Papermills are also infamously smelly, though you can get use to those pretty quickly.
Well, at one point, we were "allowed" to stand next to the manure pit, which was a cylindrical tank with no top. I poked my head over...
Did you know that some stenches can be so intense that they actually have wet vapor and can sting your eyes? I didn't know until that day. But after that day, I never forgot.
That is easy... to make sure you didn't become pig farmers.
I grew up in Sioux City in the 80s and you could smell a little, but even then the stockyards were significantly scaled back from their 1924 peak. I was there a few months ago and there is no smell any more.
On a side note, I wonder how many head of cattle were slaughtered there over time.
Here's a good taste of what one could expect, and it really was amazingly terrible prior to the stench becoming peripheral from exposure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_%28animals%29
A friend and I spent an entire summer working jobs nobody in our (typically) white, middle-class peer group would dare even consider to touch in order to understand for ourselves just how important and respectful these roles were in our daily lives. And boy, let me tell you, it was an amazing and formative experience; I wouldn't trade those experiences for the world. It was "Dirty Jobs" 10 years before the show came out, and in more than a couple of cases, likely illegal given our age versus risk at the time.
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/boss-hog-the-dark-s...
The real issue is that they switch up what they are making every few months or so, so the smell changes periodically. Whenever that happens you start noticing the smell again for a few more days. After a few years you'll become pretty good at ignoring that general class of smells though.
From http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_paper
"Pulp and paper is the third largest industrial polluter to air, water, and land in both Canada and the United States, and releases well over 100 million kg of toxic pollution each year.[5]
Worldwide, the pulp and paper industry is the fifth largest consumer of energy, accounting for four percent of all the world's energy use. The pulp and paper industry uses more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry."
This affects each of us negatively regardless of whether we notice or are concerned.
I don't think anyone can ever get fully accustomed to the presence of toxic chemicals in the air. Your body and mind are doing their best to make sure you're aware of them.
chickens.