Animal farm.
There's an article from the Guardian, (link below), that looks at the rise of intensive farming in the UK and touches on things like the numbers of animals involved and farming practices both good and bad.
This is one of those topics that most folk don't want to think about because it raises uncomfortable questions, the answers to which have been known to make some otherwise sane people make rash decisions like turning vegan when they step out of their houses. It's a bit of a dilemma because there is such demand for animal flesh and products that this intensive farming exists out of commercial necessity.
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You know I'm all about Revolting. The idea of a revolution is to instigate change and one change I want to see is to how food is produced, particularly where animal treatment is concerned. Revolting is another thing most consumers don't want to think about, it sounds messy and violent. However, and this is where the post takes a slightly cheery turn, it's a lot easier and less violent than you think. Have a look at this quote from the article,
“Last year, we grew almost a billion birds, 95% indoors and 3.4% free range and 1% organic. If we tried to grow a billion birds a year organically, that would be a lot of land. It’s a balancing act, and it’s demand-driven. I don’t think we’ll see a change in systems without consumer demand. At the moment, that demand isn’t there.”
What this means is that when consumers, (you, basically), change your buying habits, the industry adapts accordingly. Which means that if for example everyone only bought organic milk and refused to buy anything that didn't contain organic milk, (tea and coffee for example), then... Well, I think you can imagine. Same with buying eggs and meat that had only been reared in certain conditions.
If you're going to exploit animals for your comfort, and therefore support an industry that does this on your behalf, the least you can do is make the animals' lives more comfortable by choosing products produced by more caring responsible farmers.
You see? The revolution is a lot simpler than you think. It might be a bit more expensive to buy organic but think of it as a donation to a charity that takes care of animal welfare.
And everyone likes the thought of happy chickens, cows and pigs, unless they are selfish, heartless, fuc... (I think you've made your point. -Ed.)
Here's the article in full,
Kirk out
RevoltingFood.com
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