HBO exposes the horrible cruelty and filth of factory farms in the U.S. that confronts what we have turned a blind eye to for years. Monday, March 16th premiers: “Death on a Factory Farm” at 10:00 pm on HBO. Try to watch it.
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/deathfactoryfarm/index.html
I’ve read estimates that from 7 to 12 billion animals per year are eaten in the U.S. I’m assuming the difference in the spread is whether or not poultry is included. Anyway, the U.S. has 300 million people. That means on the low end, the estimated 7 billion, every man, woman, and baby eats 23.33 critters each. It’s an assortment of course, but nevertheless, do we think this is good for us? The high end puts us at 40 animals each.
I don’t know if these estimates like the 7 billion from Cornell include pet food either. Funny, we raise animals to feed our animals, and we kill animals like wolves that seek to keep a balance among wild animals also. As a result, we throw things out of balance. That imbalance is hurting our health and the environment.
Cutting out 1/5th or 20% of our food animal intake would be the equivalent of replacing our cars with a hybrid. The pollution of raising the poor critters in horrendous conditions, the resources used for that same purpose, and the pollution from slaughter is phenomenal. So 20% less food animals does indeed make a dent with 1.4 billion less animals in the equation.
And that’s food we can simply do without. Think eating 4 instead of 5 meatballs with your sgetti, or eating a 6.5-ounce steak instead of 8. As for the 16-24 ounce steaks, come on!