Don't march with meat in your mouth
Animal agribusiness is the first thing, not the last or even the third or fourth, but the first thing we should be talking about in looking to forestall climate change. Why are big 'green' orgs silent?
Sunday is the big march against climate change - projected to be the biggest ever. It will be interesting watching what percentage of the event is given over to the topic of animal agriculture. I've heard that there was a vegan "hub" in organizing but I'd be dreaming if I said I expected meat and cheese to dominate the entire proceedings, except as something a lot of marchers will likely consume.
As Cowspiracy makes clear, though, it pretty much should dominate, if we were going by actual, abundant peer-reviewed data on what's killing the planet. The two most commonly-cited studies by international experts found animal ag at 18%, or 51%, of total greenhouse-gas emissions, and much quibbling has been done over those numbers, even though the lower result is still more than all of human transportation.
The movie starts with a guy who's trying to be as green as he can, riding a bike, turning off the water while brushing teeth, etc. but he eventually finds that all the heroic things he was contributing to the cause were dwarfed by the effect of his meals. While learning how to redirect his action, he keeps wondering why he was never told about this by any of his favorite brand-name environmental organizations, and he goes to find out from them.
The filmmaker, Kip Andersen, makes clear that it's not a question of moving to "humane" animal use - in addition to being generally worse for the environment than 'factory' farms, quaint small farms can't hope to produce the amount of meat people eat. Anderson has a little bit of goofy, low-key surfer to his general demeanor, which helps as he delivers troublesome hard data that a lot of us want to deny. The facts and figures are often visualized in straightforward animations that make the numbers easier to put in perspective.
And perspective, or proportion, is what it's all about. Is livestock production a larger greenhouse-gas factor than all other factors combined? Or just one of the, say, top 2 factors? Either way, it's marching on, whether we do or not, and the fact that we see speakers for big green not wanting to do the math is both funny and tragic. Cowspiracy makes that point and then starts looking at solutions.
If you missed it downtown last week, there's a showing at the Plymouth Meeting Mall next Thursday, Sept. 25. at 7:30. It's being screened by Peace Advocacy Network, which will host a special Q and A discussion afterward. Signing up to go assures the requisite number of seats will be filled. The movie is 'touring' on this quasi-grassroots model, and it's an important film that will provoke thought and discussion in all adults (I wouldn't bring kids). To be sure you can see it this way, I'd suggest you grab tix for yourself, and a friend!
UPDATE 9/19: Thanks to everyone who stepped up - the screening met its ticket threshold in time and is a definite go! Still around 40 tickets available, so if you're just seeing this, there's still time to get in on it.