Facts from Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

(Apologies for the lateness of this post. It was posted last night, but was mysteriously replaced with a post by Conor.)

In Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals, the author explores many elements of animal welfare, particularly factory farming and big business fishing. Throughout the novel, he describes, in detail, the conditions in both the catching of marine life for human consumption and the slaughter of animals in the meatpacking industries. Foer begins each of his chapters with an interesting fact about animal welfare, which are listed as follows:

• "Americans choose to eat less than .25% of the known edible food on the planet" (1).
• "Modern industrial fishing lines can be as long as 75 miles--the same distance as from sea level to space" (19).
• "Animal agriculture makes a 40% greater contribution to global warming than all transportation in the world combined; it is the number one cause of climate change" (43).
• "In the typical cage for egg-laying hens, each bird has 67 square inches of space--the size of this rectangle [the size of the page]. Nearly all cage-free birds have approximately the same amount of space" (79).
• "On average, Americans eat the equivalent of 21,000 entire animals in a lifetime--one animal for every letter on the last five pages" (121).
• "Nearly one-third of the land surface of the planet is dedicated to livestock" (149).
• "Less than 1% of the animals killed for meat in America come from family farms" (201).
• "Where will it end?" (245).

Foer makes convincing arguments with sufficient arguments from beginning to end, making his novel a valid source for study on the topic of animal welfare. He presents it in a way where he supports his accusations, yet uses humor to lighten the mood of seriousness that looms over his work. It was a very interesting and informative read that I  suggest to everyone, even those who did not have animal welfare as their blog topic. Sound off in the comments.

Citation Info:
Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating Animals. 2nd. 1st. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2009. 1-273. Print.

-DR

The Jungle: Weekly Excerpt

Week of March 21, 2011:
"In a society dominated by the fact of commercial competition, money is necessarily the test of prowess, and wastefulness the sole criterion of power."
This quote from The Jungle describes the change in society due to the rise of the meatpacking industry, the emergence of commercial competition, the act of running fellow companies out of business, and the growing importance of money. The food industry continued to grow in power and influence at an uncomfortable rate, reaching the powerful position it holds today. It is all about who is richer and who holds the most power. Sound off in the comments.

-DR

Underwater Factory Farming...? "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Foer

When I started this book, I expected it to be a book about the typical abuses of a typical farm animal e.g. the pig, cow, chicken. What I wasn't expecting was to here about was aquaculture, which Foer defines as, "the intensive rearing of sea animals in confinement...essentially underwater factory farming" (Foer 189). Our society doesn't usually group tuna and salmon as those suffering abuse due to our food industry, but Foer spends a lot of his book talking about this issue. Foer cites several sources of suffering for salmon and other sea creatures on page 189-190:

1) Water so fouled that it makes it hard to breathe; 2)crowding so intense that animals begin to cannibalize one another; 3)handling so invasive that physiological measures of stress are evident a day later; 4) disturbance by farm workers and wild animals; 5)nutritional deficiencies that weaken the immune system; 6) the inability to form a stable social hierarchy, resulting in more cannibalization...A major source of suffering for salmon and other farmed fish is the abundant presence of sea lice...These lice create open lesions and sometimes eat down to teh bones on a fish's face.

Who dares to say that this isn't just as cruel, if not more cruel, then what the other "typical" animals face in their factories? All of these animals face very cruel suffering, suffering that we really should not turn our backs on any longer. Foer brings light to these misdeeds created by the meat industry. Our society really can't turn our backs any longer. Otherwise we could face dreadful consequences.

-KW

Yes, there are two types of chicken..."Eating Animals" by Jonathan Foer

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer is well worth your time. It is an incredibly interesting book which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. In my next two posts, I just wanted to talk about certain passages that really stuck out in my mind and made me think a lot.

The first passage I want to talk about is on page 47 of the book published by the company Back Bay Books. (Mrs. Collier: I believed you read this passage to us in class, but I wanted to bring it up again. I think it's so interesting and well worth blogging about.) This passage talks about the awful living conditions of the egg-laying hen (not to be confused with the broiler chicken. Fun Fact: Yes there are indeed two types of chicken. For more information see the bottom of the post.) Here is the passage: 

The typical page for egg-laying hens allows each sixty-seven square inches of floor spaces-somewhere between the size of this page and a sheet of printer paper. Such cages are stacked between three and nine tiers high...Step your mind into a crowded elevator...so crowded that you are often held aloft. This is kind of a blessing, as the slanted floor is made of wire, which cuts your feet...There is no respite, no relief...The doors will open once, at the end of your life, for your journey to the only place worse (Foer 47). 

These are obviously awful and disgusting conditions. Foer goes on to talk about how some of these chickens go mad and become violent or cannibalistic. Is that really how we should treat animals? I think Foer makes it clear that this book isn't about promoting vegetarianism, but it obviously does question your morals. Throughout the book, Foer also kind of mocks the idea that humans are the center of the universe and how we compare everything to us. (Also known as the theory anthropocentrism).

On a different topic, I mentioned above that there are two types of chicken. Foer discusses them on page 48 and talks about how they have different genetics and bodies. These are the two types of chicken:
1. The one we already discussed: layers
2. The other type: broilers. Broilers are chicken that become meat. Broilers are now being genetically modified to grow more than twice as large in half the time. They once had a life expectancy of about 15 or 20 years but not they are killed at around 6 weeks.

Now, Foer then goes on to discuss, what happens to the male off spring of layers? Because obviously they don't serve the function of producing eggs or becoming meat. So what happens to them?

Most male layers are destroyed by being sucked through a series of pipes onto an electrified plate...Some are tossed into large plastic containers. The weak are trampled to the bottom, where they suffocate slowly. The strong suffocate slowly at the top. Others are sent fully conscious through macerators (picture a wood chipper filled with chicks) (48-49). 

Well I suppose this sounds a wee bit cruel...but maybe that's just me.

-KW

An interesting argument...

The following link will take you to... a page that is written by the manager of communications for an entity which calls itself the Animal Agricultural Alliance.


http://www.animalagalliance.org/images/ag_insert/manurematters_may03_page18.pdf


SPOILER ALERT: It defends factory farming.


In case you were too lazy to read it, it has a few... ahem... interesting quotes. Here are a few:

"Too far removed from the reality of how our 

food is produced, consumers have bought into the 

factory farming myth, believing the family farm has 

disappeared. The fact is that of the over two million 

farms and ranches in the U.S. today, 99% are still 

owned and operated by families. "

The same could be said of the Mafia. Regardless of who is owning them, the difference between the modern factory farm and the idyllic family farm of days past is simple: treatment of animals. Of course, they would be killed eventually, but they were not meant to suffer as extraordinarily as they are today.

"One of the reoccurring themes in the campaign to 

end intensive poultry and livestock production is the 

issue of waste management on “factory farms”. With 

hugely exaggerated, inflammatory, and graphic lan- 

guage, activists have tied current on-farm practices to 

the ultimate destruction of the global environment."

Regardless of the environment (which factory farming certainly isn't helping), the article seems to portray industry as 'the victim' here, practically stating that it is being viciously attacked by loud groups of hippies determined to smash American commerce forever. The whole time, however, the article fails to address the fact that the animals are no longer treated even somewhat humanely. Until industry puts morals above money (or, as I stated in a previous post, consumers demonstrate that they care about animal welfare), the food industry can not pretend to be 'the victim' in any circumstance.

Factory animals, however, can.

-Conor

Reply to Dan's Post on "Eating Animals Fun Facts" which has been reposted further up

Primarily addressing your last quote ("Where will it end?"), I think that because this problem was born from the Almighty Dollar, it will have to be capitalism to undo it, as it seems to be the only way. It would be much easier, though, if organic, humanely prepared food was as cheap as the 'bad stuff', but that seems to be a long way off. Able consumers, however, should show these companies that they want organic and animal-friendly (or, as animal-friendly as meat-eaters can be!) not just by their words, but by their money. As the Wal-Mart executive from Food, Inc. stated, it's all about where money can be made. As a side note, not only is the food better to the animals, but it also tastes better. (Have you had a grass-fed, organic steak before?)

-Conor

Break from the Frequent Flow of Books Reviews

Hey everybody! Now we know everyone is freaking about reviewing the blog books and everything, but if you are in need of a break, why not vote on our poll? At the bottom of our blog, below all our posts, is a poll asking the question "Does the Public Deserve to Know Everything that Occurs in the Animal Factories?" Voting ends March 23rd at 11:59 PM. Don't forget to vote!