Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret

You know, the world's

climate scientists tell us that...

...the highest safe level

of emissions would be...

...around 350 parts per million

of carbon dioxide...

...and greenhouse gases

in the atmosphere. We're already at 400.

They tell us that the sort of safest

we could hope to do...

...without having perilous implications...

...as far as drought, famine,

human conflict, major species extinction...

...would be about a 2-degree Celsius

increase in temperature.

We're rapidly approaching that,

and with all the built-in carbon dioxide...

...that's already in the atmosphere,

we're easily going to exceed that.

So on our watch, we are facing...

...the next major extinction of species

on the earth...

...that we haven't seen since the time

of the dinosaurs disappearing.

When whole countries go underwater

because of sea-level rise...

...when whole countries find

that there's so much drought...

...that they can't feed their population...

...and as a result,

they need to desperately...

...migrate to another country

or invade another country...

I mean, we're gonna have

climate wars in the future.

And what about...?

What about livestock

and animal agriculture?

Well, what about it? I mean-

My names Kip.

This is me.

I had a clich U.S.American childhood.

My mom was a teacher.

My dad was in the military.

And I have one sister.

I played all sports growing up...

...but I always loved

the outdoors and camping.

Life was simple,

not a care in the world.

And then this guy showed up.

Like so many of us...

...I saw his film An Inconvenient Truth

about the impacts of global warming.

It scared the Emojis out of me.

In Al Gore's film,

he describes how Earth is in peril.

Climate change stands to affect

all life on this planet.

From monster storms, raging wildfires...

...record droughts, ice caps melting...

...acidification of the oceans,

to entire countries going underwater...

...that could all be caused

by humans' demands on the Earth.

With scientists warning

unless we take drastic measures...

...to correct our environmental footprint,

our time on this planet maybe limited...

...to only 50 more years,

I wanted to do everything I could to help.

I made up my mind

right then and there...

...to change how I lived

and to do whatever I possibly could...

...to find away for all of us

to live together...

...in balance with the planet,

sustainably, forever.

I started to do all the things

Al told us to do.

I became an OCE,

obsessive-compulsive environmentalist.

I separated the trash and recycling,

I composted...

...changed the light bulbs,

took short showers...

...brushed with the water off,

turned off lights when leaving...

...and rode my bike

instead of driving everywhere.

But as the years went by,

it seemed as if things were getting worse.

I had to wonder, with all the continuing

ecological crisis facing the planet...

...even if every single one of us adopted

these conservation habits...

...was this really gonna be enough

to save the world?

It just seemed that there was

something more to the story.

I thought I was doing everything I could

to help the planet.

But then with one's friend's post

everything changed.

The post sent me to a report online

published by the United Nations...

...stating that cows

produce more greenhouse gases...

...than the entire transportation sector.

This means that raising cattle

produces more greenhouse gases...

...than all cars, trucks, trains, boats,

planes combined.

Thirteen percent compared

to 18 percent for livestock.

This is because cows produce

a substantial amount...

...of methane from their digestive process.

Methane gas from livestock

is 25to 100 times...

...more destructive

than carbon dioxide from vehicles.

Here I'd been riding my bike everywhere

to help reduce emissions.

But it turns out there's more

to climate change than just fossil fuels.

I did more research. The U.N.

along with other agencies reported...

...not only did livestock play

a major role in global warming...

...it is also the leading cause

of resource consumption...

...and environmental degradation

destroying the planet today.

How is it possible

I wasn't aware of this?

I thought this information would be

in the environmental community.

I went to the nation's largest

environmental organizations' websites...

350.org, Greenpeace, Sierra Club...

...Climate Reality, Rainforest Action

Network, Amazon Watch...

...and was shocked to see they had

virtually nothing on animal agriculture.

What was going on?

Why would they not have

this information on there?

It seemed the main focus for many groups

was natural gas and oil production...

...with fracking being the latest hot issue,

due to water usage and contamination.

...with fracking being the latest hot issue,

due to water usage and contamination.

Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas uses

an incredible amount of water.

A staggering 100 billion gallons of water

is used every year in the United States.

But when I compared this

with animal agriculture...

...raising livestock just in the U.S.

consumes 34 trillion gallons of water.

And it turns out the methane emissions

from both industries are nearly equal.

Living in California, a state plagued

by drought and water shortages...

...water use is a major concern

for many of us.

The average Californian uses

about 1500 gallons per person per day.

About half of that is related to the

consumption of meat and dairy products.

So meat and dairy products

are incredibly water-intensive...

...in part because the animals are using

very water-intensive grains.

That's what they eat, and so...

...all of the water embedded in the grain

and that the animal eats...

...essentially is considered part...

...of the virtual water footprint

of that product.

I found out that one quarter-pound

hamburger requires...

...over 660 gallons of water to produce.

Here I've been taking

these short showers to save water...

...and to find out just eating

one hamburger is the equivalent...

...of showering two entire months.

So much attention is given

to lowering home water use.

Yet domestic water use is 5 percent

of what is consumed in the U.S...

...versus 55 percent

for animal agriculture.

That's because it takes upwards

of 2500 gallons of water...

...to produce 1 pound of beef.

I went on the government's

Department of Water Resources...

...Save Our Water campaign. It outlines

behavior changes to conserve water.

Like using low-flow shower heads,

efficient toilets...

...water-saving appliances,

and fix leaky faucets and sprinkler heads.

But nothing about animal agriculture.

When I added up all

the government's recommendations...

...I was saving 47 gallons a day.

But still that's not even close

to the 660 gallons...

...of water for just one burger.

I wanted to see if I could talk

with the government about this.

Just calling to see

if we could schedule an interview.

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