20 February 2005:

After I moved to Michigan from S. California nearly two years ago, I was horrified to learn that an industrial dairy "farm" was being built barely three miles from town.  I became part of a local group of concerned citizens and created a webpage to inform people of the risks.  I kept the page private, only for local residents.  But as the wealthy farm owners' glib promises to be faithful stewards of the land fell apart within weeks of their arrival, and E. coli readings in our field-tiles, ditches, and streams soared, I decided to go public with our local page and to add others as well, including reprints of relevant news items.

Industrial agriculture threatens much, much more than a few rural communities, as many respected experts on human health, economics, and environmental issues have been warning for years.  The food many of us eat comes from these "farms" -- we deserve to know the dangers and terrible costs of a blight that can turn whole regions into ghost towns (see what's happened to Iowa at one of the links below) and threatens this nation unless we can convince our legislators to stop pandering to the wealthy and to protect the rest of us.  Here are the pages in this sub-section of my website.....

What life used to be like for cows -- and what it may be again

INDEX

  GENERAL INFORMATION on Factory Farms

  National/International Issues:

        19 April 2007:  Behind the Odors From Factory Farms: What the Nose Doesn't Know:
            [by Stanley Cooper]

        6 March 2007: How & Why Pathogens Are Getting Into Our Food Supply:
        Cherchez la merde!: [by Stanley Cooper]

Air Emissions from Animal Feeding Operations: Current Knowledge, Future Needs:
[by William J. Weida]

Dangers of Midwestern Field Tile Drains: [by David Green]

News Items: CAFOs Destroying Rural Iowa

News Items: Chickens & Eggs

News Items:  EPA's "Get-out-of-jail-free-card" for CAFOs that pollute

News Items: International: Pigs in Poland

News Items: Minnesota's Plan to Destroy Family Farms by Weakening Local Control Over CAFOs

News Items: Serious Hazards to Factory Farm Employees

  Local Michigan-Focused Issues Only:

An Anonymous Michigan Neighbor's Report

Grand Rapids: Calvin College Philosophy Syllabus: "Peaceable Kingdom: Transforming our Relationships with Animals": [by Dr. Matthew Halteman]
[FYI: this is a marvelous, hopeful syllabus -- it could be easily adapted by teachers for students of all ages.]

Proposal to the Den Dulk Dairy in Hartford, MI

Walmarts of Manure?:  [by Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club]

Food: We Are What We Eat

OTHER RELATED MYTH*ING LINKS PAGES:

  Animal Guides:

          Of Cows and Madness

           Through the Sacred Fires: the Animals of Beltane