Meat Production
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Some may think that meat production is not so much of a political issue. I assure you that it truly is.
Many ecologists have pointed out that one of the greatest drivers of climate change is animal agriculture. Meanwhile, for many animal activists, reducing animal agriculture is an ethical concern.
Whether you believe in climate change or not, one thing which cannot be denied is that food prices, especially meat, have increased dramatically in recent years. The more we do see climate change, the higher prices are going to go. This does not only apply to meat, however. To raise animals for food takes a lot of resources. Those resources include clean water and food which could be produced for direct human consumption. As those resources become more scarce, as they are right now, the price of grain increases. To raise animals for food requires a lot of water and a lot of grain.
Meanwhile, mass animal agriculture is extremely damaging to the environment. Have you ever driven past a mass cattle farm and had to roll your windows up because the odor was so toxic? Imagine the runoff from those factory farms reaching waterways like streams, rivers and lakes. We already know that fertilizer runoff does extreme damage to waterways, killing fish and causing algae overgrowth. We also understand that animal waste is a strong fertilizer. Thus, it takes no stretch of imagination to know that runoff from animal waste is not healthy for the water system.
That’s all without mentioning the extreme amount of methane animal agriculture produces.
Nor am I going in depth into antibiotic use in animal agriculture, which infectious disease experts say may well lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant disease strains. The majority of antibiotics produced in this country are used in animal agriculture.
I am not a vegetarian, for full disclosure. Tried that decades ago and the doctor made it clear my metabolism would not allow it.
Technology changes. Today there are technologies advancing which could be developed for lab grown meat, which would be far less resource-depleting and in many cases may be healthier than mass animal agriculture farming. It would definitely be…
