In the past week the documentary, Cowspiracy, has come to have a boost in popularity and has been shared over a number of different social media sites after one of the executive producers, actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio, finally won an Oscar at the 2016 award ceremony that took place on February 26th. The film has received publicity over a number of vegan and environmental based sites and a link was even posted on Facebook by actress, Anne Hathaway, to show her support to the campaign.
This seemed like the perfect opportunity to write about this ground - breaking documentary to review and research as the first post for my blog. I had already seen Cowspiracy once prior to this week and managed to retain some of the information well enough to relay back to others whilst discussing veganism and the environmental issues however watching it again really made the facts hit home.
The Documentary
The documentary opens with a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. stating:
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends"
We are instantly thrown into a collection of statistics correlating between climate change and our existence, being warned that our atmosphere is rapidly approaching a 2° increase which could be fatal to survival and cause a 'major extinction' amongst the animal kingdom. The threat of ice caps melting and whole countries being covered by water gives way to the theory that humans will soon to subject to 'Climate Wars', migrating to the parts of the Earth that have been less effected.
We meet our narrator, Kip Andersen, who explains that Al Gore's documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' became the catalyst of his want to change, after seeing what 'humans' demands on the Earth' were doing to the environment. He was consumed by the notion of being more sustainable and classes himself as OCE - an obsessive compulsive environmentalist! Not being convinced that this was enough to save the world, he began researching further.
(image taken from theoddysseyonline.com)
We are then met with a congestion of facts about how animal agriculture affects our environment. The meat and dairy industry contribute more greenhouse gases into our atmosphere than all global vehicles combined! That is already a lot to get your head around and we're only just beginning! 35 trillion gallons of water is used in the US every year just to raise livestock for consumption. For every quarter pounder beef burger made, 660 gallons of water is needed - that equates to showering for two whole months! This is obviously a substantial amount of water however, when Kip approaches professionals in the environmental industry they are reluctant to admit that animal agriculture is responsible for consuming that much of our worldly water, stating that to be a conservationist we must watch our personal water consumption in the means of showering, using water sprinklers, running our taps etc...
When Kip finally gets a response to animal agriculture being a major player in the consumption of water, after having the question tip-toed around in a particularly delicate manner, we are told that, even though it is a major contributor (and, in fact, the highest contributor) due to the government's behaviour and best interests it will not be changed.
Water consumption is just one of the consequences of animal agriculture. Humans and the livestock breed to be eaten now make up 98% of all species on Earth, leaving only 2% of wild animals. We have 'stolen' the planet from free living, wild animals, who use to make up 99% of all living species. So where are we putting all of these animals whilst we are fattening them up ready for our plates? 91% of all rainforest destruction is due to making space for animal agriculture. Every single second a football pitch sized plot of rainforest is being destroyed due to farming. It is the driving force of deforestation however it is not addressed by any of the world's leading environmental agencies... how come? The theory is that, as an animal consumer - whether meat or otherwise, you are directly linked to the effects the industry has on the world therefore, learning that you are helping to destroy the rainforest makes you the enemy and people don't want to hear that! So, to keep the 'peace' and help their profile and fundraising opportunities, the companies alleviate the responsibility by just keeping it secret and therefore, people are happy. Ignorant is bliss. However
"Climate change is human cause"
and that's what needs to be addressed. Although the Palm Oil industry does have a great effect on deforestation, and is widely campaigned by leading organisations, it has destroyed 26 million acres of rainforest compared to the overwhelming 136 million acres caused by animal agriculture. Deforestation can be blamed on 'megaprojects' from the coal, oil and mining industries... but the figures show that animal agriculture is having the greatest effect.
To put it boldly, as Kip does, 'killing animals for food is killing the planet'. Whilst burning fossil fuels is a big contributor to climate change it is still not as impactive as the effects cause by animal agriculture. There are 500 nitrogen flooded dead zones on land and in the water due to the excessive waste caused by these animals. By 2048 we could be seeing fishless oceans due to 28 billion creatures being pulled out of the sea every year to feed our faces. For every 100lbs of these fish, 5lbs is by-kill, a term used for fish and mammals that aren't caught for human consumption. 40-50 million sharks are fished out of the ocean every year as by-kill. How can this be seen as sustainable in anyway?
"Sustainable fishing is a rouse to make you feel good"
So, the question posed here is, since we've come this far is there any way to produce meat and animal products sustainably? Can the supply meet the demand? When meeting a family on a grass-fed farm, Kip begins to consider if grass-fed farming is the way forward. After doing the math, he calculates that the United States alone, if continuing on the same level of animal consumption as they are now, would need 3.7 billion acres of land to grass-fed their cattle, that's the entirety of the US, Mexico, most of Canada and the top of South America combined! With that assumption, would that mean that grass-fed cattle are less sustainable than factory farmed? A typical factory farmed dairy cow needs roughly 150lbs of feed and between 30-40 gallons of water per day. One gallon of milk takes 1000 gallons of water to produce. How can this be sustainable?!
(image taken from overandunderit.wordpress.com)
One of the main contributing factors to the rise of animal agriculture is the rise in the world's population. Compared to the 1.5 billion people on the planet in 1912, 2012 saw that figure rise to 7 billion, the most rapid increase in history. 216, 000 people are being born into our world every single day. Whilst humans are consuming 5.2 billion gallons of water per year, animals reared for livestock are drinking 45 billion gallons. People are consuming 21 billion lbs of food compared to 135 billion lbs ingested by livestock. This amounts to 50% of all grain grown worldwide to be grown for the consumption of livestock. 82% of the world's poorest people are living in countries where grain is grown, not for their mouths, but for animals whom are to be eaten by people more wealth than themselves. This seems barbaric when you can gain 15 times more protein from crop foods grown on the same amount of land that is used for keeping livestock.
There's not enough world to produce the amount of grain to feed the animals to sustain the amount of meat and dairy we are eating.
So what is Kip's answer to sustainability? It's simple - live on a completely plant-based diet. Become vegan. This provides sustainability for yourself and for the planet. All the nutrients that our bodies need are in the plant kingdom so there is no need to consume meat (if you have the choice). If there was no need to breed the animals then we wouldn't have to feed the animals and we wouldn't be contributing to destroying the planet. Apart from being compassionate, kind and integral, a vegan diet can help save ecosystems, provide enough food for everybody and cut down on the pollution and hunting caused by global farming. One person eating a vegan diet each day can save -
1100 gallons of water
45lbs of grain
30 sq. ft forest
10lbs of C02
1 animal's life
"You need to change the world; you MUST change the world"
The Reaction
I must admit the first time I watched this documentary 6 months ago, I wasn't completely sold on the vegan idea. I was still eating fish at this point and posted a picture from the documentary on my Instagram with the caption "I eat fish but no other meat and very little dairy and I don't believe people should give up eating meat and dairy altogether, but I think we could all do with consuming less. A small change to us is a big change to our climate." Since then, my situation and opinion has changed due to the research I have done.
I no longer eat fish and I have given up dairy for the most part, although my want to be vegan is great I don't want to rush myself too much into it for fear of relapsing so, at the moment, I allow myself a very small amount of dairy one every couple of weeks or so. I am lactose-intolerant so by dairy I mean either eggs or goat's cheese, which are the only two dairy products I consume anyway. I have made a commitment to myself that I will be completely vegan by the end of this year as I know how important it is for the environment, people's livelihoods and our future.
I agree that people should be able to eat meat if it is integral to their survival however, we have a choice about what we put into our bodies and, therefore, meat is not our only sort of sustenance. Therefore, if we can go without it for the sake of our earth, then we definitely should. I don't want to feel responsible for destroying my home and the home of future generations so I will take the steps and do what I can to ensure that I am helping, not hindering, the future of our planet. When there is such a simple answer in front of you, wouldn't it be foolish not to, at least, try to make a change? I understand that becoming vegan isn't going to solve all of the world's environmental issues, but it's a step in the right direction.
Please note, these are just my basic thoughts. I have so many thoughts on animal agriculture - especially as the majority of my extended family are farmers - but I will leave those views for another topic and blog post.
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I urge you all to watch this documentary, whether you are vegan or not, whether you care about the environment or are just curious to learn more about the future of our planet. You can find it on Netflix, along with a whole load of amazing food-based documentaries (more posts about those to come!)
Find out more at
Em
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