THE COWSPIRACY

The Cowspiracy documentary film surely lives up to its name of being a conspiracy theory. Most of the time while watching, I could not help but think how the film is so obviously recorded and edited to be biased or lean towards their stand, which is that animal agriculture is the leading reason for several environmental impacts such as increased carbon footprint. A few of the interviews they did during the movie heavily focus on the fact that the people are caught off guard when answering their questions. Even the pauses are kept in the movie. It makes me wonder while watching the film if the interviewees even had a heads up of what the questions would be and if it was intentionally done that way to get the desired reaction from them–shock, loss of words, and the like.

Regardless, I would say that watching the film surprised me that sustainable agriculture was not a thing or heavily popularized some 10 years ago. I was able to do a paper on this topic last year for my Science, Technology, and Society subject, so I was familiar with the ropes of sustainable agriculture in recent years and the technology developed to keep up with it. Hence, it was bizarre watching the film, with its main claim being most environmental groups are (apparently) unaware of the problem with agricultural practices and how they harm our environment in the long run. Moreover, it is even more mindblowing to think that some 10 years ago, sustainable agriculture was not even a thing or a focus. It makes me think that the film did have some relevant points for shedding light on this issue. It also makes me worried to think that we are only taking actions now, when the effects already seem to be irreversible.

Consequently, I believe that governments and corporations should work together towards lessening the demand for beef, wherein the movie claims that cows take a large sum of the contributors towards carbon emissions. Governments can impose additional taxes on it, similar to how cigarettes are taxed as a sin tax to discourage people from using it. Moreover, corporations can look for beef alternatives that could also taste the same, to introduce new products to the market.

Currently, I believe that environmental organizations, especially of government institutions, have already researched to further promote sustainable agriculture specifically in the Philippines. There is a myriad of issues that come with the environment; hence, I believe that it would not hurt to also bring to light one more, considering that there is genuine and empirical data that says that animal agriculture is harming the environment more than we think.

With that being said, I would definitely tell my family that beef contributes to a huge chunk of carbon emissions in our environment. It would help them feel better about no longer being able to consume meat/beef due to health reasons. Moreover, it would also be interesting to tell this to my friends considering that all of us love to eat beef, as we eat this to celebrate our milestones. Somehow, being able to consume beef has become a status symbol–and I understand that partly, it may be because of the price and impact of raising it in the first place.

#GoingGreen #ACMSUST

Sophia Isabel S. Cauilan

Posted April 5, 2024