Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
Review
The documentary “Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret” directed by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn sets forth the huge negative impact the cattle industry has on the environment, as well as turn, questions why environmental organizations in charge of carrying out campaigns and projects for the preservation of the planet, such as, Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace, Surfrider Foundation and many more, do not address this issue at all. Throughout the documentary, scientists declarations and statistics that point to the livestock sector as the leading cause of climate change and environmental destruction are shown. Andersen explains that according to the United Nations and other scientists “cows produce more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation sector...” due to the "...substantial amount of methane cows produce from their digestive process..." which is “...25 to 100 times more destructive than carbon dioxide from vehicles” (4:13-50). Likewise, the political and economic power of the cattle industry is mentioned. Finally, the documentary ends up by presenting veganism as a way to achieve a sustainable existence in balance with the environment, since animal agriculture is not sustainable and growing plants and vegetables does not have the detrimental effects that the former has. In the documentary “Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret”, Kip Andersen introduces us to a series of statistics and scientific studies that state that the animal agriculture (cattle and dairy industry, fishing etc) is the major cause of resources consumption and environmental destruction, contributing in this way, to climate change and global warming. Nevertheless, the environmental organizations do not mention anything about this issue in their campaigns, studies or websites which to Andersen’s eyes is pretty suspicious, so at the beginning, his main objective is to investigate why so many environmental institutions turn a blind eye to this problem. As Andersen advances in his investigation, he gets to the conclusion that there is a conspiracy between the government, the environmental organizations and the animal agriculture industry to hide from people the great negative impact that the latter has on the environment. This conspiracy theory is what gives this documentary the first part of his name “Cowspiracy”.
Andersen shows that the United Nations and many other agencies have warned about the water depletion and pollution caused by the livestock industry which numbers turn to be way higher than those of the oil industry, since the oil industry consumes 100 billion gallons of water every year while the raising livestock consumes 100 billion gallons of water every year (5:18-59). Reports such as the one posted by the United Nations in 2006, which states that “Rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases than driving cars” (UN News). This, due to their enteric fermentation and methane emissions. Alongside, many other facts like the one that claims that the animal agriculture industry consumes the third part of all planet’s drinking water or the one that says that this industry is responsible for the 91 percent of the destruction of the Amazon forest are some of the “proves” presented by Andersen to prove the detrimental effects of the animal agriculture. The fact that most of the environmental organizations did not agree with the premise that animal agriculture industry is the leading cause of the world’s pollution along with cases in which environmental activists have been murdered by representatives of these industries and that the governments get a lot of money thanks to the tax collection and revenues the agricultural industry has are the main reasons with which Andersen supports his conspiracy theory.
In the second part of the documentary, Andersen gradually gives us a solution in order to face the conspiracy explained before. This solution consists of switching to a sustainable way of producing food, being that is the animal agriculture for food production what is killing the planet. The solution to this problem is to stop consuming meat or any other product coming from animals and start growing vegetables and grains which is the secret of sustainability.
While is true this documentary tackles very controversial topics regarding the animal agriculture industry and makes people be aware of subjects such as animal cruelty, pollution, deforestation, water depletion and legal impunity, this production is not entirely objective, since it sells the idea that the only real solution to the climate change and the global warming is to adopt veganism as a philosophy and way to live.
Andersen adjudicates the problems of pollution, deforestation and water scarcity to the animal agriculture industry excluding the grain and vegetables agriculture industry when this industry also contributes to all the problems mentioned above. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations “ the biggest source of water pollution today is agriculture...”, since “...modern agriculture is responsible for the discharge of large quantities of agrochemicals, organic matter, sediments and saline trading into water bodies”. On the other hand, the World Wide Fund for Nature in its website, states that “agriculture is the largest single cause of deforestation and severe forest degradation”(Forest Conversion). So, if we quit eating meat the grains and vegetables demand is going to increase, consequently, more pieces of land are will be required as well as pesticides, machinery working with fossil fuels and even cattle will be needed at the end the practices will also contribute to the global warming.
In the same report issued by The United Nations that Andersen mentions at the beginning of the documentary the UN does not ban the livestock industry but affirms that regulation is necessary to counteract the damage caused by the industry. Andersen is not completely wrong about his conspiracy theory since it is well known that many governments all around the world turn a blind eye to inconsistencies regarding environmental issues because of the economic profit they get for all different sorts of industry. This documentary would have contributed more to the cause against environmental pollution and animal cruelty if instead of trying to convince the audience to become vegan, it would have emphasized on the need to regulate both the livestock and agricultural industries and demand from governments complete transparency regarding this issue.
Bibliography
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Pollutants from Agriculture a Serious Threat to World's Water.” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Fao.org, 20 June 2018, www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1141534/icode/.
“Rearing Cattle Produces More Greenhouse Gases than Driving Cars, UN Report Warns.” UN News, News.un.org, 26 Nov. 2006, news.un.org/en/story/2006/11/201222-rearing-cattle-produces-more-greenhouse-gases-driving-cars-un-report-warns.
WWF Global. “Forest Conversion.” WWF Global, World Wide Fund For Nature , 2017, wwf.panda.org/our_work/forests/deforestation_causes/forest_conversion/.
