Name _________________________________________________ Date _____________

APESMr. Dillman Period ____________

Questions for The Meatrix Trilogy http://www.themeatrix.com/

The Meatrix I
1. What is The Meatrix?
It is the story we tell ourselves about where meat and animal products come from.
2. What is a factory farm?
Where eggs, milk and meat come from.
3. What happens to the animals on a factory farm?
Animal cruelty, they get antibiotics to prevent diseases.
4. Why are the animals given antibiotics? What is the problem with this?
To keep them alive and prevent diseases. Antibiotic resistant bacteria come from this.
5. What is happening to family farms?
They are getting replaced by factory farms.
The Meatrix II: Revolting
1. What has happened in regards to sustainable eating in the past few years?
Its increased.
2. What happens to cows in dairy factories?
Tails are chopped off to stop the spread of feces and diseases.
3. What is rBGH? Why is it given to cows?
An artificial growth hormone. To make more milk.
4. What happens to the calves?
They are separated from mothers and fed a milk replacer. (contains some cow blood)
5. What can be caused by this?
Mad cow disease.
The Meatrix II
1. At this factory, how many cows can be processed in single day?
5,000.
2. What often happens to the workers in the processing factories?
They are getting injured due to the need for speed.
3. Profit is the name of the game.
4. As a job, meat-packing is the most dangerous job in the nation.
5. Due to the speed of the processing, what gets all over the meat? What bacteria does this substance contain? What
problems can this cause?
Manure. Ecoli. It can cause serious sickness.
The Meatrix 360 Interactive Go to the following section of the site (or type/paste in this link:
http://www.themeatrix.com/interactive/index.html). Roll-over and click on the different parts of the scene. Read and take notes on
each of the following topics that are discussed:
1. The precautionary principle- Says if we think an activity will cause harm, we should take measures to protect ourselves.
2. Feed- Cows should eat grass and silage, but are fed antibiotics and unsavory byproducts.
3. Policy & legislation- The corporations that bring you factory farms are not only changing the way our food is produced,
theyre changing our government as well.
4. Health- Not only is the health of the workers and local communities at risk with factory farms, public health is also
threatened. They contaminate ground and surface water and the awful stench permeates everything.
Name _________________________________________________ Date _____________
APESMr. Dillman Period ____________
Questions for The Meatrix Trilogy http://www.themeatrix.com/

5. Community- Factory farms do not contribute to local economies and are ruining rural communities. When a factory farm
moves in the surrounding community deteriorates, the local economy stagnates, property values plummet, and the
oppressive odor permeates everything: furniture, carpets, clothes, drapes, blankets, beds, etc.
6. Family farms- since the 1930s the US has lost 5 million family farmers.
7. Cows- Hoof rot, mastitis, contagious diseases, and horrible living conditions confront cows on factory farms.
8. Milk-
9. Processing- After cows can no longer give milk, some are sent to slaughter to become hamburger meat.
10. Workers- Workers on factory farms are often low paid and subjected to hazardous working conditions. Some have even
died on the job.
11. Downer cows- The dead cows whose blood gets processed into the milk replacer and fed to the calves.
12. Pesticides- Pesticide residues accumulate in the fat and tissue of animals. (We eat that)
13. Antibiotics- Low daily doses of antibiotics are often fed to cows to ward off diseases and make them grow faster. This
contributes to an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
14. rBGH- artificial growth hormone inserted into cows to produce more milk.
15. Agribusiness- The consolidation of food production concentrates power in the hands of fewer corporations.
16. Waste recycling- Methane digesters are not sustainable and still leave behind manure, heavy metals and other waste
byproducts.
17. Waste- Waste is often over-applied to fields causing many problems. As the growth of industrial farming concentrates
thousands of animals on increasingly fewer farms, it produces massive amounts of animal waste. When too much waste
is produced in one place, there is no safe, cost-effective way to use it productively or dispose of it.
18. Water pollution- Runoff from factory farms are polluted into streams and kill millions of fish. It can also cause nitrate to
leach into private drinking wells.
Write: Before viewing these videos, how much did you know about agribusiness? What was some new information you learned
from these videos? What is the goal of these videos? Do you think these videos will change how you eat? Why/why not?