COWSPIRACY: The Sustainability Secret Eye Opener

This isn’t a movie about saving the animals.  It actually, surprisingly, isn’t about that at all.  If anything, this movie is tells you about animal agriculture, and the heavy effect it’s having on our planet.  And it’s all backed up with facts.  Ones that I would love to have the other side of the spectrum come out and share their thoughts.  I want to know what they have to say, because from what I learned, the dollar is heavier than protecting the world in which we live, and for me, that was a game changer.  This is about the world that I want to leave for my daughters and my future grandchildren.  Here are a few of those game changing facts.

“One hamburger requires 660 gallons of water to produce – the equivalent of 2 months worth of showers.”

This is the film that environmental organizations don’t want you to see.

“COWSPIRACY: The Sustainability Secret” is a groundbreaking feature-length environmental documentary following an intrepid filmmaker as he uncovers the most destructive industry facing the planet today – and investigates why the world’s leading environmental organizations are too afraid to talk about it.

Learning that 5% of water in the US is used by private homes and 55% of the water in the US is used for animal agriculture, shocked me.  Water.  And let me share some of what I learned in that the amount of food it takes to feed animals for us to eat, it’s mind boggling.  We can feed countries with the amount of food that we feed our animal agriculture.  We have people starving in this world and we are feeding cows in order to eat meat?  Take a look.

“This isn’t so much a human population issue, it’s a humans eating animals population issue.”  Crazy.

Ok, so that’s my point of view.  From the bacon loving girl that really can’t imagine ever giving up meat.  Here’s what the vegan and vegetarian have to say.

Paris –

When we think of eating meat, what do we think of?  Perhaps we think of beautiful cows in grass pastures, who we are thankful we can consume.  Perhaps we think of the delicious taste of a hamburger, without any connection to the process of how it winds up on our plate.  Or maybe we realize that we are consuming an animal who has been bred for slaughter, and has lived in deplorable conditions in which it has suffered until such day.  We all have our own schema, which lends to our perspective of eating meat.  But

when the conversation of eating meat arises, how often do we talk about global warming, water depletion, deforestation, ocean dead zones, and world hunger?
I was pleased to see that the focus of the movie Cowspiracy was on these issues, all of which have a direct impact on us.  It is a reminder of how we need to take accountability for our carbon footprint on this planet, which means more than shutting off the lights when we leave the room. In the age of green, in which we live, there is more to the crisis that needs to be addressed than recycling. For example, it takes 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat.  Rainforests are torn down to provide land for cattle farming.  85% of all soil erosion is as a result of the meat industry, 51% or more of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture, and the list goes on.

Although there are other reasons, such as health and compassion, that are part of the meat eating conversation, the bottom line is responsibility.  We try our best to take care of ourselves, our loved ones, and to help others.  So what is our role in helping the planet in which we attempt to live and thrive…..

Jackie –

“Poor little nutrient-starved vegetarian”…I stopped eating meat 18 years ago.  Mostly I get questions like “how will you get protein?”, or, “isn’t that unhealthy?”, or “well what do you eat instead??” Here and there I get  “I could be a vegetarian”.  Well—this film reminded me that 1) You CAN be healthy and thrive on plant-based diets, therefore, NO, it isn’t unhealthy. 2) the word “LIVEstock” is somewhat misleading. The word “LIVE” is in there, yet it’s killing our planet.  I am not entirely Vegan…milk & eggs can scram(ble) but I soooo love my cheese.  Ok, and I really enjoy flavored creams for coffee, and many are dairy products!  Hmm.  Other than trying to be health conscious, I will begin looking for satisfying alternatives.  No guarantee it’ll happen overnight but I’m that much more inclined to make the switch after LAST night.

Alright, so I am doing the 21 day challenge.  No meat.  I am not giving up eggs or dairy – that’s too much to think about with cooked foods and such.  But giving up meat is hard for me!  Donnie woke me up to the smell of bacon this morning.  He cooked breakfast for the girls and I wanted to cry.  But after writing this, I don’t really want the bacon, I just want to know and understand more.  I challenge you to find out more by going to the website.  I am not trying to tell you to not ever eat meat again.  I don’t know if I can or even want to say that.  What I will say is that for the next 21 days, pigs everywhere are safe from me, but after that, I don’t know.  I will share my journey of choices I made through the day and the struggles – I have 3 trips during this time – and one I was told we were going for my favorite food, sushi – California rolls are NOT sushi in my opinion.

Here’s the trailer…tell me what you think!  I really want to know!

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