Name: Lucas Supan
Social Justice Group: Global Warming
Date of Fieldwork: February 16, 2022
Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Vidisha Rai
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :
On Wednesday, February 16, me and Henry Hutchins met with Vidisha Rai, who is a member of the FFAC (Factory Farming Awareness Coalition).
She told us a lot about how factory farms are big part in climate change, and why a lot people don’t realize the effects of them, and she also told us about how factory farms keep prospering in a cycle.
So, one of the biggest reasons that factory farms are prospering is because meat is widely considered to be a necessity for eating, but many people have vegan diets, so it is not completely necessary. Because meat is so often considered to be necessary for eating, the government gives a lot of money to factory farms. This makes their products cost less, which also makes those products more accessible, therefore bought more often. The government gives a much less percentage of money to food producers that are not factory farmed, so their products will cost more, and be less accessible. Factory-farm based products are bought a lot more than other products, and then in result the government gives more money to factory farms, and then they prosper, and more greenhouse gas emissions happen.
Because of this, Vidisha mentioned that people’s diet is a very important factor, because in order for factory farms to prosper people need to give them money, so she recommends instead of, for example eating a burger, you should try an impossible burger or a beyond burger.
We also asked Vidisha if she thinks that the factory farm cycle will ever end. She says that eventually it will probably end, because it depends on everyone in society, to not support factory farms, to consider a vegan diet, and she thinks that if enough people join this idea, the factory farm cycle will not be able to function, and it will break.
