Reading Response #1: Are Those Juicy Burgers Worth It?

The article written by Bryan Walsh, “Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food” is a big eye opener for the consequences of farming animals for low cost, unhealthy food being served to millions of Americans a day. The dirty details are reveled in this article about the tons of fertilizer and antibiotics given to the pigs through food that is eroding our farmland as we speak. Not only are the lands of America deteriorating, our bodies are as well, due to the fried and greasy bacon, hamburgers, and other meats we eat regularly and the deadly diseases spoiling the meats.

The process of farming is getting out of hand. Farmers are trying to produce more meat, due to the high demand, and in a way cutting corners for cheaper output that is harming land. The animals being kept in too tight of containment are producing waste full of nasty chemicals that flow down the river and contaminate waters killing fish and corrode the future farm land. As well as being harmful, food production is becoming over the limit expensive, using more resources, such as Fossil Fuels, than other systems in the US.

This is a scary thought that if we don’t act now and start to farm more organically we will all be dying of obesity or diseases contracted from the meats eaten. Eating healthy and organically can be expensive though, resulting to the convenience of buying cheap, easy food that is killing us. Some companies and role models are trying to be safer with producing food but with the economy at a low, substantial foods may be not so substantial.

This growing concern is overwhelming. Where to start? Americans need to really think about what they are eating, where its coming from and make better choices about what they consume. This article and many others alike should be spread around, putting the word out that decisions need to be made and current actions changed to save our farmlands and our bodies.

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