BLOG #7

The Meatrix seems to be primarily trying to get across the point that commercial agriculture has been systematically lying to consumers and inflicting harm upon animals and the only way to stop this is to stand up to these companies. The extended metaphor of a “Meatrix” is a play on the blockbuster film The Matrix and provides for anyone that has seen the movie a good idea of how consumers are being deceived. The giant robots are an extension of this metaphor as they break up the “resistance” in the form of family farms. Although this establishes some basic problems with factory farming through some crude animation many questions go unanswered. Like what has fostered this growth of factory farms and what actions individuals can take to become a part to change how they function. Overall however the cartoon adequately simplifies the entire message of how consumers are being misled to a point where it is not too graphic and is easily understandable. Factory farms would probably hide behind the legality of what they are doing and how they must feed our growing population.

   

 In today’s world there are a host of serious environmental problems, and factory farming is one of the top causes of pollution.¹ Scientific research has found that factory farming’s method of crowding and confining animals in warehouse-like conditions before killing them and mass-producing both “meat” from cows, pigs and  chicken as well as dairy and eggs poses “an unacceptable level of risk to public health and damage to the environment…” Yet, despite factory farming’s severe social and ecological costs, many governments promote this unsustainable industry to supply a growing global “meat” market that is projected to double by 2050.

       The National Association of Local Boards of Health (NALBOH) is pleased to provide Understanding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Their Impact on Communities to assist local boards of health who have concerns about concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) or large industrial animal farms in their communities. The Environmental Health Services Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) encouraged the development of this product and provided technical oversight and financial support. The mission of NALBOH is to strengthen boards of health, enabling them to promote and protect the health of their communities, through education, technical assistance, and advocacy. Boards of health are responsible for fulfilling three public health core functions: assessment, policy development, and assurance. NALBOH is confident that Understanding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Their Impact on Communities will help local board of health members understand their role in developing ways to mitigate potential problems associated with CAFOs. 

The effects all these pollutants have on workers can range from acute bronchitis to chronic.  Some have even died while in these manure pits from lack of oxygen.  The communities surrounding these facilities are also affected.  Respiratory problems are pretty much a given when living close to one of these but studies have also shown that fatigue, depression, and changes in mood occur in higher rates near these factory farms especially hog farms.  So if you are house shopping and you come across a cheap house close to a hog farm you better make sure it has many bathrooms!  Another study showed that an elementary school near a factory farm had a significant number more of cases of children with asthma then another elementary school that was in the same state but nowhere near a factory farm.

    

It is really up to the government to fix up the problem.  Most of the negatives aspects of factory farming are contributed to the way that animals are feed.  Letting the animals grow naturally would cut down a lot on the harmful gases.  Not only would the animals no longer make them in large amounts the pollution from various ways that the feed gets to the farms would no longer be happening if they were grazing naturally like nature instead.