JAINA Convention 2009 07 Los Angeles

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 81

15th Biennial JAINA Convention 2009
Ecology - The Jain Way
waste reduces the amount of dissolved oxygen in inextricable relationship between the meat the water and causes levels of ammonia, nitrates, industry and the dairy issue. phosphates, and bacteria to increase. Animal agriculture involves the use of chemical fertilizers Similarly, the very same detrimental ecological and pesticides that are often discharged into concerns are also applicable to dairy foods: surface waters.
• Animals used for dairy require a great deal of
grain and plant protein and water. Animal agriculture also contributes significantly to . Dairy industry causes the degradation of land, global warming:
the pollution of water, and the creation of Livestock sector presents a more serious greenhouse gasses. threat to global warming than does the . A single dairy cow produces approximately burning of fossil fuels for transport purposes. 120 pounds of wet manure per day-equal to Livestock rearing generates 65 percent of that of 20-40 humans. human-related nitrous oxide, which is almost 300 times as warming than carbon dioxide. Moreover, the environmental impacts of Most of this comes from manure.
processing dairy products are considerable. The Animal agriculture accounts for 37 percent of most significant problem is the discharge of large all human-induced methane, which is largely quantities of liquid effluent with high organic loads, produced by the digestive system of ruminants which are increased when whey from the cheese and which is more than 20 times more making process is not used as a by-product and is warming than is carbon dioxide, and 64 discharged along with other waste waters. The percent of ammonia, which contributes amount of effluent produced in the processing of significantly to acid rain.
dairy products can often exceed the sewage load Deforestation to produce more land for crops of municipal systems and, if irrigated to land in and grazing also results in the release of large rural areas, may affect soil structure and cause amounts of carbon dioxide.
salinity. Contaminants in effluent can also get
into the groundwater and affect water quality. DAIRY PRODUCTS
Effluent discharged directly into water bodies can Although considerations of Ahimsa and ecology cause a depletion of oxygen levels. mean that we should not consume the flesh or eggs of animals, many Jains consume dairy The dairy industry consumes large quantities of products and use dairy products (and wool) in fresh water that is used to clean processing temple rituals. I respectfully submit that for the equipment and work areas and large amounts of same two arguments-violence against animals energy for the operation of machinery, and ecological concerns-that the Jains consider a refrigeration, etc. Many of these refrigeration move toward a pure vegetarian diet, what is systems use chlorofluorocarbons, which can cause today called veganism.
ozone depletion. Most dairy products are
packaged in plastic or plastic-lined containers, or Dairy products involve inflicting suffering and cans, and these results in a considerable amount death on mobile, five-sensed beings. Some forms of solid waste. of production are more brutal than others but under the very best of circumstances there is a Some Jains defend the continued consumption of great deal of suffering involved in the production dairy products on the basis of tradition-that is, of these products, and the death of animals is a the fact that Jains have been consuming dairy necessary aspect of any industry or practice that products for as long as anyone remembers means uses animals.
that it must be acceptable to continue doing so.
But if Jainism stands for anything, it represents Animals used in dairy production are kept alive the notion that ethic principles are a matter of longer than meat animals, treated as badly if not rational thought and careful consideration and worse, and end up in the same slaughterhouses that tradition can never be a sufficient answer to after which humans consume their bodies. The an ethical problem. male babies of dairy cows are sold into the veal industry and most of the females are used in the Many people think that milk and dairy products dairy industry. It is an endless cycle of can be produced by animals who graze peacefully exploitation, suffering, and death. There is an in the pasture and have a good life. But even if
that is possible in theory, no animal products