Cowspiracy And Climate Change

Think Climate Change Is Caused By Cars And Industry? This Will Make You Think Again

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As one of the filmmakers of the new environmental documentary Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, last Sunday I was in New York City for the People’s Climate March, one of 400,000 people who took to the streets in a show of strength for worldwide action against climate change.

We were marching to demonstrate to world leaders that climate change is too important an issue to be shuffled aside in favor of vested interests and shortsighted policies that benefit a few now to the detriment of all in the future. Climate change effects the entire planet, and as one marcher’s sign stated, “There is no Planet B”.

It was almost heartening to be part of such a massive demonstration, physical proof that after far too long spent holding on to denial, the U.S. and much of the world is waking up to the enormous emergency we’ve got on our hands. Marchers were calling out governments, corporations, big oil, everyone involved in making and ignoring the problem. It was amazing to be part of this massive crowd of people, some angry that it’s come to this, many hopeful for a green revolution, and all extremely passionate and hungry for change.

Which is why it sucked so much to see so many of them go from marching against climate change to munching down on hotdogs and burgers. Despite the growing awareness and calls to action against climate change, demonstrated most recently with marches all across the world last Sunday, even the people already involved in the fight aren’t aware that the single biggest contributor to environmental and climate devastation is not fossil fuels, but… animal agriculture.

That’s right, getting rid of your gas-guzzling SUV to bike everywhere or religiously switching out your light bulbs doesn’t have nearly as much impact on the environment as switching out your meat- and dairy-eating habits for a plant-based diet.

The causes we’re all more used to hearing about when it comes to climate change — changes to the atmosphere caused by the build up of gases like carbon dioxide and methane — has made the energy sector the target of environmentalists’ wrath for decades. There are continual battles against coal, oil, and nuclear power, as well as the often incredibly destructive methods of extracting and producing these power sources, such as strip mining or hydraulic fracturing. So what if I told you that animal agriculture is responsible for as much as 51% of greenhouse gas emissions? Seems like kind of a big deal, right?

In contrast, the entire transportation sector is responsible for only 13% of GHG. Plus, most of the attention goes to CO2, but methane is actually 25 to 100 times more destructive, and has 86 times the global warming power as CO2. Which is bad news for us, what with all those methane-producing ruminants we’re breeding and raising to eat.