wherein i am likely to be labeled an angry hippie, although it's not quite accurate

my work this summer has taken me to quite a few dairies and feedlots. luckily i didn't have to go to the slaughter plant, because i think i would have burst into tears. but that's just me.

all of this has got me thinking (and, apparently, using impeccable english). i'm already a vegetarian, in part because i know i fundamentally don't like the way these systems are run. i think there is a shocking lack of empathy in these processes that turn life into a commodity. i actually have a nazi analogy here, if you're interested. i should really stop being a hypocrite and give up dairy and eggs as well, because even a well-run and reasonable commercial dairy has the ability to be decidedly... depressing.

but my real concern is that i am at least AWARE of this, and other people are decidedly not. i think these sorts of tours should be part of the informed decision-making process that should go on with as many products as possible, and especially with something we purchase as often as food. i realize that there is no perfect solution, and perfect information is a pipe dream (or a micro assumption, take your pick). we will still eat. but i think there needs to be an accountability there, an awareness of what really goes on to put that food into your mouth. hell, it could be done with field trips in elementary school. few people are more likely to be able to observe with an open mind than kids. the animals aren't actually hurt in well-run dairies or feedlots. seeing critters is generally fun for kids. it would be totally appropriate to educate children about how those systems work. the owners i've met have been extremely nice people who are very willing to explain what they do and why. they have clean, well-run operations. these guys embody the most current best practices. it would probably be a positive exposure for most people. and the important thing is that they would be exposed, and informed.

and the story shouldn't really stop with the animal-based industries. besides things like pesticides and fertilizers and gmo that are continually being debated, if you know where to look and listen, vegetation-based industries have their own share of ethical problems. or, some of them do. how much do you know about the lives of the people who harvest coffee beans? because from the little i've seen, that is NOT an easy way to go through the world. there is a trade off between how much we pay for things and how much we pay the people who produce those things. most of us, at the back of our minds, realize this. but how many of us really start to look at the kind of lifestyle those producers can afford? or how much a slight change to make those people better off could hurt another group of people who also don't make much at all and are hit hard and immediately when food prices rise even a little? i can honestly say that i am only vaguely aware of these considerations, and only because i have gone in search of information about economic development.

i think my point is that i wish more people would take a more serious look at how the things we eat end up in front of us. even a very thorough search will probably only end you up with an incomplete picture and most of us don't care enough to spend that much time on it to start with. i realize this. but i wish everyone would spend some time on it at all. and think critically about the information we do manage to obtain. big sensationalist boycotts are not what i'm after here, they're typically ridiculous. i just want people to remember what it takes to produce the things we live on. i'm all for division of labor. i know that most of the world will not have a farmer's intimate knowledge of these things, because we no longer have to. but we shouldn't be ignorant because it is convenient to do so. you don't have to shed a tear over every "murdered" carrot on your plate (see notting hill for this reference). but you should be able to look at those carrots, and the steak next to them, and have a pretty decent idea of what went into putting them there. and if you don't eat carrots with steak, use your imagination and come up with some other combination -- the point remains the same.