Cowspiracy

Return to Philosophy of Food

1. Facts that you are surprised by, think important, or are suspicious of.;

2. Questions raised by the movie;

3. Claims or thesis that the movie's documentary evidence seems to support.

Notes for "Cowspiracy"

• narrative framed by Al Gore climate change effort.

• Looks at the environmental impact of large-scale farming. Shows viewers a path to sustainable options for a growing population.

• main thesis is based on FAO report "Livestock's Long Shadow" [[1]]

• Some criticism of this report. The range for contribution to climate change from agriculture ranges from 18% to 50% The movie pushes the higher, less centrally documented figure. Still, at 30% it would still be twice the contributor as the transit sector.

• Present many statistics that show our impact on the environment: [2] How accurate are these?

• Method - Shaming gov't and public environmental organizations in interviews about their ignorance of this connection.

• Anti-meat message isn't compatible with these organizations' business models - Pollan

• Over Fishing

• ocean dead zones from land agriculture. overfishing. Possibly have fishless oceans by 2048. Well documented, though there have been some success stories in managing wild fish populations.

• Deforestation for Cattle production.

• nun murder. 1100 activists dead in 20yrs

• Vegan Argument

• Narrative turns toward the claim that the only healthy and sustainable diet is a vegan diet.
• (I think the logic from here is pretty bad. Better ways to articulate veganism, but environment is still a major part of it - Alfino)
• Argument pattern: If X can't feed the world sustainably, then we shouldn't eat X. Fish, Beef, eggs, dairy.

• Public Land Management Story

• subsidizing meat industry and promoting slaughter of wild animals. (rewilding)
• We're all paying for the burgers.

• Food disparagement laws.