Nov. 1st marks a change in season – the air is charged with anticipation for the holiday break, students are nose-deep in studying to prepare for finals, and the weather takes a chilly turn, all while the massacre of millions of animals ensues.

According to data from the Food Empowerment Project and PETA, an estimated 68 million turkeys are slaughtered during the holiday season. Like pigs, cows, and chickens, many commercial turkeys spend their entire lives in factory farms. There, animals are locked away in tiny cages from birth up until slaughter with little to no mental stimulation. Animals are kept under 24/7 artificial light, disrupting circadian rhythms, and mothers are separated from their children at birth. These harsh conditions contribute to abnormal behavior in animals –  cannibalism, aggressive behavior, and distress are just a few of them. The factory farming industry has come up with various solutions to these issues – debeaking, tail docking, castration, and branding just some of them. 

Hog farms specifically illustrate the multitude of ethical issues with factory farms. Pig fecal matter is polled into a toxic lagoon whose contents are sprayed onto fields. The spray is blown downwind, often to lower income BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) communities. The smell of the hog waste permeates the surrounding areas and decreases housing values, making it difficult for members of surrounding communities to move away or sell their homes. The hog waste also leaches into groundwater and surface water, which contaminates water sources by introducing bacteria, pathogens, and fecal matter.

The animal industry as a whole is one of the top polluters globally. In places like Brazil, one of the largest exporters of meat in the world, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) allow their animals to graze large amounts of land, ripping out all biodiversity and life. Roughly 50% of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emission can be attributed to cattle ranching.

To a majority of these issues is a simple solution: plant-based diets. Though vegan and vegetarianism are largely stigmatized by the media as part of “diet culture” or unhealthy, going plant-based actually provides a multitude of health, ethical, and environmental benefits. It’s understandable that cutting out animal products completely can be difficult for many people – an open-minded approach to going plant-based is much more sustainable in the long term. From a legislative standpoint, modeling after countries like Denmark in their commitment to encouraging plant-based school meals and increasing education around plant-based food can inspire larger societal change. On an individual scale, things like cooking plant-based meals for the holidays or experimenting with vegan recipes for dinner are clear pathways to transitioning away from animal products.