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BRUCE HAMILTON: The world's
climate scientists tell us that
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the highest safe level of emissions
would be around 350 parts
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per million of carbon dioxide
and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
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We're already at 400.
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They tell us that
the safest we could hope to do,
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without having perilous implications
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as far as drought, famine,
human conflict, major species extinction,
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would be about a 2-degree Celsius
increase in temperature.
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We're rapidly approaching that,
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and with all the built-in carbon dioxide
that's already in the atmosphere,
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we're easily going to exceed that.
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So, on our watch,
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we are facing the next major extinction
of species on the Earth
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that we haven't seen since
the time of the dinosaurs disappearing.
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When whole countries go underwater
because of sea-level rise,
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when whole countries find that
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there's so much drought
that they can't feed their population,
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and as a result, they need to
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desperately migrate to another country
or invade another country,
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we're gonna have
climate wars in the future.
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KIP ANDERSEN: And what about
livestock and animal agriculture?
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Uh...
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Well, what about it? I mean...
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ANDERSEN: My name's Kip.
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This is me.
I had a cliché US American childhood.
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My mom was a teacher.
My dad was in the military.
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And I have one sister.
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I played all the sports growing up, but I
always loved the outdoors and camping.
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Life was simple, not a care in the world.
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And then this guy showed up.
Like so many of us,
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I saw his film, An Inconvenient Truth,
about the impacts of global warming,
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and it scared the emojis out of me.
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In Al Gore's film,
he describes how Earth is in peril.
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Climate change stands to affect
all life on this planet.
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From monster storms, raging wildfires,
record droughts, ice caps melting,
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acidification of the oceans,
to entire countries going underwater,
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that could all be caused
by humans' demands on the Earth.
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I wanted to do everything I could to help.
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I made up my mind, right then and there,
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to change how I lived and to do
whatever I possibly could to find a way
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for all of us to live together in balance
with the planet sustainably forever.
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I started to do
all the things Al told us to do.
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I became an OCE,
Obsessive Compulsive Environmentalist.
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I separated the trash and recycling,
I composted, changed all the light bulbs,
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took short showers, turned the water off
when I brushed my teeth,
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turned off lights when leaving the room,
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and rode my bike
instead of driving everywhere.
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But as the years went by,
it seemed as if things were getting worse.
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I had to wonder, with all the continuing
ecological crisis facing the planet,
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even if every single one of us
adopted these conservation habits,
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was this really gonna
be enough to save the world?
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It just seemed that
there was something more to the story.
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I thought I was doing everything I could
to help the planet.
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But then, with one's friend's post,
everything changed.
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The post sent me to a report online,
published by the United Nations,
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stating that raising livestock
produces more greenhouse gases
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than the emissions
of the entire transportation sector.
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This means that the meat and dairy
industry produces more greenhouse gases
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than the exhaust of all cars, trucks,
trains, boats, planes combined.
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Cows and other farmed animals
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produce a substantial amount of methane
from their digestive process.
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Methane gas from livestock
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is 86 times more destructive
than carbon dioxide from vehicles.
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Here, I'd been riding my bike everywhere
to help reduce emissions.
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But it turns out, there's more
to climate change than just fossil fuels.
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I started doing more research.
The UN, along with other agencies,
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reported that not only did livestock
play a major role in global warming,
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it is also the leading cause
of resource consumption
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and environmental degradation
destroying the planet today.
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How is it possible I wasn't aware of this?
I thought this information
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would be plastered everywhere
in the environmental community.
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I went to the nation's largest
environmental organization's websites,
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350.org, Greenpeace,
Sierra Club, Climate Reality,
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Rainforest Action Network, Amazon Watch,
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and was shocked to see they had
virtually nothing on animal agriculture.
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What was going on?
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Why wouldn't they
have this information on their main page?
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It seemed the main focus for many of these
groups was natural gas and oil production,
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with fracking being the latest hot issue
due to water usage and contamination.
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Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas
uses an incredible amount of water.
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A staggering 100 billion gallons of water
is used every year in the United States.
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But when I compared this
with animal agriculture,
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raising livestock just in the US
consumes 34 trillion gallons of water.
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And it turns out the methane emissions
from both industries are nearly equal.
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Living in California, a state plagued
by drought and water shortages,
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water use is
a major concern for many of us.
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The average Californian uses
about 1,500 gallons per person per day.
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About half of that is related to the
consumption of meat and dairy products.
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So, meat and dairy products
are incredibly water-intensive,
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in part because the animals
are using very water-intensive grains.
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That's what they eat.
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And so, all of the water embedded
in the grain and that the animal eats
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essentially is considered part of the
virtual water footprint of that product.
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ANDERSEN: I found out that
one quarter-pound hamburger
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requires over
660 gallons of water to produce.
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Here, I've been taking
these short showers trying to save water,
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and to find out just eating one hamburger
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is the equivalent of
showering two entire months.
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So much attention
is given to lowering our home water use,
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yet domestic water use is only 5%
of what is consumed in the US
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versus 55% for animal agriculture.
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That's because it takes
upwards of 2,500 gallons of water
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to produce one pound of beef.
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I went on the government's
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Department of Water Resources'
Save Our Water campaign,
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where it outlines behavioral changes
to help conserve our water.
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Like using low-flow shower heads,
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efficient toilets,
water-saving appliances,
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and fix leaky faucets and sprinkler heads,
but nothing about animal agriculture.
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When I added up
all the government's recommendations,
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I was saving 47 gallons a day.
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But still, that's not even close to the
660 gallons of water for just one burger.
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I wanted to see if I could somehow
talk with the government about this.
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I'm just calling to see
if we could schedule an interview.
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MAN: (ON PHONE) Yeah, that would be good.
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What does your schedule look like
this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon?
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Um, tomorrow afternoon could be good.
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For the urban environment, a lot
of things that can be done indoors, um,
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using low-flow showerheads,
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low-flow faucets,
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efficient toilets,
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efficient, um, water-using appliances,
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all those are really good areas
that can help quite a lot.
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But the biggest water savings
is from outdoors.
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We have to be mindful
of the way we use water.
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We have to use it
as efficiently as possible.
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We have to protect its quality.
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And we have to be good stewards
of the environment that depend on water.
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And checking the sprinklers.
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A lot of time, you get
a lot of leaks and broken sprinklers
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and things like that that wastes water.
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Those are the areas that
there is a lot of room for conservation.
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ANDERSEN: What kept on coming up a lot
was animal agriculture.
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Can you comment on that at all,
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about how much that plays a role
in water consumption and pollution?
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That's... I mean, that's not my area.
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ANDERSEN: There's one study that found
that one pound of beef,
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2,500 gallons of water.
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-Yeah.
-Yeah.
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ANDERSEN: Eggs is 477 gallons of water,
and cheese almost 900 gallons.
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I guess one simple...
Why isn't it on Save Our Water?
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Just... It's kind of like
if you went to someone's house
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and my neighbor has a faucet dripping,
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and then you see this giant hose
turned full-blast
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until 660 gallons of water
are shooting out into the street,
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flooding the entire street.
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I think I would say,
"Hey, turn that off, please."
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Seems like it's a huge thing that we could
be doing by far more than anything else.
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Just, like, if that is really the case.
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I think that the water footprint
of animal husbandry
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is greater than other activities.
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There's no ifs, ands or buts about it.
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ANDERSEN: That would be really powerful.
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Rather than waiting
till we're in a drought,
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what do you think about just starting now,
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and say to whoever's in charge
of Save Our Water,
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"Hey, let's start encouraging people
to eat less meat now
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"because these studies are coming out"?
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-I don't think that'll happen.
-ANDERSEN: Why?
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-I don't think that'll happen.
-ANDERSEN: Why?
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Because of the way
government is set up here.
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ANDERSEN: That's interesting, though.
Why, though?
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One is water management,
and the other one is behavior change.
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ANDERSEN: Behavior of taking showers
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and not watering your lawn
and doing all that,
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that's behavior.
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Yeah.
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ANDERSEN: Wow.
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Clearly, the government
did not want to talk about this issue.
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Their inability to answer, along with
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the environmental organization's silence
on the topic of animal agriculture,
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made it seem something more was going on.
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I started doing more investigating
on the impacts of livestock
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and found out the situation
was actually worse than I'd thought.
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The transportation and energy sectors are
understandably given a lot of attention
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because of the terrible impact
carbon dioxide is having on our climate.
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But animal agriculture produces
65% of the world's nitrous oxide,
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a gas with a global warming potential
296 times greater than CO2 per pound.
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Yet all we hear about is fossil fuels.
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Energy-related CO2 emissions are
expected to increase 20% by the year 2040.
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Yet emissions from agriculture
are predicted to increase 80% by 2050.
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This devastating figure is mostly due to
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a projected global increase
in meat and dairy consumption.
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According to two environmental specialists
at the World Bank Group,
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using the global standard
for measuring greenhouse gases,
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concluded that animal agriculture
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was responsible for 51%
of human-caused climate change
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when the loss of carbon sinks, respiration
and methane are properly accounted for,
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which the UN study failed to address.
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But not only that, I found out
that raising animals for food
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is responsible for
30% of the world's water consumption,
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occupies up to 45% of the Earth's land,
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is responsible for up to 91%
of Brazilian Amazon destruction,
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is a leading cause of ocean dead zones,
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habitat destruction,
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and species extinction.
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Yet the largest environmental groups
that are supposed to be saving our world
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didn't have this as their main focus?
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I had to speak with
environmental organizations
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and find out why
they weren't addressing this issue.
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I sent off dozens of emails,
made call after call, spent hours on hold.
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Days became weeks,
and weeks became months,
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and for some reason,
no one wanted to talk to me about this.
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So bizarre!
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I supported these organizations
for so long, and now was met with silence.
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I was, however,
able to connect with a handful of
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environmental authors and advocates
that were willing to address this issue.
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I took my old, trusty van, Super Blue,
out of retirement and hit the road.
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So my calculations are that
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without using any gas or oil or fuel
ever again from this day forward
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that we would still exceed
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our maximum carbon-equivalent,
greenhouse gas emissions,
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now the 565 gigatons, by the year 2030,
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without the electricity sector even
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or energy sector
even factored in the equation,
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all simply by
raising and eating livestock.
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If you reduce
the amount of methane emissions,
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the level in the atmosphere
goes down fairly quickly, within decades,
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as opposed to CO2, if you reduce
the emissions to the atmosphere,
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you don't really see a signal
in the atmosphere for 100 years or so.
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It's an environmental disaster
that's being ignored by the very people
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who should be championing.
Deforestation, land use, water scarcity,
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the destabilization of communities,
world hunger...
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The list doesn't stop.
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Free-living animals, 10,000 years ago,
made up 99% of the biomass.
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And human beings,
we only made up 1% of the biomass.
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Today, only 10,000 years later,
which is really just a fraction of time,
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we human beings
and the animals that we own as property
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make up 98% of the biomass.
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And wild, free-living animals
make up only 2%.
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We've basically completely stolen the
world, the Earth from free-living animals
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00:14:31,829 --> 00:14:34,624
to use for ourselves,
in our cows and pigs and chicken,
233
00:14:34,707 --> 00:14:38,503
and factory-farmed fish, and the oceans
have been even more devastated.
234
00:14:38,586 --> 00:14:41,714
Concerned researchers
of the loss of species
235
00:14:41,839 --> 00:14:47,429
agree that the primary cause of loss of
species on our Earth that we're witnessing
236
00:14:47,512 --> 00:14:50,515
is due to overgrazing and habitat loss
237
00:14:50,598 --> 00:14:53,726
from livestock production on land
and by overfishing,
238
00:14:53,810 --> 00:14:55,853
which I call fishing in our oceans.
239
00:14:55,937 --> 00:15:00,149
We're in the middle of the largest mass
extinction of species in 65 million years.
240
00:15:00,232 --> 00:15:03,695
The rainforest is being cut down
at the rate of an acre per second.
241
00:15:03,778 --> 00:15:07,239
And the driving force behind all of this
is animal agriculture.
242
00:15:07,323 --> 00:15:12,328
Cutting down the forests
to graze animals and to grow soybeans.
243
00:15:12,412 --> 00:15:13,830
Genetically-engineered soybeans
244
00:15:13,913 --> 00:15:16,916
to feed to the cows and pigs
and chickens and factory-farmed fish.
245
00:15:16,999 --> 00:15:21,504
Ninety-one percent of
the loss of rainforest
246
00:15:21,588 --> 00:15:23,673
in the Amazon area thus far, to date,
247
00:15:23,756 --> 00:15:27,677
91% that's been destroyed
is due to raising livestock.
248
00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:32,765
The leading cause of environmental
destruction is animal agriculture.
249
00:15:32,849 --> 00:15:34,350
ANDERSEN: I just couldn't understand why
250
00:15:34,434 --> 00:15:37,854
the world's largest environmental
organizations were not addressing this
251
00:15:37,937 --> 00:15:41,107
when their entire mission
is to help protect the environment.
252
00:15:41,190 --> 00:15:45,236
That's the thing, too, is they say,
"Use less coal, ride your bike."
253
00:15:45,319 --> 00:15:47,822
-What about "eat less meat"?
-Yeah.
254
00:15:47,905 --> 00:15:52,409
I think they focus-grouped it,
and it's a political loser.
255
00:15:52,494 --> 00:15:56,205
In terms of... Yeah, because they're
membership organizations, a lot of them.
256
00:15:56,288 --> 00:15:59,709
They're looking to maximize
the number of people making contributions.
257
00:15:59,792 --> 00:16:02,712
And if they get identified
as being anti-meat
258
00:16:02,795 --> 00:16:05,047
or challenging people
on their everyday habits,
259
00:16:05,131 --> 00:16:09,969
that's something that's so dear to people,
that it will hurt with their fundraising.
260
00:16:10,052 --> 00:16:13,055
They do not want to address
261
00:16:13,139 --> 00:16:16,518
the primary driving cause
of environmental devastation,
262
00:16:16,601 --> 00:16:20,897
which is animal agriculture,
because they're businesses.
263
00:16:20,980 --> 00:16:25,652
And they want to make sure that
they have a reliable source of funding.
264
00:16:25,735 --> 00:16:29,822
I had an invite to a meeting with Al Gore,
some years ago, now,
265
00:16:29,906 --> 00:16:34,243
and made these methane arguments,
and he was really push-back.
266
00:16:34,326 --> 00:16:35,662
That's just his argument.
267
00:16:35,745 --> 00:16:38,414
"It's hard enough
to get people to think about CO2.
268
00:16:38,498 --> 00:16:40,166
"Don't confuse them."
269
00:16:40,583 --> 00:16:42,627
I think that the problem with
a lot of organizations
270
00:16:42,710 --> 00:16:46,714
that are focused and have a laser focus
271
00:16:46,798 --> 00:16:51,093
don't go off message
because they don't want to piss off
272
00:16:51,177 --> 00:16:54,471
another whole group of people
that will make their lives difficult.
273
00:16:54,556 --> 00:16:59,101
If you listen to the majority
of the major environmental organizations,
274
00:16:59,185 --> 00:17:00,520
they're not telling you to do much,
275
00:17:00,603 --> 00:17:02,980
besides live your life
the way you've been living it,
276
00:17:03,064 --> 00:17:05,107
but change a light bulb from time to time,
277
00:17:05,191 --> 00:17:08,444
drive less, use less plastic,
recycle more...
278
00:17:08,528 --> 00:17:12,031
It's better for their fundraising
and better for their profile
279
00:17:12,114 --> 00:17:15,785
to create
a victim-and-perpetrator sort of plotline.
280
00:17:15,868 --> 00:17:19,080
It's like when we talk about the fact that
281
00:17:19,163 --> 00:17:23,960
when we have a dysfunctional family
and the father's an alcoholic,
282
00:17:24,043 --> 00:17:25,587
that's the one thing no one talks about.
283
00:17:25,670 --> 00:17:27,964
Everybody goes around that,
and yet it's the one thing
284
00:17:28,047 --> 00:17:32,426
that's causing the devastation
in the relationships in the family,
285
00:17:32,509 --> 00:17:34,011
because no one wants to talk about it.
286
00:17:34,971 --> 00:17:36,889
How could these organizations not know?
287
00:17:36,973 --> 00:17:40,392
The issue is right in front of them.
It's unmistakable at this point.
288
00:17:40,476 --> 00:17:44,480
And just like these organizations,
they're falling over themselves
289
00:17:44,564 --> 00:17:48,442
to show the general public
that climate change is human-caused.
290
00:17:48,525 --> 00:17:53,405
And in doing so, they completely fail
to see what's right in front of them.
291
00:17:53,489 --> 00:17:57,034
That animal agriculture,
raising and killing animals for food,
292
00:17:57,118 --> 00:17:58,535
is really what's killing the planet.
293
00:18:00,246 --> 00:18:01,330
ANDERSEN: That was it.
294
00:18:01,413 --> 00:18:04,291
No more emails, no more phone calls.
I had enough.
295
00:18:04,375 --> 00:18:06,252
I realized if I wanted answers,
I would have to
296
00:18:06,335 --> 00:18:09,088
go to these organizations' headquarters
in person.
297
00:18:11,257 --> 00:18:12,675
ANDERSEN: Hi, how's it going?
WOMAN: Good.
298
00:18:12,759 --> 00:18:16,553
ANDERSEN: We're doing
a full-length feature documentary,
299
00:18:16,638 --> 00:18:21,517
and it's on sustainability
and how animal agriculture plays a role.
300
00:18:21,601 --> 00:18:25,187
And we're seeing if
we could talk to David Barre.
301
00:18:25,271 --> 00:18:26,856
WOMAN: David Barre? Okay.
ANDERSEN: Barre. Yeah.
302
00:18:26,939 --> 00:18:28,107
WOMAN: Do you have
an appointment with him?
303
00:18:28,190 --> 00:18:29,483
ANDERSEN: Uh, we've been trying for...
304
00:18:29,566 --> 00:18:34,864
It's almost two months, and we haven't
even had one receptive email or anything.
305
00:18:34,947 --> 00:18:35,948
-Sure.
-So, just seeing if
306
00:18:36,032 --> 00:18:38,575
-we could just set something up.
-Uh... Let me... So, let me just...
307
00:18:38,660 --> 00:18:40,828
ANDERSEN: They sent out
their PR person instead.
308
00:18:40,912 --> 00:18:44,415
She refused to be filmed and told us
to turn off the camera, but promised
309
00:18:44,498 --> 00:18:47,752
someone from their rainforest,
ocean and climate change departments
310
00:18:47,835 --> 00:18:49,671
would all speak with us, finally.
311
00:18:52,506 --> 00:18:55,426
Next stop was to give Sierra Club a visit.
312
00:18:59,513 --> 00:19:03,309
Turns out, they were a bit more receptive
to me showing up at their doorstep.
313
00:19:03,392 --> 00:19:04,769
-Hey, how's it going?
-MAN: Good.
314
00:19:06,437 --> 00:19:10,441
ANDERSEN: With the climate change,
what's the leading cause of that?
315
00:19:10,524 --> 00:19:13,485
Well, it's basically
burning too many fossil fuels.
316
00:19:13,569 --> 00:19:14,737
Uh...
317
00:19:14,821 --> 00:19:18,866
So, coal, natural gas, oil,
318
00:19:18,950 --> 00:19:20,743
tar sands, oil shale.
319
00:19:20,827 --> 00:19:24,246
All these new exotic fuels
that are kind of hybrids between them.
320
00:19:24,330 --> 00:19:27,667
But that's basically
what is loading up the atmosphere,
321
00:19:27,750 --> 00:19:30,795
so we have this greenhouse effect
where the heat is getting trapped,
322
00:19:30,878 --> 00:19:33,422
and the temperatures are soaring
323
00:19:33,505 --> 00:19:37,468
at a rate that has never existed
in the history of the Earth.
324
00:19:39,679 --> 00:19:42,807
ANDERSEN: And what about
livestock and animal agriculture?
325
00:19:43,599 --> 00:19:44,934
Uh...
326
00:19:45,017 --> 00:19:47,937
Well, what about it?
I mean... Do you wanna...
327
00:19:48,020 --> 00:19:49,981
ANDERSEN: We're doing this research. We...
328
00:19:50,064 --> 00:19:53,818
A couple of the UN reports say
329
00:19:53,901 --> 00:19:58,114
livestock accounts for more than
all transportation put together.
330
00:19:58,197 --> 00:20:01,242
A recent 2009 Worldwatch report,
331
00:20:01,325 --> 00:20:06,163
livestock causes 51%
of all greenhouse gas emissions.
332
00:20:06,247 --> 00:20:07,707
Yeah, well, um...
333
00:20:07,790 --> 00:20:12,712
It is a big issue,
and we need to address that as well.
334
00:20:12,795 --> 00:20:16,423
But there's just so many
different potential sources
335
00:20:16,507 --> 00:20:19,468
of methane and carbon emissions.
336
00:20:19,551 --> 00:20:22,346
ANDERSEN: If the number one leading cause
337
00:20:22,429 --> 00:20:24,681
is animal agriculture
and meat consumption,
338
00:20:24,766 --> 00:20:29,561
then doesn't that need to be the
number one focus, if not the number two?
339
00:20:31,688 --> 00:20:35,818
Well, that's your assessment.
Our assessment is different.
340
00:20:38,029 --> 00:20:40,114
ANDERSEN: That was bizarre.
341
00:20:40,907 --> 00:20:43,785
So, Greenpeace got back to me today,
and said,
342
00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:47,538
(READING) "It was great
to meet with you yesterday.
343
00:20:47,621 --> 00:20:51,751
"I've spoken with various people
here at Greenpeace about your request,
344
00:20:51,834 --> 00:20:55,629
"but I'm afraid we're not going to
be able to help this time.
345
00:20:58,465 --> 00:21:00,968
"Thanks again,
and we wish you the best of luck."
346
00:21:01,052 --> 00:21:03,595
Greenpeace's response
reminded me of the statistic that
347
00:21:03,679 --> 00:21:06,808
116,000 pounds of farm animal excrement
348
00:21:06,891 --> 00:21:09,936
is produced every second
in the United States alone.
349
00:21:10,019 --> 00:21:13,940
That is enough waste per year to cover
every square foot of San Francisco,
350
00:21:14,023 --> 00:21:18,820
New York City, Tokyo, Paris, New Delhi,
351
00:21:18,903 --> 00:21:22,239
Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Rio de Janeiro,
352
00:21:22,323 --> 00:21:26,743
Delaware, Bali, Costa Rica,
and Denmark combined.
353
00:21:26,828 --> 00:21:28,245
(ALL SCREAMING)
354
00:21:28,329 --> 00:21:33,042
Livestock operations on land
has caused, or created,
355
00:21:33,125 --> 00:21:37,839
more than 500 nitrogen-flooded dead zones
around the world in our oceans,
356
00:21:37,922 --> 00:21:42,301
comprise more than 95,000 square miles
of areas completely devoid of life.
357
00:21:42,384 --> 00:21:45,888
So, any meaningful discussion
about the state of our oceans
358
00:21:45,972 --> 00:21:49,058
has to always begin by
359
00:21:49,141 --> 00:21:54,063
frank discussions about
land-based animal agriculture,
360
00:21:54,146 --> 00:21:57,024
which is not what our conservation groups,
361
00:21:57,108 --> 00:22:00,736
Oceana being the largest one in the world
right now, the most influential,
362
00:22:00,820 --> 00:22:01,821
as well as others...
363
00:22:01,904 --> 00:22:04,656
That's not what is at
the apex of their discussions.
364
00:22:04,740 --> 00:22:07,576
ANDERSEN: I went on my favorite
ocean-protection organization's website,
365
00:22:07,659 --> 00:22:10,787
Surfrider Foundation,
to see what they were doing about this.
366
00:22:10,872 --> 00:22:14,250
Mostly what I found were
campaigns about plastic bags and trash,
367
00:22:14,333 --> 00:22:16,460
but nothing about animal agriculture.
368
00:22:16,543 --> 00:22:21,132
What is the number one
coastal water quality-issue polluter?
369
00:22:21,673 --> 00:22:23,092
(STAMMERS)
370
00:22:23,759 --> 00:22:25,928
Yeah. I mean, a lot of it...
There's a... It's actually...
371
00:22:26,012 --> 00:22:28,639
I call it...
We call it the "toxic cocktail."
372
00:22:28,722 --> 00:22:31,600
Because it really is
this sort of diffused source.
373
00:22:31,683 --> 00:22:37,189
So it's, um, heavy metal from tires
and brakes and cars, heavy metals...
374
00:22:37,273 --> 00:22:39,066
It is these herbicides and pesticides.
375
00:22:39,150 --> 00:22:43,946
It's kind of picking up
everything we leave on the ground
376
00:22:44,030 --> 00:22:46,949
and collecting it together
and pushing it out into the ocean.
377
00:22:47,033 --> 00:22:49,826
So, it's hard
to actually target one thing.
378
00:22:49,911 --> 00:22:54,081
When we were doing our research
on this particular one, and run-off...
379
00:22:54,165 --> 00:22:57,793
And just increasingly as we're
interviewing more and more people,
380
00:22:57,876 --> 00:22:59,128
it keeps coming up.
381
00:22:59,211 --> 00:23:01,797
Animal agriculture, as being...
382
00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:06,427
And we read animal agriculture
as being the number one water polluter.
383
00:23:06,510 --> 00:23:09,471
-Considerably, by more than any other...
-Yeah, that's interesting.
384
00:23:09,555 --> 00:23:12,516
I guess it depends
on the regions that you focus on.
385
00:23:12,599 --> 00:23:16,228
Like the urban areas,
where we are here in Southern California,
386
00:23:16,312 --> 00:23:20,774
we don't see that because
there's not a lot of agricultural farms.
387
00:23:20,857 --> 00:23:23,319
But if you look in the Mid-Atlantic,
388
00:23:23,402 --> 00:23:26,405
Maryland, Virginia,
North Carolina, that region,
389
00:23:26,488 --> 00:23:30,201
I know there's a lot of poultry farms
and a lot of hog farms,
390
00:23:30,284 --> 00:23:32,578
and it's a huge waste issue.
391
00:23:32,661 --> 00:23:35,998
ANDERSEN: I was surprised that not only
did they not focus on farm run-off,
392
00:23:36,082 --> 00:23:40,794
but they also didn't mention any campaigns
about how our oceans are in near collapse.
393
00:23:40,877 --> 00:23:43,797
The UN reported that
three-quarters of the world's fisheries
394
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:49,095
are overexploited, fully exploited, or
significantly depleted due to overfishing.
395
00:23:49,178 --> 00:23:51,805
The oceans are under siege
like never before,
396
00:23:51,888 --> 00:23:54,225
and marine environments are in trouble.
397
00:23:54,308 --> 00:23:56,978
And if we don't wake up
and do something about it,
398
00:23:57,061 --> 00:24:00,064
we're gonna see fishless oceans
by the year 2048.
399
00:24:00,147 --> 00:24:02,024
That's the prediction from scientists.
400
00:24:02,108 --> 00:24:05,944
The fact that when people look at fishing,
sometimes they're only looking at
401
00:24:06,028 --> 00:24:09,906
the fact of the animals
who are actually consumed by humans,
402
00:24:09,991 --> 00:24:11,742
so we're not necessarily looking at
403
00:24:11,825 --> 00:24:14,536
all the animals
who are caught in the drift nets,
404
00:24:14,620 --> 00:24:17,873
all the other animals
who are killed in the industry.
405
00:24:17,956 --> 00:24:21,710
SUSAN HARTLAND:
We're at over 28 billion animals
406
00:24:21,793 --> 00:24:23,504
were pulled out of the ocean last year.
407
00:24:23,587 --> 00:24:25,589
They're not ever
given a chance to recover.
408
00:24:25,672 --> 00:24:28,467
They can't recover,
they don't multiply that quickly.
409
00:24:28,550 --> 00:24:31,262
They don't come back.
We're not giving them an opportunity.
410
00:24:31,345 --> 00:24:32,929
ANDERSEN: The way fishing is done today,
411
00:24:33,014 --> 00:24:35,724
to feed the demand
for 90 million tons of fish
412
00:24:35,807 --> 00:24:38,394
is primarily through massive fish nets.
413
00:24:38,477 --> 00:24:40,146
For every single pound of fish caught,
414
00:24:40,229 --> 00:24:44,066
there is up to five pounds
of untargeted species trapped,
415
00:24:44,150 --> 00:24:48,612
such as dolphins, whales, sea turtles,
and sharks, known as "bi-kill."
416
00:24:49,821 --> 00:24:53,784
If we're to imagine this same sort of
practice happening on the African savanna,
417
00:24:53,867 --> 00:24:55,619
targeting gazelle, but in the process,
418
00:24:55,702 --> 00:24:59,581
scooping up every single lion,
giraffe, ostrich and elephant,
419
00:24:59,665 --> 00:25:01,917
nobody would stand for it.
420
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:06,672
Yet, this is what is happening
in our oceans every single day.
421
00:25:08,465 --> 00:25:10,634
DR. OPPENLANDER:
Between 40 and 50 million sharks each year
422
00:25:10,717 --> 00:25:14,055
are killed in fishing lines
and fishing nets as bi-kill.
423
00:25:14,138 --> 00:25:16,598
Then their fins
might be cut off or not cut off,
424
00:25:16,682 --> 00:25:22,521
but they're caught initially as bi-kill,
and it's from fishing.
425
00:25:22,604 --> 00:25:26,900
It's from fishing in a sustainable manner,
in many cases,
426
00:25:26,983 --> 00:25:29,278
for fish that are labeled "sustainable"
427
00:25:29,361 --> 00:25:33,949
by, for instance, Oceana and
the sustainable-certified organizations.
428
00:25:34,032 --> 00:25:39,037
So my thought is, "Why would we
want to stop at banning shark-fin soup
429
00:25:39,121 --> 00:25:40,581
"if you're concerned about sharks?"
430
00:25:40,664 --> 00:25:44,460
Which all these organizations are,
and most of the public at large is now.
431
00:25:44,543 --> 00:25:47,504
If we really are concerned about sharks,
we would ban fishing.
432
00:25:47,588 --> 00:25:50,674
ANDERSEN: I went on the world's largest
ocean-conservation group's website,
433
00:25:50,757 --> 00:25:53,177
Oceana, to see
what they were doing about this.
434
00:25:53,260 --> 00:25:56,638
On their site, along with a TED Talk
by CEO Andy Sharpless,
435
00:25:56,722 --> 00:25:59,308
I was astounded to read
they actually recommend
436
00:25:59,391 --> 00:26:02,769
that one of the best ways to help fish
is to eat fish.
437
00:26:02,853 --> 00:26:06,523
With the world's fish population
in near-collapse, this seems like saying
438
00:26:06,607 --> 00:26:09,985
the best way to help endangered pandas
is to eat pandas.
439
00:26:10,068 --> 00:26:11,778
I couldn't understand how Oceana could say
440
00:26:11,862 --> 00:26:15,866
we could remove close to
100 million tons of fish per year,
441
00:26:15,949 --> 00:26:19,536
and that could somehow be
sustainable and good for our oceans.
442
00:26:19,620 --> 00:26:20,954
DR. OPPENLANDER: Many of the species
443
00:26:21,037 --> 00:26:23,790
that are nearing extinction have done so
444
00:26:23,874 --> 00:26:28,795
are being ravaged and becoming
nearly extinct in a declining fashion,
445
00:26:28,879 --> 00:26:33,425
and haven't recovered
on the watch of Oceana
446
00:26:33,509 --> 00:26:36,553
and on the watch
of Marine Stewardship Council,
447
00:26:36,637 --> 00:26:40,516
and very much on the watch of
Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch,
448
00:26:40,599 --> 00:26:42,268
which, I mention in one of my lectures,
449
00:26:42,351 --> 00:26:44,145
they're aptly named
because that's what they're doing.
450
00:26:44,228 --> 00:26:48,357
They're watching this happen
instead of aggressively halting it.
451
00:26:50,817 --> 00:26:55,531
According to the United Nations'
Food and Agriculture Organization,
452
00:26:55,614 --> 00:26:58,200
roughly three-quarters
of all the fisheries out there
453
00:26:58,284 --> 00:27:00,786
are either
fully exploited or overexploited.
454
00:27:00,869 --> 00:27:04,873
So there's really not
a whole lot of fish stocks out there
455
00:27:04,956 --> 00:27:09,961
that you might consider
at healthy levels for the ecosystem.
456
00:27:10,045 --> 00:27:14,591
ANDERSEN: Watching Andy's TED Talk
about feeding the world...
457
00:27:14,675 --> 00:27:19,221
In 1988, fish catch, as you mention,
peaked at 85 million tons.
458
00:27:19,305 --> 00:27:25,060
How is it possible that we can
sustainably catch 100 million tons by 2050
459
00:27:25,143 --> 00:27:30,065
regardless if it's in a farm
or if it's in the ocean?
460
00:27:30,148 --> 00:27:32,401
If for every pound of fish
you're taking out,
461
00:27:32,484 --> 00:27:35,612
you're essentially taking out
five pounds of wild fish,
462
00:27:35,696 --> 00:27:40,367
no matter whether
it's a pond or it's in the ocean,
463
00:27:40,451 --> 00:27:42,578
how can that be sustainable?
464
00:27:48,375 --> 00:27:50,461
The ultimate question, right,
465
00:27:50,544 --> 00:27:55,507
is that there is a tremendous amount
of natural production
466
00:27:55,591 --> 00:28:00,346
that is basically
coming out of the oceans all the time.
467
00:28:00,429 --> 00:28:05,100
So we have a massive amount of
upwelling from our ocean conveyer belt
468
00:28:05,183 --> 00:28:09,605
that's bringing up ancient,
1,000-year-old nutrients,
469
00:28:09,688 --> 00:28:12,733
and our ecosystems
are turning that into fish.
470
00:28:12,816 --> 00:28:14,109
Yes, they're eating each other,
471
00:28:14,192 --> 00:28:18,572
and you're losing some of that production
every step up in the food chain,
472
00:28:18,655 --> 00:28:20,282
but you get more every year.
473
00:28:20,366 --> 00:28:24,620
You can fish and take some out,
and next year, there will be more.
474
00:28:24,703 --> 00:28:26,121
And if we do that right,
475
00:28:26,204 --> 00:28:29,541
without ultimately hitting
the fundamental driver,
476
00:28:29,625 --> 00:28:32,628
it's sort of like
living off the interest, right?
477
00:28:32,711 --> 00:28:36,465
As long as you don't
bring your principal down, right...
478
00:28:36,548 --> 00:28:37,758
If you're investing in something,
479
00:28:37,841 --> 00:28:39,635
as long as you're not
hitting into that principal
480
00:28:39,718 --> 00:28:41,303
and your principal remains high,
481
00:28:41,387 --> 00:28:43,805
you could potentially
live off the interest forever.
482
00:28:43,889 --> 00:28:45,682
And that's the basic idea with fish.
483
00:28:45,766 --> 00:28:49,311
ANDERSEN: With our population right now,
what we're doing,
484
00:28:49,395 --> 00:28:53,690
if it's 75% depleted,
the fish is now depleted.
485
00:28:53,774 --> 00:28:57,027
And it's a good analogy with money.
486
00:28:57,110 --> 00:29:00,322
We're not living off our interest,
we're in extreme debt.
487
00:29:00,406 --> 00:29:02,658
And if our population,
488
00:29:02,741 --> 00:29:06,995
who's trying to live as a family
on the same amount of money,
489
00:29:07,078 --> 00:29:08,997
-and it's increasing 35%
-(CHUCKLES)
490
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:10,832
to 9 billion people...
491
00:29:10,916 --> 00:29:11,917
Right.
492
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,337
ANDERSEN: Isn't it just,
"Hey, we gotta stop spending money"?
493
00:29:15,421 --> 00:29:16,672
-Yeah.
-"We need to stop eating fish."
494
00:29:16,755 --> 00:29:19,174
Well, if you could
bring the principal back.
495
00:29:19,258 --> 00:29:23,345
Fishing of any type
is depleting not only the species,
496
00:29:23,429 --> 00:29:28,767
but you get into this serial depletion
where one fish species will be minimized
497
00:29:28,850 --> 00:29:33,814
and the fishing industry for that fishery
will move onto the next species.
498
00:29:33,897 --> 00:29:37,609
It's called serial depletion.
It's aptly named.
499
00:29:37,693 --> 00:29:39,736
In the process...
So the fish are being lost.
500
00:29:39,820 --> 00:29:44,533
Not only the species is being lost,
but the next in line is being lost.
501
00:29:44,616 --> 00:29:48,036
And then the mechanism
is still extremely destructive.
502
00:29:48,119 --> 00:29:50,331
So they're losing the fish species,
503
00:29:50,414 --> 00:29:53,875
but it needs to be kept in mind
they're also destroying habitat.
504
00:29:53,959 --> 00:29:56,795
I think they came up with this term
"sustainable fishing"
505
00:29:56,878 --> 00:29:59,506
to make ourselves feel good about
506
00:29:59,590 --> 00:30:04,010
eating fish and continuing to
take fish out of the oceans,
507
00:30:04,094 --> 00:30:06,555
when, in fact, really,
it's Sea Shepherd's position
508
00:30:06,638 --> 00:30:09,140
that there is no such thing
as sustainable fishing.
509
00:30:09,224 --> 00:30:14,771
Seafood is not
a sustainable protein source
510
00:30:14,855 --> 00:30:17,816
for the feeding of the planet.
511
00:30:17,899 --> 00:30:20,361
For the people on the planet,
it's just not.
512
00:30:20,652 --> 00:30:22,904
People don't wanna hear it.
Because that makes them feel like
513
00:30:22,988 --> 00:30:26,074
they have to take action,
they have to stop doing something,
514
00:30:26,157 --> 00:30:28,869
and a lot of people don't want to.
And people don't wanna...
515
00:30:28,952 --> 00:30:31,455
They don't want to put it out there,
because it's uncomfortable.
516
00:30:31,538 --> 00:30:33,332
They don't want to propose
to tell people what to do.
517
00:30:33,415 --> 00:30:36,251
But we're at a point
where we all have to be cognizant.
518
00:30:36,335 --> 00:30:38,379
And we have to realize
and we have to take an action.
519
00:30:38,462 --> 00:30:42,758
Our founder, Captain Watson, likes to say,
"If the oceans die, we die."
520
00:30:42,841 --> 00:30:45,301
That's not a tag line. That's the truth.
521
00:30:45,386 --> 00:30:47,346
ANDERSEN: Perhaps the only other ecosystem
522
00:30:47,429 --> 00:30:49,848
that is being destroyed
at such a rapid rate
523
00:30:49,931 --> 00:30:51,933
are the world's rainforests.
524
00:30:52,017 --> 00:30:55,186
Our global rainforests
are essentially the planet's lungs.
525
00:30:55,270 --> 00:30:58,399
They breathe in CO2 and exhale oxygen.
526
00:30:58,482 --> 00:31:02,027
An acre of rainforest is cleared
every second.
527
00:31:02,110 --> 00:31:06,782
And the leading cause is to
graze animals and grow their feed crops.
528
00:31:06,865 --> 00:31:11,787
That is essentially an entire football
field cleared every single second.
529
00:31:11,870 --> 00:31:14,122
And it is estimated that every day,
530
00:31:14,205 --> 00:31:18,126
close to 100 plant, animal,
and insect species are lost
531
00:31:18,209 --> 00:31:20,128
due to rainforest destruction.
532
00:31:20,712 --> 00:31:22,255
(MOOING)
533
00:31:35,060 --> 00:31:37,646
ANDERSEN:
What is the absolute leading cause
534
00:31:37,729 --> 00:31:38,772
of rainforest destruction?
535
00:31:39,940 --> 00:31:43,276
Human intervention into rainforests
is the leading cause.
536
00:31:43,359 --> 00:31:46,822
And so, it's either for logging
or it's for agribusiness.
537
00:31:46,905 --> 00:31:49,282
And that's when you're looking at
the top global drivers,
538
00:31:49,365 --> 00:31:52,828
it will vary a bit by
the rainforest that you're talking about.
539
00:31:52,911 --> 00:31:54,370
But the way that we're choosing to
540
00:31:54,455 --> 00:32:01,169
use these natural resources on a large
industrial scale is the leading driver.
541
00:32:01,252 --> 00:32:03,338
ANDERSEN: When I went on
Rainforest Action Network's website,
542
00:32:03,422 --> 00:32:06,842
I couldn't believe
I didn't see anything about cattle.
543
00:32:06,925 --> 00:32:09,678
But I did see they had
a large campaign against palm oil.
544
00:32:09,761 --> 00:32:12,639
Palm oil plantations
are causing tremendous deforestation
545
00:32:12,723 --> 00:32:14,057
in the Indonesian rainforest.
546
00:32:14,140 --> 00:32:15,434
It is estimated that
547
00:32:15,517 --> 00:32:19,730
palm oil is responsible
for 26 million acres being cleared.
548
00:32:19,813 --> 00:32:22,899
Though, compared to livestock
and their feed crops,
549
00:32:22,983 --> 00:32:28,447
they were responsible for 136 million
acres of rainforest lost to date.
550
00:32:28,530 --> 00:32:30,699
But on their website,
I was shocked to find
551
00:32:30,782 --> 00:32:34,410
cattle was not included
as one of their four main key issues.
552
00:32:34,495 --> 00:32:38,874
Instead they focused on palm,
pulp and paper, coal, and tar sands?
553
00:32:38,957 --> 00:32:42,210
How could they not have the leading
cause of rainforest destruction?
554
00:32:42,293 --> 00:32:46,089
I had to wonder, "Why focus on
fossil fuels and not cattle?"
555
00:32:46,172 --> 00:32:50,552
ANDERSEN: Is it more fossil fuels,
or is it more animal agriculture?
556
00:32:50,636 --> 00:32:52,721
I don't know why we would ever
do a one-or-the-other.
557
00:32:52,804 --> 00:32:55,348
ANDERSEN: I'm just wondering,
what more is it?
558
00:32:56,391 --> 00:32:58,560
I don't necessarily know what it is.
559
00:32:58,644 --> 00:33:00,436
ANDERSEN: Could the executive director
560
00:33:00,521 --> 00:33:03,857
of one of the world's largest
rainforest protection groups
561
00:33:03,940 --> 00:33:05,901
honestly not know what was going on?
562
00:33:05,984 --> 00:33:08,570
Or even worse,
were they hiding it on purpose?
563
00:33:08,654 --> 00:33:09,863
And if so, why?
564
00:33:09,946 --> 00:33:11,823
I immediately went to Amazon Watch
to see if
565
00:33:11,907 --> 00:33:16,036
they would say what the leading cause
of rainforest destruction truly is.
566
00:33:16,119 --> 00:33:19,998
The most biologically
and culturally diverse place on the planet
567
00:33:21,457 --> 00:33:23,418
is under massive attack right now.
568
00:33:23,502 --> 00:33:28,924
The Amazon rainforest itself could be
gone in the matter of the next 10 years.
569
00:33:29,007 --> 00:33:32,343
ANDERSEN: What is the leading cause
of rainforest destruction?
570
00:33:34,179 --> 00:33:38,391
The leading cause (EXHALES)
of rainforest destruction,
571
00:33:39,267 --> 00:33:40,310
um...
572
00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:42,521
I would say,
573
00:33:42,604 --> 00:33:46,608
well, just to put it in the context
of what Amazon Watch works on,
574
00:33:46,692 --> 00:33:47,984
um,
575
00:33:48,068 --> 00:33:52,573
there's many, many drivers
of deforestation, as we call them.
576
00:33:52,656 --> 00:33:57,452
Many different reasons and ways
that rainforests are destroyed.
577
00:33:57,536 --> 00:34:02,541
The ones that cause the most damage
and are the most widespread
578
00:34:03,208 --> 00:34:07,003
are mega projects,
such as oil and gas pipelines,
579
00:34:07,087 --> 00:34:11,382
such as mining projects,
such as mega dam projects.
580
00:34:11,466 --> 00:34:12,467
We're not talking about...
581
00:34:12,551 --> 00:34:15,095
ANDERSEN: I felt like I was
going in circles with all these groups.
582
00:34:15,178 --> 00:34:18,056
As if I were stuck in some strange
cowspiracy twilight zone
583
00:34:18,139 --> 00:34:20,225
where no one could talk about cows.
584
00:34:20,308 --> 00:34:22,728
I couldn't believe
these organizations just wouldn't say
585
00:34:22,811 --> 00:34:26,481
what the leading cause
of rainforest destruction truly is.
586
00:34:26,565 --> 00:34:28,358
I had to ask one more time.
587
00:34:29,568 --> 00:34:34,489
It's hard to say what is a leading cause
of deforestation of the Amazon
588
00:34:34,573 --> 00:34:39,703
because they're all destructive,
oil and gas, mining, dams, agriculture.
589
00:34:39,786 --> 00:34:41,454
But in terms of land use,
590
00:34:41,537 --> 00:34:48,336
in terms of the amount of land
that, um, is destroyed by...
591
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:49,921
Um...
592
00:34:51,798 --> 00:34:56,803
When we talk about, in comparison, all
those different causes of deforestation,
593
00:34:56,887 --> 00:35:00,932
what is causing the most trees
to fall, for example,
594
00:35:02,017 --> 00:35:03,018
um,
595
00:35:03,685 --> 00:35:05,979
I think it would definitely
be agriculture.
596
00:35:06,437 --> 00:35:11,610
Unfortunately one of
the biggest causes of deforestation,
597
00:35:12,152 --> 00:35:13,194
um,
598
00:35:13,278 --> 00:35:16,197
definitely in the Brazilian Amazon,
is agribusiness.
599
00:35:16,281 --> 00:35:19,993
Cattle grazing and soy production
in particular.
600
00:35:20,952 --> 00:35:22,287
ANDERSEN: This is really what's going on.
601
00:35:22,621 --> 00:35:25,540
-Mmm-hmm.
-ANDERSEN: Why do you think
602
00:35:25,624 --> 00:35:30,671
no one at Greenpeace,
or no one's really saying the whole story?
603
00:35:30,754 --> 00:35:34,382
The whole story about
the main cause of deforestation?
604
00:35:34,465 --> 00:35:35,591
ANDERSEN: Yeah.
605
00:35:37,803 --> 00:35:39,554
I think you've brought up
some really good points about,
606
00:35:39,638 --> 00:35:43,058
"Why isn't anybody
doing anything about this?"
607
00:35:43,141 --> 00:35:45,560
And I think in Brazil, in particular,
608
00:35:45,644 --> 00:35:49,981
I think when we look at what happened
after the Forest Code was passed,
609
00:35:50,065 --> 00:35:51,858
and people who were standing up
610
00:35:51,942 --> 00:35:56,196
against the lobbyists and the interests,
the special interests,
611
00:35:56,279 --> 00:35:59,240
the cattle industry, the agribusiness
industry, what was happening to them.
612
00:35:59,324 --> 00:36:02,035
A lot of people who were speaking out
got killed.
613
00:36:02,118 --> 00:36:05,789
If you look at José Carlos,
you look at Claudio...
614
00:36:05,872 --> 00:36:09,042
There's people who were
putting themselves out there
615
00:36:09,125 --> 00:36:13,504
and saying cattle ranching
is destroying the Amazon.
616
00:36:15,006 --> 00:36:18,051
A lot of those people who are really
putting themselves out there.
617
00:36:18,134 --> 00:36:23,598
And look at Dorothy Stang, the nun
who lived out in Pará who was killed.
618
00:36:25,433 --> 00:36:26,852
A lot of people will speak up,
619
00:36:26,935 --> 00:36:28,854
but a lot of people
just keep their mouths shut
620
00:36:28,937 --> 00:36:32,816
'cause they don't wanna be the next one
with the bullet to their head.
621
00:36:34,860 --> 00:36:37,195
ANDERSEN: Sister Dorothy Stang
was a US-born nun
622
00:36:37,278 --> 00:36:39,906
living in the heart
of the Brazilian rainforest.
623
00:36:39,990 --> 00:36:42,617
Her life's work was to protect the Amazon.
624
00:36:42,701 --> 00:36:43,994
She spoke out openly
625
00:36:44,077 --> 00:36:47,914
against the destruction of rainforest
from cattle ranching for years.
626
00:36:47,998 --> 00:36:50,959
Walking home one night,
she was brutally gunned down
627
00:36:51,042 --> 00:36:52,878
-at point-blank range
-(GUNSHOT)
628
00:36:52,961 --> 00:36:54,796
by a hired gun from the cattle industry.
629
00:37:13,064 --> 00:37:15,650
After Greenpeace's
initial denial for an interview,
630
00:37:15,734 --> 00:37:18,153
I wrote again, begging they reconsider.
631
00:37:18,236 --> 00:37:21,322
Greenpeace got back again,
632
00:37:21,406 --> 00:37:22,657
and said again,
633
00:37:22,741 --> 00:37:26,702
"I'm afraid we've explored
the options here in terms of helping you,
634
00:37:26,787 --> 00:37:31,166
"and are not going to be able
to be involved this time.
635
00:37:31,249 --> 00:37:33,752
"You mentioned
you were also speaking to Oceana.
636
00:37:33,835 --> 00:37:38,464
"I'm sure they'll be able to give you some
great quotes about ocean-related issues.
637
00:37:38,548 --> 00:37:40,967
"Thanks again for thinking of us."
638
00:37:42,761 --> 00:37:43,762
Unbelievable.
639
00:37:43,845 --> 00:37:45,847
With Greenpeace
unwilling to be interviewed,
640
00:37:45,931 --> 00:37:47,766
I had to find
a different avenue for answers.
641
00:37:47,849 --> 00:37:51,311
There's something really fishy
going on over there.
642
00:37:51,394 --> 00:37:54,522
Fortunately, l found
a former Greenpeace Board of Director
643
00:37:54,605 --> 00:37:57,358
who now speaks openly about the industry.
644
00:37:57,442 --> 00:37:59,903
Environmental organizations,
like other organizations,
645
00:37:59,986 --> 00:38:02,238
are not telling you the truth
646
00:38:02,322 --> 00:38:06,827
about what the world needs
from us as a species.
647
00:38:06,910 --> 00:38:10,956
It's so frustrating when the information
is right before their eyes.
648
00:38:11,039 --> 00:38:15,210
It's documented in
peer-reviewed papers and journals.
649
00:38:15,293 --> 00:38:17,420
It's there for everybody to see.
650
00:38:17,503 --> 00:38:21,842
But the environmental organizations
are refusing to act.
651
00:38:21,925 --> 00:38:23,509
Nowhere do you find in their policies
652
00:38:23,593 --> 00:38:27,097
and nowhere do you find
in the Greenpeace mission
653
00:38:27,180 --> 00:38:32,936
that diet is important,
that animal agriculture is the problem.
654
00:38:33,769 --> 00:38:36,314
They are refusing,
like other environmental organizations,
655
00:38:36,397 --> 00:38:38,649
to look at the issue.
656
00:38:38,733 --> 00:38:43,989
The environmental community is failing us
and they're failing ecosystems.
657
00:38:44,739 --> 00:38:49,327
And it's so frustrating
to see them do this.
658
00:38:52,788 --> 00:38:55,876
"NRDC, the Earth's best defense."
659
00:38:55,959 --> 00:39:02,673
All right, so here they actually do have
a few things on animal agriculture.
660
00:39:07,095 --> 00:39:12,808
The leading cause of environmental
degradation is too much pollution
661
00:39:12,893 --> 00:39:17,563
and too many engines churning too fast
662
00:39:17,647 --> 00:39:20,984
in too many places around the globe.
663
00:39:21,192 --> 00:39:23,945
ANDERSEN: Lately, in 2009,
Worldwatch reported that
664
00:39:24,029 --> 00:39:28,116
livestock causes 51%
of greenhouse gas emissions,
665
00:39:28,199 --> 00:39:30,160
and transportation's around 13%.
666
00:39:30,243 --> 00:39:34,330
And on the low end,
the UN was around 18% to 30%,
667
00:39:34,414 --> 00:39:38,501
which is more than
all transportation all put together.
668
00:39:38,584 --> 00:39:43,298
-Internationally? Or nationally?
-ANDERSEN: The entire globe. Yeah.
669
00:39:43,381 --> 00:39:50,305
I think energy production and
transportation are still major sources,
670
00:39:50,388 --> 00:39:52,390
so I think, um...
671
00:39:52,473 --> 00:39:54,142
I guess I'm not gonna comment on that
672
00:39:54,225 --> 00:39:56,186
because I'm not familiar
with those numbers.
673
00:39:56,269 --> 00:39:57,979
So it's... (CHUCKLES)
674
00:39:58,063 --> 00:40:01,024
Don't quote me on this,
but that's cow farts.
675
00:40:01,107 --> 00:40:03,318
That's, I think, what that is.
676
00:40:03,401 --> 00:40:04,819
-ANDERSEN: It's...
-(LAUGHS)
677
00:40:05,987 --> 00:40:07,948
I think that's cow farts.
678
00:40:08,031 --> 00:40:09,615
(WOMAN LAUGHING)
679
00:40:10,241 --> 00:40:12,994
(LAUGHING)
680
00:40:13,078 --> 00:40:14,996
ANDERSEN: Well, that's part of the story.
681
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:17,873
Methane production from cows
and other livestock's flatulence
682
00:40:17,958 --> 00:40:19,584
is a major contributor.
683
00:40:19,667 --> 00:40:23,004
But mostly, it is due to deforestation
and the waste they produce,
684
00:40:23,088 --> 00:40:27,675
which is 130 times more waste
than the entire human population.
685
00:40:27,758 --> 00:40:31,471
Virtually all without the benefit
of any waste treatment.
686
00:40:32,180 --> 00:40:36,892
NRDC absolutely, as I said,
has a big food program.
687
00:40:36,977 --> 00:40:40,521
In fact, every year we do
the Growing Green Awards,
688
00:40:40,605 --> 00:40:42,898
and we recognize food innovators.
689
00:40:42,983 --> 00:40:44,817
And this last year,
690
00:40:44,900 --> 00:40:50,823
one of the awardees was
a sustainable pork producer, actually,
691
00:40:50,906 --> 00:40:54,452
that doesn't use any antibiotics.
692
00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:57,413
And also the antibiotic use
693
00:40:57,497 --> 00:41:03,753
that industrial food production
in the United States uses right now is...
694
00:41:03,836 --> 00:41:04,837
We're giving...
695
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:08,841
The majority of antibiotics
in the United States
696
00:41:08,924 --> 00:41:12,470
are administered to healthy livestock.
697
00:41:15,556 --> 00:41:18,977
ANDERSEN: I wanted to visit
one of these sustainable farms.
698
00:41:19,060 --> 00:41:23,648
I found the Markegard Grass-Fed beef farm
on the lush, misty California coast.
699
00:41:32,407 --> 00:41:35,994
I met Erik and Doniga Markegard
and their four children.
700
00:41:38,204 --> 00:41:40,248
DONIGA: Lea and Larry
are usually up at 6:00
701
00:41:40,331 --> 00:41:44,919
and out milking the cows,
slopping the hogs.
702
00:41:53,053 --> 00:41:58,308
All together, we graze about 4,500 acres.
703
00:42:00,226 --> 00:42:02,437
And this is our home ranch.
704
00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:06,649
And this is 952 acres of that.
705
00:42:08,359 --> 00:42:14,699
On average, it's about one cow,
or a cow and a calf, per every 10 acres.
706
00:42:17,827 --> 00:42:19,662
We would produce annually
707
00:42:19,745 --> 00:42:25,210
roughly 80,000 pounds
of finished, plate-ready meat.
708
00:42:32,883 --> 00:42:39,099
We keep about 10 pigs
in roughly a 50-acre area,
709
00:42:39,182 --> 00:42:43,018
and we move them around
in 10-acre pastures.
710
00:42:43,103 --> 00:42:46,981
Some people think that
pigs are dirty and gross,
711
00:42:47,065 --> 00:42:48,774
but I really like them.
712
00:42:50,025 --> 00:42:55,365
They know people,
and they'll be friends and really nice.
713
00:42:56,949 --> 00:43:01,829
And they could be like your best friend,
or could be like a sister.
714
00:43:01,912 --> 00:43:03,748
See?
715
00:43:03,831 --> 00:43:06,459
They know you when you get to know them.
716
00:43:08,294 --> 00:43:11,005
LEA: I shouldn't be bonding,
but we have to have nice pigs.
717
00:43:11,089 --> 00:43:12,965
Why shouldn't you bond with them?
718
00:43:13,048 --> 00:43:14,884
Well, because they're
gonna turn into bacon.
719
00:43:14,967 --> 00:43:16,302
Oh.
720
00:43:16,386 --> 00:43:21,391
These pigs are about seven months old now.
721
00:43:21,474 --> 00:43:22,475
That's it? Wow.
722
00:43:22,558 --> 00:43:24,977
So these bigger ones
are getting ready to be killed.
723
00:43:25,060 --> 00:43:30,108
Those two smaller ones there,
they could grow up a few more months.
724
00:43:31,484 --> 00:43:34,904
I love animals. And I...
725
00:43:34,987 --> 00:43:37,282
That's why I'm in the meat business.
726
00:43:37,365 --> 00:43:41,244
It's what more of society needs to see,
727
00:43:41,327 --> 00:43:46,499
is that that packaged piece of meat
is a living animal.
728
00:43:46,624 --> 00:43:47,625
(CHUCKLES)
729
00:43:47,708 --> 00:43:52,130
Living and breathing creature that...
730
00:43:52,213 --> 00:43:54,465
Yeah, it's hard, it's hard.
731
00:43:54,549 --> 00:43:57,843
But like what Doniga said earlier,
732
00:43:57,927 --> 00:44:00,305
we do it because we love them.
733
00:44:00,388 --> 00:44:02,973
ANDERSEN: With the land use,
there's anywhere between...
734
00:44:03,057 --> 00:44:10,022
With industrial, as low as
2 to 2.5 acres per cow,
735
00:44:10,105 --> 00:44:15,236
all the way up to some, depending...
It's not as lush as this, up to 35 acres.
736
00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:18,030
Yeah, we have a ranch in South Dakota
that's 50 acres.
737
00:44:18,113 --> 00:44:19,157
ANDERSEN: Fifty acres per...
738
00:44:19,240 --> 00:44:21,701
(CHUCKLING) Yeah,
it's about 50 acres, yeah.
739
00:44:21,784 --> 00:44:23,911
-ANDERSEN: And why is that?
-Uh...
740
00:44:23,994 --> 00:44:27,998
Same thing. It was just farmed
and robbed of all the nitrogen.
741
00:44:28,082 --> 00:44:29,459
-The land was abused.
-It's also seasonal, right?
742
00:44:29,542 --> 00:44:30,918
And it's also seasonal.
743
00:44:31,669 --> 00:44:33,963
ANDERSEN: Is it possible
and is it practical
744
00:44:34,046 --> 00:44:36,924
for the whole world to say,
745
00:44:37,007 --> 00:44:39,051
"Have grass-fed cattle"?
746
00:44:39,134 --> 00:44:41,053
Say Brazil,
747
00:44:41,136 --> 00:44:47,643
where supposedly 80% of the rainforest
was destroyed for cattle.
748
00:44:47,727 --> 00:44:50,438
What are your thoughts on that?
749
00:44:50,521 --> 00:44:52,315
They shouldn't be eating beef.
750
00:44:54,525 --> 00:44:59,280
If their environment
wasn't designed to raise beef,
751
00:44:59,364 --> 00:45:01,241
-then they shouldn't be eating it.
-Yeah.
752
00:45:01,324 --> 00:45:05,035
ANDERSEN: How do you offset
the carbon footprint of livestock?
753
00:45:05,870 --> 00:45:06,871
Uh...
754
00:45:09,499 --> 00:45:13,378
We don't feel like
livestock have a carbon footprint.
755
00:45:14,670 --> 00:45:16,797
ANDERSEN: I left there feeling confused.
756
00:45:16,881 --> 00:45:19,634
And as far as grass-fed beef
not having a carbon footprint,
757
00:45:19,717 --> 00:45:21,844
it actually sounded like
it could make sense,
758
00:45:21,927 --> 00:45:24,847
until I added up the numbers
on land use and population.
759
00:45:24,930 --> 00:45:27,099
If we're to use
the Markegard model of raising animals,
760
00:45:27,182 --> 00:45:30,728
which requires 4,500 acres
producing 80,000 pounds of meat,
761
00:45:30,811 --> 00:45:33,523
the average American eats
209 pounds of meat per year.
762
00:45:33,606 --> 00:45:37,985
If that was all grass-fed beef, only
382 people could be fed on their land.
763
00:45:38,068 --> 00:45:43,324
That equates to 11.7 acres per person
times 314 million Americans,
764
00:45:43,408 --> 00:45:46,827
which equals 3.7 billion acres
of grazing land.
765
00:45:46,911 --> 00:45:51,957
Unfortunately, there are only 1.9 billion
acres in the US's lower 48 states.
766
00:45:52,041 --> 00:45:54,377
Currently nearly half
of all United States' land
767
00:45:54,460 --> 00:45:56,837
is already dedicated
to animal agriculture.
768
00:45:56,921 --> 00:45:58,673
If we're to switch over to grass-fed beef,
769
00:45:58,756 --> 00:46:01,842
it would require clearing
every square inch of the United States,
770
00:46:01,926 --> 00:46:06,013
up into Canada, all of Central America,
and well into South America.
771
00:46:06,096 --> 00:46:09,016
And this is just to feed
the United States' demand on meat.
772
00:46:09,099 --> 00:46:12,019
But that figure doesn't even
take into consideration
773
00:46:12,102 --> 00:46:14,397
that much of that land
isn't suited to graze livestock.
774
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:18,275
We would have to convert
all mountain ranges to grassland,
775
00:46:18,359 --> 00:46:21,529
clear ancient forests
and national parks to grazing,
776
00:46:21,612 --> 00:46:25,825
and demolish every city
just to make room to graze cows.
777
00:46:25,908 --> 00:46:30,287
Just like Brazil, the United States
isn't suited to meet the demands for meat.
778
00:46:30,371 --> 00:46:33,207
It takes 23 months for a grass-fed animal
779
00:46:33,290 --> 00:46:36,377
to grow to the point,
to the size and age that it's slaughtered,
780
00:46:36,461 --> 00:46:39,171
whereas a grain-fed takes 15 months.
781
00:46:39,254 --> 00:46:45,470
So that's an additional eight months
of water use, land use, feed, waste,
782
00:46:45,553 --> 00:46:48,889
and in terms of a carbon footprint,
that's a huge difference.
783
00:46:48,973 --> 00:46:50,891
ANDERSEN: Turns out, due to land use,
784
00:46:50,975 --> 00:46:54,895
grass-fed beef is more unsustainable
than even factory farming.
785
00:46:56,063 --> 00:46:59,650
I had to come to terms with the fact
there was no way to sustainably raise
786
00:46:59,734 --> 00:47:02,612
enough animals to feed
the world's current demand on meat,
787
00:47:02,695 --> 00:47:04,655
and had my doubts on dairy as well.
788
00:47:04,739 --> 00:47:07,658
But I did want to talk
with a premier organic dairy company
789
00:47:07,742 --> 00:47:11,621
to see if they believed their product was
sustainable for the world's population.
790
00:47:11,704 --> 00:47:15,082
It requires a lot of inputs
to produce milk.
791
00:47:15,165 --> 00:47:18,961
The feed, the water, the land. It does.
792
00:47:19,044 --> 00:47:23,215
And it may not be practical to expect that
793
00:47:23,298 --> 00:47:26,927
there can be enough dairy production
produced in a sustainable way
794
00:47:27,011 --> 00:47:28,971
to feed the entire world.
795
00:47:29,054 --> 00:47:32,808
I just don't think that
that's necessarily a given.
796
00:47:32,892 --> 00:47:36,228
I think it's maybe too much to expect
797
00:47:36,311 --> 00:47:42,234
that the world can be fed with dairy
in a sustainable way.
798
00:47:42,317 --> 00:47:47,740
I don't know the answer, but
common sense would say that's a long shot.
799
00:47:47,823 --> 00:47:50,660
ANDERSEN: I was shocked
to hear such an honest answer.
800
00:47:50,743 --> 00:47:55,164
If this is what the dairy CEO would say,
I wondered what the farmer would claim.
801
00:47:55,247 --> 00:47:59,209
Based on their marketing, it seemed
their farms were an oasis for cows.
802
00:48:04,381 --> 00:48:06,717
It was not what I expected.
803
00:48:11,764 --> 00:48:13,098
(AIR HISSING)
804
00:48:18,521 --> 00:48:23,484
Typically, a cow will eat
140 to 150 pounds of feed a day.
805
00:48:23,568 --> 00:48:24,777
ANDERSEN: A hundred and...
806
00:48:24,860 --> 00:48:27,447
A hundred and forty to 150 pounds
of feed every day.
807
00:48:27,572 --> 00:48:31,033
And then she's also gonna drink
between 30 and 40 gallons of water.
808
00:48:31,116 --> 00:48:32,409
ANDERSEN: Oh, my Lord.
809
00:48:32,493 --> 00:48:37,081
TAYLOR: Probably go through
about probably 20 tons per week.
810
00:48:37,164 --> 00:48:39,459
ANDERSEN: Twenty tons of...
TAYLOR: Twenty tons of grain per week.
811
00:48:39,542 --> 00:48:40,543
ANDERSEN: For?
812
00:48:40,626 --> 00:48:44,296
TAYLOR: Primarily for our milking cows,
so about 250 cows.
813
00:48:46,298 --> 00:48:49,343
Yeah, so the biggest part
of sustainability, to me,
814
00:48:49,426 --> 00:48:51,846
the number one thing on the list
should be profitability.
815
00:48:53,931 --> 00:48:57,267
So how the process completely works,
from start to finish,
816
00:48:57,351 --> 00:48:59,770
is the cow needs to have a baby
in order to give milk.
817
00:48:59,854 --> 00:49:01,105
And so she'll have her baby,
818
00:49:01,188 --> 00:49:05,025
that baby's gonna stay
with the mother for at least two days.
819
00:49:05,109 --> 00:49:07,820
The babies will go off
to our calf-raising facility,
820
00:49:07,903 --> 00:49:10,865
so they have an individual hutch
that they'll be raised in.
821
00:49:10,948 --> 00:49:14,451
Since we're a dairy,
it's only the girl cows that give us milk.
822
00:49:14,535 --> 00:49:18,873
So the boys, on typical dairies, they're
sold off to beef-raising facilities.
823
00:49:18,956 --> 00:49:20,708
But we do keep approximately half,
824
00:49:20,791 --> 00:49:23,836
and we raise them for two years
and sell them as organic grass-fed beef.
825
00:49:24,837 --> 00:49:27,131
So all dairy cows
eventually go to the beef industry?
826
00:49:27,214 --> 00:49:28,215
Mmm-hmm.
827
00:49:30,134 --> 00:49:31,969
TAYLOR: At some point in time,
she's really gonna drop off.
828
00:49:32,052 --> 00:49:34,429
And so you have to make
a business decision at that point.
829
00:49:34,514 --> 00:49:37,474
Are you gonna keep
investing in her to give milk,
830
00:49:37,558 --> 00:49:41,979
or are you gonna sell her off again to
another dairy, or into the beef industry?
831
00:49:52,281 --> 00:49:55,993
There's very few places on this planet
that have this type of environment.
832
00:49:56,076 --> 00:50:00,205
But the demand on dairy-based protein
in the world is only gonna increase.
833
00:50:00,289 --> 00:50:01,916
And there's not enough land on the planet
834
00:50:01,999 --> 00:50:06,587
to do this type of dairying
around the world. It's just...
835
00:50:06,671 --> 00:50:10,090
The environment is not gonna be that way.
The land's not there.
836
00:50:10,174 --> 00:50:11,884
So, I guess on a global scale,
837
00:50:11,967 --> 00:50:15,345
the conclusion would be
dairy's not sustainable.
838
00:50:17,097 --> 00:50:20,851
Unless we start digging up houses
and putting pastures back. (CHUCKLES)
839
00:50:22,562 --> 00:50:24,564
And the only way to start
digging up houses and development
840
00:50:24,647 --> 00:50:26,774
is to have less people.
841
00:50:26,857 --> 00:50:30,736
But we only know that the population
is gonna continue to grow.
842
00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:32,321
Um...
843
00:50:32,404 --> 00:50:35,282
So that means more
commercial dairying, I'm sure.
844
00:50:35,365 --> 00:50:37,827
Either that, or somehow
lower demand by the people?
845
00:50:37,910 --> 00:50:39,954
Yeah, or some other product
is gonna take its place.
846
00:50:40,037 --> 00:50:44,291
We see there's all sorts of
soy milks and almond milk
847
00:50:44,374 --> 00:50:46,543
and a lot of other products
that are coming out,
848
00:50:46,627 --> 00:50:50,798
and different blends
where you take juices and proteins.
849
00:50:50,881 --> 00:50:52,717
And I think you'll see a lot more of that.
850
00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:55,845
ANDERSEN: He was right.
How could cow's milk be sustainable?
851
00:50:55,928 --> 00:50:57,304
For in one gallon of milk,
852
00:50:57,387 --> 00:51:00,600
it takes upwards of
1,000 gallons of water to produce.
853
00:51:00,683 --> 00:51:03,936
Almost a third of the planet's land
is becoming desert,
854
00:51:04,019 --> 00:51:06,731
with a vast majority
due to livestock grazing.
855
00:51:06,814 --> 00:51:08,691
Doing research on grass-fed livestock,
856
00:51:08,774 --> 00:51:11,360
I kept coming across
the work of Allan Savory.
857
00:51:11,443 --> 00:51:15,489
Savory claims that the best way
to reverse this desertification
858
00:51:15,572 --> 00:51:18,075
is to actually graze more animals.
859
00:51:18,158 --> 00:51:19,785
This reminded me of Oceana saying,
860
00:51:19,869 --> 00:51:22,162
"The best way to help fish
is to eat fish."
861
00:51:22,246 --> 00:51:24,832
This is the same man, during the 1950s,
862
00:51:24,915 --> 00:51:28,836
working as a research officer for the
game department of what is now Zimbabwe,
863
00:51:28,919 --> 00:51:30,045
came up with a theory
864
00:51:30,129 --> 00:51:33,633
that actually elephants
were the cause of desertification there.
865
00:51:33,716 --> 00:51:38,428
And his solution was convincing
the government to kill 40,000 elephants.
866
00:51:42,599 --> 00:51:46,436
Yet, after 14 years
of relentless slaughter,
867
00:51:46,520 --> 00:51:49,857
the conditions only got worse.
868
00:51:49,940 --> 00:51:52,985
His theory was wrong.
869
00:51:53,068 --> 00:51:54,611
The culling finally ended,
870
00:51:54,695 --> 00:51:59,784
but not until tens of thousands of
elephants and their families were killed.
871
00:51:59,867 --> 00:52:03,663
This is not someone I would ever
take ecological advice from.
872
00:52:13,964 --> 00:52:15,675
It turns out, the cattle industry
873
00:52:15,758 --> 00:52:19,887
is having the same effect
on wildlife in the United States.
874
00:52:19,970 --> 00:52:22,472
DENIZE BOLBOL: The government has been
rounding up horses en masse,
875
00:52:22,556 --> 00:52:26,393
and we now have more wild horses and
burros in government holding facilities,
876
00:52:26,476 --> 00:52:29,939
50,000 wild horses and burros
in government holding facilities,
877
00:52:30,022 --> 00:52:31,398
than we have free on the range.
878
00:52:31,481 --> 00:52:32,692
Basically, you have ranchers
879
00:52:32,775 --> 00:52:37,404
who get to graze on our public lands
for a fraction of the going rate.
880
00:52:37,487 --> 00:52:39,364
So they're getting this huge tax subsidy
881
00:52:39,448 --> 00:52:41,701
that's about one-fifteenth
of the going rate.
882
00:52:41,784 --> 00:52:43,953
And what the Bureau of Land Management
has to do is say,
883
00:52:44,036 --> 00:52:46,163
"How much forage and water
is on the land?"
884
00:52:46,246 --> 00:52:47,247
And then they divvy it up.
885
00:52:47,331 --> 00:52:50,751
They give so much to the cows,
so much to "wildlife,"
886
00:52:50,835 --> 00:52:52,920
and so much to the wild horses and burros.
887
00:52:53,003 --> 00:52:54,213
And what we see is
888
00:52:54,296 --> 00:52:58,801
the lion's share of the forage and water
is going to the livestock industry.
889
00:52:58,884 --> 00:53:01,470
And then they scapegoat
the horses and burros and say,
890
00:53:01,553 --> 00:53:05,224
"There are too many horses and burros.
Let's remove them."
891
00:53:05,307 --> 00:53:08,853
I always tell people that wild horses
and burros are just one of the victims
892
00:53:08,936 --> 00:53:11,688
of the management
of our public lands for livestock
893
00:53:11,772 --> 00:53:14,649
because we also see
the predator killing going on.
894
00:53:14,734 --> 00:53:19,238
We know wolves are now being targeted
by ranchers, to get rid of wolves.
895
00:53:19,321 --> 00:53:23,617
USDA has aircraft, and all they do
is aerial gunning of predators.
896
00:53:23,700 --> 00:53:26,703
So, all a rancher does is call up and say,
"I've got coyote here."
897
00:53:26,787 --> 00:53:28,538
They'll come over
and they'll shoot the coyote,
898
00:53:28,622 --> 00:53:31,166
or they'll shoot the mountain lion,
or they'll shoot the bobcat.
899
00:53:31,250 --> 00:53:34,128
And this is all for ranching.
900
00:53:34,211 --> 00:53:39,759
In Washington state, after cattle
were found to be attacked on public lands,
901
00:53:39,842 --> 00:53:42,677
where they were grazing under permit,
902
00:53:42,762 --> 00:53:48,768
Washington state decided to
kill the entire Wedge pack of wolves.
903
00:53:50,227 --> 00:53:51,812
And those wolves were not introduced.
904
00:53:51,896 --> 00:53:54,481
They had in-migrated from Canada,
905
00:53:54,564 --> 00:53:56,525
but they're no longer there.
906
00:53:56,608 --> 00:54:00,487
BOLBOL: It starts at the local level,
with the Bureau of Land Managements,
907
00:54:00,570 --> 00:54:02,114
but then it goes all the way to Congress.
908
00:54:02,197 --> 00:54:05,742
And we see Congress,
sitting there, willing to allow
909
00:54:05,826 --> 00:54:08,662
this type of mismanagement
of our public lands to continue.
910
00:54:08,745 --> 00:54:13,125
It is the insistence of
and the lobbying power of
911
00:54:13,208 --> 00:54:16,128
the animal agriculture industry
912
00:54:16,211 --> 00:54:19,965
that continues to see wolves killed,
913
00:54:20,049 --> 00:54:21,967
continues to see an insistence
914
00:54:22,051 --> 00:54:28,057
that predators be maintained at a low
level that does not benefit ecosystems.
915
00:54:28,140 --> 00:54:29,975
I've seen so many pieces of land.
916
00:54:30,059 --> 00:54:32,394
I've looked at
so many environmental assessments
917
00:54:32,477 --> 00:54:33,938
from the Bureau of Land Management
918
00:54:34,021 --> 00:54:37,107
where they say the range lands
are not meeting standards.
919
00:54:37,191 --> 00:54:39,068
And they say, straight-up,
920
00:54:39,151 --> 00:54:42,446
livestock grazing is a cause
for not meeting range standards.
921
00:54:42,529 --> 00:54:45,407
And yet, they will continue
to allow livestock grazing.
922
00:54:45,490 --> 00:54:48,577
They're at the very core of
923
00:54:48,660 --> 00:54:53,165
making sure that
cougars are treed by hounds,
924
00:54:53,248 --> 00:54:55,500
and that wolf packs are run down,
925
00:54:55,584 --> 00:54:59,713
and that hunting seasons
are opened up year-round,
926
00:54:59,796 --> 00:55:02,549
and that traps are set
so that they can suffer.
927
00:55:02,632 --> 00:55:04,051
BOLBOL: If anyone cares about
928
00:55:04,134 --> 00:55:07,888
wild horses and wildlife
and public lands and the environment,
929
00:55:07,972 --> 00:55:11,391
you can't ignore the impact,
the negative impact,
930
00:55:11,475 --> 00:55:14,186
that livestock grazing is having
on our public lands in the West.
931
00:55:14,937 --> 00:55:19,274
DAVID SIMON: I've added up
the costs of animal food production
932
00:55:19,358 --> 00:55:22,069
that the producers
don't actually bear themselves.
933
00:55:22,152 --> 00:55:24,905
These are the hidden costs,
or the externalized costs,
934
00:55:24,989 --> 00:55:26,740
that they impose on society.
935
00:55:26,823 --> 00:55:31,120
And those are in categories like
health care, environmental damage,
936
00:55:31,203 --> 00:55:35,082
subsidies, damage to fisheries,
and even cruelty.
937
00:55:35,165 --> 00:55:40,045
If you take those externalized costs,
which are about $414 billion...
938
00:55:40,129 --> 00:55:45,384
If the meat and dairy industries
were required to internalize those costs,
939
00:55:45,467 --> 00:55:47,594
if they had to
bear those costs themselves,
940
00:55:47,677 --> 00:55:52,224
the costs of the retail prices
of meat and dairy would skyrocket.
941
00:55:52,307 --> 00:55:56,478
So a $5 carton of eggs would go to $13.
942
00:55:56,561 --> 00:55:59,398
A $4 Big Mac would go to $11.
943
00:55:59,481 --> 00:56:00,774
Whether you eat meat or not,
944
00:56:00,857 --> 00:56:03,402
whether you're
an omnivore or an herbivore,
945
00:56:03,485 --> 00:56:07,864
you are paying part of the costs
of somebody else's consumption.
946
00:56:07,948 --> 00:56:11,743
So that when somebody goes into
a McDonald's and buys a Big Mac for $4,
947
00:56:11,826 --> 00:56:15,372
there's another $7 of costs
that's imposed on society.
948
00:56:15,455 --> 00:56:18,542
I'm paying that. You're paying that,
whether you eat meat or not.
949
00:56:18,625 --> 00:56:20,502
When you really look at who's benefiting,
950
00:56:20,585 --> 00:56:23,964
and who lobbied
for this system of agriculture,
951
00:56:24,048 --> 00:56:29,970
it's the largest food producers in the
country and the largest meat producers.
952
00:56:30,054 --> 00:56:33,140
And once they become so large and wealthy,
953
00:56:33,223 --> 00:56:38,728
then they can dictate
the federal policies around producing food
954
00:56:38,812 --> 00:56:42,732
because they have so much political power.
955
00:56:43,025 --> 00:56:46,070
ANDERSEN: I knew I needed to talk to
an animal agriculture lobby group
956
00:56:46,153 --> 00:56:47,821
to see what they had to say.
957
00:56:47,904 --> 00:56:49,323
If they could silence the government,
958
00:56:49,406 --> 00:56:51,700
are they influencing
and possibly have connections to
959
00:56:51,783 --> 00:56:54,369
these environmental groups as well?
960
00:56:54,453 --> 00:56:57,539
Animal Agriculture Alliance, one of the
biggest livestock lobby groups in America,
961
00:56:57,622 --> 00:56:58,832
has agreed to an interview.
962
00:56:58,915 --> 00:57:01,543
Greenpeace won't give us an interview,
963
00:57:01,626 --> 00:57:04,879
but Animal Agriculture Alliance
has agreed to an interview.
964
00:57:04,964 --> 00:57:06,881
Now, that...
965
00:57:06,966 --> 00:57:09,176
Now, that is saying something.
966
00:57:09,259 --> 00:57:12,804
People hear the word GMOs,
and that's a really scary term.
967
00:57:12,887 --> 00:57:16,850
And again, I think Agriculture's
struggled to explain what that means,
968
00:57:16,934 --> 00:57:22,022
but in reality,
what we've done is to use technology
969
00:57:22,106 --> 00:57:26,276
to make advancements in how we
raise crops and how we raise animals.
970
00:57:26,360 --> 00:57:27,486
We're not gonna feed the world
971
00:57:27,569 --> 00:57:32,950
going back to how it was 100 years ago
where all the animals were pasture-fed.
972
00:57:33,033 --> 00:57:35,660
We didn't just move animals inside
973
00:57:35,744 --> 00:57:38,913
and just implement
these large vertically-integrated systems
974
00:57:38,998 --> 00:57:40,499
because of sustainability.
975
00:57:40,582 --> 00:57:43,377
It certainly reduces
the environmental impact
976
00:57:43,460 --> 00:57:47,089
while improving
animal well-being and food safety.
977
00:57:47,172 --> 00:57:51,010
ANDERSEN: So you're saying that animals
like it just as much being inside...
978
00:57:51,093 --> 00:57:53,803
Say the chickens and the cows
like being just as much inside
979
00:57:53,887 --> 00:57:55,722
as pasture grass-fed?
980
00:57:55,805 --> 00:58:00,227
In a lot of cases, it's been a significant
improvement in their well-being,
981
00:58:00,310 --> 00:58:04,314
just in terms of the amount of care
they can get, individualized care.
982
00:58:04,398 --> 00:58:05,565
ANDERSEN: Does the meat and dairy industry
983
00:58:05,649 --> 00:58:09,694
ever support or donate to
environmental non-profits?
984
00:58:09,778 --> 00:58:12,239
I don't know that
I would want to comment on that.
985
00:58:12,322 --> 00:58:14,783
KAY SMITH: Yeah, l... I don't...
986
00:58:14,866 --> 00:58:16,243
I don't know. (CHUCKLES)
987
00:58:17,494 --> 00:58:21,831
SMITH: I don't know that we would know
what they donate to or don't donate to.
988
00:58:23,125 --> 00:58:24,584
ANDERSEN: Does meat and dairy industry
989
00:58:24,668 --> 00:58:28,005
ever support or donate to,
say, Greenpeace?
990
00:58:29,339 --> 00:58:32,426
Again, I don't know
that I would feel comfortable...
991
00:58:35,054 --> 00:58:37,347
WOMAN: (ON PHONE) Hey, sorry we didn't
get back to you earlier.
992
00:58:37,431 --> 00:58:38,640
I have some bad news.
993
00:58:38,723 --> 00:58:42,769
Unfortunately, we are no longer
able to fund your film project.
994
00:58:42,852 --> 00:58:46,606
We had a meeting, and due to
the growing controversial subject matter,
995
00:58:46,690 --> 00:58:49,193
we have some concerns
and have to pull out.
996
00:58:49,276 --> 00:58:52,112
ANDERSEN: Why was
this subject so controversial?
997
00:58:52,196 --> 00:58:54,948
The first person I could think
to speak with was Howard Lyman,
998
00:58:55,032 --> 00:58:56,325
who had been sued by cattlemen
999
00:58:56,408 --> 00:59:01,330
for simply speaking the truth about animal
agriculture on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
1000
00:59:03,582 --> 00:59:08,378
I was born on the largest dairy farm
in the state of Montana in 1938.
1001
00:59:09,003 --> 00:59:10,004
Uh...
1002
00:59:10,755 --> 00:59:16,470
Grew up my entire life
on a livestock farm.
1003
00:59:16,553 --> 00:59:21,141
Went to Montana State University,
got a degree in agriculture.
1004
00:59:21,225 --> 00:59:23,643
Came back and started
1005
00:59:23,727 --> 00:59:28,315
a mega agriculture endeavor
1006
00:59:28,398 --> 00:59:32,319
where I had 10,000 acres of crop,
1007
00:59:32,402 --> 00:59:34,821
7,000 head of cattle,
1008
00:59:36,030 --> 00:59:38,367
and about 30 employees, so...
1009
00:59:38,450 --> 00:59:42,829
I spent 45 years of my life
in animal agriculture,
1010
00:59:42,912 --> 00:59:46,916
and so, I've been there, done that.
1011
00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:51,255
When I was on The Oprah Show,
we had the food disparagement law.
1012
00:59:51,921 --> 00:59:56,343
Now, the food disparagement law,
in my opinion, was unconstitutional,
1013
00:59:56,426 --> 01:00:00,347
but what it basically said,
that it was against the law
1014
01:00:00,430 --> 01:00:06,186
to say something you knew to be false
about a perishable commodity.
1015
01:00:06,270 --> 01:00:09,856
I didn't say anything on The Oprah Show
I thought to be false.
1016
01:00:09,939 --> 01:00:12,526
I went there and told the truth.
1017
01:00:12,609 --> 01:00:17,614
Now, it took five years
and hundreds of thousands of dollars
1018
01:00:18,365 --> 01:00:21,618
to end up extricating myself
1019
01:00:21,701 --> 01:00:25,622
from the suits from the cattle industry.
1020
01:00:26,415 --> 01:00:31,211
But if I was to go on
The Oprah Show today,
1021
01:00:31,295 --> 01:00:36,383
say exactly the same thing today
that I said back then,
1022
01:00:36,466 --> 01:00:37,634
I would be guilty.
1023
01:00:38,510 --> 01:00:43,723
And for me, when they were talking
about the food disparagement law,
1024
01:00:43,807 --> 01:00:48,520
it was the fact of whether
I told the truth or not.
1025
01:00:48,603 --> 01:00:52,106
You can go today and tell the truth,
1026
01:00:53,192 --> 01:00:55,652
and you will be guilty,
1027
01:00:55,735 --> 01:00:59,406
because if you cause a disruption
1028
01:00:59,489 --> 01:01:03,493
in the profits of the animal industry,
1029
01:01:04,118 --> 01:01:07,497
you're guilty under the PATRIOT Act.
1030
01:01:07,581 --> 01:01:10,625
ANDERSEN: Do you think
there should be any concern
1031
01:01:10,709 --> 01:01:12,961
of us making this documentary?
1032
01:01:13,044 --> 01:01:14,463
Of course.
1033
01:01:14,546 --> 01:01:16,923
If you don't realize right now
1034
01:01:17,006 --> 01:01:20,469
that you're putting your neck
on the chopping block,
1035
01:01:20,552 --> 01:01:25,014
(CLEARS THROAT) you better
take that camera and throw it away.
1036
01:01:26,933 --> 01:01:29,353
POTTER: The animal agriculture industry
1037
01:01:29,436 --> 01:01:31,646
is one of the most powerful industries
on the planet.
1038
01:01:31,730 --> 01:01:34,608
I think most people in this country
are aware of the influence
1039
01:01:34,691 --> 01:01:37,194
of money and industry on politics,
1040
01:01:37,319 --> 01:01:41,448
and we really see that clearly on display
with this industry in particular.
1041
01:01:41,531 --> 01:01:44,784
Most people would be shocked to learn that
animal rights and environmental activists
1042
01:01:44,868 --> 01:01:48,497
are the number one domestic terrorism
threat according to the FBI.
1043
01:01:48,913 --> 01:01:51,541
-ANDERSEN: And why is that?
-It's a difficult question to answer,
1044
01:01:51,625 --> 01:01:54,794
why these groups
are at the top of the FBI's priorities.
1045
01:01:54,878 --> 01:01:57,214
I think a big part of it is that
1046
01:01:57,297 --> 01:02:00,259
they, more than really
any other social movements today,
1047
01:02:00,342 --> 01:02:02,469
are directly
threatening corporate profits.
1048
01:02:02,552 --> 01:02:05,222
When we try to find out how
1049
01:02:05,305 --> 01:02:08,725
factory farms and how animal agriculture
is polluting the environment,
1050
01:02:08,808 --> 01:02:10,810
they try to claim exemptions
to that information,
1051
01:02:10,894 --> 01:02:13,813
either under national security terms
or public safety.
1052
01:02:14,648 --> 01:02:18,192
Trademark issues, it's a business secret.
1053
01:02:18,277 --> 01:02:19,653
We've seen all these attempts
1054
01:02:19,736 --> 01:02:22,489
to keep people in the dark
about what they're actually doing.
1055
01:02:22,572 --> 01:02:24,491
One of the largest industries
on the planet,
1056
01:02:24,574 --> 01:02:26,493
with the biggest environmental impact,
1057
01:02:26,576 --> 01:02:28,787
trying to keep us in the dark
about how it's operating.
1058
01:02:28,870 --> 01:02:30,330
Through the Freedom of Information Act,
1059
01:02:30,414 --> 01:02:32,832
we obtained documents
from the counter-terrorism unit
1060
01:02:32,916 --> 01:02:35,710
that show they're monitoring my lectures,
1061
01:02:35,794 --> 01:02:39,506
media interviews like this one,
my website, my book.
1062
01:02:39,756 --> 01:02:42,175
ANDERSEN: Are we at risk
filming this and showing it?
1063
01:02:42,551 --> 01:02:45,929
You're going up against people
that have massive legal resources.
1064
01:02:46,012 --> 01:02:49,349
It's just overwhelming,
the amount of money at their disposal.
1065
01:02:49,433 --> 01:02:50,892
And you have nothing.
1066
01:02:50,975 --> 01:02:54,187
And I think that fear
is a big part of the tactic as well.
1067
01:02:54,938 --> 01:02:56,898
ANDERSEN: Will was right. I was scared.
1068
01:02:57,649 --> 01:02:59,776
When I learned about the activists
being killed in Brazil,
1069
01:02:59,859 --> 01:03:01,695
I was disturbed, but I felt removed.
1070
01:03:02,321 --> 01:03:04,531
But to learn about
American activists and journalists
1071
01:03:04,614 --> 01:03:06,991
being targeted by the industry and FBI?
1072
01:03:07,451 --> 01:03:09,077
My funding being dropped?
1073
01:03:09,160 --> 01:03:12,163
I was genuinely worried
and it hit close to home.
1074
01:03:12,246 --> 01:03:14,916
Was this why no one was willing
to talk about the issue?
1075
01:03:15,542 --> 01:03:18,837
I decided to take precautionary measures
with all the footage I shot.
1076
01:03:27,679 --> 01:03:30,682
I was beyond frightened to imagine
what could possibly happen
1077
01:03:30,765 --> 01:03:32,934
if I pursued this subject any further.
1078
01:03:33,560 --> 01:03:37,481
It seemed the only decision to make was
to put down the cameras and walk away.
1079
01:03:41,485 --> 01:03:43,945
But then I realized
this issue was way bigger
1080
01:03:44,028 --> 01:03:46,948
than any personal concern
I could ever have for myself.
1081
01:03:47,449 --> 01:03:50,827
This was about all life on Earth
hanging in the balance of our actions.
1082
01:03:51,285 --> 01:03:54,080
Now you either live for something,
or die for nothing.
1083
01:03:54,498 --> 01:03:56,500
And I actually had no choice all along.
1084
01:03:56,833 --> 01:03:59,503
I decided then to surrender
not to fear from the secret,
1085
01:03:59,836 --> 01:04:02,130
but rather to a cause towards truth.
1086
01:04:02,339 --> 01:04:04,257
I couldn't be like these
environmental organizations
1087
01:04:04,341 --> 01:04:05,925
and sit silently while the planet was
1088
01:04:06,009 --> 01:04:08,345
being eaten alive right
in front of our eyes.
1089
01:04:08,845 --> 01:04:11,097
I had to stand up and continue on.
1090
01:04:19,022 --> 01:04:21,941
Some people would say the problem
isn't really animal agriculture,
1091
01:04:22,025 --> 01:04:24,193
but actually human overpopulation.
1092
01:04:27,071 --> 01:04:29,991
In 1812, there were
one billion people on the planet.
1093
01:04:30,074 --> 01:04:32,786
In 1912, there were 1.5 billion.
1094
01:04:32,869 --> 01:04:38,500
Then, just 100 years later, our population
exploded to seven billion humans.
1095
01:04:38,583 --> 01:04:41,169
This number is rightly given
a great deal of attention,
1096
01:04:41,252 --> 01:04:44,714
but an even more important figure
when determining world population
1097
01:04:44,798 --> 01:04:48,677
is the world's 70 billion
farm animals humans raise.
1098
01:04:50,554 --> 01:04:55,099
The human population drinks
5.2 billion gallons of water every day
1099
01:04:55,183 --> 01:04:58,102
and eats 21 billion pounds of food.
1100
01:04:58,186 --> 01:05:01,022
But just the world's
1.5 billion cows alone
1101
01:05:01,105 --> 01:05:04,150
drink 45 billion gallons
of water every day
1102
01:05:04,233 --> 01:05:07,487
and eat 135 billion pounds of food.
1103
01:05:07,571 --> 01:05:09,989
This isn't so much
a human population issue.
1104
01:05:10,073 --> 01:05:12,617
It's a human-eating-animals
population issue.
1105
01:05:13,076 --> 01:05:15,454
Environmental organizations
not addressing this
1106
01:05:15,537 --> 01:05:18,498
is like health organizations
trying to stop lung cancer
1107
01:05:18,582 --> 01:05:20,333
without addressing cigarette smoking.
1108
01:05:20,417 --> 01:05:23,420
But instead of secondhand smoking,
it's secondhand eating,
1109
01:05:23,587 --> 01:05:25,379
which affects the entire planet.
1110
01:05:25,630 --> 01:05:30,009
We have roughly a billion people
starving every single day.
1111
01:05:30,093 --> 01:05:34,222
Worldwide, 50% of the grain
and legumes that we're growing
1112
01:05:34,305 --> 01:05:35,432
we're feeding to animals.
1113
01:05:35,682 --> 01:05:38,477
So they're eating huge amounts
of grain and legumes.
1114
01:05:38,560 --> 01:05:42,021
And in the United States,
it's more like closer to 70%, 80%,
1115
01:05:42,105 --> 01:05:43,189
depending on which grain it is.
1116
01:05:43,272 --> 01:05:45,442
About 90% of the soybeans.
1117
01:05:45,734 --> 01:05:49,613
Eighty-two percent of the world's starving
children live in countries
1118
01:05:49,696 --> 01:05:53,700
where food is fed to animals
in the livestock systems
1119
01:05:53,783 --> 01:05:56,369
that are killed and eaten
by more well-off individuals
1120
01:05:56,453 --> 01:05:59,038
in developed countries,
such as the US, UK, and in Europe.
1121
01:05:59,122 --> 01:06:04,418
The fact of it is that we could feed
every human being on the planet today
1122
01:06:04,503 --> 01:06:06,463
an adequate diet
1123
01:06:06,546 --> 01:06:11,760
if we did no more than take the feed
that we're feeding to animals
1124
01:06:12,426 --> 01:06:15,013
and actually turn it into food for humans.
1125
01:06:15,472 --> 01:06:19,476
And so somebody trying to justify GMOs,
1126
01:06:19,934 --> 01:06:23,104
that's like trying to
give a drowning man a drink of water.
1127
01:06:24,063 --> 01:06:28,902
You can produce, on average,
15 times more protein
1128
01:06:28,985 --> 01:06:33,197
from plant-based sources than
from meat on any given area of land,
1129
01:06:33,490 --> 01:06:36,117
whether, uh, it's...
Using the same type of land,
1130
01:06:36,200 --> 01:06:38,912
whether it's a very fertile area
in one area of the world,
1131
01:06:38,995 --> 01:06:40,622
or it's an area that's depleted.
1132
01:06:40,830 --> 01:06:44,208
If we would reduce the amount of meat
we're eating, and dairy and eggs,
1133
01:06:44,626 --> 01:06:46,920
we could allow
all these mono-cropped fields
1134
01:06:47,003 --> 01:06:49,338
of genetically-engineered
corn and soybeans
1135
01:06:49,714 --> 01:06:52,842
to revert back to forest again,
to be habitat for animals.
1136
01:06:54,218 --> 01:06:59,265
Anytime somebody tells you
that we can't grow food for humans
1137
01:06:59,348 --> 01:07:02,185
on the land that
we're growing feed for animals...
1138
01:07:03,144 --> 01:07:07,607
This is somebody that is mocking
the number one crop out in California.
1139
01:07:08,650 --> 01:07:13,530
The fact of it is if you can grow corn
to stuff down the throat of an animal,
1140
01:07:14,030 --> 01:07:16,950
you can actually grow corn
and feed it to a human.
1141
01:07:18,242 --> 01:07:19,953
You encourage people to eat less meat,
1142
01:07:20,036 --> 01:07:23,832
and for the tremendous resources required
and the toll on the environment.
1143
01:07:23,915 --> 01:07:25,959
-And on the animals.
-ANDERSEN: And on the animals.
1144
01:07:26,042 --> 01:07:28,962
And the workers in the system.
And it's a brutal system at every level.
1145
01:07:29,045 --> 01:07:32,131
ANDERSEN: As the world population
continues to grow
1146
01:07:32,215 --> 01:07:33,925
to almost nine billion people,
1147
01:07:34,175 --> 01:07:36,761
do you foresee someday
that we might just completely
1148
01:07:36,845 --> 01:07:38,221
have to stop eating meat altogether?
1149
01:07:39,889 --> 01:07:41,808
I don't know that we'll completely stop.
1150
01:07:41,891 --> 01:07:44,268
I think that the amount
of meat-eating will decline.
1151
01:07:44,352 --> 01:07:47,647
There's no way to support
nine ounces per person per day,
1152
01:07:47,731 --> 01:07:49,398
which is what Americans are eating now.
1153
01:07:49,774 --> 01:07:52,819
If the Chinese alone decide
they wanna eat that much...
1154
01:07:52,902 --> 01:07:54,779
And they've decided
they wanna eat that much.
1155
01:07:55,071 --> 01:07:58,074
We just can't...
We don't have enough world
1156
01:07:58,407 --> 01:08:00,952
to produce the grain
to generate that much meat.
1157
01:08:01,828 --> 01:08:05,832
I think a plant-based diet
is the most sustainable.
1158
01:08:05,915 --> 01:08:09,502
What do you recommend to see
for nine billion people who can eat
1159
01:08:09,586 --> 01:08:11,671
for the planet to not only sustain,
but to thrive?
1160
01:08:11,796 --> 01:08:14,465
Would you throw out a number...
An ounce, one ounce?
1161
01:08:14,548 --> 01:08:17,176
-Oh, per meat?
-ANDERSEN: And including dairy.
1162
01:08:17,260 --> 01:08:20,263
Yeah, I don't think...
I don't know enough.
1163
01:08:20,722 --> 01:08:23,933
But, yeah, it would be on the order
of a couple ounces a week.
1164
01:08:24,017 --> 01:08:27,520
You know, it's not gonna be
the way we're eating it now.
1165
01:08:27,604 --> 01:08:30,356
We're gorging on meat.
We're eating huge amounts.
1166
01:08:30,439 --> 01:08:32,817
-Does that include cheese, too?
-Yeah, yeah.
1167
01:08:32,942 --> 01:08:36,279
-Like, two ounces total?
-Yeah, cheese and milk.
1168
01:08:36,362 --> 01:08:38,531
ANDERSEN: Only two ounces a week
seem like nothing.
1169
01:08:38,615 --> 01:08:41,200
People could probably
raise that in their own backyard.
1170
01:08:41,284 --> 01:08:44,162
Maybe backyard farming
was a sustainable solution.
1171
01:08:44,245 --> 01:08:45,579
BILL PHILLIPS: I have 42 ducks.
1172
01:08:45,664 --> 01:08:49,042
I started off with three ducks
three years ago.
1173
01:08:50,001 --> 01:08:52,796
And then those burdened into a population.
1174
01:08:52,879 --> 01:08:55,882
I buy a 75-pound bag of seed
1175
01:08:56,257 --> 01:08:59,260
and that seed bag will last me,
right now, about two weeks.
1176
01:09:00,344 --> 01:09:04,432
The ducks now that we're gonna be
culling are about two years old.
1177
01:09:05,141 --> 01:09:07,686
When you're living with them,
they get used to you.
1178
01:09:07,769 --> 01:09:10,479
They're not intimidated or whatever.
1179
01:09:10,563 --> 01:09:13,566
And, so they make all their
vocal sounds, like natural.
1180
01:09:13,775 --> 01:09:14,776
(QUACKING)
1181
01:09:14,859 --> 01:09:16,653
PHILLIPS: Slow down.
1182
01:09:18,905 --> 01:09:21,908
Easy, easy, easy, easy.
1183
01:09:23,492 --> 01:09:25,536
Okay.
1184
01:09:28,247 --> 01:09:31,250
No, we're gonna keep you.
1185
01:09:32,501 --> 01:09:35,504
Ron, these two go first.
1186
01:09:39,508 --> 01:09:41,427
Being smart-wise?
1187
01:09:44,973 --> 01:09:47,976
Compared to a chicken,
they're probably the same.
1188
01:09:53,690 --> 01:09:55,942
CHILD: That one's nice, see?
PHILLIPS: Yeah, he is.
1189
01:09:56,025 --> 01:09:59,570
CHILD: That one goes. That one doesn't.
1190
01:09:59,653 --> 01:10:02,656
PHILLIPS: All righty.
1191
01:10:04,868 --> 01:10:06,911
Okay.
1192
01:10:08,788 --> 01:10:10,414
Right there.
1193
01:10:26,180 --> 01:10:27,974
That's gonna be a little gruesome.
1194
01:10:28,057 --> 01:10:30,476
CHILD: How could that still be alive?
PHILLIPS: Hmm?
1195
01:10:30,559 --> 01:10:33,062
CHILD: How could that still be alive?
1196
01:10:33,146 --> 01:10:34,731
PHILLIPS: They're not.
1197
01:10:34,814 --> 01:10:36,440
That's nerves.
1198
01:10:36,524 --> 01:10:38,651
A nerve reaction.
1199
01:10:41,780 --> 01:10:44,157
PHILLIPS: Five years old
or something like that I think it was,
1200
01:10:44,240 --> 01:10:47,827
the first time my dad came out
and made us watch
1201
01:10:48,661 --> 01:10:51,247
as we did rabbits.
1202
01:10:51,915 --> 01:10:56,502
And we'd raise, probably,
a couple dozen rabbits each year.
1203
01:10:58,922 --> 01:11:01,925
And then we would take those rabbits
and skin them,
1204
01:11:03,426 --> 01:11:05,511
and clean them up and keep them for food.
1205
01:11:05,594 --> 01:11:08,056
As a young kid, I was kind of...
1206
01:11:09,348 --> 01:11:12,351
I don't want to say it was hard,
but it was kind of, from my memory...
1207
01:11:14,938 --> 01:11:17,816
Because some of the rabbits I had named.
(CHUCKLES)
1208
01:11:17,899 --> 01:11:20,109
So I was kind of like going... (GRIMACES)
1209
01:11:20,609 --> 01:11:24,781
But after doing it a couple times,
you kind of just learned
1210
01:11:24,864 --> 01:11:27,867
it's just something that has to be done.
1211
01:11:34,165 --> 01:11:36,584
PHILLIPS: Not the fingers.
1212
01:11:37,001 --> 01:11:38,002
(AX BANGS ON WOOD)
1213
01:11:45,676 --> 01:11:47,220
ANDERSEN: I just can't do it.
1214
01:11:47,303 --> 01:11:50,306
I don't think I could have someone else
do it for me, if I can't do it.
1215
01:11:50,723 --> 01:11:53,726
If I can't do it, I don't want
someone else doing it for me.
1216
01:11:55,644 --> 01:11:57,063
And then sustainability.
1217
01:11:57,146 --> 01:12:02,651
For sustainability,
75 pounds is two pounds per...
1218
01:12:02,735 --> 01:12:06,072
So it's a pound per week, per duck.
1219
01:12:06,865 --> 01:12:09,868
Fifty-two weeks, 110...
1220
01:12:10,493 --> 01:12:13,496
So it's 110 pounds of food
1221
01:12:14,538 --> 01:12:17,750
for one to one and a half pounds of meat.
1222
01:12:17,834 --> 01:12:21,880
So on a sustainability issue,
it's 100 to 1.
1223
01:12:23,297 --> 01:12:26,300
And that grain gets... You know,
who knows where that grain comes from?
1224
01:12:27,385 --> 01:12:30,638
But, I mean, when it gets to this point,
it's not even about sustainability,
1225
01:12:30,721 --> 01:12:35,184
it was just, you know,
I don't feel real good inside.
1226
01:12:35,809 --> 01:12:38,062
It was the first time I've ever seen that.
1227
01:12:38,146 --> 01:12:40,857
So, kind of...
1228
01:12:40,982 --> 01:12:41,983
(INHALES DEEPLY)
1229
01:12:42,066 --> 01:12:43,943
Yeah.
1230
01:12:45,236 --> 01:12:48,239
I'd been so caught up in the destruction
caused by animal agriculture,
1231
01:12:48,822 --> 01:12:51,784
I realized I'd never truly dwelled
on the obvious reality
1232
01:12:51,868 --> 01:12:54,328
that every one of these animals
was killed.
1233
01:12:54,412 --> 01:12:57,415
It was always a disconnected,
abstract fact of eating meat.
1234
01:12:57,831 --> 01:13:01,502
But when it became personal,
face-to-face, the story changed.
1235
01:13:03,462 --> 01:13:06,883
I had already scheduled, weeks in advance,
to film another backyard slaughter
1236
01:13:07,216 --> 01:13:09,385
of a chicken that stopped producing eggs.
1237
01:13:09,468 --> 01:13:12,889
I didn't know how I was gonna possibly
go through another slaughter.
1238
01:13:13,806 --> 01:13:15,516
So I didn't.
1239
01:13:33,867 --> 01:13:36,996
DAVID PHINNEY: Animal Place is a farm
animal sanctuary in Northern California
1240
01:13:37,080 --> 01:13:41,584
that focuses on rescuing animals
from the animal agriculture industry.
1241
01:13:42,376 --> 01:13:44,837
A lot of people don't realize that
meat-breed chickens,
1242
01:13:44,921 --> 01:13:45,922
like this guy behind us,
1243
01:13:46,797 --> 01:13:49,717
they're generally slaughtered
at about 42 days old.
1244
01:13:49,800 --> 01:13:52,886
Whereas chickens
that are bred for egg production
1245
01:13:52,971 --> 01:13:56,682
are killed when
their productivity starts to decrease,
1246
01:13:56,765 --> 01:13:59,768
when they start laying less eggs.
1247
01:14:00,311 --> 01:14:04,357
And that generally happens
about 18 months to 20 months.
1248
01:14:04,607 --> 01:14:09,570
It doesn't matter if you buy caged eggs,
eggs from hens on cage-free farms,
1249
01:14:09,653 --> 01:14:11,614
or free-range or pasture-based farms.
1250
01:14:11,905 --> 01:14:14,283
Hi, Carol. It doesn't matter.
1251
01:14:14,450 --> 01:14:16,285
ANDERSEN: It turns out
there's a successful movement
1252
01:14:16,369 --> 01:14:18,997
of sustainable
animal-alternative food producers
1253
01:14:19,080 --> 01:14:20,706
based right here in California,
1254
01:14:20,789 --> 01:14:24,543
funded by big names
like Bill Gates and Biz Stone.
1255
01:14:24,627 --> 01:14:27,546
When you imagine all those egg-laying hens
eat all that soy and all that corn,
1256
01:14:27,630 --> 01:14:30,591
you have an energy conversion ratio
at about 38 to 1,
1257
01:14:30,674 --> 01:14:34,137
whereas alternatively,
you can find plants,
1258
01:14:34,220 --> 01:14:37,515
and you can grow those plants and
you can convert those plants into food.
1259
01:14:37,598 --> 01:14:40,559
The energy conversion ratio
for the plants that we're using
1260
01:14:40,643 --> 01:14:45,356
to replace the eggs is about 2 to 1,
compared to 38 to 1 for eggs.
1261
01:14:45,606 --> 01:14:50,028
So our explicit goal is to have
the maximum amount of impact
1262
01:14:50,111 --> 01:14:55,658
by creating this new model that makes
the global egg industry entirely obsolete.
1263
01:14:55,741 --> 01:14:57,076
We're making the Omega products,
1264
01:14:57,160 --> 01:15:01,164
and proving that we can make
better tasting food that's great for you,
1265
01:15:01,247 --> 01:15:05,293
and it takes one-twentieth of the land
and resources that dairy do.
1266
01:15:05,376 --> 01:15:07,170
If I could tell you that you could have
1267
01:15:07,253 --> 01:15:11,007
the fiber-structure of meat,
the satiating bite of meat, the protein,
1268
01:15:11,090 --> 01:15:13,092
and all the nutritional benefits of meat,
1269
01:15:13,176 --> 01:15:14,843
without actually
having animal protein itself,
1270
01:15:14,927 --> 01:15:17,263
and by doing that,
you could address climate change,
1271
01:15:17,346 --> 01:15:19,682
you could address the human health
epidemics that we're seeing,
1272
01:15:19,765 --> 01:15:21,142
you could address animal welfare,
1273
01:15:21,225 --> 01:15:22,726
and you could address
natural resource conservation,
1274
01:15:22,810 --> 01:15:24,187
would you make the change?
1275
01:15:24,270 --> 01:15:26,814
ANDERSEN: But what if people
just ate less animal products?
1276
01:15:26,897 --> 01:15:28,941
Like going meatless on Mondays.
1277
01:15:29,150 --> 01:15:32,361
When you go meatless on Monday,
if you ascribe to that campaign,
1278
01:15:32,445 --> 01:15:35,948
you're essentially contributing
to climate change, pollution,
1279
01:15:36,032 --> 01:15:38,951
depletion of our planet's resources,
and your own health,
1280
01:15:39,035 --> 01:15:42,871
then on only six days of the week,
instead of seven.
1281
01:15:42,955 --> 01:15:48,169
You're creating a false justification,
clearly a false sense of justification
1282
01:15:48,252 --> 01:15:50,421
for what you're doing
on those other six days of the week.
1283
01:15:50,504 --> 01:15:53,549
So in other words, we really shouldn't
be resting on our laurels
1284
01:15:53,632 --> 01:15:57,720
of what you do right
only one-seventh of the time.
1285
01:15:59,055 --> 01:16:03,976
You can't be an environmentalist
and eat animal products, period.
1286
01:16:04,060 --> 01:16:07,980
Kid yourself if you want, if you want to
feed your addiction, so be it.
1287
01:16:08,064 --> 01:16:10,941
But don't call yourself
an environmentalist.
1288
01:16:12,235 --> 01:16:15,404
ANDERSEN: I knew I had to stop
eating all animal products.
1289
01:16:15,488 --> 01:16:17,490
I wanted to help the planet
be sustainable,
1290
01:16:17,573 --> 01:16:19,700
but I needed to sustain myself.
1291
01:16:19,783 --> 01:16:22,786
I had doubts about being healthy
and not eating meat, dairy, and eggs.
1292
01:16:22,870 --> 01:16:25,206
All I knew was the standard American diet
I grew up on.
1293
01:16:25,581 --> 01:16:29,710
Um, is it even possible
to be a healthy vegetarian or vegan?
1294
01:16:29,793 --> 01:16:32,505
Is it possible to be
a healthy vegetarian or vegan?
1295
01:16:32,588 --> 01:16:37,510
I became vegan for, let's see,
32 years ago now.
1296
01:16:37,593 --> 01:16:41,305
And I run several miles every day.
1297
01:16:41,389 --> 01:16:44,350
I go biking 40, 50 miles
through the countryside.
1298
01:16:44,433 --> 01:16:45,851
I work long hours.
1299
01:16:45,934 --> 01:16:49,480
I feel great. It's nice waking up
in a light, trim body every day.
1300
01:16:49,563 --> 01:16:52,525
And so many of
my vegan friends and patients are just...
1301
01:16:52,608 --> 01:16:55,903
They're thriving since
their transition to a vegan diet.
1302
01:16:55,986 --> 01:16:59,698
So, yes, and I've seen vegan moms
go through healthy vegan pregnancies,
1303
01:16:59,782 --> 01:17:01,450
and deliver healthy vegan children,
1304
01:17:01,534 --> 01:17:05,538
and raise them to tall, full-sized,
intelligent vegan adults.
1305
01:17:06,122 --> 01:17:10,751
And, yes, certainly all the nutrients are
there in the plant kingdom to do this.
1306
01:17:10,834 --> 01:17:12,002
That is correct.
1307
01:17:12,461 --> 01:17:16,048
Think anyone should be consuming dairy?
1308
01:17:16,299 --> 01:17:18,426
I really don't.
1309
01:17:18,509 --> 01:17:21,262
When you think about it,
the purpose of cow's milk...
1310
01:17:21,345 --> 01:17:24,348
I did most of my growing up
on a dairy farm in Wisconsin.
1311
01:17:24,890 --> 01:17:28,852
The purpose of cow's milk
is to turn a 65-pound calf
1312
01:17:28,936 --> 01:17:33,857
into a 400-pound cow
as rapidly as possible.
1313
01:17:34,692 --> 01:17:38,654
Cow's milk is baby calf growth fluid.
1314
01:17:39,071 --> 01:17:40,823
It's what the stuff is.
1315
01:17:41,199 --> 01:17:43,909
Everything in that white liquid,
1316
01:17:43,992 --> 01:17:48,289
the hormones, the lipids, the proteins,
the sodium, the growth factors, the IGF,
1317
01:17:48,372 --> 01:17:51,959
every one of those is meant to blow
that calf up to a great big cow,
1318
01:17:52,042 --> 01:17:53,752
or it wouldn't be there.
1319
01:17:54,587 --> 01:17:57,256
And whether you pour it
on your cereal as a liquid,
1320
01:17:57,631 --> 01:18:00,968
whether you clot it into yogurt,
1321
01:18:01,051 --> 01:18:03,929
whether you ferment it into cheese,
1322
01:18:04,012 --> 01:18:06,557
whether you freeze it into ice cream,
1323
01:18:07,516 --> 01:18:10,269
it's baby calf growth fluid.
1324
01:18:10,353 --> 01:18:13,522
And women eat it
and it stimulates their tissues,
1325
01:18:13,606 --> 01:18:16,942
and it gives women breast lumps,
it makes the uterus get big,
1326
01:18:17,025 --> 01:18:20,028
and they get fibroids and they bleed
and they get hysterectomies,
1327
01:18:20,279 --> 01:18:24,408
and they need mammograms,
and gives guys man boobs.
1328
01:18:24,492 --> 01:18:26,034
This is...
1329
01:18:26,702 --> 01:18:29,121
Cow's milk is the lactation secretions
1330
01:18:29,205 --> 01:18:32,165
of a large bovine mammal
who just had a baby.
1331
01:18:32,250 --> 01:18:34,668
It's for baby calves.
1332
01:18:34,752 --> 01:18:36,795
I tell my patients,
"Go look in the mirror.
1333
01:18:36,879 --> 01:18:39,298
"Do you have big ears? Do you have a tail?
Are you a baby calf?
1334
01:18:39,382 --> 01:18:43,176
"If you're not,
don't be eating baby calf growth fluid."
1335
01:18:43,261 --> 01:18:46,054
In any level,
there's nothing in it people need.
1336
01:18:46,138 --> 01:18:48,557
ANDERSEN: It was a relief to hear
I didn't have to eat any animal products
1337
01:18:48,641 --> 01:18:50,393
to be healthy and even thrive,
1338
01:18:50,476 --> 01:18:54,313
but I still thought you needed animal
manure to grow organic agriculture.
1339
01:18:54,397 --> 01:18:56,357
It turns out there's an entire movement
1340
01:18:56,440 --> 01:18:59,151
with people growing food
without any animal inputs.
1341
01:18:59,235 --> 01:19:02,154
I visited Earthworks Urban Farm
in Detroit,
1342
01:19:02,238 --> 01:19:06,158
where they're working with and growing
food for the low-income community.
1343
01:19:06,242 --> 01:19:09,662
We tend to see ourselves
as individuals in a bubble
1344
01:19:09,745 --> 01:19:15,167
and forget that we inhabit this land
and this earth with other creatures.
1345
01:19:15,251 --> 01:19:18,086
So we have to learn how
to share more, I guess.
1346
01:19:18,671 --> 01:19:20,506
Jah is here. He's working on his garden.
1347
01:19:20,964 --> 01:19:25,719
You'll be surprised what you can do
with what seems to be not a lot of space.
1348
01:19:25,803 --> 01:19:28,013
About a four by eight, yeah.
1349
01:19:28,096 --> 01:19:31,099
ANDERSEN: What's your goal this year?
How much do you think you can maximize?
1350
01:19:31,642 --> 01:19:33,519
Uh, I would push for 100 at least.
1351
01:19:33,602 --> 01:19:35,062
-At least. At least.
-ANDERSEN: A hundred pounds.
1352
01:19:35,145 --> 01:19:36,355
That's amazing.
1353
01:19:37,105 --> 01:19:40,359
The one full year
after this was constructed,
1354
01:19:40,443 --> 01:19:44,363
we doubled our yield
to over 14,000 pounds of food.
1355
01:19:44,447 --> 01:19:47,408
Fourteen thousand pounds?
On about how many acres?
1356
01:19:47,491 --> 01:19:48,784
Uh, about two and a half.
1357
01:19:49,452 --> 01:19:52,288
So as much food as we produce and we grow,
1358
01:19:52,913 --> 01:19:54,457
or the earth helps us grow,
1359
01:19:54,540 --> 01:19:56,959
we also have to return
those nutrients back to the soil.
1360
01:19:57,042 --> 01:19:59,712
So we like to think of our work
as being regenerative.
1361
01:19:59,795 --> 01:20:03,841
That we're putting as much
life-giving substance in the ground
1362
01:20:03,924 --> 01:20:05,509
as we're taking out.
1363
01:20:05,759 --> 01:20:09,388
So is it just kind of healthier and safer
to use vegetarian
1364
01:20:09,472 --> 01:20:13,434
-or vegetable composting stuff?
-Yeah, that's what we found.
1365
01:20:13,517 --> 01:20:16,562
But also because it takes less time
and it's a lot easier to manage.
1366
01:20:16,645 --> 01:20:18,188
-A lot easier, yeah.
-Yeah.
1367
01:20:18,271 --> 01:20:21,274
-And the soil's just as rich?
-Yeah, absolutely.
1368
01:20:21,484 --> 01:20:26,530
Not only is veganic more compassionate,
it's also more efficient.
1369
01:20:26,614 --> 01:20:29,950
And in a society
with this many billions of people,
1370
01:20:30,033 --> 01:20:32,328
we need to be as efficient as possible.
1371
01:20:32,745 --> 01:20:34,747
Some people might go back and say
1372
01:20:34,830 --> 01:20:40,878
if we embraced this primitive approach
of only wild animals everywhere,
1373
01:20:40,961 --> 01:20:45,173
and we go back to a hunter-gatherer
system, that sounds great.
1374
01:20:45,257 --> 01:20:48,511
But that was 10 million people
on the entire continent.
1375
01:20:48,594 --> 01:20:51,472
Maybe a little bit more,
a little bit less, no one really knows.
1376
01:20:52,014 --> 01:20:54,600
Today, now, we have what?
1377
01:20:54,683 --> 01:20:58,437
We have 320 million in the US,
25 million in Canada,
1378
01:20:58,521 --> 01:21:01,607
another 100 and so many million in Mexico.
1379
01:21:01,732 --> 01:21:07,405
So, North America is up to almost,
you know, 450 million people.
1380
01:21:07,488 --> 01:21:11,158
Trying to figure out a way
to bring animal agriculture
1381
01:21:11,241 --> 01:21:16,372
in balance with 450 million
hungry people is impossible.
1382
01:21:16,539 --> 01:21:19,458
This is amazing, I didn't believe it
when I first learned it,
1383
01:21:19,542 --> 01:21:24,547
but 216,000 more people are born
to the planet every day.
1384
01:21:24,713 --> 01:21:26,465
Every day.
1385
01:21:26,715 --> 01:21:28,216
It's extraordinary.
1386
01:21:28,801 --> 01:21:32,304
But what's really extraordinary
is you need, per day,
1387
01:21:32,471 --> 01:21:34,723
34,000 new acres of farmable land.
1388
01:21:34,807 --> 01:21:36,600
It's not happening.
1389
01:21:36,684 --> 01:21:39,352
ANDERSEN: To feed a person on an
all-plant based vegan diet for a year
1390
01:21:39,437 --> 01:21:42,147
requires just one-sixth
of an acre of land.
1391
01:21:42,230 --> 01:21:44,274
To feed that same person
on a vegetarian diet
1392
01:21:44,357 --> 01:21:47,486
that includes eggs and dairy
requires three times as much land.
1393
01:21:47,570 --> 01:21:50,489
To feed an average US citizen's
high-consumption diet
1394
01:21:50,573 --> 01:21:54,410
of meat, dairy, and eggs
requires 18 times as much land.
1395
01:21:54,493 --> 01:21:55,744
This is because you can produce
1396
01:21:55,828 --> 01:21:59,582
37,000 pounds of vegetables
on one and a half acres,
1397
01:21:59,665 --> 01:22:03,586
but only 375 pounds
of meat on that same plot of land.
1398
01:22:03,669 --> 01:22:07,881
A high-consuming, meat-eating Californian
saves 1.4 tons of C02 equivalent
1399
01:22:07,965 --> 01:22:09,717
per year by removing beef from their diet.
1400
01:22:09,800 --> 01:22:12,428
They save 1.6 tons by going vegetarian.
1401
01:22:12,511 --> 01:22:15,055
And 1.8 tons by going vegan.
1402
01:22:15,138 --> 01:22:18,726
This is more than switching to solar power
for your home, or driving a hybrid car.
1403
01:22:18,809 --> 01:22:21,061
Only switching to an electric vehicle
saves more,
1404
01:22:21,144 --> 01:22:22,813
which still though, few can afford.
1405
01:22:22,896 --> 01:22:24,690
But, unlike an electric vehicle,
1406
01:22:24,773 --> 01:22:26,650
the savings don't end
with greenhouse gases.
1407
01:22:26,734 --> 01:22:29,695
A vegan diet produces half as much
C02 as an American omnivore,
1408
01:22:29,778 --> 01:22:32,114
uses one-eleventh
the amount of fossil fuels,
1409
01:22:32,197 --> 01:22:35,951
one-thirteenth the amount of water,
and an eighteenth of the amount of land.
1410
01:22:36,034 --> 01:22:39,955
After adding this all up, I realized
I had the choice every single day
1411
01:22:40,038 --> 01:22:44,334
to save over 1,100 gallons of water,
45 pounds of grain,
1412
01:22:44,417 --> 01:22:49,047
30 square feet of forested land,
the equivalent of 10 pounds of C02,
1413
01:22:49,131 --> 01:22:52,425
and one animal's life. Every single day.
1414
01:22:52,510 --> 01:22:57,389
If we all, as a society, did go vegan,
and we moved away from eating animal foods
1415
01:22:57,473 --> 01:23:00,225
and toward a plant-based diet,
what would happen?
1416
01:23:00,476 --> 01:23:04,396
If we didn't kill all these cows
and eat them,
1417
01:23:04,480 --> 01:23:06,607
then we wouldn't have
to breed all these cows
1418
01:23:06,690 --> 01:23:09,735
because we're breeding cows,
and chickens, and pigs, and fish.
1419
01:23:09,818 --> 01:23:12,571
We're breeding them
over and over again, relentlessly.
1420
01:23:12,655 --> 01:23:16,116
So if we didn't breed them,
then we wouldn't have to feed them.
1421
01:23:16,199 --> 01:23:17,743
If we didn't have to feed them,
1422
01:23:17,826 --> 01:23:19,995
then we wouldn't have to devote
all this land
1423
01:23:20,078 --> 01:23:22,956
to growing grains, and legumes,
and so forth to feed to them.
1424
01:23:23,040 --> 01:23:25,501
And so then the forests could come back.
1425
01:23:26,418 --> 01:23:28,086
Wildlife could come back.
1426
01:23:28,170 --> 01:23:31,214
The oceans would come back.
The rivers would run clean again.
1427
01:23:31,298 --> 01:23:34,552
The air would come back.
Our health would return.
1428
01:23:34,635 --> 01:23:39,431
Renewable energy infrastructure such as
building solar and wind generators
1429
01:23:39,515 --> 01:23:41,349
all over our country
to reduce climate change,
1430
01:23:41,433 --> 01:23:42,768
that's a pretty good idea,
1431
01:23:42,851 --> 01:23:45,854
but it's projected to take
at least 20 years
1432
01:23:45,938 --> 01:23:50,108
and, at least, minimally,
$18 trillion to develop.
1433
01:23:50,192 --> 01:23:54,154
Another solution to climate change,
we could stop eating animals.
1434
01:23:54,237 --> 01:23:57,407
And it could be done today.
It doesn't have to take 20 years.
1435
01:23:57,490 --> 01:24:00,953
And it certainly doesn't have to take
$18 trillion, because it costs nothing.
1436
01:24:01,036 --> 01:24:03,789
Some people say, "Well, let's fix CO2,
and then we can worry about methane."
1437
01:24:03,872 --> 01:24:06,625
Well, that's the wrong... It's the other
way around that actually makes sense.
1438
01:24:06,709 --> 01:24:09,670
Do something about methane,
because you'll get a response right away.
1439
01:24:09,753 --> 01:24:11,379
Quietly and unmistakably,
1440
01:24:11,463 --> 01:24:15,008
the most powerful thing that
someone can do for the environment.
1441
01:24:15,092 --> 01:24:17,553
Um, no other lifestyle choice
has a farther reaching,
1442
01:24:17,636 --> 01:24:21,765
and more profoundly positive impact
on the planet and all life on Earth
1443
01:24:21,849 --> 01:24:25,978
than choosing to stop consuming
animals and live a vegan lifestyle.
1444
01:24:26,269 --> 01:24:30,398
You don't think we couldn't solve
this problem in a heartbeat?
1445
01:24:30,482 --> 01:24:34,194
I'll tell you what, all we would need
1446
01:24:34,277 --> 01:24:38,699
is for the environmentalists
to live what they profess,
1447
01:24:38,782 --> 01:24:43,203
and we'd be on a new course in the world.
1448
01:24:44,705 --> 01:24:49,167
We will not succeed
until we stop animal agriculture.
1449
01:24:49,251 --> 01:24:51,294
And by "succeed," I mean
1450
01:24:51,378 --> 01:24:54,172
we will not save ecosystems
to the extent necessary.
1451
01:24:54,256 --> 01:24:57,843
We will not have enough food
for people around the planet,
1452
01:24:57,926 --> 01:25:00,220
we will not stop global warming,
1453
01:25:00,303 --> 01:25:03,098
we will not stop pollution
in the dead zones that run off
1454
01:25:03,181 --> 01:25:08,812
all the fields of corn and soy
that are grown to feed livestock,
1455
01:25:08,896 --> 01:25:11,940
and we will not stop the hunting
of wolves and other predators.
1456
01:25:12,024 --> 01:25:15,944
Now, organic farming is one major,
positive step in the right direction,
1457
01:25:16,028 --> 01:25:17,320
but we need to keep walking.
1458
01:25:17,404 --> 01:25:21,533
We need to get beyond organics.
We need to get to sustainability.
1459
01:25:21,617 --> 01:25:25,203
When you take the animal out, you also
take the greenhouse gas issue out.
1460
01:25:25,287 --> 01:25:28,206
And you take the food safety issues out.
1461
01:25:28,290 --> 01:25:32,252
And you take some of other externalities
related to food scarcity out.
1462
01:25:32,335 --> 01:25:37,340
But one thing that's amazing is
I think you put our values back in.
1463
01:25:37,424 --> 01:25:42,304
You put values like compassion,
and integrity, and kindness...
1464
01:25:42,805 --> 01:25:47,267
Values that are natural to human beings,
you put that in.
1465
01:25:47,350 --> 01:25:50,771
You build that back
into the story of our food.
1466
01:25:50,854 --> 01:25:56,318
And I think, as this begins to progress,
I think it also helps people to pause
1467
01:25:56,819 --> 01:25:59,404
before they eat that egg,
before they eat that steak,
1468
01:25:59,487 --> 01:26:01,740
before they eat that chicken nugget.
1469
01:26:01,824 --> 01:26:05,828
And ask themselves,
is that really what they want?
1470
01:26:05,911 --> 01:26:08,831
Or do they actually want something more?
1471
01:26:09,372 --> 01:26:11,249
ANDERSEN: I had to come
to the full conclusion,
1472
01:26:11,333 --> 01:26:14,127
the only way to sustainably
and ethically live on this planet
1473
01:26:14,211 --> 01:26:18,548
with seven billion other people is to
live an entirely plant-based vegan diet.
1474
01:26:19,174 --> 01:26:22,385
I decided instead of eating others,
to eat for others.
1475
01:26:22,469 --> 01:26:26,473
At first, like these environmental groups,
I was afraid of what it'd mean to change.
1476
01:26:26,556 --> 01:26:28,266
But now, I embrace it.
1477
01:26:28,350 --> 01:26:30,352
All this talk about sustainability
sounded like
1478
01:26:30,435 --> 01:26:32,354
our planet was on
some sort of life support.
1479
01:26:32,437 --> 01:26:36,483
And I don't want her to simply survive
or to sustain, but to thrive.
1480
01:26:36,566 --> 01:26:40,821
Life today is not about sustainability.
It's about thrive-ability.
1481
01:26:40,904 --> 01:26:44,825
She's given so much to us for so long,
it was time to give back.
1482
01:26:44,908 --> 01:26:47,535
A hundred and eight percent
of everything we have.
1483
01:26:48,078 --> 01:26:51,081
It felt good. It was an alignment.
1484
01:26:53,250 --> 01:26:54,626
And we see this movement,
1485
01:26:54,710 --> 01:26:57,796
not just about providing cheaper,
inexpensive food that everyone can have,
1486
01:26:57,880 --> 01:26:59,589
but also a spiritual move.
1487
01:26:59,672 --> 01:27:02,217
A move towards understanding
who we really are
1488
01:27:02,300 --> 01:27:03,886
and how we can really
connect to each other.
1489
01:27:04,052 --> 01:27:08,265
Do what you can do
as well as you can do it
1490
01:27:08,556 --> 01:27:11,143
every day of your life,
1491
01:27:11,852 --> 01:27:17,065
and you will end up dying one of the
happiest individuals that have ever died.
1492
01:27:17,357 --> 01:27:20,610
We become part of a gathering
momentum of other people.
1493
01:27:20,693 --> 01:27:23,655
It's happening. This is really
what's happening. This is the news.
1494
01:27:23,739 --> 01:27:25,783
Selflessness is a nice way to be.
1495
01:27:25,866 --> 01:27:29,953
It has all these benefits for yourself,
as well as the planet and other people.
1496
01:27:30,328 --> 01:27:32,539
So it's a beautiful way to live.
1497
01:27:32,622 --> 01:27:34,875
Ecologically, it just feels better.
1498
01:27:35,083 --> 01:27:39,922
This is about massively transforming
how our society eats,
1499
01:27:40,005 --> 01:27:41,924
because it's a necessity.
1500
01:27:42,090 --> 01:27:45,510
It's acting on what we know.
1501
01:27:45,593 --> 01:27:50,598
And acting kindly and gently on
the whole planet and with other people,
1502
01:27:50,682 --> 01:27:53,351
to accomplish the goals of living better.
1503
01:27:54,644 --> 01:27:57,898
We can do it,
but we have to choose to do it.
1504
01:28:00,358 --> 01:28:02,110
You can change the world.
1505
01:28:03,821 --> 01:28:05,948
You must change the world.