Plant__Eater

Plant__Eater t1_jbufjun wrote

If you want to take action to help animals like Kiska, one way to do so is by supporting Animal Justice.[1] From their website:

>Animal Justice is the only organization of its kind making sure that animals have a legal voice in Canada. Our team of compassionate lawyers and advocates fight for stronger legal protections for animals.[2]

They've filed legal complaints against Marineland at least twice in the past: once on behalf of Kiska[3] and once for specific instances of using cetaceans in entertainment[4] after laws were put into effect making it illegal to do so.[5] (As part of a bill that Animal Justice helped champion.)[6]

They currently have a petition going to prosecute Marineland for unlawful distress inflicted on Kiska.[7]

7

Plant__Eater OP t1_jb5xlot wrote

Abstract:

>Food consumption is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and evaluating its future warming impact is crucial for guiding climate mitigation action. However, the lack of granularity in reporting food item emissions and the widespread use of oversimplified metrics such as CO2 equivalents have complicated interpretation. We resolve these challenges by developing a global food consumption GHG emissions inventory separated by individual gas species and employing a reduced-complexity climate model, evaluating the associated future warming contribution and potential benefits from certain mitigation measures. We find that global food consumption alone could add nearly 1 °C to warming by 2100. Seventy five percent of this warming is driven by foods that are high sources of methane (ruminant meat, dairy and rice). However, over 55% of anticipated warming can be avoided from simultaneous improvements to production practices, the universal adoption of a healthy diet and consumer- and retail-level food waste reductions.

5

Plant__Eater t1_j2bpqs3 wrote

Studies have shown that in addition to the immense suffering of the non-human animals (NHAs) there, slaughterhouse workers (SHWs) also suffer mentally and physically.

According to a 2021 systemic review of 14 studies concerning SHWs:

>...SHWs have a higher prevalence rate of mental health issues, in particular depression and anxiety, in addition to violence-supportive attitudes. Furthermore, the workers employ a variety of both adaptive and maladaptive strategies to cope with the workplace environment and associated stressors.

Other issues the review found SHWs to be at increased risk for included: stress, low self-esteem, lack in sense of purpose, lack in sense of personal development, aggression, psychoticism, and somatization.[1] One of the reviewed studies found that SHWs experience depression at a rate four times the national average,[2] while another found that women working in poultry plants experience severe depression at a rate of more than five times that of women in other jobs.[3] One former SHW, while explaining an incident involving the slaughter of a pregnant cow who was in the middle of giving birth, stated:

>I'd come home and be in a bad mood[.] Go right downstairs and go to sleep. Yell at the kids, stuff like that.... I've gotten so mad some days I'd go and pound on the wall.... See, I'm an ex-Marine. The blood and guts don't bother me. It's the inhumane treatment. There's just so much of it.[4]

One South African study saw some of their subjects describe their experiences with substance abuse or outside violent actions as maladaptive behaviour.[5]

SHWs also suffer physical trauma. In the US, SHWs are three times more likely than the average American worker to suffer serious injury, and nearly seven times more likely to suffer repetitive strain injuries.[6] A 2019 report by Human Rights Watch into meatpacking in the USA found that:

>Most workers interviewed...for this report shared experiences of serious injury or illness caused by their work. Many showed the scars, scratches, missing fingers, or distended, swollen joints that reflected these stories. Some broke into tears describing the stress, physical pain, and emotional strain they regularly suffer. Almost all explained that their lives, both in the plant and at home, had grown to revolve around managing chronic pain or sickness.[7]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, SHWs were subjected to unnecessary risk by meat companies. In a damning report by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, they concluded:

>Meatpacking companies knew the risk posed by the coronavirus to their workers and knew it wasn’t a risk that the country needed them to take. They nonetheless lobbied aggressively—successfully enlisting USDA as a close collaborator in their efforts—to keep 33 workers on the job in unsafe conditions, to ensure state and local health authorities were powerless to mandate otherwise, and to be protected against legal liability for the harms that would result. The results of this lobbying campaign were tragic: during the first year of the pandemic, workforces for Smithfield, Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef alone saw at least 59,000 worker infections, at least 269 worker deaths, and countless more cases and deaths among meatpacking-adjacent communities driven by plant outbreaks.[8]

Cases like that weren't unique to the US.[9] Slaughterhouses aren't just awful for the non-human animals who suffer and die there, they're also awful for the humans who work there.

References

[1] Slade, J. & Alleyne, E. "The Psychological Impact of Slaughterhouse Employment: A Systematic Literature Review." Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, vol.0, no.0, 2021.

[2] Leibler, J.H., Janulewicz, P.A. & Perry, M.J. "Prevalence of serious psychological distress among slaughterhouse workers at a United States beef packing plant." Work, vol.57, no.1, 2017, pp.105-109.

[3] Lipscomb,H.J., Dement, J.M. et al. "Depressive symptoms among working women in rural North Carolina: A comparison of women in poultry processing and other low wage jobs." International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, vol.30, no.4-5, 2007, pp.284-298.

[4] Eisnitz, G.A. Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry. Prometheus Books, 2007.

[5] Victor, K. & Barnard, A. "Slaughtering for a living: A hermeneutic phenomenological perspective on the well-being of slaughterhouse employees." International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, vol.11, no.1, 2016.

[6] Wasley, A., Cook, C.D. & Jones, N. "Two amputations a week: the cost of working in a US meat plant." The Guardian, 5 Jul 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/05/amputations-serious-injuries-us-meat-industry-plant. Accessed 30 Dec 2022.

[7] Stauffer, B. “When We’re Dead and Buried, Our Bones Will Keep Hurting”: Workers’ Rights Under Threat in US Meat and Poultry Plants. Human Rights Watch, 2019, p.2.

[8] ‘Now to Get Rid of Those Pesky Health Departments!’: How the Trump Administration Helped the Meatpacking Industry Block Pandemic Worker Protections. Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, 12 May 2022, pp.32-33.

[9] Plant__Eater. "Cargill issues lockout notice to staff at one of Canada's largest beef-processing plants." Reddit, 28 Nov 2021. https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/r49hja/comment/hmgtbnj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3. Accessed 30 Dec 2022.

17

Plant__Eater t1_ivwpm70 wrote

From the study:

>We have shown clearly that land/sea use change mainly in the form of rapid expansion and intensifying management of land used for cropping or animal husbandry (9)—and direct exploitation mostly through fishing, logging, hunting, and wildlife trade (9)—have been the two dominant drivers of global biodiversity loss overall over recent decades (Fig. 1A).[1]

7