Editor, Times-Union: Stop the world. I want to get off. We may all feel this way as agricultures rampant, overuse development, escalates. Negative environmental impacts, from current development patterns continue to add to the detriment of both animals and humans. CAFOs are the trend.
In a search for cheap feed and higher profits, manure has been introduced as a feed additive for cattle, pigs and poultry. The need to use the massive quantities of manure produced in factory farm operations prompts development of other ways to get rid of the animal waste. (Animal Feed Resources Information System) Same species meat, diseased animals, feathers, hair, skin, blood and other animal waste, drugs and chemicals are fed to animals, in the factory settings, along with unhealthy amounts of grain. According to The Union of Concerned Scientists, the only way to avoid consumption of meat that has been tainted is to buy from farmers who raise their food in non-factory settings.
Our water supply should be our very first concern, as good stewards of this earth. Farming alone uses 70 percent of all fresh water. (Reuters) According to the EPA, 36 states are going to see some areas of water shortages by 2012. A movie, “Last Call At The Oasis”, gives a good look at what all of us are facing. We can’t stop using water but we can learn to conserve it and not allow contaminants to enter our water supply.
Genetically modified crops are also causing more problems than just the non-labeling one. Besides the fact that they are unsafe for human consumption and affect the health of unborn children, they are creating super bugs. Specifically designed by a company, to kill root worms, a new version of the super root worm has emerged and can still destroy the crop. (Reuters)
Some pretty good indications that the whole system is out of control is when a farmer gets so big his irrigation system drains the water from his neighbors wells, or if there is such an overload of manure that it has to be staged or fed back to the animals. Manure from factory farms can render a whole area unfit for normal, every day life. Clean air and clean water are no longer a given.
Food for thought is in a quote from Albert Einstein, “Those who have the privilege to know have the duty to act.”
