Now, this is scary, but I dare you to listen to the whole freaking thing. No… Consumer alert: I’m afraid “scary” is an understatement. This report is stand-your-hair-on-end horrifying.
You need to hear this. Hold your nose to make your way past the nauseating part about how beef, pork, and chicken are fed and raised and (near the end) get an earful of Philpot’s thoughts on raising your own birds. It’s sorta heartening.
Think I just lost interest in eating Costco or grocery-store beef and lamb and chicken and pork and developed a profound interest in eating about a quarter as much meat but buying it at Whole Foods.
In the meantime, this line of thought brings me to something I’ve become quietly obsessive about. To wit:
Surely there’s a way caring people can work together to make life better in today’s dystopia, even if it’s only within their own small groups. For example: the chicken-raising project. Though everyone talks about it, La Bethulia is my one (count her, one) friend who has had the sheer chutzpah to actually DO it. Could we all learn from her and figure out how to keep a flock of chickens happy without having the carnivores that live with us eat the damn things? And with our collective knowledge and intelligence, could we figure out how to sell or donate extra eggs?
Good lord, folks… Do we ever need to resist Big (Business) Brother! If we worked together, could we find a cost-effective way to buy free-range beef, pork and lamb? Could we figure out a collaborative way to raise healthy chickens or ducks or goats or god knows what to our mutual benefit? Could we generate solar energy for a neighborhood and cut down on the coal-fired plants?
There has gotta be a way.
Move to Nevada!! We are doing most of that stuff already. The guy down the road has a horse and a goat. The people behind us have chickens and there are other chicken and egg people in the general vicinity. Our CSA, which is in the Fallon banana belt like most of the farms, has chickens and eggs (and heritage turkeys and ducks at the holidays), in addition to the veggies, and they distribute for another farm that raises grass fed beef and lamb. Then there is locally roasted coffee and honey…. We are registered in a small but growing list of “backyard farmers” keep by a local organic nursery, which also raises and sells veggies and chickens and eggs and does classes and fosters exchange of extras between backyard farmers. They are located next to Full Circle Compost, which uses local green waste to make compost, mulch, and soil amendments for local use. Another “farm” here in town collects and sells local wild grass and wildflower seeds….
Oh yeah, and there is a solar powered laundromat, open 24 hours a day. 🙂
I don’t want to listen to it. I can imagine from what little I’ve seen and read about chicken batteries. I also remember that book from high school( not the name unfortunately(unless it was The Jungle) by Upton Sinclair) about the Chicago meatpacking plants. That was enough to turn anyone off of eating meat.
@ Linda: Yes. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was the immediate cause for laws regulating sanitation in slaughterhouses. In brought conditions in abbatoirs and packing houses to the public’s attention, with the result that Congress was forced by public pressure to set up a regulatory system.
Unfortunately, today’s Americans seem to have forgotten that there was a reason for federal and state regulation of the many industries that affect our safety and health…
I watched a number of food related documentaries on Netflix and decided that personally I would not contribute to such inhumane treatment as what goes on in these slaughter houses. Therefore I don’t buy meat or poultry and haven’t in years. I would love to raise egg laying chickens in my backyard but local laws forbid it. My dream in retirement is to find a house with good soil and a vegetable garden!
I just wrote about the issues with food in this country on my own blog a few days ago. I am so sickened by the way food is grown, processed, and distributed in this country, especially the food that comes from animals. Chickens, pigs, and cows are living creatures and deserve to be treated with some respect, even if they do end up on our table.
I’ve been a meat-eater all my life, but now I consider myself an ethical/situational vegetarian. That means I will eat meat from pigs, cows, and chickens or eggs when I know that it comes from a farm that has raised them humanely. When I eat at most major restaurant chains, I eat vegetarian. I may eat fish if it is not from an over-fished species or one that isn’t farmed in a way that damages the environment (so most farmed salmon is not on my “good to eat” list). It can be complicated to choose food from a menu, since I also have a few issues with food sensitivities, but I manage.
If you’re so inclined, why not start a conversation with your neighbors and local friends about how you can make a change to your food sources? Neighbors buying half a beef, pig, etc. together is pretty common in some areas. I’ve talked with others about doing this, but just haven’t gotten myself organized around it yet; I think I’ll have to make it happen this year so I can get a bit of beef and pork in the freezer for some winter stews and soups.
In Chicago we’re lucky enough to be able to keep most “livestock” as long as we don’t violate other city ordinances about noise, filth, etc. I have egg laying hens in my back yard and a pretty large food garden. I give eggs away to neighbors and friends all the time, and have plenty to eat for myself. Too bad I can’t keep a goat, too. (Yes, I could legally keep a goat and really, really want a milk goat, but it’s not practical to feed one in the city.)
One of the other things that concerns me about these approaches to producing our food are that they stratify the food system even more than it is. There is the food system for the privileged class — those that can afford to buy property on which they can garden and raise animals, as well as pay a premium for food that is produced humanely and without poinsoning the environment — and there is a food system for the less privileged class — the ones that can only afford to eat cheap meat and food-like substances produced from highly subsidized crops like corn and soybeans. It also exposes the social justice issues around food, too. Who is working in the slaughterhouses, or out in the pesticide-laden fields where commercial food crops are grown? When did farming and producing sustenance become such an undignififed profession?
“Could we generate solar energy for a neighborhood and cut down on the coal-fired plants?”
With the boat load of building requirements that every locality has today, I can’t figure out why they don’t require that every new house built after X date needs to have a single solar panel…imagine if every new house got one – the dent would be fantastic.
It is reasons like this that I am a vegetarian. I don’t want to support or have anything to do with these kids of activities.
It’s funny; I just listened to this this morning, too. The most encouraging thing was that pink slime is no more.
I had a friend who raised rabbit for the meat. He never bought meat to cook but he would eat beef or chicken whenever we went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant after a night on the town.
I could keep chickens but I don’t eat many eggs and I don’t believe I have the stomach to butcher one anyway…
Maybe I could find someone to barter with for that “service.” Or maybe it would just be easier to go vegan or something. I read the following guidance somewhere, “…never eat anything that had a face…” Yuck!