The film shared:
* Approximately 10 billion animals (chickens, cattle, hogs, ducks, turkeys, lambs and sheep) are raised and killed in the US annually. Nearly all of them are raised on factory farms under inhumane conditions. These industrial farms are also dangerous for their workers, pollute surrounding communities, are unsafe to our food system and contribute significantly to global warming.
* Some of our most important staple foods have been fundamentally altered, and genetically engineered meat and produce have already invaded our grocery stores and our kitchen pantries.
* In January 2008, the FDA approved the sale of meat and milk from cloned livestock, despite the fact that Congress voted twice in 2007 to delay FDA's decision on cloned animals until additional safety and economic studies could be completed.
* The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 76 million Americans are sickened, 325,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die each year from foodborne illnesses.
* High calorie, sugar laden processed foods coupled with our sedentary lifestyles is growing our waistlines and contributing to serious health issues like diabetes, heart ailments and cancers. One-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.
The entire film was very interesting but I must say that the details of how animals are raised and slaughtered were quite disturbing. On each "farm", hundreds of thousands of chickens are raised in complete darkness as they are fed a diet that fattens them up beyond the development of their own skeletal and muscular structures. Many of the chickens wind up unable to even lift themselves or walk. Yet, the "fatter, faster, bigger, cheaper" mentality chugs on as companies such as Tyson and Perdue control the industry and the farmers.
I did a little research after the film to find out what our area offers in terms of supporting more responsible and sustainable farming practices. I found:
Organization
Carolina Farming Stewardship Association
CFSA's vision of the future is that healthy and thriving communities of farmers and consumers in the Carolinas are supported by local and organic agricultural systems that are environmentally responsible, economically sound, and socially just.
Farms
Caw Caw Creek Pastured Pork
CCCPP strives to preserve traditional methods of agriculture, like masting pigs in oak forests and growing them slowly gleening crops like peanuts and English Peas, while introducing modern improvements where they are appropriate, like water lines and electric fencing.
Stores
Earth Fare, Divine Street
Earth Fare provides a healthy selection of naturally-raised and organic meats. None of their meat products contain antibiotics or hormones and Earth Fare guarantees that all of their animals were raised on a strict, 100% vegetarian diet. Most of the livestock, particularly the bison and cattle, receive a grass-based diet only to be finished on grain for 60-90 days before processing. However, none of the animals are ever confined to a feedlot, as all grain is administered on pasture. Beyond the usual suspects of chicken, turkey, beef, and pork, Earth Fare also features more exotic or hard-to-find meats such as ostrich, venison, and various poultry breeds.
Rosewood Market and Deli, Rosewood Drive
Products and Production Methods:
Beef - Grass Fed, No Added Hormones, No Antibiotic Use
Chicken - Free Range or Roaming, No Added Hormones, No Antibiotic Use
Dairy - Organic, No Antibiotic Use, No Added Hormones, 100 Percent Vegetarian Feed
Eggs - Organic, No Antibiotic Use, No Added Hormones, Free Range or Roaming, 100 Percent Vegetarian Feed
Lamb - No Added Hormones, No Antibiotic Use
Pork - No Added Hormones, No Antibiotic Use
Turkey - Free Range or Roaming, No Added Hormones, No Antibiotic Use
Farmers Markets
There are fifteen farmers markets located within twenty miles of our house.
Tricia read a book last summer that detailed how a family became fed up (pun intended) with how food was being produced in our country. They noticed that nearly nothing they were eating came from their own community - not to mention their own country. The impact of this seemed too much for them so they decided to make a change: eat only foods that they knew the very farmer or field from which they came. To do this they moved to Virginia and began growing a good portion of their own food.
While I don't see us becoming farmers anytime soon - far from it - I do think there's something to be said about being more responsible in terms of selecting the foods we eat. Each time we purchase something at the grocery store we are casting a vote; telling the companies and corporations which foods we are willing to support and which we are not. While this might seem minor, it is important to note that Wal-Mart has made changes in the some of the foods they sell (milk without growth hormones, for example) based on the voices of their customers. Obviously they were motivated by sales but the final outcome is still just as rewarding.
So I'm left to think...
If Wal-Mart can welcome change, surely there's hope for the rest of us.
This is powerful and so true. Sadly, it is so much less expensive to eat the mass produced, cloned, growth hormoned, inhumane foods available. Which all but traps people in lower incomes into that diet, that lifestyle. If one chooses the alternative (vegan, organic) it is like a mark of being weird, pinko, hippie, alternative and holier-than-thou. Eric Slosser also wrote CHEW ON THIS. This was required reading for Lexington HS a couple summers ago. Same ideas as the film. For my son it made a difference.
ReplyDeleteOK, now I feel a little guilty writing something as light and fluffy as SKY MALL PART 2.