Cowspiracy: The Sustainable Secret

Jul 1, 2016
3 min read

In Cowspiracy: The Sustainable Secret, filmmaker Kip Andersen explains how animal agriculture plays a pivotal role in deforestation, water consumption, pollution, greenhouse gases, ocean “dead zones,” and more. Anderson says that before becoming aware of the effects of animal agriculture he was an “obsessive compulsive environmentalist”—he composted, changed all the light bulbs, took short showers, rode his bike instead of driving, etc.… It was until he read an article posted on the United Nations website that he found out that raising cattle produces more greenhouse gases than all cars, trucks, trains, boats, and planes combined. In fact, animal agriculture produces 51% of all greenhouse gas emission while all transportation is responsible only for 13%. Cows produce a large amount of methane from their digestive system, and the methane gas found in livestock is 25-100 times more destructive than carbon dioxide from vehicles. The United Nations and other agencies reports that livestock not only is a leading cause of global warning but also of resource consumption. But why do none of the largest environmental organizations have any information on animal agriculture?

Most of the environmental organizations focus on natural gas, oil production, and hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing uses about 100 billion gallons of water each year in the United States. However, raising livestock uses a staggering 34 trillion gallons of water per year in the United States. Anderson decided to talk with different environmental organizations to ask about their thoughts on animal agriculture. He first interviewed Bruce Hamilton, the deputy executive director of Sierra Club. Hamilton claims that the leading cause of climate change is burning fossil fuels including oil, coal, and natural gases. When asked about livestock and animal agriculture, he simply asked, “Well, what about it?” Anderson later interviewed Leila Salazar Lopez from Amazon Watch, and she said that the main cause of deforestation in the Amazon is definitely agribusiness, which includes cattle grazing and soy production. Lopez says in Brazil, people who protest against the cattle and agribusiness industry are killed. In the last 20 years in Brazil, over 1,100 activists have been killed. For example, Sister Dorothy Stang, who was a U.S. born nun living in Brazil, spoke out openly against cattle ranching and was gunned down at point blank range by a hired gunman from the cattle industry. Anderson wanted to interview Greenpeace, but the organization rejected his proposal twice. Fortunately, he got a chance to interview Will Anderson, a former participant in the board of directors of Greenpeace USA. Will is frustrated that environmental organizations are not telling the truth; most of them do not talk about the importance of diet and the effects of animal agriculture.

So will eating less animal products help the environment? No. Former cattle rancher Howard Lyman says, “You can’t be an environmentalist and eat animal products. Period. Kid yourself if you want; if you want to feed your addiction, so be it. But don't call yourself an environmentalist.” On average, feeding a person on a plant-based vegan diet for one year, requires just 1/6 of an acre of land. To feed that same person on a vegetarian diet, which includes eggs and dairy, requires 3 times as much land. To feed an average U.S. citizen on a diet of high consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy requires 18 times as much land. Compared to an American omnivore diet, a vegan diet produces half as much carbon dioxide, 1/11 the amount of fossil fuels, 1/13 the amount of water, and 1/18 the amount of land. Lyman says, “You realize 75% of Americans consider themselves to be environmentalists? You don’t think we couldn't solve this problem in a heartbeat? I’ll tell you what, all we would need would be for the environmentalists to live what they profess, and we’d be on a new course in the world.”