Part Seven, Issue 28 A Sustainable Diet

Objectives After reading the assigned chapter and reviewing the materials presented the students will be able to understand: What constitutes a sustainable diet? What are the medical, social, and environmental consequences of the standard American diet? What is the relation of industrial hog farms to sustainability?

The Ethical Gourmet (fig 28-1, page 307) Sustainability embraces the triple bottom line of people, prosperity, and the planet and includes the goal of social and economic justice. The American diet includes more meat (over 200 pounds per person annually) and this is encouraging industrial streamlining of the process by which animals are raised for slaughter. This in turn has led to inhumane living conditions for cows, pigs, chicken and dangerous working conditions for employees. The American diet has led to an epidemic of coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.

The Sustainable Diet Sustainable agriculture is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals, and does not harm the environment, is humane for workers and animals, provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports and enhances rural communities. Eighty percent of soybean harvest is eaten by animals.

Coastal Population Growth of Hogs Coastal North Carolina has quietly become one of America’s most important centers for hog raising and processing. Hog factory farms confine animals in stalls with eight square feet of floor space per animal in metal buildings. The floors are slatted metal through which feces and urine fall. Spills from sewage lagoons are common.

For Further Thought Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are usually windowless, crowded, and polluted factories where animals are treated like production units rather than animals. In 2001, U.S. per capita carbonated soft drink consumption was 49 gallons.

Summary The American diet includes more meat (over 200 pounds per person annually) and this is encouraging industrial streamlining of the process by which animals are raised for slaughter. The American diet has led to an epidemic of coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Sustainable agriculture is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals, and does not harm the environment, is humane for workers and animals, provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports and enhances rural communities. Coastal North Carolina has quietly become one of America’s most important centers for hog raising and processing. Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are usually windowless, crowded, and polluted factories where animals are treated like production units rather than animals.

Home Work 1. What is sustainable agriculture? 2. What are confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs)?