Letter:

To Pigs, 

I remember driving behind you on my way to soccer games growing up. Your little wet snout stuck out of the oval hole in the multi-level semi trailer. You were loud and the fumes you guys gave off smelled pretty bad. Sometimes we could only hear you if it was too cold. But if it was hot, then almost every one of the hundreds of oval cut outs had an oinker sticking out. Lately, it’s been getting hotter it seems. I’ve always liked you guys. I remember wondering why you guys were always  in such a hurry. My mom would always point you out, drawing my attention from whatever else was outside the window. She always liked you, too. She did in fact grow up raising friends of yours. Come to think of it, it’s kind of funny. For how often we road the same roads, my mother never told me where you all were headed. Well I guess I’m too old to be living in denial any longer.

I couldn’t care less about the amount of calories I eat or the health benefits of going meatless. However, I could care a lot less about the health of the planet. Thus, I try to eat as little meat as possible, but Trader Joe’s Orange Chicken really is good. Plus, it’s only like five dollars for an entire bag. No, it’s not like I’m eating orange chicken out of a plastic bag. It’s frozen and takes just eight minutes to cook. It’s especially good if you make some of that ninety-second jasmine rice from Target. There’s usually enough for two people, but tonight there will be no leftovers. But when you’re eating something as tasty as this, there’s never any leftovers.. There’s never any leftovers… 

Okay, no more beating around the bush, I guess what I’m really trying to say is that I’m sorry. I’m sorry your destiny was determined at birth. I’m sorry that you are smarter than my dog, but only see the sun when you are headed to the gallows. I’m sorry that the misery you endure is only advancing the inevitable. 

An aspiring vegan. 

[A lecture on the price of meat]

You should not stop eating McDonald’s, or animal products in general, if you are trying to be healthier. Unless of course your concern is for the health of others. 

Despite what the label might say, your hot dog was not “organically grass fed” or “humanely raised.” Chuck1 was. He was the cow who was turned into your hot dog. Before he was blended into his now cylindric form, Chuck was walked away from the pen he had lived most of his life in. There he had become accustomed to grain coming thrice a day, blood tests, antibiotics, tubes connecting massaging and extracting from his undercarriage (no, he did not have utters), etc. He was walked along a roofed ramp, specially designed so he could only see the cow in front of him. No need for a stampede. 

After about an hour, his half-mile walk was finally over. He was led into a dark room where he was finally alone for the first time in his life. The silence was almost unnerving until he felt cold metal pressed against his forehead. That was the final memory Chuck had. He lived just long enough to be hung upside down by chains so that a ranch hand could open his neck from ear to ear. They say he died painlessly, but how did he live?

This story is not unlike countless others, across states and species. In a time seemingly filled with cruelty, what are we gaining from all of these lives lost? Well, we gain one calorie of edible meat produced by livestock, for roughly every ten calories of feed they are forced to consume. We gain the realization that over half of the land used for agriculture in the US is used for livestock, and even more is used to feed those animals. We gain a week’s worth of meat for the same amount of water needed to produce a year’s worth of bread. Commercial farming is a cruel circus which tortures its performers while it slowly kills the blissfully ignorant audience. Even I can admit it is difficult to give up McDonald’s, but I promise veggie burgers are not all that bad. 

1: sub-prime cut of beef 

Process Notes: 

This week I tried my best to have a more pointed focus to my writing. One other than simply “climate change.” The idea for the letter came to me when I was eating orange chicken while trying to write the responses to the readings this week. I realized what a hypocrite I was being by talking about the climate so often while at the same time perpetuating one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions– commercial farming. This left me with a weird feeling that I tried to convey in the letter while also trying to make it clear that the real focus was on climate change/farming. 

My goal for the lecture was to try to give someone another reason to maybe try going vegetarian, other than just climate change. It is much easier for people to picture a living animal than a changing climate and if an emotional response can be brought out, the reader is all the more likely to try vegetarianism, ultimately helping the planet.