Animal exploitation is killing the planet

It's not really news, but the New York Times thinks it is. They published an article today detailing the skyrocketing growth of animal-based food industries, as well as those sub-industries that serve them.

Here are some highlights:

The trillions of farm animals around the world generate 18 percent of the emissions that are raising global temperatures, according to United Nations estimates, more even than from cars, buses and airplanes...

But such fledgling proposals are part of a daunting game of catch-up. In large developing countries like China, India and Brazil, consumption of red meat has risen 33 percent in the last decade. It is expected to double globally between 2000 and 2050. While the global economic downturn may slow the globe’s appetite for meat momentarily, it is not likely to reverse a profound trend...

Indeed, scientists are still trying to define the practical, low-carbon version of a slab of bacon or a hamburger. Every step of producing meat creates emissions.

Flatus and manure from animals contain not only methane, but also nitrous oxide, an even more potent warming agent. And meat requires energy for refrigeration as it moves from farm to market to home...

Producing meat in this ever-more crowded world requires creating new pastures and planting more land for imported feeds, particularly soy, instead of relying on local grazing. That has contributed to the clearing of rain forests, particularly in South America, robbing the world of crucial “carbon sinks,” the vast tracts of trees and vegetation that absorb carbon dioxide...

“I’m not sure that the system we have for livestock can be sustainable,” said Dr. Pachauri of the United Nations. A sober scientist, he suggests that “the most attractive” near-term solution is for everyone simply to “reduce meat consumption,” a change he says would have more effect than switching to a hybrid car...

Producing a pound of beef creates 11 times as much greenhouse gas emission as a pound of chicken and 100 times more than a pound of carrots, according to Lantmannen, the Swedish group...

And this, far and away, is the best line in the article:

Meat producers have taken issue with the United Nations’ estimate of livestock-related emissions, saying the figure is inflated because it includes the deforestation in the Amazon, a phenomenon that the Brazilian producers say might have occurred anyway.

Yeah, definitely, the rain forest would just be falling down, so it's a good thing there is an industry there to take up all that space that would have been wasted.

I have no illusions that this will move any significant portion of the population towards reducing meat consumption. No, everyone will keep doing what they were doing. Perhaps some will fret over how unfortunate this all is, but as a whole, humans will keep increasing their meat, milk and egg consumption, diligently building their own demise. I mean, what can you really do, right? We are a profoundly stupid species.

So don't let science and the health of the world in which we live get in the way of what you feel like doing. Go ahead, eat your way into oblivion. Their death will one day make ours.

The everyday production of chicken eggs

looks like this.

New ammunition for Prop. 2 supporters

Monday, October 13, 2008 7:04 PM

By Dan Noyes

Have you thought about where the eggs for your breakfast come from? We're getting the first look at new undercover video taken at a Southern California egg ranch -- one of the biggest in the state. It is part of the Proposition 2 campaign to improve conditions for farm animals.

"I was hired as a maintenance guy in the chicken barns," says an undercover investigator for the group, Mercy for Animals, who wore a hidden camera while working at Norco Farms in Menifee during August and September.

He documented what's called a battery cage operation. This is the way that 95 percent of the eggs in this country are produced.

"All of the birds were confined in cages that were so small they couldn't stretch their wings and they couldn't walk or turn around without being in constant contact with other birds or the walls of the cages. Some of the cages were so overcrowded that the birds literally had to lie on top of each other," says the investigator.

That is the simple point of Prop. 2 -- "to prohibit the cruel confinement of farm animals in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs."

The video at Norco Ranch shows the hens have no room for natural behavior such as foraging, dust bathing or perching. We played the video for the group opposing Prop 2.

"Well, it would be great if we all had more room, but the fact of the matter is for the hens to have more room, the farmers need to make incredible improvements in their property in terms of their equipment and infrastructure and they need a lot more land, they need more space," says Julie Buckner with the "No on Prop. 2" campaign. [As though anyone needs eggs]

"If Proposition 2 passes, it will effectively force us out of business," says egg farmer Jill Benson.

The "No on 2" campaign arranged an interview with an egg farmer in Modesto. Benson defended her battery cage operation, with six hens per cage.

"The feed's in front of her, the water's in back, she can flap her wings and still socialize with her neighbors," says Benson. [She admits that they socialize, that they have real interactions and feelings.]

The undercover video at the other ranch in Southern California raises more concerns than cage size and overcrowding. The investigator found badly decomposed carcasses in cages with hens still producing eggs for human consumption. Eggs on a conveyor belt bounced off the head of one dead bird. Other live chickens were stuck in the cages, and the investigator says the injured were left to suffer.

"I never saw a veterinarian on the property nor was there any kind of a protocol ever explained to me for what humane euthanasia would be," says the investigator.

The investigator tells the I-Team when he pointed out injured birds, the workers did not call a vet and they did not do a very good job -- or a humane job -- of killing the hens. They would keep flopping for minutes. He also found chickens suffering what is called a prolapse.

"And a prolapse is where a chicken has laid enough eggs or a particularly large egg so that her uterus turns inside out and then she's bleeding from the wound and eventually all of her insides spill out from her cavity," explains the investigator.

"Farming isn't always pretty [Especially when it's rape and torture.], it isn't glamorous and for those of us who live in the cities and suburbs, we really don't have much of a chance to see how the food we eat is raised," says Buckner.

Norco Ranch is owned by Land O' Lakes, which referred our calls for comment to Moark LLC, the subsidiary that oversees the farm. Moark President and CEO Craig Willardson says the company follows strict guidelines on humane treatment, and that workers killing hens this way is wrong.

"As you described, that twirling around, that is not part of our accepted procedures. We will do an investigation up to and including termination of any employees who were involved in that activity," says Willardson.

This video comes at a tough time for the opponents of Prop. 2. They say if the bill passes, it will drive egg production out of state.

"The farmers in California, egg farmers in California, are doing the best possible job they can caring for their animals and providing us with a clean, safe food product," says Buckner. [I think that no one would/does actually believe that statement. The "best job" they could do would be to stop farming.]

"This is abuse that is so horrific, that if we kept dogs or cats in these conditions, it would be illegal. The very least that we can do in a civilized society is afford this basic protection to farm animals, as well," says Nathan Runkle with Mercy for Animals.

The president of the company that owns Norco Ranch agreed to give us a tour some time next week. But he says he has to get back to us on whether we can bring a television camera.

Prop. 2 would not take effect until 2015, so the egg producers would have time to adjust or move out of state, as the "No on 2" people argue.

For more on this story, read the I-Team Blog: Eggs for your breakfast.

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