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.
Yeah. I agree. I was kind of more on the side that we should maybe not have a race to the bottom, if you can see what I’m getting at
edit: sorry if that didn’t come across in my comment, I tend to not want to label every single thing as “capitalism is the problem bro!” because that puts people off, but then I kind of struggle with tiptoeing around the phrasing.
To be fair, capitalism can work. But unfettered capitalism is pure greed. And right now nearly all of the guardrails have been removed.
Industry consolidation is out of control. Citizens United gave them unlimited political influence. Their lobbyists write the laws to govern them.
I’m waiting for the return of company towns. Amazon and Walmart are selling healthcare so we’re edging closer.
We’re not going to change things by voting in millionaires. Run for local office. Encourage like minded people to do the same. School boards, library boards, it’s all about shifting thought. It won’t be quick but it will work. Beau of the Fifth Column on has several videos about building community networks. The idea is that by bringing people together, it helps grow local power.