Donella Meadows Quotes

I've always had issues with factory farming. That was always something that bothered me.

I don't like to see animals in pain. That was very uncomfortable to me. I don't like factory farming. I'm not an advocate for the meat industry.

When people say they prefer organic food, what they often seem to mean is they don't want their food tainted with pesticides and their meat shot full of hormones or antibiotics. Many object to the way a few companies - Monsanto is the most famous of them - control so many of the seeds we grow.

I have a tough stomach, and I've put myself through a lot. But when I first found out what happens to animals on modern factory farms and in today's slaughterhouses, I wanted to throw up - I literally couldn't believe it.

Nobody trusts the industrial food system to give them good food.

I think that if everyone knew how meat and dairy was being produced, they wouldn't eat it.

A 'farm' today means 100,000 chickens in a space the size of a Motel 6 shower stall.

We wouldn't think of going to our doctor and saying 'Treat me the way doctors treated people in the 19th Century,' and yet that's what we're demanding in food production.

Each year, billions of animals are subjected to cruelty on factory farms, feed lots, and slaughterhouses. The brutality that these animals endure would be grounds for felony cruelty charges if inflicted upon our cats and dogs.

But I think the majority of cows, and even more so chickens and pigs, are leading pretty miserable lives.

Consumers of meat, eggs and dairy products might well ask what they are supporting. Do farmers care about anyone but themselves? Can't anyone see the cow for the cheese?

What does animal welfare have to do with food safety? The animals are the food! They are living in their own excrement, developing horrific sores, stressed out, and, therefore, more vulnerable to illness and disease.

In the summer or fall of 1974, I read some books about factory farming, and decided that I wanted no part of it.

Factory farming's evil; you know that.

We in America have gotten addicted to cheap food. The result of that is antibiotic-laden fish, foods that are bred to be portable.

If you knew how meat was made, you'd probably lose your lunch.

Factory farming, like comparable evils throughout history, depends for its existence upon concealment. It depends on people either not noticing or willfully averting their gaze.

The more I read and watched about the meat industry, the more determined I became to keep meat out of my diet. The things I saw in slaughterhouse exposes made me feel sick and I refused to just ignore what I now knew.

I don't want food that comes from animals that are caged up and fed antibiotics. I am really suspicious of that kind of production of meat and poultry.

Genetically modified foods are good.

I've always been interested in the industrialization of our food; it's been an issue for me from an environmental and animal rights and human health perspective.

GMOs are linked to digestive problems, among other things. Antibiotics and growth hormone are other additives being excessively pumped into the animals we are eating, which means we're then consuming these excess antibiotics and hormones. And some processed foods actually contain toxic chemicals, often used to prevent spoilage and enhance flavor.

I feel like things are weirder in our food production chain than I can even make up. I wouldn't invent pink slime, but pink slime exists: It's a non-fictional entity. Like, that stuff grosses me out so much, I couldn't make it up.

So much of today's food is based on the exploitation of animals and the environment. Yes, it's cheap, but at what cost?

I watched the 'Food, Inc.' documentary and was like, 'This has opened my eyes to the meat industry - maybe I should go vegetarian.' And my friend told me, 'Sadie, you're not gonna last a week.' But I'm very competitive.