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/
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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