PUBLISHED ON: 11 March 2011
How can it be that we as a nation oppose animal cruelty but at the same time many individual consumers play a critical role in continuing the cruellest industry that has ever existed? These are some of the questions recently discussed in Voice America's radio show Uncovering The Real Costs of Factory Farming with world-famous author of the book Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer and Animals Australia's Creative Director, Karen Nilsen.
Listen here to Uncovering The Real Costs of Factory Farming (approx 1 hour)
Uncovering The Real Costs of Factory Farming discusses the costs of factory farming that are not visible at the supermarket checkout. The drive to produce ever more meat ever cheaper inevitably has a high price somewhere else in the chain. Billions of animals around the world are suffering in intense confinement and are manipulated and mutilated to fit in an industrialised system; environmental destruction is enormous and humans suffer from diet-related diseases as never before.
Though it would be easy to dwell on doom, the show explores how this most severe example of man's inhumanity to other sentient animals can be stopped by individual consumer choices. "The people who walk into our supermarkets are the end customers of factory farming.", says Karen Nilsen. And it is these customers that are now increasingly deciding not to put factory farmed eggs, pig and chicken products in their shopping trolleys.

Whilst Animals Australia's national public awareness campaigns continue to fuel this trend, we're fortunate to have such a high profile and influential author, Jonathan Safran Foer, supporting the animals' cause as well. Jonathan's book Eating Animals explores the realities behind the meat industry in great detail and is an eye-opening, inspiring read for anybody who wants to know the truth about the real cost of factory farming.
Eating Animals can be purchased through our online shop, but we're also giving a copy of the book away! Simply tell us below in 20 words what you're planning to do this year to help stop factory farming to enter the draw to win a copy of Eating Animals.
Voice America is a leading online radio company with 2.5 million listeners and their show Social Myth Busting is hosted by empowerment psychologist Clare Mann.