June 14: CAFOs

CAFOs

In class, we discussed the situation with CAFOs. 

CAFO stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and they are agricultural meat, dairy, or egg facilities where animals are kept and raised in confinement. The environment of these facilities are usually very poor and have harsh conditions for the animals. We got split into groups (my group was Devi, Qiqi, Haley, Annelyn, and me) and we were told to argue and come up for points on why CAFO is negative and why these facilities should be shut down and not exist anymore. 

Reasoning: 

Through research and discussion, here are a few summed up points of what our discussion was and why we said CAFOs should be shut down:

• Increases rate of death in humans when they eat processed meat that comes from CAFO.

• Large CAFOs decrease economic activities in rural communities and hurt small businesses.

• Market prices of plant based products are cheaper compared to processed food, but the cost of the labor in the factory for the processed food tends to spike. 

• Large CAFOs decrease aggregate employment and other economic activities in rural communities.

• CAFOs emits so many harmful gasses including hydrogen sulfide, which can have many dangerous effects such as irreversible brain damage, dizziness, headache, nausea, sore throats, sinusitis, burning eyes, and other illnesses.

• Waste of animal sewage.

• Inhumane working conditions for employees.

• Raises ethical dilemma: if it's even right to keep animals in such harsh conditions and torture them just so people can kill them and eat them.

• Animals are sensitive creatures that can feel pain and emotion, yet factory farms treat them like inmate objects.

• Environmental damage to vulnerable communities such as in North Carolina, and African American, Latino, and Native American communities.

• Runoff coming from these factories contaminate ground and surface waters with their waste.

Reflection:

At the end of the day, all of us inhabiting this Earth have the autonomous right for justice and equality. 

Animals may be inferior in the social hierarchy to humans however that does not justify the inhumane and cruel treatment that humans give them. As humans, we should not abuse the knowledge and abilities that we encompass by oppressing nonverbal and innocent animals through clear torture. Furthermore, the continuation of CAFOs will not only harm the environment, but also humankind. From the contamination of waste systems to the leakage of lagoons, chemicals are being leaked into resources we use every day.