Cowspiracy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
A movie poster showing a cow with a sunset in the background
Promotional release poster
Directed by
Produced by
  • Kip Andersen
  • Keegan Kuhn
Starring
CinematographyKeegan Kuhn
Edited by
  • Kip Andersen
  • Keegan Kuhn
Production
companies
Release date
  • June 26, 2014 (2014-06-26) (Los Angeles)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$117,092

Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (also known as simply Cowspiracy) is a 2014 American documentary film produced and directed by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. The film explores the impacts 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[1] and the Best Foreign Film Award at the 12th annual Festival de films de Portneuf sur l'environnement (fr).[2] Cowspiracy has been criticized for asserting that animal agriculture is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental destruction,[3] with one source assessing the impact as being less than is stated in the film.[4]

Synopsis

[edit | edit source]

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.[5][6][7][8]

Production

[edit | edit source]

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.[9][10] Screenings are licensed through the distributor, as well as through the now-defunct Tugg Inc. website.[11]

An updated version of the documentary, executive-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, premiered globally on Netflix on September 15, 2015.[12]

The 2017 documentary What the Health was written, produced, and directed by the same production team (Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn) as Cowspiracy.[13]

[edit | edit source]
File:Keegan Kuhn at Cow-Con 2016.jpg
Co-producer/director Keegan Kuhn speaks at the Cowspiracy conference in Berkeley, September 2016.

The following individuals were featured in the film:

Reception

[edit | edit source]

Cowspiracy won the Audience Choice Award at the 2015 South African Eco Film Festival,[1] as well as the Best Foreign Film Award at the 12th annual Festival de films de Portneuf sur l'environnement.[2] It was also nominated for Cinema Politica's 2015 Audience Choice Award.[14]

Criticisms

[edit | edit source]

Cowspiracy has been criticized for claiming that animal agriculture is the primary source of greenhouse gases.[3]

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. He described the 51% figure as being sourced from a 2009 Worldwatch Institute report by Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang 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.[4]

See also

[edit | edit source]

References

[edit | edit source]
  1. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  3. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  4. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  5. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  6. ^ Animal Agriculture: A Neglected Agent of Global Warming? Archived 2017-02-23 at the Wayback Machine 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
  7. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  8. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  9. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  10. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  11. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  12. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  13. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  14. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).

Works cited

[edit | edit source]
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). (pb: Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).).
[edit | edit source]
File:Wikiquote-logo.svg
Wikiquote has quotations related to Cowspiracy.

Lua error in mw.title.lua at line 392: bad argument #2 to 'title.new' (unrecognized namespace name 'Portal').

Retrieved from "http://70.231.62.181/index.php?title=Cowspiracy&oldid=21564720"