But while we have factory farms, we’re still far away from recognizing animals for the sentient beings they are.  Mark Bittman barely touched on the subject in his great article about the wasteful aspects of eating meat in his great New york Times article last year called, “Rethinking the Meat Guzzler:”

“Animal welfare may not yet be a major concern, but as the horrors of raising meat in confinement become known, more animal lovers may start to react. And would the world not be a better place were some of the grain we use to grow meat directed instead to feed our fellow human beings?”

Factory farms are killing machines that contribute to so much animal cruelty, besides higher CO2 emissions than SUVS, food borne pathogens leading to pandemics, high water demands, and other hurtful things to our planet.

The most animated way to learn about why it’s important to boycott factory farms is The Meatrix, produced by Free Range Studios with Sustainable Table – a project to support family farms that does include an animal rights angle. I’ve been lucky to work with both groups from my experience with Meatless Monday campaign, which emphasizes that even reducing one’s meat intake can make tremendous impacts on both one’s health and the environment.

Of course, one can choose to go veg and boycott the eating and killing of animals and their products entirely, like my friends Cindie and Ted, who no longer buy eggs or even milk products – those are taken away from calves to feed humans. I don’t think any other diet makes as strong of a statement against industrial agriculture and animal cruelty as veganism. But that’s not easy for most of us. Even Mark Bittman admits it in a follow up to his article. Yet reducing one’s animal protein intake, getting meat that’s free-range and killed as painlessly as possible from a local farmer is a shift towards a more humane diet.