| Sustainable, is a process which can be maintained
indefinitely.
Sustainable food production can be
maintained indefinitely because sustainable farmers
do not take more resources to produce food than
they give back.
A reliance on renewable resources
- as well as on symbiotic relationships with nature
and the surrounding community - means that these
farms do not damage the environment, are humane
for workers and animals, provide a fair wage to the
farmer, and support and enhance rural life.
Because sustainable farmers see nature as an ally
rather an obstacle, they are able to produce more
wholesome food while using less fossil fuels (thus
lessening the impact on global warming), and without
using any synthetic pesticides, artificial hormones,
or antibiotics.
To learn more about why sustainable agriculture
works, visit Sustainable Table’s Introduction to
Sustainability section at: www.sustainabletable.
org/intro/whatis/.
What is Factory Farming?
Factory farming takes a mechanized approach to
agriculture, based on the assumption that raising
more animals in smaller spaces is more efficient than
letting them live and graze naturally, and therefore
more profitable. What this assumption ignores are
the problems created when the realities of living
creatures – what they eat, how they behave, how
much waste they create – are at odds with the industrial
systems created to maximize their production.
But factory farms don’t just ignore the problems created
by intensive animal confinement, they have found
ways to foist those problems onto society. Rather
than responsibly manage animal waste, take measures
to prevent air pollution and soil contamination, or keep
their animals clean and healthy, these large scale farms
take short cuts and receive government subsidies,
forcing taxpayers to pay for their problems.
If factory farms were forced to pay for these costs
rather than taxpayers, the system would no longer
be seen as profitable. Consumers are already
starting to notice this and are turning to organic
and sustainable food instead.
What are the most important issues?
Growth hormones and rBGH
Both natural and synthetic hormones are regularly
administered to factory farmed beef cattle to make
them grow faster. rBGH is a genetically engineered
hormone that increases dairy cows’ milk production,
but also threatens their health. Studies have shown
that hormones added to meat and dairy products
may have negative effects on human health.
Read more about hormones at: www.sustainabletable.
org/issues/hormones and rBGH at: www.
themeatrix.com/learnmore/rBGH.html.
Antibiotics
The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that
70% of all antimicrobials used in the United States
are given to farm animals, to compensate for filthy
conditions as well as to promote growth. Increasingly,
traditional antibiotics (which are a type of antimicrobial)
are losing their effectiveness in the battle against
infectious diseases because of antibiotic overuse which
creates resistant bacteria.
Read more about antibiotics
at: www.sustainabletable.org /issues/antibiotics.
Mad cow disease
Mad cow disease is a brain-wasting disease that is
spread among cows through factory farm feeding
practices.
Humans can contract the disease by eating
infected meat. There is no cure and the disease is
always fatal.
Read more about mad cow disease at:
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/madcow.
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering (GE) is the process of transferring
specific traits, or genes, from one organism into a different plant or animal. Much concern has been
raised over the inadequate testing of the effects of
genetic engineering on humans and the environment.
And once released into the environment, these
genetically engineered organisms cannot be cleaned
up or recalled.
Read more about GE food at:
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/ge.
Learn more about the problems with factory farming
from Sustainable Table’s Issues section at:
www.sustainabletable.org/issues/.
HAVE QUESTIONS ?
Want to find other sustainable-minded people?
Visit The Parlour, our online discussion forum
for sustainable food and The Meatrix at:
www.themeatrix.com/
We did not inherit this land from our fathers. We are borrowing it from our children.
– Amish Proverb -
“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday
and
our present thoughts build our life tomorrow.
Our life is the creation of our mind”
[BUDDHA 580 BC (Approximately)]
We have to create not only our life but our lifestyle and the environment and social structure
we would like to live that life in.
Dieter L. Editor |
