Annotated Bibliography for the 1st Research Paper.

 

Julia Bisbee
Writing for the Social Sciences
Annotated Bibliography
March 15 2022

Macneil, C. (2016, March 28). Hog Waste threatens North Carolina’s Rural Poor. The Chronicle. Retrieved March 12, 2022, from http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2016/03/hog-waste-threatens-north-carolinas-rural-poor.
Duplin County, North Carolina, occupies one of the highest pig populations in the US. Pigs outnumber humans at a rate of almost 32 to 1. There are 530 different hog operations, in a low income area, with a disproportionate amount of racial spread (black and hispanic residents making up the majority). A study by UNC Chapel Hill concluded that black residents were 1.39 times more likely to live within a 3 mile radius of a pig operation than white residents. Economically speaking, these residents don’t have the power or money to fight for their unhealthy environmental conditions, which include; polluted water, the smell of manure, and nearby fecal waste. In fact, the 1980’s brought upon industrial farms that first transformed the county, until 1990 when lagoons flooded towns with waste. New hog operations were soon banned, however; this didn’t change the fact that previous factories were still using animals in some of the poorest towns in North Carolina. This is detrimental since hog feces is pumped into a local lagoon without being treated, and seeps into the soil. A study released last January revealed that this fecal matter promotes the risk of diseases such as; hepatitis, typhoid and dysentery. The Clean Water Act states that, “only hog farms that discharge directly into streams or other water sources have to apply for a federal permit, so many operations in North Carolina are exempt from this rule”. Unfortunately, with the high demand for meat, it is likely that the production of pigs and the suffering of the environment will continue, especially since the Chinese company “WH Group” bought Smithfield Farms in 2013, and allowed for pigs to be exported by ship. Because of areas like Duplin County that produce pig, it is available to purchase for less than 3 dollars per pound. This article can benefit my paper because it addresses both environmental impacts of consuming meat, ethical impacts (which is my main focus), and also the social issue that comes when we consume animal products.

Official Peta. (2019, June 28). Neglected, Lame Cows Suffer in Pain and Filth-Just for Cheese. YouTube. Retrieved March 14, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W99UZzMB48&t=16s
In this video published by PETA, investigators are let into the Reitz Dairy Farm. It first shows calves that are separated from their mothers shortly after being born, and put into small stalls with other animals. The animals are left to sit in their own manure and fecal matter which increases rates of infection. They also were not allowed to be outside, making their living area dark and disclosed to any other life. One cow, by the name of Anna, had a large abscess of pus and blood on her leg that had been infected in 2018. It eventually ruptured, spilling blood and puss everywhere, and no workers called a vet but rather continued to milk her. Caroline, another cow, was injured from slipping on the manure-filled floor, and an eyewitness found her dead days later in the “outback farm”. Workers at the Reitz dairy farm also are known to hit cows after they are milked. One was shown trapped in a stall and another was bashed with a hard plastic stick in the utters, after conceiving. Other cows similar to Anna had grapefruit size masses on their legs, but management had done nothing about it. Additionally, pregnant cows are not allowed to milk their young, due to the high demand used for human consumption.
This footage will provide me with better insight for my paper and in depth knowledge of what occurs to animals in slaughterhouses.

Pickles, M. (2017, April 28). The Ethical Arguments Against Eating Meat. University of Oxford. Retrieved March 9, 2022, from https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/arts-blog/ethical-arguments-against-eating-meat.
Matt Pickles is a journalist for Oxford who explains the reasons why veganism is a more ethical route of eating and living in comparison to omnivorous counterpart diets. Based on a comedy written by Simon Amstell, where the world is fully vegan in 2067, Pickles explains the five main reasons why vegans live a more ethical lifestyle. These include; a better environmental impact (less greenhouse gasses and a decreased carbon footprint), less usage of resources (for example, grains and water that are used to feed cows that are eventually eaten), a decrease in world hunger (the grain used to feed cows can be used to feed the global poor), unnecessary animal suffering (millions of sentient beings die in just one day due to the rate the human population consumes them), and lastly, that the production level of livestock makes us ill (due to the high usage of antibiotics against bacteria that will eventually become resistant).

Van Den Berg, F. (2014) Ripping Apart the Omnivores Argument, THINK, Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/1611124565?searchid=1567959256&accountid=36245.
The author, Floris Van Den Berg, a Dutch philosopher, discusses the normality of meat consumption as he defends the vegan side in “The Omnivores Argument”. First, he compares it to atheism, and correlates atheism to veganism by stating the fact that meat-eating and catholicism are two very common beliefs, and for many- an extremely normal attribute to life. Van Den Berg states, “…the position of the vegan is similar to the atheist who time and again is confronted with the same fallacious arguments in support of the existence of god(s)”. Furthermore, Van Den Berg addresses the main arguments against vegans, beginning with the fact that most people think meat-eating is natural because humans have canines. He disproves this by analyzing gorillas, and how gorillas are essentially vegan, with huge canines. The second argument he addresses is the fact that it is “normal to eat meat”. However, meat is only normal because of society, just as many things are (ex: religion, the way we dress, hygienic habits, etc). Van Den Berg also addresses the fact that just because something is normal, it does not mean that it is good. He states, “Normal, or socially accepted, does not automatically connote moral goodness”. He also brings up the ethical issue of eating meat. He states another argument: if other animals eat each other, why can’t humans eat meat? This is because of how we choose to kill these poor animals without any concern for their feelings and well-being. Factory farming has everything to do with this issue.

Wunsch, N.-G. (n.d.). Veganism and Vegetarianism in the U.S. Statista. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/topics/3377/vegan-market/#topicHeader__wrapper.
Wunsch provides United States statistics about veganism, in order to inform others about the amount of current vegans and vegetarians that make up the population in the US, the current products out for those who follow these plant based diets, and he also includes graphs to show the increasing revenue of plant based meat products worldwide over the years. In addition, he provides diagrams that include (but are not limited to); the most used meat alternative products, most used brands of meat alternatives, meat substitute consumption, meat substitute market growth rates, the most popular vegan milk brands, and milk substitute sales sorted by brand in 2021. Wunsch also states that the products purchased are not only from vegan consumers. All of Wunsch’s information is quite relevant as it only goes back to a few years at most and can be used as a source for statistics in my paper.