Cowspiracy, the Sustainability Secret

This is a very disturbing film about animal husbandry and the effect that is having on the environment by Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn, and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio.

The way animals are raised for meat these days is often in appalling conditions, but what is really disturbing is how even major environmentalist groups are ignoring the problem and focusing on other matters.

The statistics given in the film are often staggering, and I didn’t screenshoot them all, but you can rest assured that the amount of damage the raising of animals for meat is causing is way above such matters as fossil fuel emissions.

However, when it comes to reporting this, there is an unearthly silence, trying to find out why that is is part of the film’s journey. Of course all the usual suspects raise their heads: donations to environmental groups from corporation, fear of reprisals, years-long legal battles, murdering of activists, etc.

The film also looks at vaunted mitigations or improvements of animal husbandry only to find that they are either unsustainable or impractical, and in any case always lead to the same unjustifiable end, which is life cut off in its prime when it is not necessary for us to live.

The film also takes an excursion into the effects husbandry is having on the rivers and waters, and also how factory scale fishing, which scoops up five times more fish that it uses is emptying the oceans.

Some of the most telling scenes are when the interviewer (Kip Anderson) brings up the matter before environmental spokespersons, only to be met with change-of-topic, embarrassment, looking off camera for guidance, etc. At least Greenpeace refused to be interviewed which saved them some embarrassment.

The version I reviewed and took screenshots of (downloaded around 3 months ago) had Chinese subtitles but the one I am embedding here does not. I cannot find the other one, so maybe it was taken down.