this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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Last year, I wrote a great deal about the rise of “ventilation shutdown plus” (VSD+), a method being used to mass kill poultry birds on factory farms by sealing off the airflow inside barns and pumping in extreme heat using industrial-scale heaters, so that the animals die of heatstroke over the course of hours. It is one of the worst forms of cruelty being inflicted on animals in the US food system — the equivalent of roasting animals to death — and it’s been used to kill tens of millions of poultry birds during the current avian flu outbreak.

As of this summer, the most recent period for which data is available, more than 49 million birds, or over 80 percent of the depopulated total, were killed in culls that used VSD+ either alone or in combination with other methods, according to an analysis of USDA data by Gwendolen Reyes-Illg, a veterinary adviser to the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), an animal advocacy nonprofit. These mass killings, or “depopulations,” in the industry’s jargon, are paid for with public dollars through a USDA program that compensates livestock farmers for their losses.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The demented level of factory farming had nothing to do with human overpopulation, but everything to do with human culture's demand for animal products that are entirely unnecessary for survival. If we change our culture to eliminate animal products, we will eliminate a huge source of wasted resources and labor. Think of how much less plant agriculture would be required if we didn't have to feed 33 billion chickens, almost two billion sheep, a billion and a half cattle, a billion pigs.

If we just grew food we can eat, instead of wasting land, effort, and resources both directly and indirectly supporting animal agra, we wouldn't have such huge problems.

"But baaaaaaconnnnnn." "I can't liiiiiive without eeeeegggggs." "Cheeseburgers taaaaaaaste too good give up" "it's because there's too many huuuuuumanssss"

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Consuming meat is natural and vital for us as species.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Natural yes, vital no, as made perfectly evident by the fact vegetarians and vegans aren't wasting away in the streets.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"cOnSuMiNg MeAt Is nAtUrAl"

Setting aside the inherent ethnocentrism of this statement, which, in classic Western fashion, completely bulldozes the many cultures that have thrived on entirely plant-based diets for centuries, possibly millennia...

This is still a shit argument, when you realize that EVERYTHING humanity does aims to separate ourselves from "nature," and move beyond what is "natural."

If we actually lived according to nature, we wouldn't have plastics, cell phones, cars, airplanes, air conditioning, and all the other myriad things that make our soft squishy lives easier.

But you keep chowing down on your "aLl-NaTuRaL" chicken wings and Mountain Dew, you fucking neanderthal.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You are giving mixed signals. Is separating ourselves from nature good or bad?

"cOnSuMiNg MeAt Is nAtUrAl"

Stop clowning around, please.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Though I have opinions, I will not take the bait, as it is not relevant to my point whether humans distancing themselves from nature is "good" or "bad."

I think my signal is pretty clear - Your "it's natural" argument fails entirely when one picks and chooses the aspects of human life to which they apply it.

As an example - you wake up in your climate controlled house, put on your synthetic fiber clothing, jump into your Ford F150 Pickup Truck, Drive to a gas station, pick up a mountain dew in a plastic bottle, and buy a slice of pizza - in all that context, your big brained argument is that it is more natural for that pizza to have animal pepperoni and dairy cheese, vs plant-based alternatives.

Tell me, who is the clown in this situation?

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago

It's you. You're the clown.

Our body still is natural by all means. And omnivorous diet is natural to our body.

[–] starman2112 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Natural, sure. Vital? Something like 350,000,000 Indians would like a word with you

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] starman2112 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think they do, considering they're vegetarian. Around 24% of the country consider themselves vegetarian, while about 8% consider themselves pescatarian (the ones that eat birds and fish)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] starman2112 1 points 1 year ago

How on earth could they be relevant to the point of whether meat is necessary for our survival?