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PLANET EARTH: OUR LOVING HOME
The Devastating Effects of a Pig Factory Farm - P2/2
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Hallo, esteemed viewers,
and welcome to
Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.
Today’s episode is
Part 2 of our program
focusing on the
enormous environmental,
socio-economic
and public health costs
caused by
a commercial pig farm
located in Quebec, Canada.
Animal agriculture has
a severely negative effect
on the air, water, and
land and all life that lives
within these three realms.
The livestock industry
uses 70% of
all agricultural lands
globally and nearly a third
of the ice-free terrestrial
surface of the planet.
Virgin rainforests
are felled to make way
for pastures which soon
become permanently bare
from cattle grazing.
Factory farms generate
enormous quantities
of hazardous manure
and other organic matter
that are filled with
pathogens and
antibiotic residues
that seep into rivers,
lakes and seas.
Livestock waste
fouls the air
with huge amounts
of greenhouse gases.
According to the paper
“Livestock and
Climate Change”
published in
World Watch Magazine
and written by
former and current
environmental experts
from the World Bank,
Robert Goodland
and Jeff Anhang,
the livestock sector
is responsible
for more than 51% of
all human-caused global
greenhouse gas emissions.
The industry also
accounts for the release
of 37% of all
human-caused emissions
of the highly dangerous
greenhouse gas methane.
Ms. Johanne Dion
and her husband
Tim Yeatman live in
the small town of Richelieu
which is located
by the Richelieu River
in Quebec.
A factory farm
housing 5,800 pigs
was built in their area
and life has now become
truly nightmarish
for the couple
and the beauty of the land
has eroded away.
We now present
further excerpts
from interviews
with Ms. Dion
and Mr. Yeatman
about the many ways
this pig operation
is seriously affecting
their lives and those of
others in their community.
I was born here
in Richelieu.
My parents came
from Montreal (Canada)
when they got married.
They loved the river.
They loved having the
countryside in the back.
We had orchards,
and cows in the fields,
and all kinds of
vegetables and fruits
in the backyard.
Across the road
we have a river and
I’ve spent all my life here
by the Richelieu River.
In the summertime,
it attracts a lot of people.
They come and swim
in the river even though
it’s polluted now.
People don’t know
and especially
if we have a dry spell,
the water gets clear and
some city folks still swim
in the river.
It attracts a lot of people.
A lot of people walk by
here, especially when
the sun is out like today,
and admire the view
and the birds.
It’s very nice around here.
So you love your town
very much?
Yes, my river
is very important to me.
Swimming
when I was a child
was the thing
I loved the most doing.
I spent a lot of time
by the river
and nature also
is very important to me.
I have a garden here
around the house.
As you can see
I am surrounded by
the plants in my house.
So nature, plants,
everything around me
is very important to me.
My environment
is important for me.
There are a total of
four pig farms
within the region
surrounding Richelieu.
The foul odors
caused by the farms
are so strong that
people moving to the area
may decide where to reside
based on the intensity
of the smell
they are willing to live with.
Quebec is the largest
pig producer in Canada.
And Canada is
the largest pig producing
per capita country
in the world.
So Quebec has
lot of smelly places.
And people decided
that they were going to
start businesses
to try to make money
off the smells.
They made a map
which showed, according to
different wind directions
and velocities, what parts
of the neighborhood
would be exposed
to different smells.
When the wind is
to the south
coming down the river
towards the north,
because this river
runs south- north
from Lake Champlain,
the smell will come
from the farms
which are basically
on the Richelieu River,
south of us, and
come up the river, because
it’s an open water space.
And they just get blown
right by the house here
and you can smell it
like crazy.
According to a 2005 study
on terrestrial eco-regions
by the World Wildlife
Fund (WWF),
some 306 of Earth’s
825 known regions
are facing threats
from livestock production.
Another analysis
of the 35 global hotspots
for biodiversity
done by Conservation
International
reveals that 23 are
now seriously affected
by livestock production.
What surrounds
the pig farms, are BT
(Bacillus thuringiensis) corn.
Practically the only crop
that can grow in fields
where pig’s manure
has been spread
is mostly BT corn.
So we’re surrounded by
genetically modified corn.
I’ve seen butterfly
populations go down.
I’ve seen bird
populations go down.
I’ve seen summers
when I didn’t see
any honey bees at all.
I’ve seen other summers
that I haven’t seen
any bumble bees at all.
Some summers
I can see a few.
They come back a bit.
But like last summer,
I didn’t see
any monarch butterflies
enter migration at all.
After these brief messages,
we will hear more
about the severe damage
caused by
intensive animal farming
in Richelieu, Canada.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
Welcome back to
Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home
on Supreme Master
Television.
Our program today
focuses on people who
live within the vicinity
of a concentrated
animal feeding operation
and are suffering because
of the tremendous
environmental devastation
caused by this facility.
As an example, coliforms,
a type of bacteria
present in the feces
of humans and mammals
that make water
undrinkable,
has been found throughout
the community’s
water bodies and wells.
Most noticeably,
the local river has been
severely fouled due to the
presence of the pig farm.
A summer camp
in the area for children
no longer lets participants
near the Richelieu River.
They used to bring them
during the summertime,
during the daytime.
The parents have
been opposed to that
because they’re afraid
that the river’s too polluted
and that the kids can
catch infections by playing
in the dirty river bottom.
So that stopped.
And of course,
I deplore the fact
that a lot of children now
have all kind of allergies
and asthma, something
that I never suffered of.
Is it the environment?
Is it the pollution?
You have to wonder.
The coliform in the river
here after a rainfall,
it goes way beyond
what’s acceptable
for swimming.
Don’t even think about
drinking it; forget it.
It’s much too dangerous.
But even touching it
you risk catching
a bad bug definitely,
because the coliform count
is so high, and that’s not
counting the pathogens
and the herbicides and
the pesticides,
and God knows what else.
I’m at least
fourteen kilometers
downstream
from the pig farm.
But still after a rainfall
I can tell you that
the coliform count here
goes way up;
it shoots way up.
Health Canada,
the nation’s
public health department,
after studying cattle density
in the rural areas of
the province of Ontario
in 2000 concluded
that those communities
with the highest
concentrations of livestock
had the highest rates
of E. coli infection
from 1990 to 1995.
In Richelieu,
the drinking water supply
which was
once sweet and pure
is now contaminated
due to the massive amounts
of manure generated
by the factory farm.
In the neighborhood
that you know of,
does anybody have wells
that are contaminated?
Yes.
Can you tell us some more?
Well we didn’t test
his well, okay.
But his neighbor tested it,
and did determine that
they had not just coliform
in their well; they had
E. coli in their well.
What does it mean?
E. coli is what can kill you;
coliform just
gives you diarrhea.
The manure is spread
on the fields
using an aerial spray
and then pollutes
the region’s water as
it washes into the streams
and rivers and seeps
into the water table
following rainfalls.
Ms. Dion believes
that the act
of spraying the waste
into the air
also sickens people
as the wind disperses
the disease-laden matter
everywhere.
I must admit
that I have much more
frequent diarrhea
in the spring time or
when the water is dirty,
when the river water
gets brown.
If I drink too much water
out of the faucet,
there's a good chance
I have a diarrhea
the next day.
I went to the annual
Public Health Day
and I saw a study
about people getting sick,
getting diarrhea, because
of living near either
pig farms or cattle farms.
Years ago, Johanne Dion
and Tim Yeatman helped
to create a group seeking
to prevent the opening
of the nearby pig farm.
We formed a citizen’s group.
We were
600 paid members.
We did everything
we could to stop it.
I mean we petitioned.
We had a petition going.
We got a lot of attention
from the media.
We were in newspapers
and on television.
Though unsuccessful
in halting the opening
of the factory farm,
today Ms. Dion
and Mr. Yeatman
work hard to try and
lessen the disastrous
environmental consequences
of its operation
and strongly advocate
for its closure.
I don’t see any changes
being done and
I am still working at it.
I am joining all kinds of
committees hoping
to have people realize
that it’s important
that we keep
our waterways clean.
Already we’re
depending on this river
to have water to drink
and it would be nice
to swim in it again.
My husband called
Radio Canada
on a talk show and said
that farmers should be
inspected more
and their pollution
should be checked more
by our government.
In conclusion,
Johanne Dion sincerely
calls upon each of us to
avoid making purchases
that support factory farming.
It’s very hard
to make people realized
that you can change things
by what you buy when
you go to the grocery store.
You can change things
by saying, “I want
this river cleaned up.
I want to be able to swim
in this river.”
Changing to
an organic vegan diet
is the simplest
and quickest way
to stop global warming
and intensive
animal agriculture
and is something that
we all can do very easily.
We thank Johanne Dion
and Tim Yeatman and
the other brave residents
of Richelieu, Quebec
for speaking out
on the dangers the pig farm
poses to their community.
May all factory farming
soon end so that our planet
can be in balance
once again
and animals and humans
can live in tranquility.
Caring viewers, thank you
for your noble company
on today’s episode of
Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment
following
Noteworthy News.
May the light and love
of Heaven
always be our guide.
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