Cowspiracy

{{Infobox film

| name = Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret

| image = Cowspiracy_poster.jpg

| alt = A movie poster showing a cow with a sunset in the background

| caption = Promotional release poster

| director = Kip Andersen
Keegan Kuhn

| producer = Kip Andersen
Keegan Kuhn

| starring = Kip Andersen
Howard Lyman
Richard Oppenlander
Michael Pollan
Michael Klaper
Will Tuttle
Will Potter

| music =

| cinematography = Keegan Kuhn

| editing = Kip Andersen
Keegan Kuhn

| production_companies =

Appian Way
A.U.M. Films
First Spark Media

| released = {{Film date|2014|06|26|Los Angeles}}

| runtime = 91 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $117,092

}}

Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret is a 2014 American documentary film produced and directed by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. The film explores the impact of animal agriculture on the environment—examining such environmental concerns as climate change, water use, deforestation, and ocean dead zones—and investigates the policies of several environmental organizations on the issue.

The film won the Audience Choice Award at the 2015 South African Eco Film Festival and the Best Foreign Film Award at the 12th annual {{ill|Festival de films pour l'environnement|fr|lt=Festival de films de Portneuf sur l'environnement}}. Cowspiracy has been criticized for asserting that animal agriculture is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental destruction, with other sources assessing the impact as being less than is stated in the film.

Synopsis

The documentary was directed by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn, and explores the impact of animal agriculture on the environment, and investigates the policies of environmental organizations on this issue. Environmental organizations investigated in the film include Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, Rainforest Action Network, and Oceana.{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-kanner/meatless-monday-cowspirac_b_5634983.html|title=Meatless Monday -- 'Cowspiracy:' The One Thing No One Talks About|last=Kanner|first=Ellen|work=Huffington Post|date=August 4, 2014|access-date=October 9, 2014}}[http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12659 Animal Agriculture: A Neglected Agent of Global Warming?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223044906/http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12659 |date=2017-02-23 }} The co-producers of the documentary film "Cowspiracy" discuss the environmental impact of Intensive animal farming - and why mainstream organizations have been silent about it. November 20, 2014, The Real News{{cite news | title = Cowspiracy | date = February 19, 2015 | url = http://www.villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2015/02/cowspiracy/ | work = Village | access-date = March 4, 2015 | archive-date = February 24, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150224020700/http://www.villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2015/02/cowspiracy/ | url-status = dead }}{{cite news | title = Burgers Are Ending the World, Says Cowspiracy | date = June 25, 2014 | url = http://www.sfweekly.com/foodie/2014/06/25/burgers-are-ending-the-world-says-cowspiracy | work = SF Weekly | access-date = March 4, 2015 | archive-date = March 11, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150311102333/http://www.sfweekly.com/foodie/2014/06/25/burgers-are-ending-the-world-says-cowspiracy | url-status = dead }}

Production

The film was crowdfunded on Indiegogo, with 1,449 contributors giving $117,092. This funding was 217% of their goal, and it allowed them to dub the film into Spanish and German and subtitle it into more than 10 other languages, including Chinese and Russian.{{cite web |url=https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cowspiracy-the-sustainability-secret |title=Cowspiracy IndieGoGo campaign page |website=www.indiegogo.com |date= |access-date=}}{{cite web |last=Homewood |first=Alison |url=https://newint.org/blog/2015/09/24/cowspiracy-documentary-vegan |title=Beware Cowspiracy – and the spread of the vegan virus |date=2015-09-24 |work=New Internationalist |access-date=2024-10-10}} Screenings are licensed through the distributor, as well as through the now-defunct Tugg Inc. website.{{cite web |url=http://www.tugg.com/titles/cowspiracy |title=Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret |website=Tugg Inc. |access-date=2014-10-09 |archive-date=2017-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220121602/https://www.tugg.com/titles/cowspiracy |url-status=dead}}

An updated version of the documentary, executive-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, premiered globally on Netflix on September 15, 2015.{{cite news | title = Exclusive: Interview With Directors Of 'Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret' On Netflix, A Controversial New Documentary | date = August 27, 2015 | url = http://decider.com/2015/08/27/cowspiracy-the-sustainability-documentary-netflix/ | work = Decider | access-date = August 28, 2015}}

The 2017 documentary What the Health was written, produced, and directed by the same production team (Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn) as Cowspiracy.{{cite web |url=http://myveganjournal.com/cowspiracy-film-makers-announce-new-film-what-the-health/ |title=Cowspiracy Film Makers Announce NEW film: What the Health! |author=Jackie Day |date=January 23, 2016 |website=My Vegan Journal}}

Featured individuals

File:Keegan Kuhn at Cow-Con 2016.jpg, September 2016.]]

The following individuals were featured in the film:

Michael Klaper (physician, author, advisor)
Howard Lyman (former rancher, author, activist)
lauren Ornelas (Food Empowerment Project)
Michael Pollan (author, lecturer)
William Potter (journalist)
Kirk R. Smith (environmental health sciences)
Josh Tetrick (founder of Hampton Creek)
John Jeavons (biointensive agriculture advocate)

Reception

Cowspiracy won the Audience Choice Award at the 2015 South African Eco Film Festival,{{cite news |title=Cowspiracy Wins Audience Choice Award |date=April 9, 2015 |url=http://southafricanecofilmfestival.com/2015/04/09/cowspiracy-wins-audience-choice-award/ |work=The South African Eco Film Festival |access-date=April 9, 2015 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416111332/http://southafricanecofilmfestival.com/2015/04/09/cowspiracy-wins-audience-choice-award/ |archive-date=April 16, 2015 }} as well as the Best Foreign Film Award at the 12th annual Festival de films de Portneuf sur l'environnement.{{cite news | title = Le FFPE récompense les films gagnants de la 12e édition |trans-title=The FFPE rewards the winning films of the 12th festival | date = April 27, 2015 | url = http://www.ffpe.ca/le-ffpe-recompense-les-films-gagnants-de-la-12e-edition/ | work = Festival de films de Portneuf sur l'environnement | access-date = April 28, 2015 | archive-date = May 29, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150529155905/http://www.ffpe.ca/le-ffpe-recompense-les-films-gagnants-de-la-12e-edition/ | url-status = dead }} It was also nominated for Cinema Politica's 2015 Audience Choice Award.{{cite news | title = Vote for the 2015 Audience Choice Award! | date = April 6, 2016 | url = http://www.cinemapolitica.org/blog/network/vote-2015-audience-choice-award | work = Cinema Politica | access-date = April 24, 2016 | archive-date = April 21, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160421234715/http://www.cinemapolitica.org/blog/network/vote-2015-audience-choice-award | url-status = dead }}

=Criticisms=

Cowspiracy has been criticized for claiming that animal agriculture is the primary source of greenhouse gases.{{cite web |last1=Blundell |first1=Nicholas |title=A Critique of Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret |url=https://iu.pressbooks.pub/foodfiberfashionfa19/chapter/a-critique-of-cowspiracy-the-sustainability-secret/ |access-date=February 1, 2022 |language=en}} Scientific reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have consistently reached the consensus that the leading cause of anthropogenic warming is the combustion of fossil fuels accounting for about two-thirds of emissions, not animal agriculture.{{citation |author=Solomon, S. |chapter-url=http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/tssts-2-1-1.html |chapter=TS.2.1.1 Changes in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, Methane and Nitrous Oxide |title=Technical Summary |display-authors=etal |access-date=August 18, 2012 |archive-date=October 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015132903/http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/tssts-2-1-1.html |url-status=dead}}, in {{Harvnb|IPCC AR4 WG1|2007}}.{{cite web |title=AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis |url=https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/ |website=www.ipcc.ch |access-date=February 1, 2022 |language=en}}

Doug Boucher, reviewing the film for the Union of Concerned Scientists blog, disputed the film's assertion that 51% of global greenhouse gases are caused by animal agriculture.{{cite web|last1=Boucher|first1=Doug|title=Movie Review: There's a Vast Cowspiracy about Climate Change|url=http://blog.ucsusa.org/doug-boucher/cowspiracy-movie-review|website=The Equation blog|publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists|access-date=June 12, 2016|date=June 10, 2016}}{{cite journal|last1=Herrero|first1=Mario|last2=Wirsenius|first2=Stefan|last3=Henderson|first3=Benjamin|last4=Rigolot|first4=Cyrille|last5=Thornton|first5=Philip|last6=Havlík|first6=Petr|last7=de Boer|first7=Imke|last8=Gerber|first8=Pierre|title=Livestock and the Environment: What Have We Learned in the Past Decade?|journal=Annual Review of Environment and Resources|date=November 2015|volume=40|pages=177–202|doi=10.1146/annurev-environ-031113-093503|doi-access=free}} He described the 51% figure as being sourced from a 2009 Worldwatch Institute report by Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang{{cite magazine |last1=Goodland |first1=Robert |last2=Anhang |first2=Jeff |s2cid=27218645 |date=Nov{{ndash}}Dec 2009 |title=Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change were pigs, chickens and cows? |magazine=Worldwatch Magazine |pages=10–19 |publisher=Worldwatch Institute }}{{cite web |title=What if the key actors in climate change are...cows, pigs, and chickens? |url=https://awellfedworld.org/wp-content/uploads/Livestock-Climate-Change-Anhang-Goodland.pdf |website=A Well-Fed World |access-date=2023-01-16}} not from a peer-reviewed scientific paper. He claimed to have observed methodological flaws in Goodland and Anhang's logic, and said that the scientific community formed a consensus that global warming is primarily caused by humanity's burning of fossil fuels. He stated that the scientific consensus is that livestock contribute 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, far lower than the 51% stated by the film and the source article. A 2018 peer-reviewed meta-analysis found that a "no animal products" scenario would deliver a 28% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of the economy.{{cite journal|title=Reducing food's environmental impacts through producers and consumers|first1=J.|last1=Poore|first2=T.|last2=Nemecek|date=June 1, 2018|journal=Science|volume=360|issue=6392|pages=987–992|doi=10.1126/science.aaq0216|pmid=29853680|bibcode=2018Sci...360..987P|doi-access=free}}