Sustainable Animal Products: An Oxymoron | One Green Planet

Posted by: foodyarnstuff on: July 7, 2011

• In: Environment | Food | Vegan
• Leave a Comment

Sorry,  I feel like I fell off my blog there for a few days!  I had a fun holiday weekend and then decided to sign up as an Independent Consultant for Celadon Road (an eco-friendly direct sales company), suddenly here we are – it’s already (almost) Friday.  I hate when summer weeks just fly by and you don’t know where they went!  I have a few articles I’ve seen over the last few days that I’ve saved for posting – but just hadn’t gotten around to fully reading and writing my thoughts to share them!  So, here goes!  Don’t worry, I’m not going to bombard you with articles… I’ll sprinkle them in over the next few days.

Sustainable Animal Products: An Oxymoron | One Green Planet

This article really caught my eye – one of the things that really grabbed me and got me to start thinking about becoming vegan was the chapter in Veganist, by Kathy Freston, that focused on the environmental impact of factory farming.  I was shocked and appalled at the facts about the environmental effects that farming these animals has on our environment.

Everyone is worried about creating the next best hybrid car – when more change could be affected by not having to feed and ‘house’ cattle for the purpose of eating!  Just think, they’re animals – just like you.  What happens when you eat food? Well, the cattle (and the chickens, and the pigs etc.) have to do that too!  All that waste and gas has to go somewhere!

So you want to have ‘happy’ cattle (or chickens or pigs etc.) – well, that means they need more land to graze, to move, to be ‘free’.  That’s taking away land from the natural ecosystem in the area.  Not to mention what a herd of cattle does to a field… they eat it!

I know many people who do their best to do their part for the environment – recycling, ride-sharing, even just unplugging and remembering to turn off lights – but I’m sure most of them don’t think about the ‘cost’ of their hamburger or pork chop!

Tags: Celadon Road, environment, Environmentally friendly, Factory farming, Green Planet, Kathy Freston, Vegan, Veganism, Vegetarian, Vegetarianism