This semester, I am taking Environmental Biology. It fulfills a physical science requirement, and that's the only reason I'm taking it. I have no interest in environmental science of any kind. My worldview goes something like, "We're all going to die, stop being a little girl." I believe global warming is one of those "the sky is falling" ordeals in which I repeatedly tell people the world
is going to end and there is nothing they can do about it, just accept it and move on.
But for my environmental biology class, we were asked to watch
Food, Inc.
Yep. I'm now one of those crazy, organic environmentalists.
If you're not familiar with the film, it's a documentary about the food industry in the United States. It covers beef, chicken, pork, corn, soybeans...the whole nine yards.
Guess what? It's horrible. Sickening. Wrong. I'm a skeptic, and I know the film wasn't perfect, but I also know those people spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and risked millions in lawsuits to produce a film that they knew would never 'make it big', because they believe in this cause. They had nothing but good intentions, and they got their message across. It may have been imperfect, and it's certainly biased, but the evidence holds even under my university research scrutiny. And I think they are right.
First of all, I am an animal person. I love animals. I firmly believe that just because animals don't have the mental capacity to defend themselves against us does not make them worthless. They are living things with brains, thoughts, and feelings. They feel pain just like you do. They experience joy and sadness just like you do. They form interpersonal relationships just like you do. Anyone who has ever had a pet knows this. They
think. They have
emotions. I have had cats who were able to unlock doors and open microwaves. Dogs who hid when they knew they'd done something wrong. Horses who could tell when you were afraid (and were more than happy to take advantage of that.) Pets who knew when you were sad and were there to provide comfort in their own simple way. The fact is, animals are alive,
just like you. And their lower level of intelligence renders them completely subservient to us, the humans.
I accept that Heavenly Father put them here to be below us. I understand that. But I also believe that he never, ever put them here to be crushed to death by the millions in order to provide us with cheap bacon. I don't believe that he intended chickens to live for only 38 days, in which they could not walk or even stand because they have been so genetically modified that their bones cannot support their weight. I know he did not want them to be tortured and brutalized in every possible way, to be treated like nothing but a means to a paycheck. We have been asked to
take care of them. To look after them. To treat them with the respect and honor they deserve as living things.
I've heard about these sort of things before. Transcribing classes for a public health major has shown me more than my fair share of slaughterhouses. I know it is horrible. But I always thought there was nothing I could do. The food industry is controlled by the government and the workings of a capitalist nation. How could one little girl's choice to not eat a hamburger possibly make a difference?
Well, you just have to look around at Walmart or Smiths or Maceys to know that a difference has already been made, and by a minority who was always told they couldn't make a difference. Organic, non-GMO, and free-range labels are showing up everywhere. Every store now features reusable grocery bags. Because those grocery store owners had a change of heart? No. Because their customers were willing to pay for organic foods and eco-conscious practices.
To be honest, I already buy organic where possible. I buy cage-free eggs and organic fruits and veggies. It's only about a dollar more, and even I, a lowly student, has the ability to pay that dollar. But I also buy candy bars and Cheetos and all sorts of crap. And I'm done supporting an industry that harms everything about this world--from the environment, to the children killed by E. coli-contaminated burgers, to the horrible jobs minority workers are forced to work, to the animals that are treated like dirt rather than the thinking, feeling, living things they are.
So. It's organic from here on out. It's local farmers. It's free-range beef. I refuse to eat anything if I don't know where it came from. I refuse to eat anything produced by Tyson or Smithfield or McDonalds.
This is your Earth. Protect it.
Love,
Lizzy
Your Local Crazy Environmentalist Organic Granola Girl
