Super Eco

Photo credit: cs muncy, flickr

Super Eco Twitter follower @Kram tipped us off to Robert Kennedy Jr.'s choice quote: 'hog farmers are a worse threat to Americans than bin laden.'  RFK Jr. originally made the statement in 2002, but was asked about it again in a House Judiciary subcommittee yesterday.

According to Kennedy, even one large-scale commercial hog farm produces more pollution than a city of a million people.  As a self-described 'defender of the planet' it is no wonder RFK Jr. takes issue with many hog farming practices.  The traditional method of addressing hog waste is to pool it in open lagoons and fields, both of which are vulnerable to heavy rains resulting in polluted stream run-off. And that's not including the methane and ammonia emissions filling the air.

The pork industry has grown from 2.6 million hogs in 1988 to over 10 million today.  In 2007, North Carolina enacted the Swine Farm Environment Performance Standards Act which banned the construction or expansion of lagoons and spray fields; not an insignificant move given that Iowa and North Carolina are the top producers of hogs in the U.S. Both state economies are heavily intertwined with the swine farm industry. 

It is possible to be a responsible consumer of pork products. There are plenty of sources of locally raised chicken, pork, and beef.  Be that as it may, next time I walk down the grocery aisle I'll be hard pressed not to see the face of bin laden on my maple strips.