Name _________________________________________________ Date _____________

APESMr. Dillman Period ____________

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

The Meatrix I
1. What is The Meatrix? The story we tell ourselves on farming.
2. What is a factory farm? A farm that produces mass amounts of meat, milk and dairy
3. What happens to the animals on a factory farm? Slaughtered and put in poor living conditions
4. Why are the animals given antibiotics? What is the problem with this? To prevent germs, it creates a big resistance
5. What is happening to family farms? Being depleted by factory farms
The Meatrix II: Revolting
1. What has happened in regards to sustainable eating in the past few years?
2. What happens to cows in dairy factories? Tails are cut off and put in poor conditions
3. What is rBGH? Why is it given to cows? A growth hormone for the cows to produce more
4. What happens to the calves? They are fed milk that contains blood to provide nutrients
5. What can be caused by this? Mad cow disease
The Meatrix II 1/2
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? Injuries
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, Illness and death.
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
2. Feed- cows should eat grass but are fed antibiotics and byproducts.
3. Policy & legislation- these corporations are not only changing farms but also the government.
4. Health- while the employees health is at risk also public health caused by air and water pollution.
5. Community- factory farms do not contribute to family farms
6. Family farms- The U.S. used to have 5 million farms but that number is getting smaller
7. Cows- disease ridden caused by the terrible living conditions.
8. Milk- the dairy industry has significantly changed.
9. Processing- after cows cant produce milk they are slaughtered and used for their meat.
10. Workers- receive low pay and are put in dangerous working conditions.
11. Downer cows-
12. Pesticides- accumulate in the fat and tissue of animals.
13. Antibiotics- these are given to animals to prevent disease but they create resistance.
14. rBGH- growth hormone
15. agribusiness- concentrated power of this field is getting smaller so a few people posses a lot of power.
16. waste recycling- methane digesters are not sustainable and leave behind manure.
17. waste- factory farms produce large amounts of waste that pollute the air.
18. water pollution- runoff from factory farms pollutes water
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?