Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret

A documentary made in America. Kip Andersen cares about the environment. He takes short showers, recycles, rides a bicycle. Then he reads a report. Livestock's share of greenhouse gas production appears to exceed transport's. He has never heard this anywhere. From there the documentary becomes a story of asking. Andersen goes to environmental organisations. His question is simple: why do you never talk about this. He gets no answer. Some representatives change the subject. Some end the interview. Some have the camera turned off. The narrative lines these reactions up one after another. Then it goes into numbers. Water use, land use, feed production, forest loss and dead zones in the oceans. Charts and animations are used. The water needed for one hamburger, how many people an acre feeds, how much waste a farm produces. What the narrative is interested in is not climate but silence: its idea is that the data is in the open and that the subject is not discussed by the environmental movement itself. Funding and donor relationships are offered as the reason. There is a line about threat as well. Andersen says researching some subjects is risky and filming is stopped during a visit to a farm. The conclusion resolves into a recommendation: a plant-based diet. The documentary presents this as the only solution, and that is what it is most criticised for. There was argument about the figures too. How some sources were interpreted and the use of one report drew objections in scientific circles; the production later updated some of the data. It was completed on a small budget through crowdfunding. It was later acquired by a streaming platform and reached a wide audience there. Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn directed. Who it is for: anyone who watches environmental documentaries and advocacy cinema. Who it is not for: anyone expecting balance; the documentary rests on a single argument and gives no room to the other view.