Say it with me now: wheat, soybeans, corn, rice, and other “cheap” staple foods are only cheap because we don’t pay for the labor of fieldworkers
It’s not just the meat industry at fault for the mess of factory farming.
Contrary to popular belief, farming crops isn’t perfectly renewable. You can’t just keep planting a crop in the same place year after year and expect viable output— the nutrients in soil are a finite resource that must be replaced by their own natural cycles— think about what would happen if you planted something and never watered it.
No, adding fertilizer isn’t the answer. No, not even manure. Why? Because adding additional nutrients manually, no matter the method, will cause a good portion of those nutrients to run off into our local waterways.
Why is that bad? Well, do you like having fish?
When fertilizer runs off into a waterway, it causes algae blooms. When algae blooms occur, they 1. Block out sunlight to marine plants below the surface, which fish often eat, and 2. They throw the balance of dissolved gasses in the water off. In short, it starves and chokes other marine life to death.
What you need to take away from this is the following:
When you fuck with one part of an ecosystem, you fuck with every part.
Now, back to the issue of labor I raised earlier, because yes, humans are also part of the ecosystem. Your beans, rice, wheat, et cetera are only cheap because they, much like the meat industry, are cultivated in really environmentally destructive ways. They also directly profit from abusive labor practices and human trafficking.
The system of factory farming and industrial agriculture promoted by the green revolution directly harms every part of the ecosystem— yes even the humans it was supposed to help.
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.
That should not be a comforting thought that absolves you of your guilt.
What you can do is:
learn how to forage in a sustainable way (@blackforager on instagram is a fabulous introduction— but keep in mind foraging is highly specific to your local area)
try to buy from local farmers markets if at all possible
collect seeds. Try to not just buy them since commercial seeds are often engineered to not produce viable seeds for the next growing season. What we want is a self-sustaining crop rotation.
If you aren’t able to garden in the ground, even growing some indoor herbs or simple patio crops can really help— there are great tutorials for patio potato bins, strawberry baskets, and countertop herb gardens out there
If you can garden in the ground, plant in your yard or apply for a community garden plot & use it. Remember to research, research, research.
Also no matter where you are, just stop growing turf grass. Stop seeding your lawn and definitely stop watering it. The weeds that crop up will prevent erosion better, they’ll be softer to walk on, they’ll stay green longer, and you’ll be promoting really important local biodiversity that supports your local birds, bees, and other pollinators.
Now, happy planting, and remember that you are but a speck in geological history. You do not know better than the system that brought you into the world & will take you out of it when your time comes.
Listen to the earth, it’s trying to tell you how to take care of it.
