Ethical Shopping: “Cowspiracy” and Why You Should Buy Well When It Comes to Food, Too.

Add this film to your documentary to-watch list, Cowspiracy. (Note: this is not a movie filled with horrific images of animals stuck in factory farms to scare you away from eating meat (the title sounds a little scary)).

The film is a thoughtful exploration into the factory farming industry and how it is severely impacting climate change for the worst in the United States and throughout the world. What’s  most fascinating about the film is that the filmmakers didn’t set out to make a movie about factory farming, but rather the primary contributors to climate change, whatever they were. Along the way, they discovered the secretive truth that so many environmental groups were hiding. From the film’s description:

“Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, water consumption and pollution, is responsible for more greenhouse gases than the transportation industry, and is a primary driver of rainforest destruction, species extinction, habitat loss, topsoil erosion, ocean “dead zones,” and virtually every other environmental ill. Yet it goes on, almost entirely unchallenged.

As Andersen approaches leaders in the environmental movement, he increasingly uncovers what appears to be an intentional refusal to discuss the issue of animal agriculture, while industry whistleblowers and watchdogs warn him of the risks to his freedom and even his life if he dares to persist.”

This graph, from the film, represents the contrast between the amount of food and water consumed by the entire earth’s human population compared to that consumed by the factory-farmed cattle population alone, revealing a mass consumption of the earth’s resources.

Watch the film, and then as we enter the biggest foodie season of the year, consider hitting up Whole Foods or Natural Grocers for those must-have meats, and leave the rest on the shelf.

Cowspiracy is available on Netflix. We don’t need to throw in that Leo DiCaprio is Executive Producer to make you watch it, do we?

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