Cowspiracy is a powerful and provocative documentary movie on Netflix directed by Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn in 2014.
The movie focuses on the environmental impact of livestock approaching the topic from a unique perspective explaining how what we eat heavily determines the destruction of earth’s environment. The movie is not just about cows, farms, and meat; it’s about humans, our planet and the environment.
The documentary is full of very powerful statistics (some of them are mentioned and analyzed in my post about the environment) divided into 7 main parts:
- Climate change: 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions are due to livestock and their byproducts, while the sector of transportation (road, rail, air & marine) are responsible for only 13% of emissions. Livestock is, then, responsible for 65% nitrous oxide emissions, more destructive than C02.
- Water use: to produce 1 hamburger are needed 660 gallons of water, equivalent to showering for 2 months. The meat & dairy industry use 1/3 of earth fresh water.
- Waste: the waste from a farm of 2500 dairy cows is equivalent to the waste from a city of 411,000 people. Every minute 7 million pounds of excrement is produced by animals raised for food in the Us.
- Land use: livestock covers 45% of the earth’s total land. 1,5 acres of land can produce either 37,000 LBS of plant-based food or just 375 LBS of meat. To feed one vegan for a year is needed 1/6TH of an acre; to feed one meat eater for a year, in comparison, it takes 18 times the quantity of land needed for a vegan.
- Fisheries: from the ocean, each year are pulled 90 million tons of fish, and for every 1 pound of fish caught 5 pounds of unintended marine species are caught and discarded as by-kill.
- Species extinction: for the enormous quantity of land used by livestock, as I mentioned before, 110 animal and insect species are lost every day from rainforest destruction.
- Deforestation: from one to two acres of rainforest are cleared every second; animal agriculture is, indeed, responsible for 91% of Amazon destruction
Cowspiracy, in my opinion, is one of the most powerful documentaries of the latest years. More and more people each year are taking action to save the planet, and I think that this documentary could be an eye-opening for most of the people who still don’t believe in climate change.
As Louie Psihoyos, Oscar-winning Director of “The Cove,” stated:
“Cowspiracy may be the most important film made to inspire saving the planet. “
Cowspiracy cites hundreds of research and studies making its claims solid and credible, making it an incredible source of reliable information.
Watch Cowspiracy now on Netflix!
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