Industrial Farming

Industrial Farming

Your thoughts about the vanishing of bees (what else have you heard/seen about this issue?)


For me, the Vanishing of the Bees emphasizes how alternating the natural flow of nature often has undesirable effects. Although Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) may have various causes, much of these causes can be directly associated with human activity. For instance, many industrial bee keepers feed their bees artificially-based foods, selectively breed Queen Bees, and introduce foreign bees. Although this may increase productivity on a temporary basis, the long-term consequences of such actions can be disastrous. As the video stated, as humans, we often look for an immediate result, without understanding, or considering the long-term consequences of our actions. Therefore, I believe that "The Vanishing of the Bees" emphasized our neglect of long-term consequences and sustainability.

I have heard about CCD before, but understood very little about it. In addition, I knew that Bees are integral to our food productivity, but not the extent to which they are responsible for our food productivity. Of course, bees disappearing has a much far-reaching affect, where not only humans become negatively impacted, but the entire ecosystem becomes negatively impacted. I often think of dominoes, where every domino represents a particular species within the ecosystem; as soon as one topples, all the the dominoes follow. In this way, the vanishing of the bees could potentially lead to the vanishing of humans, and all life on earth.

Dirt!: The Movie

"Dirt!" emphasizes a point that is similar to "The Vanishing of the Bees." Just as Bees help to nourish the plants of the environment, which in turn nourish us, we are all nourished by the dirt beneath our feet. Moreover, we happen to be made from the very same compounds which are found in the dirt. Just as altering the nature of Bees can lead to negative effects, altering our relationship with dirt can also have a negative effect. For instance, as large cities often carpet the ground with insoluble cements and asphalts, it creates a barrier against water absorption. Therefore, when rains fall onto these large cement and asphalt slabs that are our cities, the water is wasted as it runs out into the oceans. Also, this water picks up several pollutants along the way, which is then spilled into the oceans. Consequently, this can lead to dead-zones in the oceans. Therefore, as we attempt to control nature, in order for it to fit our exceptions of how and what a civilization should be, we ultimately bring harm upon ourselves, and everything else in this world.

Now that we know the effects we have had on the environment, it often surprises me how little has been done to reverse our negative impacts, or to change the ways in which we live, to be more symbiotic with the environment we ultimately depend on for our very survival. It's as if we feel that that the earth and everything in it is not necessary for us to live. Overall, these movies make me encouraged by the numerous areas of public health that I can be a part of to improve our relationship with nature, but also discourage and overwhelm me with how dire our situation really is.

Were you able to discover if there is a factory farm near you? Were you already aware of farms near you? What do you think about this?

My county of residence, Snohomish County, is considered to have an extreme density of factory farms. Here is a snap shot of the make-up of the county's factory farm population, according to Factory Farm Map:

	1997	2002	2007	2012
Dairy
Animals	8,339	8,932	6,745	7,883
Avg / Site	758	638	675	1,314
Broilers
Animals	*167,397	*184,568
Avg / Site	*167,397	*184,568
Layers
Animals	*1,085,322	*484,894	*984,959	*678,579
Avg / Site	*271,330	*484,894	*492,480	*678,579

The Factory farms in Snohomish county are either dairy farms or Layer sites.

Of course, this is concerning for me, because these factory farms can have such a negative impact on the environment in which I live. This can lead to increased manure pits, which gets absorbed into the ground and water. These factory farms can help spread diseases, and often mistreat and abuse the animals within them. Overall, I was surprised to see that Snohomish county had such a high concentration of factory farms.

This information makes me unsure about buying local, as there are many factory farms local to my area. However, as long as I can ensure the source of the product, I can determine whether the product came from a factory farm or not. More importantly, this makes me concerned about the health of the environment around me, as factory farms can have such a negative impact on the environment.

Composting: Do you currently compost? Have you composted in the past? Do you know anyone who composts? Would you consider composting, after learning about its benefits from the movie?

I currently do not compost, but would like to do so in the near-future. My wife and I are currently looking for a house, and we both would like to use the compost on any land that we may posses. We hope to use the compost for growing our own garden, and hopefully become more self-sufficient.

As I live around Seattle, I know a lot of people who compost. Seattle itself has waste bins dedicated to compost materials, and if you throw away a non-compostable item into one of these bins out of confusion, you may bring the wrath of many unmerciful hipsters laying in wait. I am certain it is much the same in San Francisco, if not more extreme.