Tuesday, February 28, 2006

The Price We Pay for Animal Agriculture


Thanks to Susan Weiner at Farm Sanctuary for pointing me to her organizations network of websites -- this has to be one of the most comprehensive resources available on factory farming, animal rights, vegetarianism, and many other related topics. Some of the more interesting resources I found were the information from FactoryFarming.com on the environmental and human health costs of factory farming, and the environmental case for vegetarianism at VegforLife.org. I've just scraped the surface at this point, but there's much more information here that I'll be coming back to read.

Susan particularly asked me (and I'm happy to oblige) to point to the organizations campaigns on behalf of "Downed Animals," and against the production of foie gras and veal. Farm Sanctuary has also targeted Chef Wolfgang Puck for his "huge hand in promoting both foie gras and 'white' veal among American consumers."

As many of you know, I'm not a vegetarian, though, more and more, I do recognize that my diet, and the typcial American diet, exacts huge costs on our health and our environment, as well as on the economic well-being of other parts of the world. I have cut way back on my consumption of meat, though, and frequently eat vegetarian meals -- I'm glad to see that Farm Sanctuary supports such incrementalism in moving away from an animal-based diet. I'll be reading more widely here, and thinking more and more about transitioning to a more sustainable diet. And I'm happy to take any suggestions from our vegetarian/vegan readers...

Photograph courtesy of Farm Sanctuary.

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