The prestigious Pew Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concluded that factory farming takes a big toll on human health and the environment, undermines rural economic stability, and fails to provide humane treatment of livestock.

Capping a two-year study, with agriculture industry participation, the report calls for a national phase-out of all intensive confinement of farmed animals.

The report is long overdue. For the past 60 years, animal agriculture has been devastating our country's vital natural resources, including soil, waters, and wildlife habitats. It has been generating more greenhouse gases than transportation. It has been elevating the risk of chronic diseases that account for 130 million deaths annually. It has been abusing billions of innocent, sentient animals.

The only long-term solution to this tragedy is to gradually reduce the consumption of animal products to zero. Help is available at: tryveg.org and chooseveg.org.

Ari Holten

Auburn