(c) picture Bruno Raselli
Claudine published article on Corriere del Ticino 6.9.2019
It is always very tender to see cows with beautiful horns, grazing among our beautiful pine-covered mountains, then further on, you can also see some streaks of snow that have survived the rise in temperature.
It is also tender to read that over here (in Ticino) the cattles have a name, that they are lovingly cared for if they are sick and that they are fed with first quality fodder and without the addition of antibiotics, growth hormones and other products with doubtful influences on the man who then the meat eats it.
Mr. S. Genini of UCT (Union of Farmers of Ticino and Agricultural Secretariat) explains very well the situation in our country, including the free trade agreement that the European Association (Aels) is entering into with Mercosur.
We all know, at least even this is a fact, that the increase in CO2 is also due to intensive farming (and there are everywhere, not only in the Americas).
The harrowing images of the Amazon where the fire is devouring second after second the “lung of our planet”, do not need explanations. And yet, to satisfy the need to consume meat, people no longer look at quality but at quantity.
When they pass in front of the meat counter, they look first at the price tag, forgetting how much suffering and horror is hidden behind each piece displayed in a good view.
And here we have no differences: the piece of local organic meat or that of intensive slaughtering of meat, both were living creatures.
Perhaps we should all ask ourselves questions: is there really a “human” method for raising an animal that is then slaughtered?
Who lingers in front of the counters with exposed meat products, it does not matter if salami rather than steaks, did he/she ask himself who was the creature from which was the finished product extracted? Was it called “Bella” or “Bruna” or was it just a mass of product to be slaughtered without a name, enclosed in an iron cage where it could not even move?
Perhaps if we really want to do something intelligent for the planet, for our health, we could start reducing the consumption of meat and products derived from animals.
It is a question of choice, quality of life, not only for the animals but also for us: animals that are moving on two legs.
[My article was written in response to another appeared in the press, rather aimed to claim at the increasing costs of meat in Switzerland… since people buy cheaper foreign meat. For this reason, I use mockery tones…]
Claudine Giovannoni 