Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret Page #11

...we need to be as efficient as possible.

Some people might go back and say

if we embraced this primitive approach...

...of only wild animals everywhere...

...and we go back

to, like, a hunter-gatherer system...

...that sounds great.

But that was 10 million people

on the entire continent.

Maybe a little bit more, a little bit less,

no one really knows.

Today, now we have what?

We have 320 million in the U.S.,

25 million in Canada...

...another 100 and so-many-million

in Mexico.

So, North America is up to almost,

you know, 450 million people.

Trying to figure out away

to bring animal agriculture...

...in balance with450 million

hungry people is impossible.

This is amazing, I didn't believe it

when I first learned it...

...but 216,000 more people are born

to the plant every day.

Everyday.

It's extraordinary.

But what's really extraordinary

is you need, per day...

...34,000 new acres of farmable land.

It's not happening.

To feed a person

on a vegan diet for a year...

...requires just one-sixth

of an acre of land.

To feed that same person

on a vegetarian diet...

...that includes eggs and dairy

requires three times as much land.

To feed an average U.S. citizen's

high-consumption diet...

...of meat, dairy and eggs

requires 18 times as much land.

This is because you can produce

37,000 pounds of vegetables...

...on 1.5 acres, but only 375 pounds

of meat on that same plot of land.

The comparison doesn't end

with land use.

A vegan diet produces half as much CO2

as an American omnivore...

...uses one-eleventh

the amount of fossil fuels...

...one-thirteenth the amount of water

and an eighteenth of the amount of land.

After adding this all up, I realized I had

the choice every single day...

...to save over 100 gallons of water,

45 pounds of grain...

...30 square feet of forested land,

the equivalent of20 pounds ofCO2...

...and one animal's life every single day.

If we all did go vegan

and moved away from animal foods...

...and toward a plant-based diet,

what would happen?

If we didn't kill all these cows

and eat them...

...then we wouldn't have

to breed all these cows...

...because we're breeding cows

and chickens and pigs and fish.

We're breeding them

over and over again, relentlessly.

So if we didn't breed them,

then we wouldn't have to feed them.

Then we wouldn't have to devote

all this land...

...to growing grains and legumes

and so forth to feed to them.

And so then the forest could come back.

Wildlife could come back.

The oceans would come back.

The rivers would run clean again.

The air would come back.

Our health would return.

Renewable energy infrastructure,

such as solar and wind generators...

...to reduce climate change,

that's a pretty good idea...

...but it's projected to take

at least 20 years...

...and at least, minimally,

$18 trillion to develop.

You know, it's important to realize that

we don't have that long of a time frame.

We just talked about how it might be

a four-year time frame...

...so we don't have 20 years and we don't

have $18 trillion to develop these...

...so another solution to climate change:

We could stop eating animals.

And it could be done today.

It doesn't have to take 20years...

...and it doesn't have to take $18

trillion, because it costs nothing.

Some say, "Fix CO2,

then worry about methane."

It's the other way. Do something about

methane, you'll get a response right away.

The most powerful thing that someone

can do for the environment...

...no other lifestyle choice has

a farther reaching...

...and more profoundly positive impact

on the planet and all life on Earth...

...than choosing to stop consuming

animals and live a vegan lifestyle.

Do you realize

75 percent of Americans...

...consider themselves

to be environmentalists?

You don't think we couldn't solve

this problem in a heartbeat?

I'll tell you what, all we would need...

...is for the environmentalists to live

what they profess...

...and we'd be on a new course

in the world.

We will not succeed

until we stop animal agriculture.

And by "succeed," I mean...

...we will not save ecosystems

to the extent necessary...

...we will not have enough food

for people around the planet...

...we will not stop global warming...

...we will not stop pollution

in the dead zones that run off...

...all the fields of corn and soy

that are grown to feed livestock...

...and we will not stop the hunting

of wolves and other predators.

Organic farming is one step in the right

direction, but we need to keep walking.

We need to get beyond organics.

We need to get to sustainability.

When you take the animal out,

you take the greenhouse gas issue out...

...you take the food safety

issues out...

...you take some other externalities

related to food scarcity out.

But one thing that's amazing is

I think you put our values back in.

You put values like compassion

and integrity and kindness...

...values that are natural

to human beings, you put that in...

...you build that back

into the story of our food.

And I think as this begins to progress,

I think it also helps people to pause...

...before they eat that egg,

before they eat that steak...

...before they eat that chicken nugget...

...and ask themselves,

is that really what they want?

Or do they actually want

something more?

I had to come to the full conclusion...

...the only way to sustainably

and ethically live on this planet...

...with 7 billion other people is to

live an entirely plant-based vegan diet.

I decided instead of eating others,

to eat for others.

At first, like these environmental groups,

I was afraid of what it'd mean to change.

But now I embrace it.

All this talk about sustainability sounded

like our planet was on life support.

And I don't want her to simply survive

or to sustain, but to thrive.

Life today is not about sustainability.

It's about "thrive-ability."

She's given so much to us for so long,

it was time to give back.

A hundred-and-eight percent

of everything we have.

It felt good. It was an alignment.

And we see this movement,

not just about providing cheaper...

...inexpensive food that everyone

can have, but also a spiritual move.

A move towards understanding

who we really are...

...and how we can connect

to each other.

Do what you can do

as well as you can do it...

We become part of a gathering

momentum of other people.

It's happening. This is really

what's happening. This is the new.

Selflessness is a nice way to be.

It has all these benefits for yourself,

as well as the planet and other people.

So it's a beautiful way to live.

Ecologically, it just feels better.

This is about massively transforming...

...how our society eats,

because it's a necessity.

It's acting on what we know.

And acting kindly and gently

on the whole planet...

...and with other people

to accomplish the goals of living better.

We can do it,

but we have to choose to do it.

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