The consumption of animal meat and products is a routine aspect of society — especially in America. I’ve observed this trend my entire life, watching people go into grocery stores and grab packaged meats, milk, butter, and more without thinking twice. But sometimes, a moment comes where people wonder, where do these things really come from? Because of the normalcy surrounding the consumption of animal products, for much of my life I never gave it a second thought. There was a disconnect in my brain between what I was eating and where it came from. It wasn’t until I stopped to think that I was able to make the connection and was forced to learn more and confront the ethics of the animal agriculture industry.
Animal Welfare
The animal agriculture industry is in a pretty sticky situation regarding the treatment of their animals. Other than the eventual slaughter of the livestock (which is a whole other ethical argument), the common life experiences of these animals are nothing short of miserable.
Large industrial farms have high populations of livestock in their care. However, since money is a driving force, these farms use as little space as possible to contain them. Chickens, for example, live in cages which are abysmally small (about the size of copy paper). Saving money also means doing whatever it takes to produce meat as quickly as possible, this is where growth hormones come into play. The copious amounts that are injected cause the livestock to grow at exponential rates, leading to severe pain. Farmers also use antibiotics for similar purposes, which can cause health issues, pain, and disease (Ironic, right?)
Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. Due to the stress of the environment, the animals often act out in aggression. Pigs, to name one, are susceptible to stress and boredom that can manifest in self-harming, violence (such as tail biting), and cannibalistic behaviors. Farmers deal with this issue, not through actually addressing the problem, but by cutting off piglets’ tails and breaking the ends of their teeth (without painkillers).
Animal agriculture doesn’t just encompass the meat industry, but dairy production, too. When I first began to learn about the industry, I didn’t think about dairy production as an issue. How bad could it be to take a cow’s milk? What I neglected to acknowledge was that milk is not produced in the same way chickens can produce eggs. There’s only one way that cows can produce milk – through pregnancy. Although this can happen naturally, the most common practice is through artificial insemination, which is carried out by the farmer. When a cow gives birth, her calf will be taken from her within a few days. Cows have strong connections to their offspring, so this removal will cause distress to both the cow and her calf, as they will continuously attempt to locate each other through calls. The process will continue for the mother cow, until she is eventually unfit to produce milk. The strain of this routine significantly decreases the lifespan of dairy cows to about 4.5 to 6 years instead of their natural lifespan of 20 years.
Environmental Concerns
Climate change and increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are commonly connected to factory farm practices. Climate change is an issue that I hear about daily, and for good reason. As one of the leading environmental concerns today, this impact is important to consider, since the animal agriculture industry is one of the biggest producers of GHG. To put this into perspective, the contribution of GHGs from animal agriculture accounts for almost 20% of global warming effects. These emissions have significant consequences on the environment, many of which we can observe with our own eyes: glaciers retreating, increased severe weather, and rising sea levels.
My social media is often filled with pleas to stop the destruction of crucial forests, with the Amazon Rainforest typically in the spotlight. Deforestation is another environmentally destructive practice caused by animal agriculture. It’s widely understood that this industry is the leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon and for the entire world, contributing 2.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year.
Understanding the role of animal agriculture in climate change is crucial for discovering and implementing solutions that can greatly reduce the levels of human-induced greenhouse gases that are released into our atmosphere annually.
What can be done?
To combat the poor environmental impacts of these farms, researchers Tibor Vegh and Brian Murray emphasize an increase in policy incentives, which would influence producers to implement more sustainable practices. For example, policy incentives have been effective in increasing the number of anaerobic digesters used in animal agriculture, which break down manure, capture the methane released, and instead produce biogas and digestate fertilizer. Not only do policy changes and regulations generate direct change, but they can also be a catalyst for innovation. One innovative technique that has been discovered in recent years involves a type of algae known as Asparagopsis Taxaformis, which has been proven to reduce methane production when consumed by livestock. Researcher, Jennifer Smith, explains that “feeding cattle a 1-2% dry mass supplement of Asparagopsis per day could reduce methane release by up to 70% without altering fermentation processes.” The implementation of this discovery could tremendously reduce the level of GHGs released by factory farms.
In terms of animal welfare issues, education can be extremely effective in pushing producers to opt for more ethical practices. There are plenty of films and documentaries that have been produced with the intent to raise public awareness of this issue (the most impactful for me was Dominion). When given updated information, people will be equipped with the knowledge necessary to become involved in efforts to support changes in policy and regulation. But most importantly, education can help consumers learn how to make more sustainable and ethical choices when buying and eating food. This isn’t to say that everyone needs to switch to a plant-based diet, but sourcing animal products from companies (such as small, local farms) that are more ethical and sustainable, when possible, can go a long way.
Education, discovery, and innovation are at the heart of finding viable and long-term solutions to the issues caused by animal agriculture. Implementing regulations and policy changes can drive more effort into discovering new ideas and techniques that can be implemented into these industries. Education is equally important for fostering public awareness and support of policies and actions that could make impactful changes.
In my experience, this topic was not an easy pill to swallow. Learning about the truth of animal agriculture practices forced me to confront the beliefs I held all my life. However, educating myself allowed me to feel empowered to try to make a difference and provide another voice for the health of our planet and for the billions of animals that are subject to the poor treatment of these farms.