The only reason at all that I am a vegetarian is because of the effects that conventional meat farming has on the environment (I live in the carolinas, so check this and this that second article in particular:
Hog Waste Pollution
The traditional means of disposal for hog feces and urine has been open-air lagoon pits (basically big holding ponds for waste) and sprayfields.
Which leads to:
The lagoons sometimes rupture after heavy rains, and the fields on which waste is sprayed leak polluted runoff into streams and rivers.
They are talking about this disaster which led to:
The worst hog-waste spill in state history sent 25 million gallons of waste gushing into the New River this week, killing fish and taking the battle over the hog industry to a new level.
FUCK.
This is because businesses are driven by the bottom dollar, and in order to provide the mass quantity of hogmeat needed each day in America at the low low prices consumers want, it is cheaper to just store pig waste in huge pits. There is a rolling stone article out there that describes how these farmers have MILES of pigs just to keep up with demand.
That is sick. Not only is this a horrible way to keep animals, but this is part of the reason we have so many meat scares. It is really easy to get contaminated meat when they live in their own excrement, and that excrement is kept nearby in HUGE PUDDLES OF SHIT AND PISS AND DEAD PIGS.
And that is just the pork industry.
I am doing my part in lowering demand for these products so that maybe they have to provide better quality meat and pay a little more attention to what they are doing.
And also to the idiots arguing that you NEED MEAT to bulk up- Every plant-based protein powder on earth says Hi.
And as the majority of us (Americans) AREN'T professional weight lifters and body builders, we definitely can get by nutritionally on alternate protein sources.
I find it interesting that most people have come in here and in some way or another argued that we need a huge meat industry without even considering that there are very accessible sources of protein in other places.
Also- meat farming is INSANELY inefficient. The amount of resources it takes to raise these animals to a consumable state is mind-boggling especially considering the amount of "usable meat" we get off of them.
Check this shit out
Tracking food animal production from the feed trough to the dinner table, Pimentel found broiler chickens to be the most efficient use of fossil energy, and beef, the least. Chicken meat production consumes energy in a 4:1 ratio to protein output; beef cattle production requires an energy input to protein output ratio of 54:1. (Lamb meat production is nearly as inefficient at 50:1, according to the ecologist's analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics. Other ratios range from 13:1 for turkey meat and 14:1 for milk protein to 17:1 for pork and 26:1 for eggs.)
Come the fuck on people, this is a terrible way to utilize fossil fuels for what is honestly not necessary.
There are alternate sources of protein if you just HAVE to farm-raise and eat something.
Mmmm....meat.
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