Film Review: Cowspiracy The Sustainability Secret
I was so excited to attend a screening of “Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret”, an environmental documentary which investigates the destructive impact of large scale factory farming and why today’s leading environmental organizations are failing to take action against it. Fellow plant-based advocate Rich Roll, invited me to attend a private screening in Thousand Oaks. Rich is associate producer of the film, and was on hand to discuss the film after its screening, along with Keegan Kuhn, who co-directed the film.
The topic of sustainability and animal-based diets is near and dear to my heart. You can either eat plant foods directly or indirectly, when animals eat plants and turn them into proteins—but this latter method is very inefficient. This film gives you many powerful examples of just how unsustainable it is to eat high animal food diets, as it follows filmmaker Kip Anderson along his journey of enlightenment. He learns first hand how destructive animal agriculture is in terms of deforestation, water consumption and pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, dead zones in the oceans and more. I like the way Kip and Keegan display visual images of statistics, such as just how much water it takes to produce meat (660 gallons for one hamburger!), and the rate that rainforests are being torn down to raise meat. I was happy to see Michael Pollan on the screen, saying that people need to eat a plant-based diet (yay!). What I found very surprising while watching the film is the lack of advocacy on the part of environmental organizations in spreading the message that people need to cut back on meat to reduce our impact on the environment.
After the film was over, Rich Roll and Keegan Kuhn took the stage to discuss the film. Keegan reported that all of the facts presented in the film are backed up by science and are available on the film’s website. When asked whether environmental organizations are finally coming forward to make a stance on the impact of animal agriculture, Keegan said, “No environmental organizations have come forward yet.” As this movie grows in popularity, hopefully that will change!
And I want to remind my readers that Environmental Working Group is a wonderful resource for information on the environmental impact of eating animal foods. Check out their website at www.ewg.org.
As part of the screening, we were treated to delicious plant-based food by JOi Café, a plant-based restaurant in the Conejo Valley area. I recommend seeing this film. It will help you better understand the impacts animal agriculture has on the earth, and it will give you even more reasons to live the plant-based life! You can watch the trailer here and even get involved with putting on a screening in your community.
Listen to my podcast with Rich Roll here.
Note: I am not a spokesperson or profiting from these products or companies; just providing my own unsolicited opinion about popular products, services, and organizations in the food world today!