Chicken Houses Stink Up the Wilderness, But It "Smells Like Money"
It's been a while since I drove out into the Ozark hills, attempting to appreciate the beauty of nature in these remote valleys, or simply to marvel at the region's rugged and forbidding character of landscape.
As I roll along a thin ribbon of asphalt, surrounded by wilderness of Northwestern Arkansas, I'm struck by the beauty of the land, but below the ground, out of sight, there is a problem.
These untamed Ozark highlands have proven themselves to be difficult to live in, so that only the most stubborn humans manage to carve out a life here. This is one of the things that I like about these hills; hardly anyone lives out here. The problem that I speak of is in the groundwater, polluted by the poultry industry that has set up shop in this wilderness.
The Largest Meat Producer in the World
Tyson Foods is known as the largest meat producer in the world, and their massive operation is well-established here in NW Arkansas with their countless chicken houses scattered throughout this wilderness. The thousands of birds are fed and watered in their cramped quarters, and the stink rolls through the hills like an old sneaker, while the juice from their waste trickles down through the bedrock, then heads North, up into the state of Missouri.
What may look like a pristine forest to a visitor, these hills have a nasty secret: the water here is not safe to drink.
While this part of Arkansas used to be famous for its clear running springs and waterways, now that water is laced with salmonella and a certain funky chicken-ness that nobody dares talk about. Tyson Foods brings jobs to the area, and nobody can be bothered to care about the purity of the water below when they are making a living working for Tyson Foods.
When the smell of dead feathers and toxic sludge comes wafting up from one of the Tyson chicken houses, some will say that it smells like money, but the rest of us gag, and the entire population is forced to filter their water because of the industrial farming practices that are going on here.
Tyson Pays the EPA, and We All Suffer From It
Sure, Tyson Foods has to pay the Environmental 'Protection' Agency to get away with this pollution. That is the whole point of the EPA; to give the illusion that the environment is being protected, while it's really just a big business of its own. The more pollution an industry creates, the more money the EPA makes. Meanwhile, the population thinks that the fines that are paid to the EPA help to curtail the leeching of chicken crap into the water supply, and since Tyson seems to bring prosperity to an otherwise poor part of the State of Arkansas, it is seen as progress and success.
Arkansas, the "Natural State"
Below is a map showing the spots, marked with red dots, that represent industries which have to report to the EPA, or more accurately, showing which industries are allowed to pollute the groundwater of an entire region of otherwise untouched wilderness. Note the distinct line at the top of the state on the map, showing that neighboring Missouri is not so much a part of this business arrangement.
All of the rivers travel North in this area, which means that all of the putrid chicken water travels up into Missouri, and even if the residents of that state are careful with their own waste management, they are still getting the Arkansas Tyson pollution in their water, and every well and every spring along that border is tainted with salmonella and nasty chicken drippings.
Voting With Dollars; I Don't Buy Chicken
When I moved up to these Ozark hills, I decided that the only way I could fight this blatant destruction of the water table would be to purchase a water filter, but my main form of protest is my refusal to buy poultry. For 25 years now, I have not supported the Tyson chicken industry, my own little protest. The world's largest meat producer doesn't notice my boycott, but I notice.
Trying to Enjoy a Drive in the Country on a Fall Day
As I drive around in the beautiful Ozark hills, I have trouble enjoying the scenery, knowing that below me is a river of stinking chicken juice, and even if a traveler somehow forgets about Tyson Foods for a moment, the smell of a nearby chicken house will remind them that this lovely land has a nasty secret writhing just below the bedrock. I have nothing against anyone who buys Tyson chicken or turkey, but I'll never give that industry a dime, as I won't support an industry that is allowed to wreck my clean water supply.
It's a tiny protest, and a puny boycott that I live by, but I do live better knowing that I don't help Tyson Foods to destroy the water here in these forests of mine.
Sometimes I wonder if everything that generates profit, actually creates a cost that someone else has to pay. Example: fast food creates profit for the owner of the business, but society gets stuck with obesity and hospital bills.
There does seem to be a pattern there, and even in crypto world, someone has to take a loss for every trader who makes a gain.
Yikes, well now I feel lucky that the polluted water must not have made it to Markham Springs, since that is where we got all of our water for that year we lived in the beautiful and inhospitable Ozark mountains.
I'm glad it missed you and your spring, and for me, the Hotel spring was always south enough to not be affected either.
Chickens are such wonderful, loving creatures. The entire poultry industry needs to disappear.
I wouldn't miss the poultry industry one bit, that's for sure.
I'm with you brother. I eat chicken but not Tyson since hearing about how they raise their poultry.
It's not hard to find chicken that is raised by smaller farms, and it's worth the slightly higher price I think. I went vegetarian a few years ago, so now I don't buy from any chicken farmers.
Good for you avoiding meat.