"Cowspiracy" is a documentary that came out in 2014. Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn wrote, directed, produced and edited the film. Narrated by Anderson, the film begins by discussing the issues of animal agriculture’s negative effects on the environment in the United States, but this quickly expands to the global environment.
"Cowspiracy" follows the typical conspiracy documentary outline by introducing a question and unravelling many more facets that were not expected to be found or connected with each other in search for an answer that may not exist. The film uses graphics to illustrate numbers and statistics rather effectively. They show the staggering amount of CO2 and methane produced, and the water, land, and food consumed by meat and dairy livestock.
Since it is a documentary meant to illicit emotions and action from the viewers, there are some parts of the film that are difficult to watch, such as video clips of animal slaughter and their horrid living conditions.
The film winds through interviews in which Anderson stumps the interviewees -- usually heads of organizations, companies, or branches of the government -- with his direct questions regarding agribusiness and sustainability. No one seems to have answers, or they do not want to answer. There is even an instance in which the head of a large organization lies through her teeth about well-known facts.
While the fact that raising livestock for meat and dairy is basically the largest form of pollution in the world is not surprising to many environmentalists, vegans and vegetarians, and animals rights activists who watch the film, it is very surprising that so many powerful, well-educated individuals whose careers focus on agribusiness, livestock, and protecting the environment can know so little about such a large issue. After one of the early interviews, Anderson voices what the viewers are thinking: “That was bizarre.”
Anderson also interviews other experts who acknowledge and fight against the overwhelming horrors of farming livestock. These interviews lead to what seems to be a major tangent in the film, but it really is all related. Anderson spends time exploring the negative effects our livestock has on the ocean, which leads to the issues of overfishing, habitat destruction, and bykill (catching and killing sharks, whales, fish, and other animals not intended to be caught or replenished) in supposedly sustainable fishing areas. This is having just as bad an effect on the ocean as the CO2 giants of livestock have on land.
Several proposed solutions, such as open-pasture livestock and backyard farming, prove to be inadequate and not even close to being sustainable nationally or internationally. The most important part of the documentary is that Anderson has a solution to this problem, and it is one that is obvious to and practiced by many (but too few) people already: veganism. Unfortunately, this word triggers confusion, anger, and flippant attitudes in most Americans. The solution to ending most of the world’s pollution is too much of a commitment for most, even though there are plenty of meat and animal byproduct replacements that make veganism easy, as is shown in the film.
For the greater part of the film, animal rights are not really considered in the equation of how wrong agribusiness is, but by the end Anderson expresses his horror at what they go through. He even physically saves a chicken from slaughter in a backyard farm.
"Cowspiracy" is an effective attack on the harmful agribusiness that is destroying the planet. When Anderson goes through the numbers of how much water, energy, grain, and animals that he as an individual can save a day by being vegan, it gives every individual who is watching the inspiration and validation to do good as well.
