This is a quick post about a documentary called Cowspiracy which outlines the environmental impact animal agriculture has on our planet. The main aim of the film is to demonstrate the cost of production in the meat industry and how unsustainable the process has become considering the significant growth in global population over the last century.

Cowspiracy is one of those must see documentaries which makes a convincing argument as to why we all need to reduce our meat consumption. A new cut version, executive-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, is also available on Netflix. Leaning towards a utopian society of veganism the film also highlights problems with fishing in the 21st century.

Here are 15 hard hitting facts from the documentary.

1) Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation. 
2) Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
3) Methane has a global warming potential 86 times that of CO2 on a 20 year time frame.
4) Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years.
5) Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction.
6) 1/3 of the planet is desertified, with livestock as the leading driver.
7) 3/4 of the world’s fisheries are exploited or depleted.
8) We could see fishless oceans by 2048.
9) Scientists estimate as many as 650,000 whales, dolphins and seals are killed every year by fishing vessels.
10) Animal agriculture is responsible for up to 91% of Amazon destruction.
11) 1,100 Land activists have been killed in Brazil in the past 20 years.
12) Ten thousand years ago, 99% of zoomass was wild animals. Today, humans and the animals that we raise as food make up 98% of the zoomass.
13) 80% of antibiotic sold in the US are for livestock.
14) We are currently growing enough food to feed 10 billion people.
15) 82% of starving children live in countries where food is fed to animals, and the animals are eaten by western countries.

All the facts outlined in the film are available from it's website http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
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I came across this interesting organisation while listening to a podcast recently and thought I'd share, it's a bit Jurassic Park with some ethical questions, especially when considering the future of science, in particular the future of DNA development. That said it almost seems like the task this group has taken on is the responsibility of mankind. 

This article is pulled from the groups webpage (with some slight editing) : www.frozenark.org


The earth is now suffering the greatest loss of species since the extinction of the dinosaurs. Over the next thirty years it is predicted that more than 1,000 species of mammals, a quarter of the world's total, and a similar proportion of birds, amphibians and marine animals (both invertebrates and vertebrates) will go extinct. Thousands of invertebrate species have already disappeared after the destruction of their habitats.

Despite efforts to preserve their environments, at least 30% of all land, fresh-water and marine animals will go extinct within the next fifty years. Growth in human populations has led to habitat destruction caused by the need for agricultural land, by over-fishing, by pollution, and by the acidification of the oceans. These changes are well documented by the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and by meetings at The Royal Society.

The Frozen Ark Project was set up in 1996 as a response to this crisis, a modern version of Noah's Ark, designed to save thousands of creatures from extinction

Its objective is simple - to save samples of frozen cells containing DNA from endangered animals before they go extinct. Almost every single cell in an animal carries a complete blueprint of the animal stored in its DNA. Unless we save this information now it will be lost forever.

Currently the Frozen Ark database hold details of 28604 frozen DNA samples. Of these 7083 are from species listed in the IUCN Red List of endangered animals.


If they are frozen under the right conditions, many cells can be revived and regrown. Recent developments in molecular biology suggest that in the not-distant future animals could be recreated from these cells.

The frozen samples can also help currently endangered animals that have not yet gone extinct, to stay healthy by increasing genetic variation within their populations.

The Frozen Ark has now established a consortium of twenty-two major zoos, aquaria, museums and research institutions in eight countries around the world.