Archive for January 21, 2013

Nation of Change  How Factory Farming Contributes to Global Warming  Ronnie Cummins

http://www.nationofchange.org/how-factory-farming-contributes-global-warming-1358786945

Published: Monday 21 January 2013

“Today, nearly 65 billion animals worldwide, including cows, chickens and pigs, are crammed into  Confined Animal Feeding Operations[ CAFOs.] These animals are literally imprisoned and tortured in unhealthy, unsanitary and unconscionably cruel conditions. Sickness is the norm for animals who are confined rather than pastured, and who eat GMO corn and soybeans, rather than grass and forage as nature intended. To prevent the inevitable spread of disease from stress, overcrowding and lack of vitamin D, animals are fed a steady diet of antibiotics. Those antibiotics pose a direct threat to the environment when they run off into our lakes, rivers, aquifers and drinking water.”

“Opponents and skeptics will ask, “What about feeding the world?” Contrary to popular arguments, factory farming is not a cheap, efficient solution to world hunger. Feeding huge numbers of confined animals actually uses more food, in the form of grains that could feed humans, than it produces. For every 100 food calories of edible crops fed to livestock, we get back just 30 calories in the form of meat and dairy. That’s a 70-percent loss.”

Enough is enough.