COWSPIRACY Whichever way you look at it, our planet is on the losing end. Eating red meat could be the reason why.
When I was asked to write an article on Cowspiracy, I have to admit my first thought was one of amusement. Cowspiracy, really? Visions of Animal Farm-esque caricatures went through my mind. Then I started researching the topic and my amusement gradually faded to embarrassment and anger. Embarrassment because I had made light of something which is causing so much damage to the environment. And anger because based on Cowspiracy, it seems that we have been fighting a losing battle where the environment is concerned. Put it this way, we think we know the best way to combat the crap that Mother Nature is going through. We’ve been told to go on guns all blazing at a target (*cough* energy *cough*). We thought this would actually work towards saving the environment. But what happens when you’re targeting the wrong fucking thing? When the topic of sustainability and a sustainable lifestyle comes up, one nominally thinks about consumption and wastage. For instance: if Bart switches to solar energy, he receives immediate savings on his energy bill. Benefits of this are numerous: Bart gets to save money on his energy bill and also help save the environment because solar energy is obviously renewable and clean. Another example: Sarah is determined not 6
to contribute to landfill as much as she can. So Sarah shops at second hand stores, donates her old items to charity, does not purchase anything in disposable boxes, cartons or bottles and uses a Bokashi Bin to deal with her waste. Kudos to Bart and Sarah for joining the environmental bandwagon and doing their bit to help save our planet from self-destructing. All those measures are good and all, but according to Cowspiracy, there is one thing that almost all humans do every day that does more harm to the environment. Meat is the cause of all environmental problems. Forget all that banal bullshit about saving the world through switching to clean energy. If you think you’re an environmentalist and yet you still eat meat, your wrongdoings might actually outweigh any good you reckon you’ve done in your pursuit for a happy and healthy planet. So, the giant elephant in the room is animal agriculture. When someone decides to go on a meat-free diet, reasons are normally for religion or against cruelty to animals. However, hardly anyone comes up with the reason that the environment is the most hard done by human’s propensity to enjoy meat during mealtimes. Holy cow, why didn’t anyone mention something about this
earlier? I mean, when anyone talks about human activities, why doesn’t the topic of meat consumption come up? If animal agriculture is the single biggest factor that is killing the environment, why have we not been told? Obviously, animal agriculture is big bucks and industry bigwigs have a lot to lose if people ever start boycotting meat. Still, there is a lot more at stake than mega moolah. This is one part of human’s lifestyle that is single-handedly hazardous to life as we know it. If you’re not convinced, let’s just get some statistics to put everything into more perspective. For starters, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) states that the ‘the livestock sector contributes to human-induced GHG emissions for 14.5% and is a large user of natural resources… through grazing and the use of feed crops.’ Land and water – the backbone of animal agriculture – are growing increasingly scarce and this is a result of a lovehate relationship between the two components. Animals need land and water in order to grow; however, the usage of these resources is more than supply can keep up with. Whichever way you look at it, our planet is definitely on the losing end. When one looks at global emissions by source, you would automatically