The hardest thing about being a professional food nag is coming to terms with the fact that not only do most people not know what it is that I am nagging about, they often just don’t care. The task of getting the necessary information to the people who not only most need it, but also to those in the position to do something positive with it, is daunting in itself. So, today I’m going to let Inform, Inc, a great company that produces videos specifically to teach the public about “the effects of human activity on the environment and human health,” do the nagging for me and be grateful since they do it with much more flair than I can usually muster.
I’m going to whet your palate with a few pertinent facts that are standouts from this video.
Almost 75% of all antibiotics used in the United States are used to treat livestock to keep them alive in their appalling conditions. And yet people seem surprised at the continuing evolution of antibiotic resistant diseases.
If every American went meatless for one day a week for a year, it would be the equivalent of removing 8 million cars for the road. 8 million, that’s almost the population of Manhattan.
And for all the naysayers out there, Cliff Miller’s family has owned their farm, the Mount Vernon Farm, for 187 years, and they raise among other things pasture fed beef. Clearly, pasture raising is a viable option for both the farmer and the consumer, especially as he says in the video, if we all commit to eating less meat.
Without further ado…
Related Articles
- Livestock superbugs threaten humans: doctor (cbc.ca)
- Antimicrobial Resistance: 8 Large NIH Trials Seek To Preserve The Usefulness Of Antibiotics (huffingtonpost.com)
- Dare to Keep Meat Off Drugs (food.change.org)
- Anti-antibiotics: Bugs, drugs and bureaucrats (newscientist.com)
- Are Grass-Fed, Wine-Drunk Cows the Next Beef Trend? (food.change.org)
- How Cows (Grass-Fed Only) Could Save the Planet (time.com)
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