Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret

Produced and directed by Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn (2014)

My star rating: 5 stars

What the film is about
Cowspiracy looks at the environmental impact of animal agriculture and presents the case strongly with statistics, graphics, interviews and some humour thrown in.

Kip Anderson is the main narrator and the film features Howard Lyman (former cattle rancher), Michael Pollen and Michael Klaper among others.

What did you like about Cowspiracy?
It drew me in right from the beginning: being easy to watch, and engaging. It was packed with information, but not preachy. I was left feeling inspired and wanting to do more.

Cowspiracy was edited brilliantly, it flowed together well.

I don’t want to watch gory scenes of animal abuse, and this is not a big feature of the film. There is one short scene with some gore in it. The focus of the film is the environment, but it does cover animal rights issues as well.

What didn’t you like about Cowspiracy?
It focused a bit too much on the policies of the main environmental organisations in the US. Although it was interesting and shocking and I can see the need to encourage the groups to improve their policies, it dwelled a bit too long.

Other thoughts
I went vegan for the animals, so although environmental reasons are important, they are not the main thing that spurs me on. Cowspiracy though gives the most compelling arguments I’ve seen for going vegan for the environment.

I’m glad there was some focus on chickens when I read quotes like this about chicken production:
“In both magnitude and severity, the single most severe example of man’s inhumanity to another sentient animal.” (Professor John Webster)

Overall
A gem, definitely worth watching.

  • There is a Cowspiracy screening in Taunton on Saturday 14th November, join the Facebook event here.
  • Find out about vegan events around the UK here.