Cowspiracy
From Alfino
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 sustainability options for 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.
- 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.
- Present many statistics that show our impact on the environment: [2] How accurate are these?