Dear Future President, 

In many parts of the world there are dairy farms, meat farms and chicken farms that are conducting cruel events for the sake of our agricultural needs. These animals have rights and they should be treated fairly no matter what. “According to NASS reports and expert interviews, 8,792,000,000 "broiler" chickens and 492,700,000 "layer" hens were killed for food in 2000, as well as 304,000,000 turkeys and 26,100,000 ducks, for a total of 9,551,000,000 birds, and it is expected to continue to rise. 41,700,000 cows and calves were killed for food in 2000, as well as 115,200,000 pigs and 4,300,000 sheep, for a total of 161,200,000. These statistics are also expected to continue to rise” (Animalliberationfront.com, p1). While they kill and we eat there are still people in Africa, Yemen and other countries who aren’t getting enough nutrients they need everyday. When we need to make more land for cattle, we cut down trees in the Amazon Forest which increases global warming. In Antarctica, a lot of the ice is melting because of global warming which can cause a lot of polar bears to die because ice is basically their shelter. I believe that we should stop cruel acts in these farms and find another solution that can substitute our supply of food.

As a middle school student, I have seen videos on social media on how they treat these innocent animals and I just think how could anyone deal with this without faltering? Do they not understand that animals have families, friends and feelings just like all of us? Why do we treat them any differently than our home pets? I believe that we should find farms who are using inhumane acts towards birds, horses, cattle and pigs and shut down their work. Many people don’t know the cruelty behind their meat, dairy, and eggs. Cattle are forced to stand in mud, ice and their own waste with barely any space to move around. Dairy cows are tied up in chains or other material that is around their necks and are separated from their offspring so the farmers can take all the milk which can be very traumatizing for them. All cows are usually de-horned without painkillers and dairy cows have two-thirds of their tail removed because of the misconception that it would make the udder cleaner. For pigs (two to three weeks old), they are raised in sheds with no windows or fresh air and they also have to stand in their own waste. Female pigs are put into gestation crates with no space to even turn around (www.aspca.com, p1). This matters because if people all around the U.S. knew about these facts, I would think most would change their minds about what they believe in and their diet. This would make a huge impact on our environment and animals’ lives.

Another issue that I would like to talk about is how the animals farms are harmful to our environment. With this, we are closer to having a mass extinction in Antarctica and also farm animals. Cows release a gas that has an ample amount of methane that is more toxic than trucks, cars, trains, boats and more vehicles combined which causes 296 times the amount of heat that is trapped in CO2. A quote from an article says, “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems” (www.un.org, p1). Livestock is a huge issue with deforestation and land use as well. In 2006, livestock was currently using up to 30% of Earth’s land and 70% of Amazon’s forests were cut down for pastures and grazing (www.un.org, p1). When trees are cut down it releases the CO2 that was originally stored in the tree and it increases global warming (www.scientificamerican.com, p1). This matters because if we just keep ignoring these issues our world and people can be in great danger. We could also potentially have the next mass extinction since the dinosaurs. As a young adult, I hope these problems will be resolved so that our future generations can live on a healthier earth.

Unfortunately, for us humans eating meat is something that is required in our diet for protein and iron. But, there is another solution where we can all have those nutrients without animal cruelty. Scientists have figured out a way to produce meat without harming animals which is by growing it in a lab. Manufacturing of meat products using tissue-engineering technology is called “cultured meat” or “in-vitro meat”. The process starts with cells that are taken from the animal, harmlessly, and then placed into a culture media where they can start to multiply and grow. According to an article it states that this “could have financial, health, animal welfare and environmental advantages over traditional meat”. This means that it’s clearly a better choice than how we usually get meat from killing animals. Scientists theoretically think that this is the most efficient way to supply meat for the global demand (www.futurefood.org, p1). This matters because when cultured meat makes a huge success all around the world and it works. It can really boost our planet’s life to thousands of years while improving our environment and making sure that future generations have a healthy life. Even though meat is needed in our diet, it doesn’t mean we have to kill, torture and harm animals.

Our future president should fund the cultured meat machines and projects and shut down farms that are torturing animals. A global target this is mostly connected to is... increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries. This would help the U.S. support the UN’s initiative to achieve the goals like zero hunger, deforestation, biodiversity and climate control. This matters because all of these goals are related to helping the world become a better place. This is a priority to our next president because in order to live a healthy and peaceful life we have to make our earth a better environment to live in. Including our future kids and their kids and so on.

This image shows how huge of an impact animal farms are on global warming.