Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret

Cowspiracy is a 2014 documentary film in which director and narrators Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn explore the destruction that animal agriculture has on our overall environment and the true path to sustainability. The documentary digs deep into the ignorance that humans have on our everyday choices and the effects it has on our environment, such as sustainability and climate change. The film exposes us to information many of our so-called "trustworthy" environmental organizations keep a secret. The films argument is basically that animal agriculture is the most harmful industry around the world today, responsible for a numerous amount of global destruction.

Overrall, I can recommend this documentary to an environmental based audience. It is not safe to assume that every point made in the film is true, but the film exposes it's audience to the actual, real problems going on with the environment that are potentially kept a secret. Anyone who does not really interested in the environment, or more specifically, animal agriculture, will not have a lot to take away from Cowspiracy as they probably don't have an opinion on it in the first place.

Be prepared to get blown away by the SHOCKING truth that world leaders, charities and even the BIGGEST environmental organizations don't have the courage or willpower to address.

Chickens, turkeys pigs and cows are collectively the LARGEST producers of methane in the U.S... Methane is 20x more powerful at trapping heat in the earth's atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

The meat, egg and dairy industries produce 65% of the worldwide nitrous oxide emissions... Nitrus oxide is 300x more powerful at trapping heat in the earth's atmosphere than carbon dioxide...

What does this mean? Well... Regardless of the fact that most agree we 'could and should' be powering the world with solar within the next 10 years, all of our attempts to burn less fuel, install solar panels, use less water, recycle, drive hybrid etc. etc. etc. are shocking diversions away from the far far FAR more relevant environmental hazards that are inherent to the way the meat industry is operating today...

Whether you believe in climate change or not, this movie will appeal to everyone who enjoys learning about powerful institutions being dishonest and misleading to the public in order to protect profits. And after watching this movie it becomes clear that those 'promoting' the climate change train of thought are not BEING HONEST about the true causes and sources of green house gasses! Another great thing about this movie is the clever animation cuts that offer the viewers not only a great experience but also chance to end up feeling much more knowledgeable with some new seriously interesting facts! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. HIGHLY RELEVANT.

Probably one of the most interesting documentary on the subject of environmental protection I've gotten to watch in years. the documentary is about the taboo of animal husbandry's impact on climate change through the three-fold of gas-emitions, deforestation and water polution. the film-makers cover the subject, the impossibility of any type of animal husbandry to become sustainable, as well as the unwillingless of NGO's to mention the subject in their campaigns. It then goes on with possible answers to the question of self-censorship, mostly through the legal crackdown on any opposition to the meat & dairy industry through the animal enterprise terrorism act. The soundtrack is by Keegan Kuhn a.k.a xTrue Naturex. In a sense, I also enjoyed the movie for bringing up environmental reasons to be vegan, which could help making sense to a lot of people for whom the ethical reason of not considering any being as properties, and bridge lifestyle change with social change again.

You already know the subject, animal husbandry. You all know the thesis - that animal husbandry is simply ecologically unsustainable with our current population numbers.

What Cowspiracy does is take one person through a very personal journey to show just how there is only one course of action that will allow this species to have a reasonable chance of surviving at the current population levels. We can change and adapt and go to a more healthy diet or we can wait for a massive ecological change and have our population levels and civilization crash like so many others have before.

Is it perfect? No, but it is still that good. I wish broadcast TV had the guts to run it. I wish it were played in schools. Unfortunately they never will.

Wow. This unassuming, even occasionally goofy documentary packs one hell of a punch. It aims to be a sort of follow up to "An Inconvenient Truth". But in some ways this is arguably an even more powerful film.

It asks a couple of simple questions, and finds answers that are so disturbing that it's the rare film that had an immediate impact on my behavior. Basically the film asks "how much does modern animal farming contribute to global warming and other pollution problems?" And the answer is, more than cars, trucks, planes and all other transportation combined. Maybe a LOT more depending on what metrics you use. It also asks, 'given these facts, why are no major environmental groups aggressively trying to change how we farm and eat, the way they're trying to change how we drive or power our houses? ' The answers are several and disturbing, and there's a bit of the thriller in how the filmmakers get sources to explain, or more chillingly suddenly clam up on camera as they realize what's being asked.

At times the film seems so personal and home-grown that I might have tended to dismiss it as the work of someone on the fringe, but doing some follow up reading it became clear that all this is pretty well grounded in solid science. (There are a some controversial claims here, but what becomes clear on further looking is that the basic points are hard to dismiss. For example, there's a review on here questioning the film's numbers about the greenhouse effect of methane. But if you go to the film's website, they list almost all the claims in the film, explain where they come from, and give links to the paper or article. In the case of methane it's from a NASA study on the upper atmosphere -- hardly some wild eyed fringe group.)

And some of the facts themselves are rather astounding. In a world short of clean water, do you really feel OK eating a burger that takes 660 gallons of clean water to produce?

Like all the best 'issue' documentaries, this will likely leave you examining your own lifestyle choices in a new light. What more can one ask from a 85 minute film?