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Please support this film
www.COWSPIRACY.com
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The world's climate scientists tell us that
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the highest save level of emissions
would be around 350 ppm CO2
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of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
and we're already at 400.
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They tell us that the safest we could hope to do
without having perilous implications,
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as far as drought, famine, human
conflict, major species extinction
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would be about a 2°C
increase in temperature.
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We are rapidly approaching that
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and with the all the built-in carbon
dioxide that's already in the atmosphere,
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we're easily going to exceed that.
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On our watch we are facing the
next major extinction of species on the earth
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that we haven't seen since
the time of the dinosaurs disappearing.
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When whole countries go under water
because of sea level rise,
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when whole countries find there's so much drought
that they can't feed their population,
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and as a result they need to
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desperately migrate to another country
or invade another country...
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We are gonna have climate
wars in the future.
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What about…
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what about livestock
and animal agriculture?
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Well, what about it.. I mean...
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My name is Kip.
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This is me.
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I had a cliché
US American childhood.
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My mom was a teacher,
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my dad was in the military,
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and I have one sister.
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I played all the sports growing up but
always loved the outdoors and camping.
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Life was simple.
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Not a care in the world.
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And then this guy showed up.
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Like so many of us, I saw his film
"An Inconvenient Truth"
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about the impacts of global
warming and it scared the emojis out of me.
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In Al Gore's film he describes
how our earth is in peril.
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Climate change stands for the fact
that all life on this planet,
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from monster storms,
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raging wild-fires,
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record droughts,
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icecaps melting,
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acidification
of the oceans,
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to entire countries
going underwater,
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that could all be caused by
human's demands on the Earth.
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With scientists warning that unless
we take drastic measures
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to correct our
environmental footprint
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our time on this planet
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may be limited to
only 50 more years.
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I wanted to do everything
I could to help.
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I made up my mind right then
and there to change how I lived
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and to do whatever I
possibly could to find
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a way for all of us to live together,
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in balance with the planet
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sustainably,
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forever.
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I started to do all the things
Al told us to do.
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I became an OCE.
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"Obsessive-Compulsive Environmentalist"
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I separated the trash and recycled,
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I composted,
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changed all the light bulbs,
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took short showers,
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turned the water off when
I brushed my teeth,
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turned off lights
when leaving the room,
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and rode my bike instead
of driving, everywhere.
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But as the years went by it seemed
as if things were getting worse.
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I had to wonder:
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with all the continuing ecological
crises facing the planet,
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even if every single one of us
adopted these conservation habits,
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was this really going to be
enough to save the world?
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It just seemed there
was something more to the story.
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I thought I was doing everything
I could to help the planet.
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But then, with one friend's
post, everything changed.
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The post sent me to a report online,
published by the United Nations
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stating that cows produce
more greenhouse gases
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than the entire transportation sector.
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This means that raising cattle
produces more greenhouse gases
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than all cars, trucks, trains,
boats, planes combined.
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13% compared to 18%
from livestock.
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This is because cows produce
a substantial amount of methane
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from their digestive process.
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Methane gas from livestock
is 25-100 times more destructive
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than carbon dioxide
from vehicles.
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I'd been riding my bike everywhere
to help reduce emissions
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but it turns out there is more
to climate change than just fossil fuels.
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I started doing more research.
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The UN along with other
agencies recorded that
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not only did livestock play a
major role in global warming,
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it is also the leading cause
of resource consumption
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and environmental degradation
destroying the planet today.
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How was it possible I wasn't aware of this?
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I thought this information would be plastered
everywhere in the environmental community.
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I went to the nation's largest
environmental organisations' websites.
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350.org, Greenpeace,
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Sierra Club, Climate Reality,
Rainforest Action Network, Amazon Watch…
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and was shocked to see they
had virtually nothing on animal agriculture.
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What was going on?
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Why would they not have this
information on there?
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It seemed the main focus for many of
those groups was natural gas and oil production,
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with fracking being the latest hot issue,
due to water usage and contamination.
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Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas
uses an incredible amount of water.
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A staggering 375 billion litres of water is
consumed each year in the US.
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But when I compare this with animal agriculture
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raising livestock just in the
US consumes 130 trillion litres of water.
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And it turns out the methane emissions
from both industries are nearly equal.
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Living in California, a state
plagued by drought and water shortages,
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water use is a major
concern for many of us.
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(PACIFIC INSTITUTE)
The average Californian uses about
5700 litres per person, per day.
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About half of that is related
to consuming meat and dairy products.
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Meat and dairy products
are incredibly water-intensive,
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in part because the animals
use very water-intensive grains,
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that's what they eat.
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So all of the water embedded
in grain, and that the animals eats
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is essentially considered part of the virtual
water footprint of that product.
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I found out a one 110 gram hamburger
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requires over 2500 litres
of water to produce.
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Here I'd been taking these short
showers trying to save water,
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to find out that
eating just one hamburger
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is the equivalent of showering
two entire months.
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So much is attention is given
to lowering our home water use,
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yet domestic water use is only
5% of what is consumed in the US
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versus 55% for animal agriculture.
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This is because it takes
upwards to 9500 litres of water
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to produce 450 grams of beef.
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I went on the government's department of water
resources' "Save Our Water" campaign,
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where it outlines behaviour changes
to help conserve our water.
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Like using low-flow shower
heads, efficient toilets,
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water-saving appliances and
fix leaky faucets and sprinkler heads
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but nothing about animal agriculture.
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When I added up all governments' recommendations,
I was saving 180 litres a day.
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Still that's not even close to the
2500 litres for just one burger.
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I wanted to see if I could somehow talk
with the government about this.
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Just calling to see if we
could schedule an interview.
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Yeah, that would be good.
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What does your schedule look like this afternoon
or tomorrow afternoon?
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Tomorrow afternoon could be good.
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(Chief Water Use and Efficiency Branch)
For the urban environment there are a lot of things that can be done.
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Indoors, using low-flow shower heads,
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low-flow faucets, efficient toilets,
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efficient water-using appliances.
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All those are really good areas can help quite a lot.
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But the biggest water
savings is from outdoors.
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We have to be mindful
about the way we use water.
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We have to use it as
efficiently as possible.
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We have to protect its quality and have to be
good stewards of the environment that depends on water.
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And checking the sprinkler. A lot of times
we get leaks and broken sprinklers…
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Things like that
wastes water.
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Those are the areas where
there is a lot of room for conservation.
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It kept on coming up a
lot was about animal agriculture…
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Can you comment on that
at all about how much that
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plays a role in water
consumption and pollution.
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That's not my area…
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There's one study that found that
producing a pound of beef...
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9500 litres of water.
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- Yes.
- Yes.
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Eggs 1800 litres of water.
Cheese almost 3400 litres.
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Isn't it simple, why isn't it on "Save Our Water"?
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It's kind if you went
to someone's house
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and my neighbour
has a faucet dripping
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and then you see a giant
hose turned full blast
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until 2500 litres of water
shout out in the street
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flooding the entire street.
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I think I would say:
"Hey, you know, turn that off, please."
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Seems it could be a huge
thing that we could be doing,
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by far more than anything else.
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If that is really the case.
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I think that the water footprint
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of animal husbandry is greater
than other activities.
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Without a doubt.
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That would be really powerful.
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Rather than waiting until we really
are in a drought, just start now
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and tell whoever is in charge of
"Save Our Water", say
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"Let's start to encourage people
to eat less meat
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because these studies
are coming up."
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- I don't think that will happen.
- Why?
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- I don't think that'll happen.
- Why?
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Because the way government
is organised here.
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It's interesting, why though?
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One is water management,
the other behaviour change.
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Behaviour of taking showers
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and not watering your
lawn, that is behaviour.
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Yes.
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Clearly the government did
not want talk about this issue.
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Their inability to answer
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along with the environmental
organisations' silence
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on animal agriculture,
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made it seem something
more was going on.
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I started investigating more about
the impact of livestock
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and found that the situation
was worse than I had thought.
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In 2009, two advisors from the
World Bank released an analysis
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on human-induced
greenhouse gases,
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finding that animal agriculture
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was responsible not for 18%
as the UN stated,
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but for 51% of all
greenhouse gases.
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51%.
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Yet all we hear about
is burning fossil fuels.
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This devastating figure is due to
clear-cutting rainforest for grazing,
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respiration and all the
waste animals produced.
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This makes animal agriculture the number one
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contributor to human-caused climate change.
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But not only that, I found
that raising animals for food
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consumes 1/3 of all the planet's fresh water,
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occupies up to 45%
of the Earth's land.
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Is responsible for up to 91%
of the Amazon destruction,
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Is the leading cause of
species extinction,
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ocean "dead zones",
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and habitat destruction.
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Yet the world's largest
environmental groups
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that are suppoed be saving our world
didn't mention this anywhere.
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I had to speak with environmental organisations to find out
why they weren't addressing this issue.
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I sent off dozens of emails,
made call after call.
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Spent hours on hold.
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Days became weeks and
weeks became months
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and for some reason, no-one
wanted to talk to me about this.
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So bizarre.
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I supported these organisations
so long and now I was met with silence.
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I was however able to connect with a handful
of environmentalist authors
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and advocates that were
willing to address this issue.
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I took my old trusty van Super Blue out
of retirement and hit the road.
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So my calculations are that
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without using any gas, oil
or fuel, ever again, from this day forward,
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that we would still exceed our
maximum carbon equivalent greenhouse gas emissions,
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565 gigatons, by
the year 2030.
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Without the electricity sector or the
energy sector even factoring in the equation,
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all simply by raising and
eating livestock.
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If you reduce the amount of methane emissions,
the level in the atmosphere goes down fairly quickly.
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Within decades.
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As opposed to CO2, if you reduce
the emissions to the atmosphere
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you don't really see a signal in the atmosphere
for a 100 years or so.
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The single largest contributor to every
known environmental ill known to human kind:
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deforestation, land use,
water scarcity,
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destabilisation of communities, world hunger…
The list doesn't stop.
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It's an environmental
disaster that's being ignored
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by the very people who
should be championing.
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Free-living animals 10,000 years
ago made up 99% of the biomass.
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Human beings made up only
1% of the biomass.
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Today, only 10,000 years later,
which is only a fraction of time,
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we human beings and
the animals we own as property,
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make up 98% of the biomass.
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And wild free-living
animals make up only 2%.
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We basically have completely
stolen the world, Earth,
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from free-living animals
to use for ourselves,
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00:14:27,356 --> 00:14:30,157
and our cows, pigs, chickens
and factory-farmed fish
241
00:14:30,157 --> 00:14:33,098
and the oceans are
even more devastated.
242
00:14:33,098 --> 00:14:36,856
Concerned researchers of
the loss of species agree
243
00:14:37,201 --> 00:14:41,919
that the primary cause of loss of
species on our earth that we are witnessing,
244
00:14:41,919 --> 00:14:46,323
is due to overgrazing and habitat loss
from livestock production on land
245
00:14:46,690 --> 00:14:50,057
and by overfishing, which I
call fishing in our oceans.
246
00:14:50,323 --> 00:14:54,523
We are in the middle of the largest mass
extinction of species in 65 million years.
247
00:14:54,523 --> 00:14:58,265
The rain forest is being cut down
at 4000 m2 per second.
248
00:14:58,265 --> 00:15:01,449
The driving force behind all of
this is animal agriculture.
249
00:15:01,449 --> 00:15:05,884
Cutting down the forest to graze animals
and to grow soya beans.
250
00:15:06,624 --> 00:15:11,273
Genetically engineered soya beans to feed to the cows, pigs,
factory-farmed chickens and fish.
251
00:15:11,273 --> 00:15:17,711
91% of loss of rainforest in
the Amazon area thus far to date
252
00:15:18,149 --> 00:15:21,957
91% that has been destroyed
is due to raising livestock.
253
00:15:22,123 --> 00:15:26,887
The leading cause of environmental
destruction is animal agriculture.
254
00:15:27,282 --> 00:15:28,554
I just couldn't understand why the
255
00:15:28,554 --> 00:15:31,932
world's largest environmental organisations
weren't addressing this
256
00:15:32,267 --> 00:15:35,231
when their entire mission is
to help protect the environment.
257
00:15:35,398 --> 00:15:37,093
That's the thing too, they say:
258
00:15:37,150 --> 00:15:39,840
"Use less coal, ride your bike…"
259
00:15:39,875 --> 00:15:42,310
- What about "eat less meat"?
- Yeah.
260
00:15:42,310 --> 00:15:46,365
I think they focus-grouped it
and it's a political loser.
261
00:15:47,432 --> 00:15:50,315
They are membership
organisations.
262
00:15:50,582 --> 00:15:53,915
They want to maximise the number
of people making contributions
263
00:15:54,050 --> 00:15:57,138
and if they are getting
identified as anti-meat
264
00:15:57,138 --> 00:16:01,580
or challenging people on their everyday habits,
something that is so dear to people,
265
00:16:02,104 --> 00:16:04,331
it will hurt with their fundraising.
266
00:16:04,331 --> 00:16:10,928
They don't want to address the primary driving
cause of environmental devastation,
267
00:16:10,928 --> 00:16:15,328
which is animal agriculture,
because they're businesses.
268
00:16:15,328 --> 00:16:19,874
They want to make sure that they have
a reliable source of funding.
269
00:16:20,217 --> 00:16:25,830
I got invited to a meeting with
Al Gore some years ago now
270
00:16:25,921 --> 00:16:28,762
and met his methane arguments
but he was really push-back.
271
00:16:28,777 --> 00:16:29,957
That's just his argument:
272
00:16:29,957 --> 00:16:32,994
"It's hard enough to get
people to think about CO2."
273
00:16:33,073 --> 00:16:34,032
"Don't confuse them."
274
00:16:34,940 --> 00:16:39,864
I think that the problem with a lot
of the organisations is that they're focused
275
00:16:40,394 --> 00:16:45,450
and have a laser focus, they don't go
off-message because they don't want to piss off
276
00:16:45,455 --> 00:16:48,718
another whole group of people that will
make their lives difficult.
277
00:16:48,718 --> 00:16:54,948
If you listen to the majority of the major environmental
organisations, they're not telling you to do much,
278
00:16:54,948 --> 00:16:59,550
besides "live life the way you've been living it, but
change the light bulb from time to time,
279
00:16:59,550 --> 00:17:02,620
drive less, use less
plastic, recycle more…"
280
00:17:03,309 --> 00:17:06,524
It's better for their
fundraising and better for their profile
281
00:17:06,524 --> 00:17:09,951
to create a victim-
and-perpetrator sort of plotline.
282
00:17:10,203 --> 00:17:15,413
It's like when we talk about the fact
that when we have a dysfunctional family.
283
00:17:15,989 --> 00:17:20,065
The father is an alcoholic. It's
the one thing no one talks about.
284
00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:21,471
Everyone goes around that,
285
00:17:21,471 --> 00:17:26,568
yet it's the one thing that causes the
devastation in the relationships in the family.
286
00:17:26,888 --> 00:17:29,223
Because nobody wants
talk about it.
287
00:17:29,223 --> 00:17:31,572
How can these organisations not know?
288
00:17:31,572 --> 00:17:34,811
The issue is right in front of them,
unmistakable at this point.
289
00:17:34,811 --> 00:17:39,988
And just like these organisations fall over
themselves to show the general public
290
00:17:40,323 --> 00:17:42,442
that climate change is human-caused
291
00:17:42,877 --> 00:17:47,784
and in doing so completely fail to see
what's right in front of them:
292
00:17:48,255 --> 00:17:51,604
that animal agriculture, raising
and killing animals for food
293
00:17:51,604 --> 00:17:53,973
is really what's killing the planet.
294
00:17:55,049 --> 00:17:58,546
That was it. No more e-mails, no more
phone calls, I had enough.
295
00:17:58,610 --> 00:18:00,190
I realised that if I wanted answers,
296
00:18:00,190 --> 00:18:03,316
I would have to go to these
organisations headquarters in person.
297
00:18:03,316 --> 00:18:05,431
GREENPEACE
San Francisco Headquarters
298
00:18:05,449 --> 00:18:07,269
- Hi, how's it going?
- Good.
299
00:18:07,304 --> 00:18:11,096
We're doing a full-feature documentary.
300
00:18:11,545 --> 00:18:15,626
It's on sustainability
and animal agriculture.
301
00:18:15,861 --> 00:18:19,710
And we're here to talk
with David Barre.
302
00:18:19,754 --> 00:18:21,004
- With Barre?
- Yeah.
303
00:18:21,140 --> 00:18:24,668
- OK. Do you have an appointment with him?
- We've been trying for almost two months.
304
00:18:25,003 --> 00:18:29,397
- We didn't even have one
receptive email, or anything.
305
00:18:29,925 --> 00:18:32,723
- Sure.
- .. to see if we can set something up.
306
00:18:33,190 --> 00:18:35,173
- Let me... So..
They sent out their PR person instead.
307
00:18:35,173 --> 00:18:38,171
She refused to be filmed and
told us to turn off the camera,
308
00:18:38,171 --> 00:18:40,840
but promised someone
from the rainforest, ocean
309
00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:44,760
and climate change department who
would all speak with us. Finally.
310
00:18:46,831 --> 00:18:49,998
Next stop was to give Sierra Club a visit.
311
00:18:53,649 --> 00:18:57,497
Turns out they were a bit more receptive
to me showing up at their doorstep.
312
00:18:57,497 --> 00:18:58,999
How's it going?
313
00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,157
With climate change, what is
the leading cause of that?
314
00:19:04,823 --> 00:19:07,765
Well, it's basically burning
too many fossil fuels.
315
00:19:09,132 --> 00:19:12,632
Coal, natural gas, oil, tar sands.
316
00:19:13,099 --> 00:19:14,767
Oil shale…
317
00:19:15,202 --> 00:19:18,364
All new fuel exotic fuels
that are kind of hybrids between them.
318
00:19:18,915 --> 00:19:21,657
That's basically what is
loading up the atmosphere,
319
00:19:21,923 --> 00:19:25,079
we have this greenhouse effect
where the heat is trapped
320
00:19:25,079 --> 00:19:27,173
and the temperatures are soaring
321
00:19:27,740 --> 00:19:31,198
at a rate that never existed
in the history of the Earth.
322
00:19:31,865 --> 00:19:33,580
What about ...
323
00:19:33,949 --> 00:19:36,890
what about livestock
and animal agriculture?
324
00:19:39,340 --> 00:19:41,015
Well, what about it.. I mean...
325
00:19:41,381 --> 00:19:42,281
We ...
326
00:19:42,948 --> 00:19:44,081
... did research
327
00:19:44,540 --> 00:19:49,375
A couple of UN reports say animal
livestock accounts for more emissions
328
00:19:49,703 --> 00:19:52,140
than all transportation put together.
329
00:19:52,506 --> 00:19:55,365
A recent 2009 Worldwatch report:
330
00:19:55,631 --> 00:20:00,081
"Livestock causes 51%
of all greenhouse gas emissions…"
331
00:20:00,548 --> 00:20:01,849
Well...
332
00:20:02,115 --> 00:20:06,732
It is a big issue and we need
to address that as well
333
00:20:07,299 --> 00:20:13,673
but, you know, there are so many potential
sources of methane and carbon emissions…
334
00:20:14,123 --> 00:20:18,771
If the number one leading cause is animal
agriculture and meat consumption
335
00:20:19,213 --> 00:20:24,447
then doesn't it mean to be the number one
focus, if not, the number two?
336
00:20:26,049 --> 00:20:30,090
Well, that's your assessment,
our assessment is different.
337
00:20:32,673 --> 00:20:34,757
That was bizarre.
338
00:20:35,215 --> 00:20:37,757
Greenpeace got back to
me today and said:
339
00:20:38,757 --> 00:20:41,515
"It was great to meet with you yesterday."
340
00:20:41,882 --> 00:20:45,780
"I've spoken with various people here at
Greenpeace about your request,
341
00:20:46,049 --> 00:20:50,090
but I'm afraid we're not going to
be able to help this time."
342
00:20:52,965 --> 00:20:55,126
"Thanks again, and best of luck."
343
00:20:55,126 --> 00:20:57,449
Greenpeace's response
reminded me of the statistic
344
00:20:57,449 --> 00:21:00,723
that 53.000 kilograms
of farm animal excrement
345
00:21:01,090 --> 00:21:03,890
is produced every
second in the US alone.
346
00:21:04,257 --> 00:21:07,995
That is enough waste per year to cover
every square foot of San Francisco,
347
00:21:08,377 --> 00:21:11,701
New York City, Tokyo, Paris,
348
00:21:12,265 --> 00:21:15,290
New Delhi, Berlin,
Hong Kong, London,
349
00:21:15,557 --> 00:21:21,465
Rio de Janeiro, Delaware, Bali,
Costa Rica and Denmark combined.
350
00:21:22,590 --> 00:21:30,651
Livestock operations on land has caused more
than 500 nitrogen-flooded dead zones
351
00:21:30,651 --> 00:21:32,174
around the world and our oceans.
352
00:21:32,174 --> 00:21:36,223
It comprises more than 245.000 km2
of areas completely devoid of life.
353
00:21:36,590 --> 00:21:40,049
So any meaningful discussion
about the state of our oceans
354
00:21:40,215 --> 00:21:44,548
has to always begin by frank discussions
355
00:21:44,715 --> 00:21:47,974
about land-based animal agriculture,
356
00:21:48,340 --> 00:21:52,600
which is not what our conservation
groups, Oceana being the largest one in the world,
357
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:55,399
and the most influential,
358
00:21:55,399 --> 00:21:58,740
and others - at the apex of their discussions.
359
00:21:58,740 --> 00:22:02,132
I went on my favourite oceans protection
organisation's website,
360
00:22:02,132 --> 00:22:05,132
Surfrider Foundation, to see
what they were doing about this.
361
00:22:05,132 --> 00:22:08,506
Mostly what I found were campaigns about
plastic bags and trash
362
00:22:08,506 --> 00:22:10,830
but nothing about
animal agriculture.
363
00:22:11,170 --> 00:22:15,520
What is the number one
coastal water quality issue polluter?
364
00:22:18,295 --> 00:22:19,157
A lot of it...
365
00:22:20,576 --> 00:22:22,698
We call it the "toxic cocktail."
366
00:22:22,965 --> 00:22:26,417
Because it really is
this diffuse source.
367
00:22:28,056 --> 00:22:31,074
It's heavy metal from tyres, brakes
and cars, heavy metals,
368
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:33,232
herbicides and pesticides.
369
00:22:33,399 --> 00:22:38,140
Really picking up everything
we leave on the ground,
370
00:22:38,140 --> 00:22:41,332
collecting it together and
pushing it out into the ocean.
371
00:22:41,332 --> 00:22:43,807
It's hard to actually target one thing.
372
00:22:44,274 --> 00:22:48,032
We're doing research on this
particular one, and run-off
373
00:22:48,599 --> 00:22:52,281
and increasingly, as we're
interviewing more and more people,
374
00:22:52,281 --> 00:22:56,177
what keeps coming up,
is animal agriculture
375
00:22:56,512 --> 00:23:00,723
as being the number
one water polluter.
376
00:23:00,790 --> 00:23:02,790
Considerably far more
than any other…
377
00:23:02,957 --> 00:23:06,948
Yeah, interesting, I guess it depends
on the regions you focus on.
378
00:23:06,948 --> 00:23:10,882
Like the urban areas, like where
we are in southern California where we are,
379
00:23:10,882 --> 00:23:14,931
we don't see that, because there are
not a lot of agricultural farms
380
00:23:15,186 --> 00:23:17,415
but look in the mid-Atlantic
381
00:23:17,782 --> 00:23:20,340
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
382
00:23:20,645 --> 00:23:24,494
I know there are many poultry
farms, a lot of hog farms
383
00:23:24,666 --> 00:23:26,590
and it's a huge waste issue.
384
00:23:26,943 --> 00:23:30,107
I was surprised that they not only
not focus on farm run-off
385
00:23:30,274 --> 00:23:32,340
they also didn't
mention in any campaigns
386
00:23:32,506 --> 00:23:34,653
about how our oceans
are in near collapse.
387
00:23:35,077 --> 00:23:37,723
The UN reporterd that the 3/4
of world's fisheries
388
00:23:37,997 --> 00:23:41,777
are overexploited, fully
exploited or significantly depleted,
389
00:23:42,112 --> 00:23:43,131
due to overfishing.
390
00:23:43,806 --> 00:23:48,343
The oceans are under siege like never
before and marine environments are in trouble.
391
00:23:48,649 --> 00:23:51,331
If we don't wake up and
do something about it
392
00:23:51,698 --> 00:23:54,491
we have fishless oceans
by the year 2048.
393
00:23:54,491 --> 00:23:56,315
That's the prediction
of scientists.
394
00:23:56,315 --> 00:23:59,295
The fact that when people
look at fishing sometimes,
395
00:23:59,591 --> 00:24:04,157
they look only at the animals
that are consumed by humans,
396
00:24:04,557 --> 00:24:08,944
not necessarily looking at all the animals
who are caught in the drift nets
397
00:24:08,944 --> 00:24:12,131
All the others animals
killed in the industry,
398
00:24:12,784 --> 00:24:17,452
Even the shrimping industry has done
a lot to devastate the planet as well,
399
00:24:17,930 --> 00:24:21,817
breaking down natural barriers
that we have to protect the islands.
400
00:24:22,192 --> 00:24:27,863
We're at over 28 billion animals that
were pulled out of the oceans last year.
401
00:24:27,863 --> 00:24:32,012
They are never given
a chance to recover.
402
00:24:32,012 --> 00:24:35,257
They don't multiply that quickly,
we don't give them the opportunity.
403
00:24:35,257 --> 00:24:37,189
The oceans are in complete collapse,
404
00:24:38,024 --> 00:24:40,773
the large fish specie
are near extinction.
405
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:45,277
The way fishing is done today, to feed the deman dfor 90 million tonnes of fish,
406
00:24:45,478 --> 00:24:47,837
fishing is primarily done with massive fish nets.
407
00:24:48,162 --> 00:24:49,913
For every pound
of fish caught,
408
00:24:49,913 --> 00:24:53,930
up to 2,2 kg of untargeted
species become trapped,
409
00:24:53,994 --> 00:24:59,222
such as dolphins, whales, sea turtles
and sharks, known as by-kill.
410
00:24:59,432 --> 00:25:03,484
If we imagine the same happening
on the African savannah,
411
00:25:03,542 --> 00:25:04,614
targeting the gazelle
412
00:25:04,614 --> 00:25:09,613
but in the process scooping up every
single lion, giraffe, ostriche and elephant
413
00:25:09,613 --> 00:25:11,286
nobody would stand for it.
414
00:25:11,666 --> 00:25:16,506
Yet, this is what's happening
in our oceans every single day.
415
00:25:18,323 --> 00:25:21,003
Between 40-50 million sharks
are killed every year
416
00:25:21,003 --> 00:25:23,428
in fishing lines
and fishing nets as by-kill.
417
00:25:23,851 --> 00:25:26,223
Then their fins may b
cut off or not cut off
418
00:25:26,370 --> 00:25:29,520
but they're caught
initially as by-kill.
419
00:25:29,963 --> 00:25:34,770
And it's from fishing.
From fishing in a sustainable manner
420
00:25:34,970 --> 00:25:40,380
in many cases for fish that are labelled
'sustainable', by for instance Oceana
421
00:25:40,380 --> 00:25:43,883
and these sustainable
certified organisations.
422
00:25:43,883 --> 00:25:48,647
So my thought is why would we stop
at banning shark fin soup
423
00:25:48,647 --> 00:25:50,966
if you're concerned
about sharks?
424
00:25:50,966 --> 00:25:54,301
Which these organisations
are, and most of the public is now.
425
00:25:54,301 --> 00:25:57,359
If we're really concerned about
sharks, we would ban fishing.
426
00:25:57,390 --> 00:26:00,540
I went on the world's largest
ocean conservation's groups website,
427
00:26:00,540 --> 00:26:02,626
Oceana to see what
they do about this.
428
00:26:02,961 --> 00:26:06,282
On their site, along the TED Talk
by CEO Andy Sharpless,
429
00:26:06,349 --> 00:26:11,137
I was astounded to read they actually recommend
that one of the best ways to help fish
430
00:26:11,137 --> 00:26:12,107
is to eat fish.
431
00:26:12,474 --> 00:26:15,161
With the world's fish
population in near collapse,
432
00:26:15,161 --> 00:26:18,432
this seems like saying that the best way
to help endangered pandas
433
00:26:18,432 --> 00:26:19,315
is to eat pandas.
434
00:26:19,315 --> 00:26:21,483
I couldn't understand how
Oceana could say
435
00:26:21,490 --> 00:26:25,349
we could remove close to a
100 million tons of fish per year
436
00:26:25,515 --> 00:26:28,957
and this could be sustainable
and good for our oceans.
437
00:26:29,223 --> 00:26:34,425
In many species that
are near extinction,
438
00:26:34,490 --> 00:26:38,422
have done so and
439
00:26:38,718 --> 00:26:42,957
haven't recovered on
the watch of Oceana
440
00:26:43,223 --> 00:26:45,773
and on the watch of Marine
Stewardship Council,
441
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,884
and on the watch of
Monterey Bay Sea Food.
442
00:26:50,413 --> 00:26:53,823
I mentioned in one of my lectures
they are aptly named, because
443
00:26:53,890 --> 00:26:58,098
they are watching this happen, instead
of aggressively halting it.
444
00:27:00,432 --> 00:27:03,557
According to the UN Food and
Agricultural Organisation
445
00:27:06,365 --> 00:27:08,121
three-quarters of all the fisheries
446
00:27:08,121 --> 00:27:10,539
are either "fully exploited
or overexploited".
447
00:27:10,539 --> 00:27:14,307
So there are not many
fish stocks out there
448
00:27:14,474 --> 00:27:19,260
that you might consider at healthy
levels for the ecosystem.
449
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:24,057
Watching Andy's TED Talk
about feeding the world…
450
00:27:24,223 --> 00:27:28,681
In 1988, the fishery peaked
at 85 million tonnes.
451
00:27:28,848 --> 00:27:34,315
How can we sustainably catch
100 million tons in 2050?
452
00:27:34,881 --> 00:27:39,415
Regardless if it's
in a farm or in an ocean, if
453
00:27:39,681 --> 00:27:41,748
for every pound
of fish you take out
454
00:27:42,015 --> 00:27:45,382
you essentially take out
2,2 kg of wild fish,
455
00:27:45,382 --> 00:27:49,990
no matter whether it's a
pond or if it's in the ocean.
456
00:27:49,990 --> 00:27:52,723
How can that be sustainable?
457
00:27:58,048 --> 00:28:04,822
The ultimate question is that there
is a tremendous amount of natural
458
00:28:04,822 --> 00:28:09,781
production that comes out of
the oceans all the time.
459
00:28:10,983 --> 00:28:14,996
We have a massive upwelling
from our ocean conveyor belt
460
00:28:15,226 --> 00:28:18,731
that brings ancient nutrients
461
00:28:19,298 --> 00:28:22,340
and our ecosystems
are turning that into fish.
462
00:28:22,407 --> 00:28:26,322
Yes, they're eating each other and
you're losing some of that production
463
00:28:26,591 --> 00:28:29,715
every step up in the food chain,
but you get more every year.
464
00:28:30,011 --> 00:28:34,331
You can fish, take some out and
next year there will be more.
465
00:28:34,486 --> 00:28:38,931
And if we do that right, without
hitting the fundamental driver…
466
00:28:39,298 --> 00:28:42,273
It's like living off the interest, right?
467
00:28:42,340 --> 00:28:45,957
As long as you don't
bring the principle down
468
00:28:46,223 --> 00:28:49,049
if you invest in something,
469
00:28:49,215 --> 00:28:53,590
and the principle remains high,
you can live off the interest forever.
470
00:28:53,757 --> 00:28:55,465
That's the basic
idea with fish.
471
00:28:55,465 --> 00:28:57,427
With our population right now…
472
00:28:58,178 --> 00:29:03,115
75% of the fish is depleted.
473
00:29:03,382 --> 00:29:06,307
It's a good analogy with money,
474
00:29:06,674 --> 00:29:09,840
We are not living off interest,
we are in extreme debt.
475
00:29:10,006 --> 00:29:14,098
And if our population
is trying to live as a family
476
00:29:14,465 --> 00:29:17,590
on the same amount of money
477
00:29:17,590 --> 00:29:21,340
and it's increasing by 35 percent
to 9 billion people.
478
00:29:21,340 --> 00:29:24,957
Isn't it just: "Hey, we have to
stop spending money"?
479
00:29:24,957 --> 00:29:26,440
- Yes.
- "Let's not eat fish."
480
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:28,657
If you can bring the principle back…
481
00:29:29,023 --> 00:29:32,796
Fishing of any type is depleting
not only the species,
482
00:29:33,169 --> 00:29:38,198
you get into this serial depletion,
where one fish species will be minimised
483
00:29:38,565 --> 00:29:43,685
and the fishing industry for that fishery
will move on to the next species.
484
00:29:43,685 --> 00:29:47,140
It's called serial
depletion, aptly named.
485
00:29:47,507 --> 00:29:49,440
In the process fish is lost,
486
00:29:49,607 --> 00:29:53,784
but the next in line is lost,
487
00:29:54,273 --> 00:29:57,390
the mechanism is still
extremely destructive.
488
00:29:57,757 --> 00:30:00,990
They lose the fish species,
489
00:30:01,257 --> 00:30:03,423
but they also destroy habitats.
490
00:30:03,590 --> 00:30:10,183
They came up with the term "sustainable fishing" to
make ourselves feel good about eating fish
491
00:30:10,468 --> 00:30:13,441
and continue to take
fish from the oceans.
492
00:30:13,919 --> 00:30:16,006
In fact, Sea Shepherd says
493
00:30:16,173 --> 00:30:18,574
that there is no such thing
as "sustainable fishing".
494
00:30:18,940 --> 00:30:29,180
Sea food is not a protein
source for the planet.
495
00:30:30,148 --> 00:30:33,708
Nobody wants to hear it because it
496
00:30:34,030 --> 00:30:36,862
makes them feel
they have to act.
497
00:30:37,063 --> 00:30:38,544
Many people don't want to
498
00:30:38,757 --> 00:30:42,806
disclose because it's uncomfortable
to tell others what to do.
499
00:30:43,073 --> 00:30:45,574
But we are at a point where
we must all be rational,
500
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:48,181
and have to realise we
have to take action.
501
00:30:48,248 --> 00:30:50,700
Our founder captain Watson says:
502
00:30:50,929 --> 00:30:54,940
"If the oceans die, we die."
It's not a tagline, it's the truth.
503
00:30:55,006 --> 00:30:59,474
Perhaps the only ecosystem that is
being destroyed at such a rapid rate
504
00:30:59,672 --> 00:31:01,623
are the rainforests.
505
00:31:01,790 --> 00:31:04,532
Our global rainforests are
the planet's lungs.
506
00:31:04,899 --> 00:31:07,599
They absorb CO2 and release oxygen.
507
00:31:08,065 --> 00:31:11,265
4000 m2 of rainforest
is cleared every second.
508
00:31:11,732 --> 00:31:16,373
To create pastures and
cultivate animal feed.
509
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:21,073
The equivalent of a football
field cleared every second.
510
00:31:21,540 --> 00:31:23,390
It is estimated that every day
511
00:31:23,957 --> 00:31:27,466
over 100 plant, animal and
insect species are lost
512
00:31:27,975 --> 00:31:30,131
due to rainforest destruction.
513
00:31:41,632 --> 00:31:44,082
Rainforest Action Network
Headquarters, San Francisco
514
00:31:44,749 --> 00:31:49,076
What is the main cause of
rainforest destruction?
515
00:31:49,460 --> 00:31:53,017
(Executive Director)
Human intervention,
516
00:31:53,916 --> 00:31:56,208
either by logging
or agribusiness.
517
00:31:56,543 --> 00:31:58,657
The top global drivers
518
00:31:59,123 --> 00:32:01,973
varies somewhat depending
on the forest
519
00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:05,923
but the way we use these
natural resources,
520
00:32:06,090 --> 00:32:10,699
on an industrial scale
is the main cause.
521
00:32:10,965 --> 00:32:13,178
When I went to the Rainforest
Action website
522
00:32:13,178 --> 00:32:16,173
I couldn't believe there was
nothing about cattle.
523
00:32:16,540 --> 00:32:18,931
But there was a big
campaign against palm oil.
524
00:32:19,398 --> 00:32:23,997
Palm oil plantations cause tremendous
deforestation in the Indonesian rainforest.
525
00:32:24,074 --> 00:32:26,582
It is estimated that palm
oil is responsible for
526
00:32:26,582 --> 00:32:29,313
10 million hectares
of being cleared.
527
00:32:29,548 --> 00:32:32,239
Though, livestock feed crops
528
00:32:32,623 --> 00:32:37,757
are responsible for 56 million
hectares of lost rainforest today.
529
00:32:38,123 --> 00:32:41,829
But I was shocked to find that
on their website cattle was not included
530
00:32:42,009 --> 00:32:43,781
as one of their
four main issues.
531
00:32:44,248 --> 00:32:45,808
Instead, they
focused on palm,
532
00:32:45,808 --> 00:32:48,530
pulp and paper, coal
and tar sands?
533
00:32:48,785 --> 00:32:52,101
How can can they not have the
leading cause of rainforest destruction?
534
00:32:52,101 --> 00:32:55,407
I had to wonder: why focus on fossil
fuels and not cattle?
535
00:32:55,874 --> 00:32:59,743
Is it more more fuel fossils
or is it more animal agriculture?
536
00:33:00,228 --> 00:33:02,610
I don't know why
we have to choose.
537
00:33:02,683 --> 00:33:04,881
I just want to know
which one is it?
538
00:33:06,181 --> 00:33:08,109
I don't necessarily
know what it is.
539
00:33:08,427 --> 00:33:11,505
Could the executive director of
one of the largest rainforest
540
00:33:11,792 --> 00:33:15,649
protection groups really
did not know what is happening?
541
00:33:15,710 --> 00:33:19,299
Or even worse, hid something?
If so, why?
542
00:33:19,631 --> 00:33:22,224
I immediately went to Amazon Watch
to see what they would say
543
00:33:22,224 --> 00:33:25,632
what the leading cause of
rainforest destruction.
544
00:33:25,632 --> 00:33:30,124
The most biologically and culturally
diverse place on the planet,
545
00:33:31,173 --> 00:33:33,028
is under massive attack right now.
546
00:33:33,310 --> 00:33:38,346
The Amazon forest could
be gone in the next ten years.
547
00:33:38,681 --> 00:33:41,881
What is the leading cause
rainforest destruction?
548
00:33:43,907 --> 00:33:48,465
The main cause of
rainforest destruction…
549
00:33:51,390 --> 00:33:52,682
Say ...
550
00:33:52,849 --> 00:33:56,071
To put Amazon Watch
in context ...
551
00:33:57,869 --> 00:34:01,799
There are many drivers
of deforestation.
552
00:34:02,363 --> 00:34:07,060
Many reasons and ways
to destroy forests.
553
00:34:07,244 --> 00:34:10,386
The main cause that
cause the most damage
554
00:34:10,646 --> 00:34:14,611
are mega projects.
555
00:34:14,643 --> 00:34:18,426
Such as oil and gas pipelines.
Mining projects,
556
00:34:18,793 --> 00:34:22,366
such as mega dam projects.
We're not talking about ...
557
00:34:22,368 --> 00:34:24,860
I felt like walking in circles
with all of these groups.
558
00:34:24,860 --> 00:34:27,477
As if caught in some
"Cowspiracy" Twilight Zone
559
00:34:27,825 --> 00:34:29,965
where nobody could
talk about cows.
560
00:34:29,965 --> 00:34:32,590
I couldn't believe these
organisations just wouldn't say
561
00:34:32,590 --> 00:34:35,715
what the leading cause of
rainforest destruction truly is.
562
00:34:36,081 --> 00:34:38,995
I had to ask one more time.
563
00:34:39,240 --> 00:34:43,975
It's hard to say what the leading
cause of deforestation in the Amazon
564
00:34:44,175 --> 00:34:49,304
because they are all destructive: oil and gas,
mineral mining, dams, agriculture,
565
00:34:49,304 --> 00:34:58,559
But in terms of land use, in terms of
the amount of land destroyed…
566
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:06,190
When we talk about in comparison
to all the causes of deforestation
567
00:35:06,549 --> 00:35:11,006
what is causing the most
trees to fall, for example...
568
00:35:13,459 --> 00:35:15,910
It think it would
definitely be agriculture.
569
00:35:16,705 --> 00:35:21,792
Unfortunately, one of the biggest
causes of deforestation
570
00:35:23,244 --> 00:35:25,930
definitely in the Brazilian Amazon,
is agribusiness.
571
00:35:26,246 --> 00:35:30,549
Cattle grazing and soy
production in particular.
572
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:32,982
This is what really is going on.
573
00:35:33,010 --> 00:35:35,006
Why do you think ...
574
00:35:35,701 --> 00:35:40,831
Nobody, like Greenpeace, will
575
00:35:40,909 --> 00:35:44,132
say the whole story?
576
00:35:44,491 --> 00:35:45,173
Yes.
577
00:35:48,009 --> 00:35:49,840
I think you raised
very good points,
578
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,205
why is anyone doing
anything about it.
579
00:35:52,970 --> 00:35:56,690
I think in Brazil, especially
when we look at
580
00:35:57,136 --> 00:35:59,590
what happened after
Forest law was passed
581
00:36:00,222 --> 00:36:06,262
people stood up against the
lobbyists and private interests:
582
00:36:06,326 --> 00:36:08,610
the cattle industry,
agribusiness…
583
00:36:08,610 --> 00:36:12,262
what happened to them, many of
those who spoke out were killed.
584
00:36:12,262 --> 00:36:15,883
If you look at Ze Carlos, Claudio
585
00:36:16,269 --> 00:36:18,969
People who put
themselves out there
586
00:36:19,168 --> 00:36:23,785
and said cattle ranching
destroys the Amazon
587
00:36:25,267 --> 00:36:27,918
a lot of people who
put themselves out there
588
00:36:28,190 --> 00:36:31,356
like Dorothy Stang, a nun
who lived in Para
589
00:36:31,994 --> 00:36:33,757
... was killed.
590
00:36:35,340 --> 00:36:38,798
Many people will speak up,
many people stay silent
591
00:36:38,862 --> 00:36:43,840
because they don't want to be the next
to end up with a bullet to their head.
592
00:36:44,848 --> 00:36:47,250
Sister Dorothy Stang
was an American nun
593
00:36:47,473 --> 00:36:50,174
who lived in the heart of the
Brazilian rainforest.
594
00:36:50,174 --> 00:36:52,757
She dedicated her life
to protect the Amazon.
595
00:36:52,757 --> 00:36:55,757
She spoke out openly against
the destruction of the rainforest
596
00:36:55,757 --> 00:36:57,498
and cattle ranching for years.
597
00:36:57,865 --> 00:37:02,364
Walking home one night she was
brutally gunned down at point blank range
598
00:37:02,994 --> 00:37:05,157
by a hired gun of
the cattle industry.
599
00:37:23,007 --> 00:37:25,531
After Greenpeace initial denial
for the interview
600
00:37:25,531 --> 00:37:28,454
I wrote again, begging
they reconsider.
601
00:37:28,509 --> 00:37:32,440
Greenpeace got back again
and said again:
602
00:37:32,706 --> 00:37:36,265
"I'm afraid we explored the
options in terms of helping you
603
00:37:36,531 --> 00:37:40,707
and are not going to be able
to help this time."
604
00:37:41,074 --> 00:37:43,615
You mentioned you would
also speak with Oceana,
605
00:37:43,615 --> 00:37:46,598
I'm sure they will be
able to give you some great quotes
606
00:37:46,598 --> 00:37:48,199
about the ocean-related issues.
607
00:37:48,565 --> 00:37:50,615
Thanks again for thinking of us."
608
00:37:52,894 --> 00:37:53,723
Unbelievable.
609
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:55,993
With Greenpeace
unwilling to be interviewed
610
00:37:55,993 --> 00:37:58,274
I had to find a different
avenue to get answers.
611
00:37:58,274 --> 00:38:00,974
There's something
really fishy going on over there.
612
00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:04,639
Fortunately, I found a former Greenpeace
board of director
613
00:38:04,639 --> 00:38:06,774
who now speaks openly
about the industry.
614
00:38:07,487 --> 00:38:12,040
Environmental organisations like other
organisations are not telling you the truth
615
00:38:12,420 --> 00:38:16,651
about what the world needs
from us as a species.
616
00:38:17,342 --> 00:38:20,676
It's so frustrating when the information
is right before their eyes.
617
00:38:20,976 --> 00:38:24,823
It's documented in peer-reviewed journals,
618
00:38:25,190 --> 00:38:26,874
it's there for everybody to see,
619
00:38:27,340 --> 00:38:31,615
but the environmental organisations
are refusing to act.
620
00:38:31,982 --> 00:38:33,515
Nowhere you find in the policies
621
00:38:33,782 --> 00:38:36,740
or Greenpeace mission,
622
00:38:37,007 --> 00:38:39,074
that diet is important.
623
00:38:39,340 --> 00:38:43,323
That animal agriculture
is the problem.
624
00:38:43,690 --> 00:38:46,406
They refuse, like other
environmental organisations,
625
00:38:46,406 --> 00:38:48,106
to look at the issue.
626
00:38:48,773 --> 00:38:53,848
The environmental community is failing
us and they're failing the ecosystems.
627
00:38:54,715 --> 00:38:58,990
It's so frustrating to
see them do this.
628
00:39:02,847 --> 00:39:05,531
"NRDC, the Earth's best defense"
629
00:39:05,898 --> 00:39:12,565
Alright, they actually do have a
few things on animal agriculture.
630
00:39:17,073 --> 00:39:22,831
The leading cause of environmental
degradation is too much pollution.
631
00:39:22,831 --> 00:39:22,865
Too many engines churning too fast
The main cause of environmental
degradation is too much pollution.
632
00:39:22,865 --> 00:39:27,815
Too many engines churning too fast
633
00:39:28,082 --> 00:39:30,765
in too many places
around the globe.
634
00:39:31,232 --> 00:39:33,731
In late 2009, a Worldwatch report:
635
00:39:33,731 --> 00:39:37,845
livestock causes 51%
of greenhouse gas emissions
636
00:39:38,214 --> 00:39:40,207
and transportation is about 13%.
637
00:39:40,207 --> 00:39:44,149
On the low end there's the
UN between 18 and 30%,
638
00:39:44,579 --> 00:39:48,199
which is more than all
transportation together.
639
00:39:48,565 --> 00:39:50,323
Nationally ... or internationally?
640
00:39:50,690 --> 00:39:53,190
- Or nationally?
- Worldwide, yes.
641
00:39:53,857 --> 00:39:58,648
I think energy production
and transportation
642
00:39:59,015 --> 00:40:02,515
are still the major
sources so I think ...
643
00:40:02,681 --> 00:40:08,465
I'm guess I'm not going to comment on that,
because I'm not familiar with those numbers.
644
00:40:08,465 --> 00:40:11,240
So don't quote me on this,
but that's cow farts.
645
00:40:11,807 --> 00:40:13,723
I think what that is.
646
00:40:15,940 --> 00:40:18,857
I think that's cow fart.
647
00:40:23,065 --> 00:40:24,764
Well, that's part
of the story.
648
00:40:25,099 --> 00:40:27,989
Methane production from cows
and other livestock flatulence
649
00:40:27,989 --> 00:40:29,526
is a major contributor.
650
00:40:29,553 --> 00:40:32,733
But mostly it is due to deforestation
and the waste they produce.
651
00:40:33,127 --> 00:40:37,548
Which exceeds 130 times more than
the waste of all humans.
652
00:40:37,844 --> 00:40:41,315
Almost all without the benefit
any waste treatment.
653
00:40:42,258 --> 00:40:46,870
The NRDC absolutely has
a big food programme.
654
00:40:47,105 --> 00:40:50,582
In fact, every year, we
do the "Going Green Awards"
655
00:40:50,599 --> 00:40:52,984
and we recognise
food innovators.
656
00:40:54,004 --> 00:41:00,331
Last year, one of the awardees was
a sustainable pork producer
657
00:41:00,967 --> 00:41:04,148
that doesn't use antibiotics.
658
00:41:05,098 --> 00:41:10,232
The antibiotic use that
industrial food production
659
00:41:10,487 --> 00:41:13,557
in the US uses…
660
00:41:14,223 --> 00:41:18,357
We're getting the majority
of antibiotics in the US
661
00:41:18,623 --> 00:41:22,032
are administered to healthy livestock.
662
00:41:25,599 --> 00:41:28,473
I wanted to visit one of
these sustainable farms.
663
00:41:29,240 --> 00:41:31,207
I found the Markegard beef farm
664
00:41:31,207 --> 00:41:34,107
on the lush misty
California coast.
665
00:41:42,674 --> 00:41:46,857
I met Erik and Doniga Markegard
and their four children.
666
00:41:48,182 --> 00:41:52,851
Lea and Larry are usually
up and out at 6 milking,
667
00:41:53,037 --> 00:41:54,652
feeding the pigs...
668
00:42:03,157 --> 00:42:09,295
Altogether, we graze 1800 hectares
669
00:42:09,365 --> 00:42:12,065
and this is our home ranch,
670
00:42:12,232 --> 00:42:16,982
and this is 380 hectares.
671
00:42:18,207 --> 00:42:24,540
On average it's one cow or a cow and
a calf for every four hectares.
672
00:42:27,681 --> 00:42:37,236
Annually we produce almost
36,000 kg plate-ready meat.
673
00:42:42,890 --> 00:42:48,740
We keep about 10 pigs
in a 20 hectare area.
674
00:42:49,009 --> 00:42:52,648
and move them in
4 acre pastures.
675
00:42:53,015 --> 00:42:58,409
(Daughter)
Some say pigs are dirty and
gross, but I like them.
676
00:42:58,848 --> 00:43:06,357
They know people and they will
be friends and real nice.
677
00:43:06,881 --> 00:43:11,799
They could be your best
friend or like a sister.
678
00:43:11,965 --> 00:43:13,715
See.
679
00:43:13,881 --> 00:43:17,549
They know you and we
get to know them.
680
00:43:18,215 --> 00:43:21,248
I shouldn't be bonding
but we have to have nice pigs.
681
00:43:21,315 --> 00:43:23,048
Why shouldn't you bond with them?
682
00:43:23,048 --> 00:43:25,823
Because they will turn into bacon.
683
00:43:26,590 --> 00:43:32,065
These pigs are 7 months old now.
684
00:43:33,070 --> 00:43:35,490
These bigger ones are getting ready to be killed.
685
00:43:35,490 --> 00:43:40,507
The two smaller ones can
grow for a few more months.
686
00:43:41,507 --> 00:43:47,166
I love, I love animals and that's
why I'm in the meat business.
687
00:43:47,549 --> 00:43:51,196
What society needs
to see more
688
00:43:51,499 --> 00:43:56,549
is that that packaged piece
of meat is a living animal
689
00:43:57,757 --> 00:44:02,257
living, breathing creature.
690
00:44:02,423 --> 00:44:06,990
Yes, it's hard, it's hard,
but what Doniga said earlier,
691
00:44:07,965 --> 00:44:10,140
we do it because
we love them.
692
00:44:10,507 --> 00:44:13,006
With the land use
693
00:44:13,173 --> 00:44:19,965
that is between 1 to 1,5 hectare per cow ...
694
00:44:20,131 --> 00:44:25,231
all the way up to, depending on, not as
lush as this, up to 14 acres.
695
00:44:25,298 --> 00:44:27,865
Yes, we have a ranch in
South Dakota that is
696
00:44:28,231 --> 00:44:31,590
20 hectares ...
Yes, it's 20 ha, yes.
697
00:44:31,857 --> 00:44:33,757
Why is that?
698
00:44:34,023 --> 00:44:37,090
The same thing, it was farmed
and robbed of the nitrogens.
699
00:44:37,167 --> 00:44:39,661
- Abused the land…
- It's also seasonal, right?
700
00:44:39,662 --> 00:44:41,307
It's also seasonal.
701
00:44:41,674 --> 00:44:46,799
Is it possible and practical
for the whole world to say:
702
00:44:46,965 --> 00:44:49,048
"Grow grass-fed cattle"?
703
00:44:49,315 --> 00:44:50,865
Like say in Brazil, where
704
00:44:51,481 --> 00:44:57,432
80% of the rainforest
was destroyed for cattle.
705
00:44:57,799 --> 00:45:00,140
What are your thoughts on that?
706
00:45:00,507 --> 00:45:03,998
They shouldn't eat beef.
707
00:45:04,465 --> 00:45:09,250
If their environment wasn't
designed to raise beef
708
00:45:09,257 --> 00:45:11,444
- they shouldn't be eating it.
- Yeah.
709
00:45:11,465 --> 00:45:15,215
How do you offset the carbon
footprint of livestock?
710
00:45:19,340 --> 00:45:23,923
We don't feel that livestock
have a carbon footprint.
711
00:45:24,715 --> 00:45:26,715
I left feeling confused.
712
00:45:26,881 --> 00:45:29,774
As far as grass-fed beef
not having a carbon footprint
713
00:45:29,774 --> 00:45:31,945
sounded like it could make sense.
714
00:45:31,950 --> 00:45:34,915
Until I added up the numbers
on land use and population.
715
00:45:34,915 --> 00:45:37,444
If we use the Markegard model
for raising animals
716
00:45:37,444 --> 00:45:40,674
which requires about 1800 ha
to produce 36,300 kg of meat.
717
00:45:40,674 --> 00:45:43,549
The average American eats
95 kg of meat per year.
718
00:45:43,549 --> 00:45:44,990
If that was all grass-fed beef
719
00:45:44,990 --> 00:45:47,670
only 382 people could
be fed on the land.
720
00:45:48,006 --> 00:45:53,131
That's 5 ha per person, times
314 million Americans,
721
00:45:53,298 --> 00:45:56,474
which equals 1,3 billion ha
grazing land.
722
00:45:56,840 --> 00:46:01,457
Unfortunately, there are only
809 million ha in 48 US lower states.
723
00:46:01,923 --> 00:46:06,632
Currently, nearly half of US land is
already dedicated to animal agriculture.
724
00:46:06,899 --> 00:46:08,532
If we switch to grass-fed beef
725
00:46:08,899 --> 00:46:11,715
it would require every
cm2 in the US.
726
00:46:11,981 --> 00:46:15,999
Up to Canada, all of Central America
and well into South America.
727
00:46:16,065 --> 00:46:19,040
And this is just to feed
US demand on meat.
728
00:46:19,106 --> 00:46:22,023
But that figure does not even
take into consideration
729
00:46:22,023 --> 00:46:24,750
that much of the land is
not suited for livestock.
730
00:46:24,757 --> 00:46:28,273
We would have to convert all
mountain ranges to grass lands.
731
00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:31,640
Clear ancient forests and
national parks for grazing.
732
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:35,690
And demolish every city
to make room to graze cows.
733
00:46:35,857 --> 00:46:40,031
Just like Brazil, the US is not
suited to meet demands for meat.
734
00:46:40,232 --> 00:46:43,280
It takes 23 months for a
grass-fed animal to
735
00:46:43,318 --> 00:46:46,347
grow and reach
slaughter age.
736
00:46:46,584 --> 00:46:49,535
A grain-fed cow takes 15 months.
737
00:46:49,571 --> 00:46:55,215
That's an additional eight months of
water use, land use, feed, waste.
738
00:46:55,482 --> 00:46:58,857
In terms of the carbon foot print,
it's a huge difference.
739
00:46:59,023 --> 00:47:00,532
Turns out, due
to land use
740
00:47:00,899 --> 00:47:05,940
grass-fed beef is more unsustainable
than even factory farming.
741
00:47:06,023 --> 00:47:09,695
I had to come to terms
with the fact that there are not
742
00:47:09,732 --> 00:47:12,607
enough animals for the
world's demand for meat
743
00:47:12,774 --> 00:47:14,565
and had my doubts
on dairy as well.
744
00:47:14,732 --> 00:47:17,732
But I wanted to talk with
a premier organic dairy company.
745
00:47:17,732 --> 00:47:21,407
to see if their product was sustainable
for the world's population.
746
00:47:21,674 --> 00:47:24,872
It requires a lot of inputs.
747
00:47:25,107 --> 00:47:28,808
Feed, water, land.
748
00:47:30,338 --> 00:47:34,200
It may not be practical to expect that there can
749
00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:39,106
be enough dairy produced
sustainably to feed the entire world.
750
00:47:39,106 --> 00:47:42,962
I think that's not necessarily a given.
751
00:47:43,067 --> 00:47:46,078
I think maybe it's
too much to expect
752
00:47:46,313 --> 00:47:52,064
that the world can be fed
with sustainable dairy.
753
00:47:52,299 --> 00:47:55,282
I don't know the answer,
but common sense would say,
754
00:47:55,949 --> 00:47:57,649
that's a long shot.
755
00:47:58,115 --> 00:48:00,482
I was shocked to hear
such an honest answer.
756
00:48:00,849 --> 00:48:05,165
If this is what the dairy CEO would say,
what would the farmer claim?
757
00:48:05,431 --> 00:48:08,849
Based on their marketing
their farms are an oasis for cows.
758
00:48:08,849 --> 00:48:11,490
FOR GOODNESS SAKE
Drink Clover Milk
759
00:48:14,498 --> 00:48:17,200
It was not what I expected.
760
00:48:28,598 --> 00:48:33,514
Normally a cow consumes
64-70 kg of feed a day.
761
00:48:33,965 --> 00:48:37,415
- Between 64 ...
- Between 64 and 70 kg a day.
762
00:48:37,782 --> 00:48:40,974
She also drinks between
114-151 litres of water.
763
00:48:41,140 --> 00:48:42,473
My God.
764
00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:46,715
We use about 20 tons per week.
765
00:48:47,281 --> 00:48:50,473
- 20 tonnes of grain per week.
- 20 tonnes.
766
00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:54,515
Primarily for milking cows,
so about 250 cows.
767
00:48:56,348 --> 00:48:58,974
The biggest part of
sustainability, to me,
768
00:48:59,340 --> 00:49:02,890
the number one thing on
the list should be profitability
769
00:49:03,974 --> 00:49:07,215
How the process completely
works from start to finish:
770
00:49:07,215 --> 00:49:09,890
The cow needs to have a
baby in order to give milk.
771
00:49:09,890 --> 00:49:14,665
So she have the baby, the baby is going to
stay with the mother for at least two days.
772
00:49:15,140 --> 00:49:17,890
The babies will go off to a
calve-raising facility.
773
00:49:17,890 --> 00:49:20,665
They are raised in
an individual hutch.
774
00:49:20,932 --> 00:49:24,598
Since we are a dairy, only the
girl cows give us milk, so the boys
775
00:49:24,598 --> 00:49:28,807
on typical dairies are sold
off to beef-raising facilities.
776
00:49:28,974 --> 00:49:31,899
But we keep half of
them for two years
777
00:49:32,265 --> 00:49:34,482
and sell them as organic
grass-fed beef.
778
00:49:34,849 --> 00:49:38,331
So all dairy cows eventually
go to the beef industry?
779
00:49:40,099 --> 00:49:42,074
At some point in time
she will drop off
780
00:49:42,074 --> 00:49:44,540
and you have to
make a business decision.
781
00:49:44,540 --> 00:49:47,148
Do you keep investing in
her to give milk
782
00:49:47,515 --> 00:49:51,932
or sell her off to another dairy
or to the beef industry.
783
00:50:02,348 --> 00:50:05,774
Only a few places on the planet
have this type of environment.
784
00:50:06,140 --> 00:50:09,857
But the demand for dairy-based
protein will increase in the world.
785
00:50:10,223 --> 00:50:11,942
There is not enough
land on the planet
786
00:50:11,942 --> 00:50:15,257
for this type of dairying.
787
00:50:15,673 --> 00:50:20,099
The land is not there.
788
00:50:20,265 --> 00:50:27,099
On a global scale the conclusion
would be it's not sustainable
789
00:50:27,099 --> 00:50:30,807
Unless we dig up houses
and put pastures back.
790
00:50:32,431 --> 00:50:36,457
For this to happen, there
have to be less people.
791
00:50:36,923 --> 00:50:41,598
But we know the population
continues to grow.
792
00:50:42,348 --> 00:50:44,899
That means more commercial
dairy, I'm sure.
793
00:50:45,265 --> 00:50:47,440
That or lower the demand ...
794
00:50:47,907 --> 00:50:50,140
Yes, or another
product will take its place.
795
00:50:50,506 --> 00:50:53,849
We see all sorts of soy
and almond milks
796
00:50:54,015 --> 00:50:56,348
other products and different blends.
797
00:50:56,515 --> 00:51:00,557
Juices and proteins.
798
00:51:00,823 --> 00:51:02,458
I think we'll see more of that.
799
00:51:02,682 --> 00:51:05,925
He was right. How could
cow's milk be sustainable?
800
00:51:05,932 --> 00:51:11,099
1 litre of milk it takes a 1000 litres of water to produce.
801
00:51:11,515 --> 00:51:13,565
Doing research on
grass-fed livestock
802
00:51:13,565 --> 00:51:16,099
I kept coming across
the work of Allan Savory.
803
00:51:16,265 --> 00:51:19,406
Almost a third of the planet
is becoming desert,
804
00:51:19,473 --> 00:51:22,306
with the vast majority
due to livestock grazing.
805
00:51:22,473 --> 00:51:26,023
Savory claims that the best
way to reverse this desertification
806
00:51:26,390 --> 00:51:28,907
is to actually graze more animals.
807
00:51:28,974 --> 00:51:30,773
This reminded me of Oceana saying
808
00:51:30,773 --> 00:51:33,181
that the best way to
help fish is to eat fish.
809
00:51:33,181 --> 00:51:34,390
This is the same man
810
00:51:34,557 --> 00:51:37,057
who in the 1950s, working
as a research officer
811
00:51:37,223 --> 00:51:39,807
for the Game Department
of what is now Zimbabwe,
812
00:51:39,807 --> 00:51:42,807
came up with the theory, in spite
of scientific evidence
813
00:51:42,974 --> 00:51:46,446
that elephants caused
the desertification.
814
00:51:46,473 --> 00:51:51,306
His solution was to convince the
government to kill 40,000 elephants.
815
00:51:55,807 --> 00:52:02,965
Yet, after 14 years of relentless
slaughter the conditions got worse.
816
00:52:03,032 --> 00:52:05,974
His theory was wrong.
817
00:52:06,140 --> 00:52:08,140
The culling finally ended,
818
00:52:08,306 --> 00:52:12,465
but not before tens of thousands of
elephants and their families were killed.
819
00:52:13,132 --> 00:52:17,223
This is not someone I would
ever take ecological advice from.
820
00:52:27,057 --> 00:52:30,199
It turns out the cattle
industry has the same effect
821
00:52:30,465 --> 00:52:33,132
on wild life in the US.
822
00:52:33,199 --> 00:52:35,657
The government is rounding
up horses in mass.
823
00:52:35,723 --> 00:52:39,640
We have now more wild horses
and donkeys in state farms.
824
00:52:39,841 --> 00:52:44,515
50.000 horses and burros more
than free on the range.
825
00:52:44,782 --> 00:52:48,448
Basically, rangers get to
graze on our public lands
826
00:52:48,615 --> 00:52:50,573
for a a fraction of
the going rate.
827
00:52:50,740 --> 00:52:54,823
They enjoy tax subsidies,
about 1/15 of the going rate.
828
00:52:54,990 --> 00:52:57,199
What the Bureau's Land Management
has to do is say:
829
00:52:57,199 --> 00:52:59,465
"How much forage and
water is on the land?"
830
00:52:59,465 --> 00:53:00,540
Then they divide,
831
00:53:00,540 --> 00:53:03,682
a part for the cows,
other to "wildlife".
832
00:53:03,949 --> 00:53:05,890
and to wild horses and burros.
833
00:53:06,157 --> 00:53:09,865
What we see is that
most forage and water
834
00:53:10,032 --> 00:53:11,865
goes to the livestock industry.
835
00:53:12,232 --> 00:53:14,898
They scapegoat the horses
and burros and say:
836
00:53:14,898 --> 00:53:17,782
"There are too many horses
and burros, let's remove them."
837
00:53:18,831 --> 00:53:22,157
I always tell people that the wild horses
and donkeys are just victims
838
00:53:22,157 --> 00:53:24,774
of the management of public
lands for livestock
839
00:53:25,040 --> 00:53:28,065
because we also see
the predator killing going on.
840
00:53:28,065 --> 00:53:32,240
We now know wolves
are targeted by ranchers.
841
00:53:32,706 --> 00:53:36,982
The Department of Agriculture has air-craft
and do aerial gunning of predators.
842
00:53:36,982 --> 00:53:39,615
All a rancher needs to say:
"I've got a coyote here."
843
00:53:39,982 --> 00:53:41,782
They come over and shoot the coyote.
844
00:53:41,949 --> 00:53:44,365
Or shoot the mountain
lion or shoot the bobcat.
845
00:53:44,831 --> 00:53:47,115
And this is all for ranching.
846
00:53:47,481 --> 00:53:52,106
In Washington State, after
cattle was attacked
847
00:53:52,331 --> 00:53:55,143
on public lands where it was grazing
848
00:53:56,074 --> 00:54:02,531
Washington state decided to
kill an entire pack of wolves.
849
00:54:03,323 --> 00:54:07,448
Those wolves were not introduced,
they had immigrated from Canada.
850
00:54:07,615 --> 00:54:09,448
But they're no longer there.
851
00:54:09,715 --> 00:54:13,283
It starts at the local level, with
the Bureau of Land Management
852
00:54:13,350 --> 00:54:15,440
but then it goes to Congress.
853
00:54:15,545 --> 00:54:19,112
And we see that Congress allows
854
00:54:19,247 --> 00:54:22,036
this type of mismanagement
of public land to continue.
855
00:54:22,036 --> 00:54:28,779
It is the insistence and lobbying power
of the agriculture industry
856
00:54:29,331 --> 00:54:32,949
that continues to see wolves killed.
857
00:54:33,115 --> 00:54:36,667
and insists on predators being maintained at
858
00:54:36,737 --> 00:54:41,199
a low level that does not
benefit the ecosystems.
859
00:54:41,365 --> 00:54:45,360
I've seen so many pieces of land, so many
environmental assessments
860
00:54:45,819 --> 00:54:48,932
from the Bureau of Land
Management that say
861
00:54:48,934 --> 00:54:50,840
the range land does
not meet the standards.
862
00:54:50,840 --> 00:54:53,650
They say straight up
livestock-raising is a cause
863
00:54:53,650 --> 00:54:55,265
for not meeting range standards.
864
00:54:55,840 --> 00:54:58,566
Yet they allow livestock grazing.
865
00:54:58,942 --> 00:55:05,706
They are at the core of making sure that
cougars are hunted by hounds,
866
00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:08,306
that wolf packs
are run down,
867
00:55:08,573 --> 00:55:12,957
that hunting seasons
are opened up year-round,
868
00:55:13,023 --> 00:55:15,984
that traps are set
so that they suffer.
869
00:55:16,319 --> 00:55:20,144
If anyone cares for horses,
wildlife and public land
870
00:55:20,444 --> 00:55:23,149
and the environment, you
can't ignore livestock,
871
00:55:23,149 --> 00:55:27,261
the negative impact of livestock
grazing on public lands in the West.
872
00:55:28,149 --> 00:55:32,267
I added up the cost of
animal food production
873
00:55:32,790 --> 00:55:35,581
that producers don't
bear themselves.
874
00:55:35,648 --> 00:55:38,082
The hidden or externalised costs
875
00:55:38,317 --> 00:55:39,907
that they impose on society.
876
00:55:40,074 --> 00:55:44,032
Those are categories like
health care, environmental damage,
877
00:55:44,399 --> 00:55:47,915
subsidies, damage to
fisheries and even cruelty.
878
00:55:48,481 --> 00:55:53,032
Those external costs are
about 332 billion euros.
879
00:55:53,299 --> 00:55:58,455
If the dairy and meat industry
would internalise these costs,
880
00:55:58,690 --> 00:56:00,703
if they had to bear the costs themselves,
881
00:56:01,074 --> 00:56:05,525
the price of meat and
dairy would skyrocket.
882
00:56:06,723 --> 00:56:09,786
A 5 euro carton of eggs
would go to 10 euros.
883
00:56:10,105 --> 00:56:12,330
A 3,50 euro Big Mac
would go to 9 euros.
884
00:56:13,218 --> 00:56:16,974
The problem with these external
costs imposed on society
885
00:56:17,540 --> 00:56:19,565
is whether you
eat meat or not
886
00:56:19,799 --> 00:56:21,929
whether you're an
omnivore or an herbivore
887
00:56:22,215 --> 00:56:26,594
you pay part of the costs of
someone else's consumption.
888
00:56:26,594 --> 00:56:28,306
When someone goes
to McDonald's
889
00:56:28,573 --> 00:56:30,693
and buys a 3,50 euro Big Mac.
890
00:56:30,706 --> 00:56:34,160
there's another 6,35 euro of
costs are imposed on society.
891
00:56:34,470 --> 00:56:37,365
I'm paying that paying that, you're
paying that whether you eat meat or not.
892
00:56:37,365 --> 00:56:42,515
When we look at who benefits and
lobbies for this system of agriculture
893
00:56:43,013 --> 00:56:46,546
it's the largest food and meat
894
00:56:46,833 --> 00:56:48,685
producers in the country.
895
00:56:49,057 --> 00:56:52,117
And once they become so large
and wealthy they
896
00:56:52,351 --> 00:56:57,147
can dictate federal policies
around producing food.
897
00:56:57,681 --> 00:57:01,336
because they have so
much political power.
898
00:57:01,715 --> 00:57:04,212
Was this why Al Gore,
even as vice-president,
899
00:57:04,594 --> 00:57:06,573
never addressed the question
of animal agriculture
900
00:57:06,573 --> 00:57:09,240
and failed to mention it his film
"An Inconvenient Truth"
901
00:57:09,406 --> 00:57:12,141
or in his organisation the
Climate Reality Project?
902
00:57:12,476 --> 00:57:15,418
Was this truth just too
inconvenient, for even him?
903
00:57:16,018 --> 00:57:19,624
I felt let down by the man who
inspired me in on this path.
904
00:57:20,523 --> 00:57:23,340
I had to speak with an
animal agriculture lobbyist
905
00:57:23,606 --> 00:57:25,374
to see what they would say.
906
00:57:25,440 --> 00:57:28,274
If they can silence
the government, can they
907
00:57:28,440 --> 00:57:31,657
influence environmental
groups as well?
908
00:57:32,023 --> 00:57:35,365
Agriculture Animal Alliance, one of
biggest animal agriculture lobby groups
909
00:57:35,365 --> 00:57:38,898
agreed to an interview.
Greenpeace won't give us an interview
910
00:57:39,065 --> 00:57:42,190
but Animal Agriculture Alliance
has agreed to an interview.
911
00:57:42,357 --> 00:57:44,232
Now that...
912
00:57:44,599 --> 00:57:46,417
That is saying something.
913
00:57:46,893 --> 00:57:50,340
People hear the word GMOs
and it's a scary term.
914
00:57:50,611 --> 00:57:54,486
and agriculture struggles
to explain what that means.
915
00:57:54,563 --> 00:58:00,606
In reality we use
technology to make advancements
916
00:58:01,922 --> 00:58:03,988
in how we grow
and raise animals.
917
00:58:03,988 --> 00:58:07,860
We're not going to feed the world
on how it was 100 years ago
918
00:58:08,023 --> 00:58:10,273
where all animals
were pasture-fed.
919
00:58:10,523 --> 00:58:14,523
We not just move animals
inside and implemented
920
00:58:14,599 --> 00:58:17,781
large vertically integrated systems.
Because of sustainability
921
00:58:18,132 --> 00:58:21,015
it certainly reduces the
environmental impact,
922
00:58:21,015 --> 00:58:24,305
while improving animal
welfare and food safety.
923
00:58:24,887 --> 00:58:28,374
So that animals like it
inside just as much as
924
00:58:28,440 --> 00:58:31,427
say the chickens and cows,
fond of being inside
925
00:58:31,446 --> 00:58:33,323
they like the ones pasture-fed?
926
00:58:33,390 --> 00:58:37,631
In many cases it
improved their wellbeing,
927
00:58:37,898 --> 00:58:41,531
in terms of the care
they can get, individually.
928
00:58:41,898 --> 00:58:43,923
Does the meat and dairy
industry ever support
929
00:58:43,923 --> 00:58:47,023
or donate to environmental non-profits?
930
00:58:47,621 --> 00:58:49,969
I don't know if I want
to comment on that.
931
00:58:49,999 --> 00:58:52,238
(Voice of the President Kay Smith
Animal Agriculture Alliance)
Yeah, I…
932
00:58:52,238 --> 00:58:54,023
I don't know.
933
00:58:54,982 --> 00:59:00,826
(Voice of the President Kay Smith
Animal Agriculture Alliance)
[?] They don't need to know who
we donate to or not donate to.
934
00:59:00,826 --> 00:59:05,690
Does the meat and dairy industry ever
support or donate to Greenpeace?
935
00:59:06,690 --> 00:59:09,773
Again, I don't know if
I feel comfortable ...
936
00:59:12,565 --> 00:59:14,876
Hi, sorry we didn't contact earlier.
937
00:59:15,051 --> 00:59:16,384
I have some bad news.
938
00:59:16,429 --> 00:59:20,399
(call from film backer)
Unfortunately, we are not longer able to
continue to fund your film project.
939
00:59:20,399 --> 00:59:23,898
We had a meeting and due to the
growing controversial subject matter
940
00:59:24,165 --> 00:59:26,883
we have some concerns
and have to pull out.
941
00:59:26,916 --> 00:59:29,357
Why was this subject
so controversial?
942
00:59:29,423 --> 00:59:32,648
The first person I could think
to speak with, was Howard Lyman
943
00:59:32,648 --> 00:59:35,443
who was sued by cattlemen
for speaking the truth about
944
00:59:35,443 --> 00:59:39,198
animal agriculture on
The Oprah Winfrey Show.
945
00:59:41,282 --> 00:59:46,449
I was born on the largest
dairy farm of Montana in 1938.
946
00:59:48,323 --> 00:59:54,010
Grew up and lived on
a livestock farm.
947
00:59:54,115 --> 00:59:58,315
I graduated on Agriculture at
Montana State University.
948
00:59:58,781 --> 01:00:06,842
Came back and developed a mega
venture in agriculture
949
01:00:07,236 --> 01:00:09,781
with 4046 ha in crops,
950
01:00:09,948 --> 01:00:12,781
7000 head of cattle
951
01:00:13,574 --> 01:00:15,823
and about 30 employees.
952
01:00:15,990 --> 01:00:20,540
I spent 45 years of my life
in animal agriculture.
953
01:00:22,634 --> 01:00:24,690
I've been there, done that.
954
01:00:25,407 --> 01:00:28,695
When I was on the Oprah show we
had the Food-Disparagement Law
955
01:00:29,390 --> 01:00:34,014
In my opinion the law
was unconstitutional.
956
01:00:34,049 --> 01:00:37,720
What it basically
said, it was illegal
957
01:00:38,055 --> 01:00:43,657
to state something that was known to
be false about a perishable product.
958
01:00:43,823 --> 01:00:47,282
I didn't say anything on the
show that I thought was false.
959
01:00:47,449 --> 01:00:49,948
I went there and told the truth.
960
01:00:50,215 --> 01:00:55,499
It took five years and
hundreds of thousands of dollars
961
01:00:55,865 --> 01:01:03,330
to get rid of the suits
from the cattle industry.
962
01:01:03,906 --> 01:01:08,657
But if was to go on
the Oprah Show today
963
01:01:08,823 --> 01:01:13,540
I'd say exactly the same thing
I said back then,
964
01:01:14,006 --> 01:01:15,823
I would be guilty.
965
01:01:16,090 --> 01:01:21,328
For me, when they were talking
about the Food-Disparagement Law
966
01:01:21,858 --> 01:01:25,806
was about whether I
told the truth or not.
967
01:01:26,073 --> 01:01:30,149
You can go today and tell the truth
968
01:01:30,715 --> 01:01:32,831
and you will be guilty.
969
01:01:33,298 --> 01:01:36,640
Because if you
cause a disruption
970
01:01:36,906 --> 01:01:41,007
in the profits of
the animal industry,
971
01:01:41,774 --> 01:01:44,690
you're guilty under the Patriot Act.
972
01:01:45,157 --> 01:01:50,323
Do you think there should be any concerns of
us making this documentary?
973
01:01:50,690 --> 01:01:51,906
Of course!
974
01:01:52,073 --> 01:01:54,323
If you don't realise
975
01:01:54,490 --> 01:01:57,881
that you're putting your neck
on the chopping block,
976
01:01:59,468 --> 01:02:02,849
you better take that
camera and throw it away.
977
01:02:04,190 --> 01:02:09,357
The animal and agriculture industry is one
of the most powerful on the planet.
978
01:02:09,357 --> 01:02:12,423
I think most people in this
country are aware of the influence
979
01:02:12,423 --> 01:02:16,965
of the money and industry on
politics, and we see it clearly
980
01:02:17,257 --> 01:02:19,077
with this industry in particular.
981
01:02:19,077 --> 01:02:20,178
Most people would be shocked
982
01:02:20,178 --> 01:02:22,524
to learn that animal rights
and environmental activists
983
01:02:22,524 --> 01:02:26,223
are the number one domestic terrorism
threat according to the FBI.
984
01:02:26,223 --> 01:02:28,826
- Why is that?
- Difficult to answer
985
01:02:29,161 --> 01:02:32,623
why the these groups are on the
top of the FBI's priorities.
986
01:02:32,623 --> 01:02:35,036
I think a big part of it is that
987
01:02:35,291 --> 01:02:37,940
that they more than any
other social movement,
988
01:02:37,940 --> 01:02:40,006
directly threaten
corporate profits.
989
01:02:40,273 --> 01:02:43,496
When we try to find out
how factory farms,
990
01:02:43,911 --> 01:02:46,355
how animal agriculture is
pulling the environment,
991
01:02:46,355 --> 01:02:48,540
they try to claim exemptions
to that information
992
01:02:48,540 --> 01:02:51,623
either under national security
terms or public safety,
993
01:02:52,290 --> 01:02:55,834
trade mark issues, it's a business secret.
994
01:02:55,845 --> 01:02:57,950
We've seen all these attempts to
keep people in the dark
995
01:02:57,950 --> 01:02:59,787
about what they're actually doing.
996
01:03:00,085 --> 01:03:02,057
One of the biggest
industries on the planet
997
01:03:02,437 --> 01:03:04,278
with the biggest
environmental impact,
998
01:03:04,278 --> 01:03:06,465
trying to keep us in the
dark on how it's operating.
999
01:03:06,465 --> 01:03:09,062
Through the Freedom of Information
Act we got documents from
1000
01:03:09,062 --> 01:03:10,230
the antiterrorism unit,
1001
01:03:10,606 --> 01:03:13,449
that show they
monitor my lectures,
1002
01:03:13,615 --> 01:03:16,957
media interviews like this
one, my website, my book...
1003
01:03:17,323 --> 01:03:19,964
Are we at risk filming
and showing this?
1004
01:03:20,255 --> 01:03:23,323
You're going up against people that
have massive legal resources.
1005
01:03:23,790 --> 01:03:26,946
The amount of money at
their disposal is overwhelming
1006
01:03:27,455 --> 01:03:28,500
And you have nothing.
1007
01:03:28,528 --> 01:03:31,650
I think that fear is
a big part of the tactic as well.
1008
01:03:32,521 --> 01:03:34,640
Will was right, I was scared.
1009
01:03:35,206 --> 01:03:37,235
When I learned about
activists killed in Brazil
1010
01:03:37,235 --> 01:03:39,590
I was disturbed,
but it was far away.
1011
01:03:39,857 --> 01:03:42,194
But learn about American
activists and journalists
1012
01:03:42,194 --> 01:03:44,940
being targets of the animal
agriculture industry and the FBI?
1013
01:03:44,940 --> 01:03:46,665
My funding being dropped?
1014
01:03:46,732 --> 01:03:49,607
I was genuinely worried when
it hit me directly.
1015
01:03:49,774 --> 01:03:52,740
Was this why noone was willing
to talk about the issue?
1016
01:03:53,106 --> 01:03:57,190
I decided to take precautionary measures
with all the footage we shot.
1017
01:04:05,190 --> 01:04:08,357
I was beyond frightened to
imagine what could possibly happen
1018
01:04:08,357 --> 01:04:11,040
if I would pursue
this project any further?
1019
01:04:11,106 --> 01:04:16,774
It seemed the only decision to make was to
put down the cameras and walk away.
1020
01:04:18,981 --> 01:04:21,450
Then I realised that
this issue was way bigger
1021
01:04:21,685 --> 01:04:24,674
than any personal concern
I could ever have for myself.
1022
01:04:24,940 --> 01:04:28,607
This was about all life on earth hanging
in the balance of our actions.
1023
01:04:28,774 --> 01:04:31,857
Either you live for
something or die for nothing.
1024
01:04:32,023 --> 01:04:34,482
I actually had no choice all along.
1025
01:04:34,649 --> 01:04:37,557
I decided then to surrender not
to fear from a secret
1026
01:04:37,557 --> 01:04:39,690
but rather to a cause to its truth.
1027
01:04:39,857 --> 01:04:41,894
I couldn't be like the
environmental NGOs,
1028
01:04:41,894 --> 01:04:46,173
when the planet was being
eaten alive in front of our eyes.
1029
01:04:46,540 --> 01:04:49,523
I had to stand
up and continue on.
1030
01:04:56,523 --> 01:04:59,390
Some people would say the problem
isn't really animal agriculture
1031
01:04:59,657 --> 01:05:02,315
but human over-population.
1032
01:05:04,565 --> 01:05:07,398
In 1812 there were 1 billion
people on the planet.
1033
01:05:07,565 --> 01:05:10,048
In 1912, 1,5 billion.
1034
01:05:10,315 --> 01:05:16,009
Just 100 years later, our
population exploded to 7 billion.
1035
01:05:16,244 --> 01:05:18,507
This number gets much attention
1036
01:05:18,774 --> 01:05:22,148
but a more important figure
1037
01:05:22,315 --> 01:05:27,815
are the 70 billion farm
animals humans raise.
1038
01:05:28,123 --> 01:05:32,440
The human population drinks 20
billion litres of water per day
1039
01:05:32,607 --> 01:05:35,240
and eats 4,3 billion
kilos of food.
1040
01:05:35,607 --> 01:05:38,106
But the 1,5 billion
cows in the world,
1041
01:05:38,473 --> 01:05:41,472
drink 170 billion litres
of water per day.
1042
01:05:41,716 --> 01:05:44,915
and eat 60 billion
pounds of food.
1043
01:05:45,081 --> 01:05:47,115
This less of a human
population issue
1044
01:05:47,582 --> 01:05:50,515
but more a "human eating animals"
population issue.
1045
01:05:50,682 --> 01:05:53,092
Environmental organisations
not addressing this
1046
01:05:53,092 --> 01:05:56,031
is like health organisations
fighting lung cancer and
1047
01:05:56,031 --> 01:05:58,040
not speaking about
cigarette smoking.
1048
01:05:58,040 --> 01:06:00,981
But instead of passive smoking,
it's second-hand eating
1049
01:06:01,081 --> 01:06:02,940
which affects the entire planet.
1050
01:06:03,206 --> 01:06:08,663
(Environmental and Ethics Author)
We grow enough food to feed
between 12 and 15 billion people.
1051
01:06:08,998 --> 01:06:10,257
We have 7 billion people.
1052
01:06:10,623 --> 01:06:14,840
We have roughly a billion people
starving every day.
1053
01:06:15,206 --> 01:06:19,226
Worldwide, 50% of the grain and
legumes we're growing,
1054
01:06:19,504 --> 01:06:20,874
are to feed the animals.
1055
01:06:20,874 --> 01:06:23,173
They're eating huge
amounts of grain and legumes.
1056
01:06:23,540 --> 01:06:28,164
In the US it's close to 70-80%,
depending on the grain
1057
01:06:28,248 --> 01:06:30,315
90% ... 90% of the soya beans.
1058
01:06:30,582 --> 01:06:34,836
82% of the world's starving
children live
1059
01:06:34,997 --> 01:06:38,698
in countries where food is fed
to animals in the livestock systems
1060
01:06:38,698 --> 01:06:41,515
and are killed and eaten
by more well-off individuals
1061
01:06:41,515 --> 01:06:44,165
in developed countries,
such as US, UK and Europe,
1062
01:06:44,165 --> 01:06:49,290
The fact is today we could feed
every human being on the planet today
1063
01:06:49,801 --> 01:06:51,323
with an adequate diet,
1064
01:06:51,690 --> 01:06:56,965
if we take the feed
we're feeding to animals
1065
01:06:57,431 --> 01:07:00,290
and turn it into food for humans.
1066
01:07:00,657 --> 01:07:04,707
Someone trying to justify GMOs
1067
01:07:04,874 --> 01:07:08,690
is like trying to give a
drowning man a drink of water.
1068
01:07:09,057 --> 01:07:13,590
You can produce on average,
15 times more protein
1069
01:07:14,057 --> 01:07:21,119
from plant-based sources
than from meat on any given area of land.
1070
01:07:21,354 --> 01:07:23,874
Whether it's a very fertile area
1071
01:07:24,040 --> 01:07:25,707
or on a depleted area.
1072
01:07:25,874 --> 01:07:29,415
If we would reduce the amount of
meat we're eating, dairy and eggs.
1073
01:07:29,861 --> 01:07:31,899
we could allow all those mono-crop fields
1074
01:07:32,165 --> 01:07:34,682
with genetically engineered
corn and soya beans
1075
01:07:34,682 --> 01:07:38,065
to revert back to forest again
to be habitat for animals.
1076
01:07:38,531 --> 01:07:44,140
Anytime someone tells you "we
can't grow food for humans on
1077
01:07:44,406 --> 01:07:48,074
land that we're growing
feed for animals,"
1078
01:07:48,240 --> 01:07:52,641
this is somebody that is moking the number one crop out of California.
1079
01:07:53,913 --> 01:07:58,849
The fact of is, if you can grow
grow corn to stuff down on an animal,
1080
01:07:59,115 --> 01:08:02,390
we can grow corn
and feed it to a human.
1081
01:08:03,440 --> 01:08:07,240
You encourage people to eat
less meat, for the tremendous resources required
1082
01:08:07,240 --> 01:08:09,032
and the toll on the environment.
1083
01:08:09,032 --> 01:08:11,065
- And on the animals.
- And on the animals.
1084
01:08:11,252 --> 01:08:14,281
And the workers in the system. It's
a brutal system at every level.
1085
01:08:14,281 --> 01:08:18,974
As the world population
grows to 9 billion
1086
01:08:19,240 --> 01:08:23,993
do you foresee that one day we will have
to stop eating meat altogether?
1087
01:08:25,234 --> 01:08:27,129
I don't know if we
will completely stop.
1088
01:08:27,129 --> 01:08:29,907
I think the amount of meat
eating will decline.
1089
01:08:29,907 --> 01:08:32,800
There is no way to support
255 gr meat per person per day,
1090
01:08:32,800 --> 01:08:34,957
what Americans are eating now.
1091
01:08:35,323 --> 01:08:37,723
If the Chinese alone decide to
eat that much,
1092
01:08:37,990 --> 01:08:40,199
and they decided they want
eat the same amount.
1093
01:08:40,199 --> 01:08:43,199
We don't have enough world
1094
01:08:43,365 --> 01:08:46,135
to produce the grain to
generate that much meat.
1095
01:08:46,927 --> 01:08:50,949
I think a plant-based diet
is the most sustainable.
1096
01:08:51,115 --> 01:08:54,652
What do you recommend the
9 billion people to eat,
1097
01:08:54,652 --> 01:08:57,115
not only to sustain,
but also to thrive?
1098
01:08:57,115 --> 01:08:59,615
Would you throw a number ...
Like 30 grams?
1099
01:08:59,782 --> 01:09:02,805
- For meat?
- Including dairy.
1100
01:09:02,874 --> 01:09:05,823
I don't know enough.
1101
01:09:05,990 --> 01:09:09,856
It would be at the order of
a couple of ounces a week.
1102
01:09:09,856 --> 01:09:12,629
Not how we're eating it now.
1103
01:09:12,764 --> 01:09:15,490
We are gorging on meat,
eating huge amounts.
1104
01:09:15,657 --> 01:09:17,823
- Does that include cheese?
- Yeah, yeah.
1105
01:09:17,990 --> 01:09:21,465
- Some 60 grams in total?
- Yes, cheese and milk.
1106
01:09:21,531 --> 01:09:23,613
Only 60 grams per
week seems nothing.
1107
01:09:23,848 --> 01:09:26,281
People could probably
produce that at home.
1108
01:09:26,448 --> 01:09:29,199
Maybe backyard farming
was a sustainable solution.
1109
01:09:29,390 --> 01:09:30,698
I have 42 ducks.
1110
01:09:30,865 --> 01:09:33,531
I started with three ducks
three years ago.
1111
01:09:35,090 --> 01:09:39,157
Those burdened into
a population.
1112
01:09:39,158 --> 01:09:41,576
I buy a 70-pound seed bag.
1113
01:09:41,577 --> 01:09:45,577
That seed bag will
last about two weeks.
1114
01:09:45,681 --> 01:09:49,981
The ducks that we're gonna be
culling are about two years old.
1115
01:09:50,619 --> 01:09:53,054
When you're living with them,
they get used to you.
1116
01:09:53,055 --> 01:09:55,857
They're not intimidated or whatever.
1117
01:09:55,858 --> 01:09:58,858
And so they make all their
vocal sounds, like natural.
1118
01:10:00,162 --> 01:10:03,162
Slow down.
1119
01:10:04,200 --> 01:10:07,200
Easy, easy, easy.
1120
01:10:08,804 --> 01:10:11,804
Okay.
1121
01:10:13,542 --> 01:10:16,542
No, we're gonna keep you.
1122
01:10:17,780 --> 01:10:20,780
Run. These two go first.
1123
01:10:24,687 --> 01:10:27,687
Being smart-wise?
1124
01:10:30,226 --> 01:10:33,226
Compared to a chicken,
they're probably the same.
1125
01:10:38,968 --> 01:10:41,968
-That one's nice, see?
-Yeah, he is.
1126
01:10:44,907 --> 01:10:47,907
Alrighty.
1127
01:10:50,145 --> 01:10:53,145
Okay.
1128
01:10:54,049 --> 01:10:57,049
Right there.
1129
01:11:11,600 --> 01:11:13,268
That's gonna be a little gruesome.
1130
01:11:13,269 --> 01:11:18,373
How could that still be alive?
1131
01:11:18,374 --> 01:11:20,041
They're not.
1132
01:11:20,042 --> 01:11:21,743
That's eh nerves.
1133
01:11:21,744 --> 01:11:24,744
A nerve reaction.
1134
01:11:27,016 --> 01:11:29,784
Five years old or something
like that, I think it was
1135
01:11:29,785 --> 01:11:32,785
the first time my dad came
out and made us watch
1136
01:11:34,123 --> 01:11:37,123
as we did rabbits.
1137
01:11:37,359 --> 01:11:41,959
We'd raise probably a couple
dozen rabbits each year.
1138
01:11:44,099 --> 01:11:48,099
Then we would take those
rabbits and skin them
1139
01:11:48,604 --> 01:11:50,772
and clean them up and
keep them for food.
1140
01:11:50,773 --> 01:11:53,773
As a young kid,
I was kind of…
1141
01:11:54,610 --> 01:11:57,610
I don't want to say it was hard,
but it was kind of, from my memory…
1142
01:12:00,282 --> 01:12:03,251
some of the rabbits
I had named.
1143
01:12:03,252 --> 01:12:06,252
So I was kind of
like going hmm
1144
01:12:08,123 --> 01:12:11,123
After doing it a couple times,
you kind of just learned
1145
01:12:11,126 --> 01:12:14,126
it's just something
that has to be done.
1146
01:12:19,335 --> 01:12:22,335
Not the fingers.
1147
01:12:30,846 --> 01:12:32,447
l just can't do it.
1148
01:12:32,448 --> 01:12:36,085
I don't think I could have someone
else do it for me, if I can't do it.
1149
01:12:36,085 --> 01:12:39,885
If l can't do it, I don't want
someone else doing it for me.
1150
01:12:40,756 --> 01:12:42,256
And then sustainability --
1151
01:12:42,257 --> 01:12:47,257
For sustainability,
32 kg is 900 gr per…
1152
01:12:47,996 --> 01:12:51,996
So it's a 450 gr per week per duck.
1153
01:12:52,101 --> 01:12:55,101
52 weeks, 50 kg.
1154
01:12:55,904 --> 01:12:58,904
So it's 50 kg of food
1155
01:12:59,975 --> 01:13:02,975
for 450-700 grams of meat.
1156
01:13:02,978 --> 01:13:07,978
So on a sustainability
issue, it's 100 to 1.
1157
01:13:08,384 --> 01:13:12,380
And that grain gets.. you know
who knows where the grain comes from?
1158
01:13:12,488 --> 01:13:16,480
But I mean, when it gets to this point,
it's not even about sustainability...
1159
01:13:16,492 --> 01:13:18,459
it was just…
1160
01:13:18,460 --> 01:13:21,129
You know, I don't feel real good inside.
1161
01:13:21,130 --> 01:13:23,231
It's the first time
I've ever seen that.
1162
01:13:23,232 --> 01:13:26,232
So kind of....
1163
01:13:27,169 --> 01:13:30,169
Yeah.
1164
01:13:30,339 --> 01:13:33,909
I'd been so caught up in the destruction
caused by animal agriculture
1165
01:13:33,909 --> 01:13:36,945
I realised I'd never truly dwelled
on the obvious reality
1166
01:13:36,945 --> 01:13:39,514
that every one of these
animals was killed.
1167
01:13:39,515 --> 01:13:42,885
It was always a disconnected,
abstract fact of eating meat.
1168
01:13:42,885 --> 01:13:46,890
But when it became personal,
face to face, the story changed.
1169
01:13:48,891 --> 01:13:52,294
I had scheduled weeks in advance
to film another backyard slaughter
1170
01:13:52,294 --> 01:13:54,529
of a chicken that
stopped producing eggs.
1171
01:13:54,530 --> 01:13:58,530
I didn't know how I was gonna possibly
go through another slaughter.
1172
01:13:59,201 --> 01:14:02,201
So I didn't.
1173
01:14:19,121 --> 01:14:24,820
Animal Place is a farm animal sanctuary
in Northern California that focuses
1174
01:14:24,827 --> 01:14:27,762
on rescuing animals from the
animal agriculture industry.
1175
01:14:27,763 --> 01:14:31,760
A lot of people don't realise meat-breed
chickens like this guy behind us
1176
01:14:31,834 --> 01:14:34,834
they're generally slaughtered
at about 42 days old.
1177
01:14:34,837 --> 01:14:37,837
Whereas chickens that are bred
for egg production are killed
1178
01:14:38,807 --> 01:14:41,776
when their productivity
starts to decrease
1179
01:14:41,777 --> 01:14:44,777
when they start laying less eggs.
1180
01:14:45,347 --> 01:14:49,947
That generally happens
about 18 to 20 months.
1181
01:14:51,453 --> 01:14:54,890
It doesn't matter if you buy caged
eggs, eggs from cage-free farms
1182
01:14:54,890 --> 01:14:56,891
or free-range or pasture-based farms.
1183
01:14:56,892 --> 01:14:59,892
Hi, Carol. It doesn't matter.
1184
01:14:59,895 --> 01:15:03,465
Turns out there's a successful movement
of sustainable animal-alternative
1185
01:15:03,465 --> 01:15:06,167
food producers based right
here in California
1186
01:15:06,168 --> 01:15:09,168
funded by big names like
Bill Gates and Biz Stone.
1187
01:15:12,241 --> 01:15:14,575
When egg-laying hens eat
all that soy and corn
1188
01:15:14,576 --> 01:15:17,445
you have an energy conversion
ratio at about 38 to 1
1189
01:15:17,446 --> 01:15:19,881
whereas alternatively
you can find plants,
1190
01:15:19,882 --> 01:15:22,882
you can grow those plants
and convert those plants into food.
1191
01:15:22,985 --> 01:15:25,985
The energy conversion ratio
for the plants we're using
1192
01:15:27,389 --> 01:15:30,389
to replace the eggs is about 2 to 1,
compared to 38 to 1 for eggs.
1193
01:15:31,260 --> 01:15:34,260
So our explicit goal is to have
the maximum amount of impact
1194
01:15:35,497 --> 01:15:40,490
by creating this new model that makes
the global egg industry entirely obsolete.
1195
01:15:43,005 --> 01:15:44,505
We're making Omega products
1196
01:15:44,506 --> 01:15:47,506
proving we make better tasting
food that's great for you
1197
01:15:47,509 --> 01:15:51,980
and it takes one-twentieth of the land
and resources that dairy do.
1198
01:15:52,981 --> 01:15:56,118
If you could have the fibre structure,
satiating bite, the protein
1199
01:15:56,118 --> 01:16:00,300
and the nutritional benefits of meat
without having animal protein itself
1200
01:16:00,422 --> 01:16:03,190
and by doing that you
could address climate change,
1201
01:16:03,191 --> 01:16:06,191
human health epidemics that
we're seeing, animal welfare
1202
01:16:06,595 --> 01:16:09,595
and natural resource conservation.
Would you make the change?
1203
01:16:09,865 --> 01:16:12,234
But what if people just ate
less animal products?
1204
01:16:12,234 --> 01:16:15,234
Like going meatless on Mondays.
1205
01:16:16,606 --> 01:16:20,606
When you go meatless on Monday,
you essentially contribute
1206
01:16:20,642 --> 01:16:22,443
to climate change, pollution
1207
01:16:22,444 --> 01:16:25,444
depletion of our planet's
resources and your own health
1208
01:16:25,447 --> 01:16:28,447
then only six days of
the week, instead of seven.
1209
01:16:28,584 --> 01:16:33,280
You're creating a false justification,
clearly a false justification
1210
01:16:33,388 --> 01:16:35,890
for what you're doing
on those other six days.
1211
01:16:35,891 --> 01:16:38,891
So in other words, we really shouldn't
be resting on our laurels
1212
01:16:39,194 --> 01:16:43,794
of what you do right only
one-seventh of the time.
1213
01:16:44,601 --> 01:16:48,901
You can't be an environmentalist
and eat animal products, period.
1214
01:16:49,271 --> 01:16:52,271
Kid yourself if you want, if you want
to feed your addiction, so be it.
1215
01:16:53,909 --> 01:16:56,909
But don't call yourself
an environmentalist.
1216
01:16:57,412 --> 01:17:00,612
I knew I had to stop eating
all animal products.
1217
01:17:00,616 --> 01:17:04,610
I wanted to help the planet be sustainable,
but I needed to sustain myself.
1218
01:17:04,686 --> 01:17:08,123
I had doubts about being healthy
and not eating meat, dairy and eggs.
1219
01:17:08,123 --> 01:17:10,692
All I knew was the standard
American diet I grew up on.
1220
01:17:10,692 --> 01:17:14,692
Is it even possible to be
a healthy vegetarian or vegan?
1221
01:17:18,135 --> 01:17:23,535
(Physician True North Health Center)
I became vegan 32 years ago now.
1222
01:17:23,939 --> 01:17:26,674
I run several miles every day.
1223
01:17:26,675 --> 01:17:29,610
I go biking 60 km
through the countryside.
1224
01:17:29,611 --> 01:17:31,245
I work long hours.
1225
01:17:31,246 --> 01:17:34,246
I feel great. It's nice waking up
in a light, trim body everyday.
1226
01:17:34,716 --> 01:17:37,385
And so many of my vegan
friends and patients
1227
01:17:37,386 --> 01:17:40,986
are thriving since their
transition to a vegan diet.
1228
01:17:41,189 --> 01:17:45,060
So yes. I've seen vegan moms
go through healthy vegan pregnancies
1229
01:17:45,060 --> 01:17:47,061
and deliver healthy vegan children
1230
01:17:47,062 --> 01:17:51,062
and raise them to tall, full-sized,
intelligent vegan adults.
1231
01:17:51,199 --> 01:17:55,890
And yes, certainly all the nutrients are
there in the plant kingdom to do this,
1232
01:17:56,104 --> 01:17:57,738
that is correct.
1233
01:17:57,739 --> 01:18:00,739
Think anyone should be
consuming dairy?
1234
01:18:01,543 --> 01:18:03,778
I really don't.
1235
01:18:03,779 --> 01:18:06,614
When you think about it,
the purpose of cows' milk--
1236
01:18:06,615 --> 01:18:09,615
I grew on a dairy farm in Wisconsin.
1237
01:18:09,785 --> 01:18:13,785
The purpose of cows' milk is
to turn a 65-pound calf
1238
01:18:14,289 --> 01:18:19,289
into a 200 kilo cow
as rapidly as possible.
1239
01:18:19,728 --> 01:18:23,928
Cows' milk is baby-calf growth fluid.
1240
01:18:24,232 --> 01:18:26,333
It's what the stuff is.
1241
01:18:26,334 --> 01:18:31,334
Everything in that white liquid,
the hormones, the lipids, the proteins
1242
01:18:33,608 --> 01:18:37,208
every one of those is meant to blow
the calf up to a great big cow
1243
01:18:37,279 --> 01:18:40,081
or it wouldn't be there.
1244
01:18:40,082 --> 01:18:42,750
And whether you pour it
on your cereals as a liquid
1245
01:18:42,751 --> 01:18:45,751
whether you clot it into yogurt
1246
01:18:46,455 --> 01:18:49,223
whether you ferment it into cheese
1247
01:18:49,224 --> 01:18:52,224
whether you freeze it into ice cream
1248
01:18:52,661 --> 01:18:55,661
it's baby-calf growth fluid.
1249
01:18:55,731 --> 01:18:58,666
And women eat it and it
stimulates their tissues...
1250
01:18:58,667 --> 01:19:01,667
and gives women breast lumps,
it makes the uterus get big
1251
01:19:02,137 --> 01:19:05,474
and they get fibroids and they bleed
and they get hysterectomies
1252
01:19:05,474 --> 01:19:09,474
and they need mammograms
and gives guys man boobs.
1253
01:19:10,045 --> 01:19:11,779
This is…
1254
01:19:11,780 --> 01:19:14,548
Cows' milk is the lactation secretions
1255
01:19:14,549 --> 01:19:17,549
of a large bovine mammal
who just had a baby.
1256
01:19:17,619 --> 01:19:20,121
It's for baby calves.
1257
01:19:20,122 --> 01:19:22,256
I tell my patients,
"Go look in the mirror.
1258
01:19:22,257 --> 01:19:24,825
Do you have big ears, a tail,
are you a baby calf?
1259
01:19:24,826 --> 01:19:27,826
If you're not, don't be eating
baby-calf growth fluid."
1260
01:19:28,663 --> 01:19:28,829
In any level, there's
nothing in it people need.
1261
01:19:31,633 --> 01:19:34,669
It was a relief to hear l didn't
have to eat animal products
1262
01:19:34,669 --> 01:19:36,504
to be healthy and even thrive
1263
01:19:36,505 --> 01:19:40,208
but I still thought you needed animal
manure to grow organic agriculture.
1264
01:19:40,208 --> 01:19:42,209
Turns out there's an entire movement
1265
01:19:42,210 --> 01:19:45,079
with people growing food
without any animal inputs.
1266
01:19:45,080 --> 01:19:48,080
I visited Earthworks
Urban Farm in Detroit.
1267
01:19:48,083 --> 01:19:51,318
They work with and grow food
for the low-income community.
1268
01:19:51,319 --> 01:19:55,919
We tend to see ourselves
as individuals in a bubble
1269
01:19:56,025 --> 01:20:00,325
but forget that we inhabit this land
and this earth with other creatures.
1270
01:20:00,428 --> 01:20:03,428
So we have to learn how
to share more, I guess.
1271
01:20:03,865 --> 01:20:06,865
Jah here is working on his garden.
1272
01:20:07,103 --> 01:20:11,303
You'd be surprised what you can
do with not a lot of space.
1273
01:20:11,406 --> 01:20:13,340
About 1,2 by 2,5 yeah.
1274
01:20:13,341 --> 01:20:16,711
What's your goal this year? How much
do you think you can maximise?
1275
01:20:16,711 --> 01:20:19,711
I would push for 45 at least. At least.
- 45 kilos.
1276
01:20:20,549 --> 01:20:22,216
That's amazing.
1277
01:20:22,217 --> 01:20:25,217
One full year after
this was constructed
1278
01:20:26,421 --> 01:20:29,421
we doubled our yield to
over 6,350 kg of food.
1279
01:20:29,758 --> 01:20:32,758
6,350 kilos? On about
how many hectares?
1280
01:20:32,794 --> 01:20:34,628
About one.
1281
01:20:34,629 --> 01:20:37,629
So as much food as we
produce and we grow
1282
01:20:37,666 --> 01:20:39,934
or the earth helps us grow...
1283
01:20:39,935 --> 01:20:42,837
We also have to return those
nutrients back to the soil.
1284
01:20:42,838 --> 01:20:44,940
We think of our work
as being regenerative.
1285
01:20:44,940 --> 01:20:48,805
That we're putting as much
life-giving substance in the ground...
1286
01:20:48,810 --> 01:20:51,312
as we're taking out.
1287
01:20:51,313 --> 01:20:54,913
So is it just kind of healthier
and safer to use vegetarian
1288
01:20:55,250 --> 01:20:58,650
- or vegetable composting stuff?
- That's what we found.
1289
01:20:58,653 --> 01:21:01,953
Also because it takes less time
and it's a lot easier to manage.
1290
01:21:01,957 --> 01:21:03,424
- A lot easier, yeah.
- Yeah.
1291
01:21:03,425 --> 01:21:07,225
- And the soil's just as rich?
- Yeah, absolutely.
1292
01:21:08,363 --> 01:21:11,763
Not only is vegan more compassionate,
it's also more efficient.
1293
01:21:11,766 --> 01:21:14,766
And in a society with this
many billions of people
1294
01:21:15,170 --> 01:21:17,671
we need to be as
efficient as possible.
1295
01:21:17,672 --> 01:21:22,672
Some people might go back and say
if we embraced this primitive approach
1296
01:21:22,878 --> 01:21:25,878
of only wild animals everywhere
1297
01:21:26,281 --> 01:21:28,883
and we go back to a
hunter-gatherer system,
1298
01:21:28,884 --> 01:21:30,417
that sounds great.
1299
01:21:30,418 --> 01:21:33,418
But that was 10 million people
on the entire continent.
1300
01:21:33,722 --> 01:21:36,722
Maybe a little bit more, a little
bit less, no one really knows.
1301
01:21:37,259 --> 01:21:39,793
Today, now we have what?
1302
01:21:39,794 --> 01:21:43,494
We have 320 million in the US,
25 million in Canada.
1303
01:21:43,565 --> 01:21:46,565
Another 100 and so-many-
million in Mexico.
1304
01:21:46,902 --> 01:21:51,902
So, North America is up to
almost 450 million people.
1305
01:21:53,208 --> 01:21:56,208
Trying to figure out a way
to bring animal agriculture
1306
01:21:56,411 --> 01:22:00,991
in balance with 450 million
hungry people is impossible.
1307
01:22:01,952 --> 01:22:06,982
This is amazing, I didn't believe
it when I first learned it
1308
01:22:06,988 --> 01:22:09,957
but 216,000 people are
born to the planet every day.
1309
01:22:09,958 --> 01:22:12,226
Every day.
1310
01:22:12,227 --> 01:22:13,961
It's extraordinary.
1311
01:22:13,962 --> 01:22:16,962
But what's really extraordinary
is you need, per day
1312
01:22:17,666 --> 01:22:20,034
14,000 new hectares of farmable land.
1313
01:22:20,035 --> 01:22:22,369
It's not happening.
1314
01:22:22,370 --> 01:22:24,705
To feed a person on a
vegan diet for a year
1315
01:22:24,706 --> 01:22:27,441
requires just 675 m2 of land.
1316
01:22:27,442 --> 01:22:29,744
To feed that same person
on a vegetarian diet
1317
01:22:29,744 --> 01:22:33,281
that includes eggs and dairy
requires three times as much land.
1318
01:22:33,281 --> 01:22:35,983
To feed an average US citizen's
high-consumption diet
1319
01:22:35,984 --> 01:22:38,984
of meat, dairy and eggs
requires 18 times as much land.
1320
01:22:39,688 --> 01:22:43,258
This is because you can produce
17,000 kilos of vegetables
1321
01:22:43,258 --> 01:22:48,258
on 0,6 ha, but only 170 kilos
of meat on the same plot of land.
1322
01:22:48,930 --> 01:22:51,565
The comparison doesn't
end with land use.
1323
01:22:51,566 --> 01:22:54,803
A vegan diet produces half as
much CO2 as an American omnivore,
1324
01:22:54,803 --> 01:22:57,338
uses one-eleventh the
amount of fossil fuels
1325
01:22:57,339 --> 01:23:01,009
one-thirteenth the amount of water
and an eighteenth of the amount of land.
1326
01:23:01,009 --> 01:23:04,909
After adding this all up, I realised
I had the choice every single day
1327
01:23:04,946 --> 01:23:09,646
to save over 4100 litres
of water, 20 kilos of grain
1328
01:23:09,718 --> 01:23:14,218
10 m2 of forested land,
the equivalent of 9 kilos of CO2
1329
01:23:14,322 --> 01:23:17,322
and one animal's life
every single day.
1330
01:23:18,095 --> 01:23:22,963
If we all did go vegan and
moved away from animal foods
1331
01:23:22,964 --> 01:23:25,566
and toward a plant-based
diet, what would happen?
1332
01:23:25,567 --> 01:23:28,967
If we didn't kill all
these cows and eat them
1333
01:23:29,371 --> 01:23:31,805
then we wouldn't have
to breed all these cows
1334
01:23:31,806 --> 01:23:34,806
because we're breeding cows
and chickens and pigs and fish.
1335
01:23:34,843 --> 01:23:37,644
We're breeding them over
and over again, relentlessly.
1336
01:23:37,645 --> 01:23:41,245
If we didn't breed them,
we wouldn't have to feed them.
1337
01:23:41,349 --> 01:23:44,349
Then we wouldn't have
to devote all this land
1338
01:23:45,120 --> 01:23:48,120
to grow grains and legumes
and so forth to feed to them.
1339
01:23:48,123 --> 01:23:51,123
So the forest
could come back.
1340
01:23:51,493 --> 01:23:53,327
Wildlife could come back.
1341
01:23:53,328 --> 01:23:56,328
The oceans would come back.
The rivers would run clean again.
1342
01:23:56,364 --> 01:23:59,364
The air would come back.
Our health would return.
1343
01:24:00,137 --> 01:24:05,637
Renewable energy infrastructure,
such as solar and wind generators
1344
01:24:05,940 --> 01:24:08,776
to reduce climate change,
that's a pretty good idea
1345
01:24:08,777 --> 01:24:11,145
but it's projected to take
at least 20 years
1346
01:24:11,146 --> 01:24:15,146
and at least, minimally,
$18 trillion to develop.
1347
01:24:15,350 --> 01:24:18,650
It's important to realise
that we don't have that long.
1348
01:24:19,888 --> 01:24:22,891
We just talked about how it might
be a three to four year time frame,
1349
01:24:22,891 --> 01:24:27,362
so we don't have 20 years and we don't
have $18 trillion to develop these.
1350
01:24:27,362 --> 01:24:32,362
Another solution to climate change:
we could stop eating animals.
1351
01:24:32,967 --> 01:24:36,267
It could be done today. It
doesn't have to take 20 years
1352
01:24:36,371 --> 01:24:40,371
and it doesn't have to take $18
trillion, because it costs nothing.
1353
01:24:40,644 --> 01:24:44,745
Some say, "Fix CO2, then
worry about methane."
1354
01:24:44,746 --> 01:24:49,546
It's the other way. Do something about
methane and you get a response right away.
1355
01:24:50,085 --> 01:24:53,985
The most powerful thing that someone
can do for the environment,
1356
01:24:54,155 --> 01:24:56,890
no other lifestyle choice has
a farther reaching
1357
01:24:56,891 --> 01:25:00,891
and more profoundly positive impact
on the planet and all life on Earth
1358
01:25:00,929 --> 01:25:05,929
than choosing to stop consuming
animals and live a vegan lifestyle.
1359
01:25:06,035 --> 01:25:09,536
Do you realise 75
percent of Americans
1360
01:25:09,537 --> 01:25:12,937
consider themselves
to be an environmentalist?
1361
01:25:14,008 --> 01:25:18,113
You don't think we couldn't solve
this problem in a heartbeat?
1362
01:25:18,113 --> 01:25:21,913
I'll tell you what,
all we would need
1363
01:25:22,016 --> 01:25:26,016
is for the environmentalists
to live what they profess
1364
01:25:26,621 --> 01:25:30,921
and we'd be on a new
course in the world.
1365
01:25:32,596 --> 01:25:37,464
We will not succeed until
we stop animal agriculture.
1366
01:25:37,465 --> 01:25:39,032
And by "succeed," I mean
1367
01:25:39,033 --> 01:25:42,033
we will not save ecosystems
to the extent necessary,
1368
01:25:42,470 --> 01:25:45,740
we will not have enough food
for people around the planet
1369
01:25:45,740 --> 01:25:47,975
we will not stop global warming,
1370
01:25:47,976 --> 01:25:50,976
we will not stop pollution
in the dead zones that run of
1371
01:25:51,012 --> 01:25:56,012
all the fields of corn and soy
that are grown to feed livestock
1372
01:25:56,651 --> 01:26:00,057
and we will not stop the hunting
of wolves and other predators.
1373
01:26:00,057 --> 01:26:05,990
Organic farming is one step in the right
direction, but we need to keep walking.
1374
01:26:06,027 --> 01:26:09,827
We need to get beyond organics.
We need to get to sustainability.
1375
01:26:10,233 --> 01:26:14,833
When you take the animal out, you
take the greenhouse gas issue out.
1376
01:26:15,170 --> 01:26:17,171
you take the food
safety issues out
1377
01:26:17,172 --> 01:26:20,508
you take some other externalities
related to food scarcity out.
1378
01:26:20,508 --> 01:26:24,908
But one thing that's amazing is
I think you put our values back in.
1379
01:26:25,580 --> 01:26:29,980
Values like compassion
and integrity and kindness
1380
01:26:30,585 --> 01:26:34,985
values that are natural to
human beings, you put that in
1381
01:26:35,023 --> 01:26:38,623
you build that back into
the story of our food.
1382
01:26:38,693 --> 01:26:44,593
I think as this begins to progress,
I think it also helps people to pause.
1383
01:26:44,632 --> 01:26:47,501
Before they eat that egg,
before they eat that steak,
1384
01:26:47,502 --> 01:26:49,636
before they eat that
chicken nugget
1385
01:26:49,637 --> 01:26:53,637
and ask themselves, is
that really what they want?
1386
01:26:53,875 --> 01:26:56,875
Or do they actually
want something more?
1387
01:26:57,045 --> 01:26:59,046
I had to come to
the full conclusion
1388
01:26:59,047 --> 01:27:02,047
the only way to sustainably
and ethically live on this planet
1389
01:27:02,250 --> 01:27:06,250
with 7 billion other people is to
live an entirely plant-based vegan diet.
1390
01:27:06,721 --> 01:27:10,121
I decided instead of eating
others, to eat for others.
1391
01:27:10,225 --> 01:27:14,220
At first, like these environmental groups,
I was afraid of what it'd mean to change.
1392
01:27:14,295 --> 01:27:16,029
But now I embrace it.
1393
01:27:16,030 --> 01:27:20,530
All this talk about sustainability sounded
like our planet was on life support.
1394
01:27:20,535 --> 01:27:24,535
I don't want her to simply
survive or to sustain, but to thrive.
1395
01:27:24,672 --> 01:27:28,672
Life today is not about sustainability.
It's about "thrive-ability."
1396
01:27:28,676 --> 01:27:32,676
She's given so much to us for so
long, it was time to give back.
1397
01:27:33,014 --> 01:27:35,649
A hundred-and-eight percent
of everything we have.
1398
01:27:35,650 --> 01:27:38,650
It felt good. It was an alignment.
1399
01:27:40,989 --> 01:27:43,989
We see this movement,
not just about providing cheaper
1400
01:27:43,992 --> 01:27:47,295
inexpensive food that everyone
can have, but also a spiritual move.
1401
01:27:47,295 --> 01:27:49,797
A move towards understanding
who we really are
1402
01:27:49,797 --> 01:27:51,798
and how we can
connect to each other.
1403
01:27:51,799 --> 01:27:56,159
Do what you can do as
well as you can do it,
1404
01:27:56,179 --> 01:27:59,979
every day of your life,
1405
01:28:00,079 --> 01:28:05,172
and you will die one of the happiest
individuals that ever died.
1406
01:28:05,179 --> 01:28:08,379
We become part of a gathering
momentum of other people.
1407
01:28:08,383 --> 01:28:11,786
It's happening. This is really
what's happening. This is the news.
1408
01:28:11,786 --> 01:28:13,887
Selflessness is a nice way to be.
1409
01:28:13,888 --> 01:28:18,000
It has all these benefits for yourself,
as well as the planet and other people.
1410
01:28:18,059 --> 01:28:20,661
It's a beautiful way to live.
1411
01:28:20,662 --> 01:28:22,963
Ecologically it
just feels better.
1412
01:28:22,964 --> 01:28:25,666
This is about massively transforming
1413
01:28:25,667 --> 01:28:29,667
how our society eats,
because it's a necessity.
1414
01:28:30,071 --> 01:28:33,071
It's acting on what we know.
1415
01:28:33,141 --> 01:28:36,841
And acting kindly and gently
on the whole planet
1416
01:28:36,911 --> 01:28:41,911
and with other people to accomplish
the goals of living better.
1417
01:28:42,317 --> 01:28:46,717
We can do it, but we
have to choose to do it.
1418
01:28:48,056 --> 01:28:51,056
You can change the world.
1419
01:28:51,358 --> 01:28:55,056
You must change the world.
1420
01:29:00,058 --> 01:29:05,956
Learn more at
WWW.COWSPIRACY.COM
1421
01:29:08,358 --> 01:29:13,056
subtitles by 2003ad
1422
01:30:41,058 --> 01:30:49,956
For notes, links to studies related to
statistics used in the film, please visit: