Factory Farming Exposed And You’ll Never Guess Who’s Doing It

Chipotle restaurants are already fairly well known for their ethical business practices and their motto: “Food With Integrity.” In their own words, “food with integrity is our commitment to finding the very best ingredients raised with respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers.” So, it is no surprise that a company like this would be putting out a web series that is aimed to look at the twisted and dark world of factory farming and industrial agriculture. The web series is called “Farmed and Dangerous,” there will be four, 30 minute episodes and it will premiere on February 17^th, 2014.

The series will follow character Buck Marshall’s (whose character is played by Ray Wise) in an effort to sell petroleum fed cattle of the unsustainable, unethical company, Animoil to the public. The problem is, these black pellets of crude oil that are being fed to the cattle are causing them to spontaneously combust. When a young farmer who is committed to better farming practices leaks the footage, Animoil has a potential press related crisis to deal with.

“Farmed and Dangerous” is meant to strike large emotional chords- it’s not about selling burritos.” –Daniel Rosenberg of Piro, which produced the show, told the Times.

The restaurant is never mentioned throughout the whole series, but it does clearly state that factory farming is a bad thing. Because of this, it is up to the viewer to make the connection to Chipotle’s ethical business practices. I for one don’t eat meat, but because Chipotle’s goal for  2014 is to be GMO free and they already have quite a few organic ingredients that are being used, I’m already more interested in the restaurant and supporting a business like this. They may not be perfect, but they are a heck of a lot better than the majority of the “fast food” restaurants. You have to give them credit for trying to make a difference. People will recognize this and Chipotle’s sales will most likely go up, leading other companies  to potentially follow suit. One-step at a time, my friends. Way to go Chipotle!

Related CE Articles:  Factory Farming is Destroying our Environment and

                                          A Worldwide Genocide Is Happening Right Under Your Nose

Here is the trailer for the much anticipated web series, “Farmed and Dangerous.”

Sources:

http://adage.com/article/creativity-pick-of-the-day/chipotle-debut-series-farmed-dangerous-hulu/291321/

http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/fwi/fwi.aspx

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/01/27/chipotles-upcoming-comedy-series-factory-farming?cmpid=foodinc-fb

Much Love

Collective-Evolution

Factory Farming Exposed And You’ll Never Guess Who’s Doing It

Baby Farming: Not Fair

In Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle, reporter Stephanie M. Lee delivered a down-the-middle story about a Bay Area couple, Jennifer Benito-Kowalski and Steve Kowalski, 40 and 41 — who paid an Indian woman to help them attain their goal of making a baby with their own DNA. To many moderns, this arrangement presents a win-win formula. The poor gestational carrier gets needed money, and the comfortable couple get a baby. What’s not to like?

As Lee’s story concludes, the baby appears to be healthy, and surrogate mother Manisha Parmar is considering serving as a surrogate again. Perhaps for these two families, there will be a happy ending, but it’s hard to see how this story is a win-win for the world.

For one thing, there’s a medical risk to carrying a child. In 2012, an Indian surrogate died while carrying someone else’s child. In 2013, it happened again. Indian clinics routinely perform cesarean deliveries, which carry complications for surrogates like Parmar.

Benito-Kowalski told me Monday that she was aware of Indian surrogacies gone wrong; that’s why she checked a dozen Indian clinics. She chose Dr. Nayna Patel’s Akanksha clinic because it has a solid track record and because Patel does a thorough job of vetting her surrogates.

Yes, there was a clause in the contract that allowed the Kowalskis to order an abortion if the child is not healthy. It’s true; Parmar wouldn’t have a choice in the matter. That’s because Patel put the clause in the contract, Benito-Kowalski responded. “We knew our baby was going to be healthy, so it wasn’t an option for us.” And: “We weren’t going to abort Kyle.”

If the baby wasn’t healthy? “That’s hypothetical,” she answered.

Since Lee’s story was published, the Kowalskis have been bombarded with “just plain mean” criticism. The couple opened up to the Chronicle to let other childless couples know that there is hope, Benito-Kowalski told me. She was unprepared for the barrage of others passing judgment over a decision that gave the couple their beloved son. Please don’t make us look like bad people, she said to me.

I don’t think they’re bad people. I think the Kowalskis represent a prevalent view in American society, that when affluent childless couples want to have a baby, they have a right to have a baby — indeed, the exact baby they choose. If their decision risks the health of poor women, well, that’s OK because the couple are acting out of love.

And if they sign a contract that turns a desperate woman into a mule who carries a child at the will of others?

That’s OK, too, because the couple paid good money that will help the poor woman’s family.

And if the poor woman is torn apart because she has bonded with the baby inside her? Doesn’t matter; the mule signed a contract.

The Kowalskis aren’t bad people. They’re decent people who live in a bad culture that tells them that outsourcing the gestation of their test-tube babies is a good thing. It’s a win-win.

“It’s not fair,” Steve Kowalski told Lee, that other couples conceive simply by having sex.

When Parmar and her husband returned to their home and children, they had to live with the shame and family who disapproved. What’s really not fair is that one country has too much shame while the other has none. 

RealClearPolitics – Articles

Baby Farming: Not Fair

Maintaining Balance In Your Lagoon

Typically, the word lagoon conjures up images of a tropical paradise. However, for those in the livestock industry, a lagoon has a far less idyllic ambiance. Livestock lagoons are man-made basins where animal waste is managed and treated.

While having a lagoon is essential, if this area is not taken care of properly, the result may be disease among your animal population and harmful toxins released into the environment thus disrupting local human populations, as well. To keep your lagoon as safe as possible, treatment is necessary, and this treatment should also be as safe and natural as possible.

For example, one easy-to-use product is the AgraSphereLGT. This lagoon treatment product will activate the liquefaction of waste solids and reduce the odor as well as reducing the amount of flies. In addition, it can improve the nutrient value of manure for use in the growing of crops.

This special sphere is completely biodegradable and uses a mixture of helpful bacteria which work to dissolve the waste. Once you toss in a sphere, it immediately begins to go to work and each sphere will last for a full 30 days. Once the month is up, just toss in new spheres. The amount of spheres you need depends upon the number of gallons in your lagoon. One sphere can treat up to 400,000 waste gallons, so just add enough to accommodate your gallons. You cannot over treat, so do not be concerned if you have a little bit more sphere than you need.

If your lagoon already has serious problems, such as excessive crusting, it might be wise to begin treatment with a product such as Activator Plus LGT. This is a specially formulated mix of bacteria that will begin activating the reduction of sludge in an overloaded lagoon.

Veterinarians have approved both of these products and they will not harm your livestock or people or any other animal. There are no chemicals in these mixes so you never have to worry about polluting the environment is any way. As livestock farms do create quite a bit of pollution, finding natural ways to limit this pollution should always be a priority for farmers.

Lianne Derocco loves blogging about products used in livestock waste treatment. For additional information about agricultural products for agricultural waste systems and lagoon treatment, or to find out more about products like Activator Plus, please check out the BioverseAG.com website today.

Maintaining Balance In Your Lagoon