule,” instilling in them a sense of morality, of right and wrong. Our lives operate around ethics; these are the maxims which lead any decent human being to make life decisions and formulate values and beliefs. Yet as we look out for other people within our own species, we tend to neglect the bigger picture: that we as humans are not the sole inhabitants of this earth, and that we were not indeed here first as the supreme rulers of the land. Before humanity emerged some several hundred thousand years ago, life teemed abundantly on the planet, in the form of bacteria, plants, and even complex animals. However, as man began to populate his surroundings, developing an industrial society filled with billions of people, his degrading effects on his environment grew numerous. The factory farming industry, rising unnaturally out of the horrid excesses of the economy, leaves behind footprints of this kind on our earth, including pollution, deadly bacterial immunities, and above all, flagrant injustice toward the animals we consume.
I became a vegetarian when I was twelve, when I started to give faces to the foods I consumed. The ability of animals to suffer as any human ever could became a real phenomenon for me as I discovered on video the abominable, piercing screams of cattle in pain during their factory slaughtering, consisting of harsh beatings or throat slitting down a rapidly-paced assembly line in which agonizing death came slowly. To justify our practices of factory farming, we often ignore them; if we do directly not encounter animal suffering day after day, we cannot be held accountable, or perhaps the concept does not even exist. According to the studies of René Descartes, because an animal supposedly does not possess a soul, it is incapable of feeling pain (“Factory Farms”). Peter Singer, however, sheds light on the notion behind an animal’s neurological experiences with an analogy: “It would be nonsense to say that it was not in the interests of a stone to be kicked along the road by a schoolboy… A mouse, for example, does have an interest in not being kicked along the road, because it will suffer if it is” (Singer). If we realize that we, as humans, are simply an integral part of the ecosystem, existing as animals alongside those we torture, we may learn to understand how other organisms can embrace emotion as we do.
Though factory farmers argue that their animals are treated well, there is no justification for the ghastly conditions which envelope these animals’ existence. On average, a single egg farm in Ohio in 2003, for instance, contained ten thousand cramped chickens, with no exposure to sunlight or roaming space (“Factory Farms”). If we put ourselves in their shoes, I sincerely doubt anyone would volunteer to subject himself to that way of life, the way we force others to live their lives day after day. It is evident that humanity has been endowed with superior abilities in the sense of technological progress, but does this give us the right to take advantage of those who are less fortunate to advance our own personal or economic interests?
A deep schism has developed between the old means of hunting and farming and our new, industrious practices. As our population has exponentially risen, a demand for lower cost food with higher production rates has come forth. Factory farming seems ideal in this sense, as it does allow us to cram thousands of animals into a small space as a sort of mass production multiplication technique, thus keeping prices down and doing wonders for the economy. But did these profiting businessmen stop to consider the fates of the individual farming families they suppressed? Over time, thousands have lost substantial portions of their incomes, no longer able to sustain themselves. Studies from 1982 through 1997 have shown an increase in factory farming by 47 percent, with a complementary 27 percent decline in small and midsized farms (“Factory Farms”). The rural foundations of our country have almost died in an unbalanced pursuit of industrialization.
Another consequence of factory farming involves the destruction of the serene images of the American countryside with roaming animals basking in virtual utopias, replaced instead with a vulgar, almost indescribable picture. Jo Robinson observed a “carpet of birds” on a visit to a factory farm, in which thousands of chickens were densely packed into tight units, living amongst the stench of ammonia accumulating within their feces, which had been festering untouched for seven weeks (Robinson). These animals actually receive chemicals and antibiotics infused into their diets in attempt to create the largest, most disease-resistant birds. In reality, the bacteria interacting with these drugs have begun a journey to immunity, exposing humanity to these very same diseases, which soon may thrive without a single cure. The medical industry might not keep up with these strains we are creating for ourselves, and what happens then? On top of it all, the wastes produced within the factory farms, such as the “bedding” of the chickens, must be released somewhere, and the apparent solution is our environment. Factory farming contributes to tremendous loads of polluted wastes clogging our atmosphere and waterways. With such grotesque images in my mind, I wonder why anyone would ever choose this kind of food source when others, both sanitary and environmentally sound, are available.
The primary ingredient of the factory farm diet is grain, an easy, indoor alternative to the natural diet of grazing animals requiring live, green plants for nutrition. While grain meals may contribute to fatter, fleshier animals for our ingestion, they can induce a condition known as subacute acidosis in animals, leading to diarrhea, diseased liver, and even causing the animals to consume significant amounts of dirt or other inedible environmental features. As explained by Robinson, “It’s often said, ‘We are what we eat.’ The truth goes deeper. We are also what our animals eat” (Robinson).
Nature allows us to survive as a species; without the functioning threads of the ecosystem, the world as we know it would vanish. However, human overpopulation has led to a quest for expansion and efficiency, with everyone trying to fetch the best prices for their own benefits. Inside our bustling worlds, we have almost forgotten the larger picture and the millions of organisms that exist outside our hectic households. Though the suffering of factory farm animals is blotted out from everyday view, enclosed within bulky white walls, it does exist, and it is real. Fear and unbearable pain become evident beyond this barrier as millions of howling animals lack the room to stretch their legs or the untainted fresh air to fill their lungs. Pollution, desecration of our environment, and a dominating cruelty over other creatures: Are these really worthy prices for convenience?
Robinson, Jo. “Pasture-Raising Animals for Human Consumption Is Beneficial.” The Rights of Animals. Ed. Auriana Ojeda. Current Controversies Series. Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. 11 October 2005 < http://galenet.galegroup.com >.
Singer, Peter. “All Animals Are Equal.” Animal Rights. Ed. Andrew Harnack. Opposing Viewpoints Series. Greenhaven Press, 1996. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. 11 October 2005 < http://galenet.galegroup.com >.