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Cowspiracy: Il segreto della sostenibilità
Cowspiracy è considerato l’erede spirituale di film come Fast Food Nation e Food, Inc., che hanno puntato i riflettori sul business delle industrie della carne, delle uova e dei latticini. Kip Andersen e Keegan Khun partono da una domanda molto semplice: se ogni anno la zootecnia produce più emissioni di gas serra di tutti i trasporti messi insieme, inquinando o distruggendo gli habitat, per non parlare della crudeltà che infligge a 70 miliardi di esseri senzienti, perché le principali associazioni ambientaliste di tutto il mondo (da Greenpeace a Oceana) non ne parlano? In questo libro, i due registi hanno raccolto tutto ciò che non sono riusciti a catturare con le videocamere o tralasciato dal montaggio finale: le testimonianze complete dei personaggi intervistati (Lisa Agabian, di Sea Shepherd; gli scrittori Michael Pollan e Will Tuttle); dati aggiornati; tutto ciò che si nasconde dietro al business dell’allevamento animale e dell’industria della carne e di quella casearia; consigli per adottare uno stile di vita realmente sostenibile e per ridurre la propria impronta ecologica sul pianeta.
285 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 8, 2015
23 people are currently reading
918 people want to read
About the author
Kip Andersen
5 books6 followersKip is an American film producer and writer. He is best known for producing movies What the Health (2017), Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014) and Sea of Life (2017).Andersen is from San Francisco, California, and studied at California Polytechnic State University.
He began his career in 2014, with the documentary, Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret. The documentary, which was co-directed by Keegan Kuhn and executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, became an overnight viral success.
Besides being a film maker, he is also an entrepreneur and a certified Jivamukti and Kundalini yoga teacher. He is the founder of AUM Films and Media, a non-profit firm focused on creating movies that promote compassion and harmony for all life.
He began his career in 2014, with the documentary, Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret. The documentary, which was co-directed by Keegan Kuhn and executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, became an overnight viral success.
Besides being a film maker, he is also an entrepreneur and a certified Jivamukti and Kundalini yoga teacher. He is the founder of AUM Films and Media, a non-profit firm focused on creating movies that promote compassion and harmony for all life.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
November 1, 2019
My mum handed me her copy of this book saying "everyone should read this". As always, my mum is right, everyone should read this book. I started at 5am (thanks to westbound jet lag) and was done by 14:00. I thought I knew about the environmental impact of animal agriculture, but I had drastically underestimated its extent, and I was astonished by many of the revelations here.
The text is well structured. Our narrator, Kip, tells a highly relateable personal story. He saw An Inconvenient Truth way back when, and started cycling everywhere, switching to energy saving lightbulbs and so on. When he started researching the emissions of animal agriculture, he wondered why major environment groups like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club weren't talking about it. He kept on digging, speaking to individuals and groups who were actually researching and talking about the subject, as well as farmers and farming organisations around the US. In a series of shocking stat-packed chapters, the authors cover aspects of animal agriculture and Kip's personal journey.
Issues include the vast resource use of agribusiness (highlight: in the US, domestic water use accounts for 5% of the total, while animal agriculture accounts for 55%)
According to this book, there are 70 billion animals raised for food in the world right now (10 times the number of people).
Humans consume 5.2 billion gallons of water per day globally. Farmed animals consume 45 billion gallons. Humans consume 21 billion pounds of food. Farmed animals consume 135. We produce enough food to feed 12 billion people, but we feed, for example, 50% of the grains and legumes grown (more than 70% in the US) to animals. We also feed them ground up diseased animals and faeces.
Conservatively, animal agriculture accounts for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. Counting land clearance (deforestation) effects, it could be up to 51%. Cutting carbon emissions takes a long time to have an effect, but cutting methane emissions (which are mostly from animal agriculture) would have a relatively rapid impact.
Depleting ancient underground aquifers could be having 5 times more impact on sea levels than polar melting.
One thing that got me was that, at least the way it reads, Kip didn't decide to stop eating animals until he visited a "backyard farmer" (investigating whether this type of farming is sustainable) who slaughters two ducks in front of him. He notes the reactions of the people he meet who work with animals raised for food, how they are discomforted by the violence they inflict. Ending it just feels right. In alignment.
But why are so many organisations unwilling to speak up about the impact of animal agriculture? If government agencies are comfortable telling people to take short showers and switch off their sprinklers to conserve water, why do they never advise them to eat less meat? Why do news magazines blame California's drought on water-guzzling almonds and avocados when alfalfa grown for animal feed, much of it exported, accounts for a far greater proportion of the state's water use? The answer seems to be corporate influence. Farming organisations write and push legislation to protect and further their interests and profits, pushing states to pass laws to silence and prosecute activists. Regulatory bodies are run by people with vested interests.
An FBI spokesperson names "ecoterrorism" as the number one domestic threat in the US, but there have never been any injuries or fatalities caused by environment and animal activists in the US (because their central tenets include a commitment to avoid harming living things, human or otherwise). By contrast, in the period from 1992 to 2011 (over which they increased 400%), actions classed as right-wing terrorism killed 670 people and caused more than 3000 injuries. However, animal and environment activists caused millions of dollars of damage to corporate property. Maybe that's the real threat. In any case, violence against these activists is common. Many have been killed, especially in Brazil in connection with rainforest protection.
There's more, so much more. Please do read the book, or watch the documentary, which is easy to find.
The text is well structured. Our narrator, Kip, tells a highly relateable personal story. He saw An Inconvenient Truth way back when, and started cycling everywhere, switching to energy saving lightbulbs and so on. When he started researching the emissions of animal agriculture, he wondered why major environment groups like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club weren't talking about it. He kept on digging, speaking to individuals and groups who were actually researching and talking about the subject, as well as farmers and farming organisations around the US. In a series of shocking stat-packed chapters, the authors cover aspects of animal agriculture and Kip's personal journey.
Issues include the vast resource use of agribusiness (highlight: in the US, domestic water use accounts for 5% of the total, while animal agriculture accounts for 55%)
I found out that one quarter pound hamburger requires more than 600 gallons of water to produce. Here I've been taking short showers, trying to save water and following the government's advice, and then I find out that eating one hamburger is the equivalent of showering for two whole months.Kip meets grass-fed beef farmers and debunks that industry's claim to sustainability, investigates factory farming (which is absolutely sickening to read about - the conditions animals are kept and killed in are hideous to contemplate), fishing, dairy (much worse than meat, in terms of animal suffering) and egg production, deforestation and the impact of going vegan (in the US, one person going vegan saves more than 1000 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 square feet of forest, 20 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent, and one animal's life, every day. Every day! That's a real impact).
According to this book, there are 70 billion animals raised for food in the world right now (10 times the number of people).
Humans consume 5.2 billion gallons of water per day globally. Farmed animals consume 45 billion gallons. Humans consume 21 billion pounds of food. Farmed animals consume 135. We produce enough food to feed 12 billion people, but we feed, for example, 50% of the grains and legumes grown (more than 70% in the US) to animals. We also feed them ground up diseased animals and faeces.
Conservatively, animal agriculture accounts for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. Counting land clearance (deforestation) effects, it could be up to 51%. Cutting carbon emissions takes a long time to have an effect, but cutting methane emissions (which are mostly from animal agriculture) would have a relatively rapid impact.
Depleting ancient underground aquifers could be having 5 times more impact on sea levels than polar melting.
One thing that got me was that, at least the way it reads, Kip didn't decide to stop eating animals until he visited a "backyard farmer" (investigating whether this type of farming is sustainable) who slaughters two ducks in front of him. He notes the reactions of the people he meet who work with animals raised for food, how they are discomforted by the violence they inflict. Ending it just feels right. In alignment.
But why are so many organisations unwilling to speak up about the impact of animal agriculture? If government agencies are comfortable telling people to take short showers and switch off their sprinklers to conserve water, why do they never advise them to eat less meat? Why do news magazines blame California's drought on water-guzzling almonds and avocados when alfalfa grown for animal feed, much of it exported, accounts for a far greater proportion of the state's water use? The answer seems to be corporate influence. Farming organisations write and push legislation to protect and further their interests and profits, pushing states to pass laws to silence and prosecute activists. Regulatory bodies are run by people with vested interests.
An FBI spokesperson names "ecoterrorism" as the number one domestic threat in the US, but there have never been any injuries or fatalities caused by environment and animal activists in the US (because their central tenets include a commitment to avoid harming living things, human or otherwise). By contrast, in the period from 1992 to 2011 (over which they increased 400%), actions classed as right-wing terrorism killed 670 people and caused more than 3000 injuries. However, animal and environment activists caused millions of dollars of damage to corporate property. Maybe that's the real threat. In any case, violence against these activists is common. Many have been killed, especially in Brazil in connection with rainforest protection.
There's more, so much more. Please do read the book, or watch the documentary, which is easy to find.
"The world's poor cannot compete with the cattle and chickens of the world's wealthy people"said Joel Cohen, head of the Laboratory of Populations at Rockefeller University. "The extremely poor are irrelevant to international markets; they are economically invisible. But they are people nonetheless"
January 21, 2020
Wow I learnt so much reading this. Just over six months ago I sat down and watched a documentary called Cowspiracy and it opened my eyes to so much. The next day I went vegan. This book is the companion to that documentary and I learnt even more reading this!
This book covers all the topics involved with animal agriculture. The effects on the environment and on your health. It talks about how we are destroying our rainforests and oceans. It tells you what really goes on in slaughterhouses and dairy farms. And it shows you how major environmental companies aren't talking about these issues. It's eye opening, it's scary and it's heart breaking but it's a life changer.
I highly recommend everyone reading this! Please give it a go and go into it with an open mind.
"Quietly and unmistakably, the most powerful thing that someone can do for the environment is to stop consuming animals and live a vegan lifestyle. No other lifestyle has a further reaching and more profoundly positive impact on the planet and all life on Earth"
This book covers all the topics involved with animal agriculture. The effects on the environment and on your health. It talks about how we are destroying our rainforests and oceans. It tells you what really goes on in slaughterhouses and dairy farms. And it shows you how major environmental companies aren't talking about these issues. It's eye opening, it's scary and it's heart breaking but it's a life changer.
I highly recommend everyone reading this! Please give it a go and go into it with an open mind.
"Quietly and unmistakably, the most powerful thing that someone can do for the environment is to stop consuming animals and live a vegan lifestyle. No other lifestyle has a further reaching and more profoundly positive impact on the planet and all life on Earth"
July 22, 2022
4.5 Stars!
So this is the latest candidate for one of the most depressing books I have yet read. As this is a dark and depressing subject I think it’s only right to open up in a light-hearted way, with a few of my favourite cow related jokes. Ready?...Here goes…What do cows have for breakfast?...Moooooseli!...What do you call a sleeping bull?...A bulldozer…What do cows do in their spare time?...Go to the mooooovies! (or listen to mooooooosic)…Cow on a trampoline?...Milkshake. What do you call a fish with no eyes?...A fsh…
This opens up with a thundering introduction from Chris Hedges, who doesn’t hold back and sets up the mood and tone of this book rather nicely. So just when I thought I learned about most of the worst excesses and awfulness of what America is capable of I read this?...
In here we encounter a refreshingly honest dairy CEO and a suspiciously evasive Greenpeace. I learned of a disturbing new term in Ag-gag, at least thirteen states have food disparagement laws. I also read many upsetting facts and stats to do with chronic, encultured wide-scale animal abuse and torture, and of course how phenomenally unsustainable a meat eating diet remains. Jesus wept how fat, greedy and selfish do people need to be?...How much is too much?...This is a profoundly confronting book and again shows you bad the political and corporate landscape is, which has allowed these lies and myths to flourish and solidify throughout the world.
One criticism I would level at this book, is when it comes to the many meat substitutes. The problem with a lot of meat substitute products is that they can be made with incredibly sinister ingredients (resulting in foaming etc). And let’s be honest tofu, no matter how you to try to hide it, is almost always inedible. It tastes just terrible. The better tasting or quality substitutes can often be hard to get hold of and also incredibly expensive too, which is a real world consideration. But still weighed against the real costs of the meat industry and the lies and deception around it, we simply cannot afford to go on the way we are going.
OK here are some dark quotes to think about…
When the Californian government imposed a 25% reduction on water use due to drought, the agricultural region was naturally immune, which is really another way of saying above the law.
“Why I wanted to know, are environmental and animal rights activists considered the number one domestic terror threat in the country?”
“There are a lot of bizarre things about animal farming. Probably the most bizarre is that we actually give the animals we eat more food than we do the 1.3 billion people who go to be hungry every single night. That’s crazy.”
“The meat and dairy industries produce more greenhouse gases than all cars, trucks, trains, boats, and planes combined.”
“Methane gas from livestock has a global warming potential eighty-six times greater than carbon dioxide from vehicles.”
“Not only does livestock play a major role in global warming, it is also the leading cause of resource consumption and environmental degradation destroying the planet today.”
“Grass fed beef is far worse, environmentally, than corn fed.”
“In the United States alone, in 2012, there were 9 million dairy cows, on 100’000 farms.”
“There are more than forty diseases that can be transferred to human beings from manure.”
“A dead zone the size of Connecticut-more than 5,000 square miles-floats off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico. It is the world’s second largest dead zone caused by humans. The largest is in the Baltic Sea.”
“Over the past twenty-five years, more than five hundred miles of nonbiodegradable fishing nets have been released into our oceans. They continue to catch innumerable numbers of sea creatures, and since the nets are never collected and cleared, the bodies of the dead animals and fish accumulate into a congealed organic mass.”
“Grass fed cows emit 60 to 400% more methane than cows raised in factory farms…Remember methane is eighty-six times more destructive than carbon dioxide.”
“It takes upwards of 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef.” Apparently one hamburger requires 660 gallons of water.
“There is more suffering in a glass of milk than in a pound of steak…The American dairy industry is far, far worse than the beef industry when it comes to the abuse and suffering of the animals.”
“We’re in the middle of the largest mass extinction of species in sixty-five million years.”
“It’s like a smoker diagnosed with lung cancer ascribing to “smokeless Sundays”.” When discussing the deceptive allure of so called “Meatless Mondays”.
“I used to be proud to say, “Yeah, I eat everything.” It made me seem like someone who was open to all options, who wasn’t picky, and frankly, way more fun to be with than someone with “restrictions.” But I’m starting to hear that statement, “I eat everything,” in a different way now.”
February 26, 2017
If you liked the documentary “Cowspiracy,” and you like to read, then you will like this book.
That’s a pretty safe statement, because “The Sustainability Secret” is “Cowspiracy” in book form, nothing less and only slightly more.
In the format of a book, our friends Kip and Keegan could have delved a lot deeper into the subject matter, but at a mere 165 pages, they didn’t venture much beyond their truly excellent film.
But that’s OK. The facts and statistics about animal agriculture and the environmental degradation it causes are easier to digest in book form. And, in the book, they convey the same level of justified outrage about the effect that the meat, dairy and egg industries are having on our planet, on animals and on public health.
Besides all that, you just have to love the “Mad Cowboy” Howard Lyman, who takes a star turn in “Cowspiracy” and appears a few times in the book.
My advice, for what it’s worth: Give a copy of the “The Sustainability Secret” to any book-loving environmentalists who are still consuming animal products.
That’s a pretty safe statement, because “The Sustainability Secret” is “Cowspiracy” in book form, nothing less and only slightly more.
In the format of a book, our friends Kip and Keegan could have delved a lot deeper into the subject matter, but at a mere 165 pages, they didn’t venture much beyond their truly excellent film.
But that’s OK. The facts and statistics about animal agriculture and the environmental degradation it causes are easier to digest in book form. And, in the book, they convey the same level of justified outrage about the effect that the meat, dairy and egg industries are having on our planet, on animals and on public health.
Besides all that, you just have to love the “Mad Cowboy” Howard Lyman, who takes a star turn in “Cowspiracy” and appears a few times in the book.
My advice, for what it’s worth: Give a copy of the “The Sustainability Secret” to any book-loving environmentalists who are still consuming animal products.
Want to read
July 23, 2022Also a movie, 2014, Cowspiracy: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3302820/...
March 6, 2019
Unless you don't believe in climate change, you should definitely read this book. It is a very succinct summary of the ways in which animal agriculture are impacting our environment and it is well-referenced, many of which I was familiar with or looked up. I am an epidemiologist and the epidemiological work he cites is well-known and highly regarded. In general, these authors do a good job of translating the science into understandable facts. Here are several points the book makes:
1) Water is a critical resource. In order to raise animals to eat, the amount of water used to grow the plants to feed the animals and then the water the animals require makes them a predominant source of water use. Not to mention that the chemicals used to grow the feed sinks back into the ground water, rivers, etc. and contaminates that water.
2) Animals consume a lot of food. Many of the world's major crops go predominantly to feed animals, not people.
3) Factory farms, otherwise known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) provide the a large percentage of the meat raised for food in this country and increasingly in other areas of the world as well. These CAFOs largely ignore humane and health concerns. In addition to raising animals that carry diseases, their feces also carry these pathogens and these feces are sold to farmers as fertilizer. Even organic farmers can use animal waste products on their plants and still qualify as organic.
4) Animals, particularly larger animals, give off huge amounts of methane. Although not mentioned nearly as much as carbon dioxide in connection with climate change, methane is 86 times more destructive to the environment than carbon dioxide. Globally, cattle give off 150 billion tons of methane each day.
5) Rainforests not only serve as an oxygen reservoir for the planet but they also provide a home for many plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. Many of these have resulted in major medical breakthroughs. These rainforests are being systematically forested to raise crops (mostly to feed animals) and to permit grazing. We are losing our oxygen reservoir and countless unknown flora that could have important medical implications.
6) The authors also provide some results from studies comparing vegetarian and vegan diets vs. diets containing meat. They break down a number of myths and make the case, as many nutritional epidemiologic studies have also suggested, that vegetarians, and particularly vegans, are much healthier overall.
7) So, if you are a meat-eater but you only buy from local farms where you know the animals' names, that is a small consolation, but the big picture (and the statistics behind the picture) demonstrate that there is not enough land on earth to feed all the growing numbers of people who want to eat meat using only small local farms.
8) And BTW, don't switch to fish. Contamination levels are high in many of the most popular fish. In addition, with increasing changes to the oceans from over-fishing, climate change, and generally inhumane practices like leaving nets no longer used in the ocean to continue to trap fish and other ocean life, fish won't be around much longer--at least not in quantities large enough to feed a world of people.
This isn't a popular message, which is why environmental groups would rather focus on big oil/coal industries and recycling as popular topics. No one wants to lose their audience of meat-eaters.
I found this book compelling. I didn't like the story but the facts they cite back up their claims.
1) Water is a critical resource. In order to raise animals to eat, the amount of water used to grow the plants to feed the animals and then the water the animals require makes them a predominant source of water use. Not to mention that the chemicals used to grow the feed sinks back into the ground water, rivers, etc. and contaminates that water.
2) Animals consume a lot of food. Many of the world's major crops go predominantly to feed animals, not people.
3) Factory farms, otherwise known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) provide the a large percentage of the meat raised for food in this country and increasingly in other areas of the world as well. These CAFOs largely ignore humane and health concerns. In addition to raising animals that carry diseases, their feces also carry these pathogens and these feces are sold to farmers as fertilizer. Even organic farmers can use animal waste products on their plants and still qualify as organic.
4) Animals, particularly larger animals, give off huge amounts of methane. Although not mentioned nearly as much as carbon dioxide in connection with climate change, methane is 86 times more destructive to the environment than carbon dioxide. Globally, cattle give off 150 billion tons of methane each day.
5) Rainforests not only serve as an oxygen reservoir for the planet but they also provide a home for many plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. Many of these have resulted in major medical breakthroughs. These rainforests are being systematically forested to raise crops (mostly to feed animals) and to permit grazing. We are losing our oxygen reservoir and countless unknown flora that could have important medical implications.
6) The authors also provide some results from studies comparing vegetarian and vegan diets vs. diets containing meat. They break down a number of myths and make the case, as many nutritional epidemiologic studies have also suggested, that vegetarians, and particularly vegans, are much healthier overall.
7) So, if you are a meat-eater but you only buy from local farms where you know the animals' names, that is a small consolation, but the big picture (and the statistics behind the picture) demonstrate that there is not enough land on earth to feed all the growing numbers of people who want to eat meat using only small local farms.
8) And BTW, don't switch to fish. Contamination levels are high in many of the most popular fish. In addition, with increasing changes to the oceans from over-fishing, climate change, and generally inhumane practices like leaving nets no longer used in the ocean to continue to trap fish and other ocean life, fish won't be around much longer--at least not in quantities large enough to feed a world of people.
This isn't a popular message, which is why environmental groups would rather focus on big oil/coal industries and recycling as popular topics. No one wants to lose their audience of meat-eaters.
I found this book compelling. I didn't like the story but the facts they cite back up their claims.
March 2, 2016
"You can change the world, you MUST change the world"
THIS IS SO SO IMPORTANT TO READ. PLEASE JUST READ IT TO HELP SAVE OUR BEAUTIFUL PLANET. I have learned so much! Wow animal agriculture has a HUGE impact on our planet. Why are all our forests disappearing? Why are animals becoming extinct? Why are our oceans, rivers and lakes polluted? Why are we going through global warming? Why are thousands of people starving every day? We don't have much time left. This book gives you all the facts about why a vegan diet can help save our world and what is happening right now. Everything is is sourced and it gives so much information. Ahhhh why does no one know this stuff? Why is it not widely known? It frustrates me so much! It is incredibly important. This book will give you all the info you need to know plus so much more. We need to save our beautiful planet before it's too late.
"YOU CANT BE AN ENVIRONMENTALIST AND EAT ANIMAL PRODUCTS"
Veganism is the way to go! Feel free to ask me any questions if anyone is interested. I'm happy to help :)
THIS IS SO SO IMPORTANT TO READ. PLEASE JUST READ IT TO HELP SAVE OUR BEAUTIFUL PLANET. I have learned so much! Wow animal agriculture has a HUGE impact on our planet. Why are all our forests disappearing? Why are animals becoming extinct? Why are our oceans, rivers and lakes polluted? Why are we going through global warming? Why are thousands of people starving every day? We don't have much time left. This book gives you all the facts about why a vegan diet can help save our world and what is happening right now. Everything is is sourced and it gives so much information. Ahhhh why does no one know this stuff? Why is it not widely known? It frustrates me so much! It is incredibly important. This book will give you all the info you need to know plus so much more. We need to save our beautiful planet before it's too late.
"YOU CANT BE AN ENVIRONMENTALIST AND EAT ANIMAL PRODUCTS"
Veganism is the way to go! Feel free to ask me any questions if anyone is interested. I'm happy to help :)
January 29, 2017
A very informational book. Already being a vegan and animal rights activist I already knew quite a bit of the information in the book. But there is a lot of info that supplemented what I knew and helped me gain a better understanding of what's going on with factory farming and all the other animal food industries. This is a great book for anyone who really wants to know about factory farming and what goes into producing meat and dairy.
January 13, 2017
I believe everyone, from kids in school to adults, should read this book. It is very informative, and packed full of information that everyone should be aware of.
September 26, 2019
If you are wondering if there’s anything you can to help our planet at this point, I’d urge you to read this book. The documentary is also very good but the book gets into more detail and you have time to digest some of the data presented. Honestly, if you are planning to read one book this year, pick this one.
October 14, 2019
While I'm not convinced about the conspiracy aspect of "Cowspiracy," Kuhn's story highlights a critically important variable of the climate equation in a deeply entertaining fashion.
September 5, 2017
I am not being overdramatic when I say this book changed my life. There is no going back to my old ways after having read The Sustainability Secret - I have learned things I cannot unlearn, I have finally decided to care about the broken aspects of this world I previously tried to ignore, and through learning and caring I have been inspired to do something about my new understanding and knowledge of the way our world works. My childhood was spent on farmlands, eating animals and animal products with each and every meal (and even in between meals), and I spent countless hours in the woods hunting for meat. Now, however, I am a strict vegetarian, and I am progressing towards veganism with each new meal.
This book can quite literally save the world if enough people decided to read it, learn from it, care about the issues it addresses, and to react to those issues accordingly. The journey I was taken on as I learned these lessons was probably one of the most influential experiences of my life. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is willing to listen, learn, and act.
This book can quite literally save the world if enough people decided to read it, learn from it, care about the issues it addresses, and to react to those issues accordingly. The journey I was taken on as I learned these lessons was probably one of the most influential experiences of my life. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is willing to listen, learn, and act.
February 3, 2017
ALL. THE. YES.
'Cowspiracy' has the perfect amount of complexity & information, storytelling & personal touch as well as a solid base of research. It's different from my beloved 'Eating animals', but it's so worth reading. In fact I believe it's THE book to read if you wanna know about the sustainability of different diets & all the environmental effects they have. It's also a really nice addition to the documentary.
I'm actually making this my new staff pick at work, so EVERYONE WILL KNOWWWWW.
'Cowspiracy' has the perfect amount of complexity & information, storytelling & personal touch as well as a solid base of research. It's different from my beloved 'Eating animals', but it's so worth reading. In fact I believe it's THE book to read if you wanna know about the sustainability of different diets & all the environmental effects they have. It's also a really nice addition to the documentary.
I'm actually making this my new staff pick at work, so EVERYONE WILL KNOWWWWW.
September 26, 2017
Cowspiracy is a must-read for those who can't live without animal meat for a meal. Hats off to authors Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn for courageously and assiduously exposing, based on convincing facts, of what seems to be the No.1 culprit of global warming climate change.
March 21, 2021
An amazing book, but with some slight inaccuracies with data that I wish would be shown.
This book is an expose of the animal agriculture industry and the negative impact that it is having on the environment, but it is also much more than that. It also explains how animals suffer at our peril and are the cause of many of our current world problems due to the mass resources that they consume for small amounts of meat.
I really enjoyed the format of the book and I think that it is a great introduction into the negative effects of animal agriculture on various different fronts, coving both land animals, oceans, factory farming etc.
This book gives readers a startling realization to the reality of animal agriculture and the negative impact that it is having on our society as well as the environment. However, I think that there should have been a lot more transparency about the facts and more focus on the other reasons to switch to a plant based diet. There have been lots of arguments about whether the stats mentioned in the book were real or not, which I think could have been ignored by presenting this book as a first glance into the environmental impact of animal agriculture, not a final understanding of it.
While I have watched films before that have helped to convince me slowly to become vegan, this book and the evidence that it shows has now made me ready to switch.
Please read this book, if not for the sake of the environment, to end hunger and malnutrition or to simply give animals the lives that they deserve.
This book is an expose of the animal agriculture industry and the negative impact that it is having on the environment, but it is also much more than that. It also explains how animals suffer at our peril and are the cause of many of our current world problems due to the mass resources that they consume for small amounts of meat.
I really enjoyed the format of the book and I think that it is a great introduction into the negative effects of animal agriculture on various different fronts, coving both land animals, oceans, factory farming etc.
This book gives readers a startling realization to the reality of animal agriculture and the negative impact that it is having on our society as well as the environment. However, I think that there should have been a lot more transparency about the facts and more focus on the other reasons to switch to a plant based diet. There have been lots of arguments about whether the stats mentioned in the book were real or not, which I think could have been ignored by presenting this book as a first glance into the environmental impact of animal agriculture, not a final understanding of it.
While I have watched films before that have helped to convince me slowly to become vegan, this book and the evidence that it shows has now made me ready to switch.
Please read this book, if not for the sake of the environment, to end hunger and malnutrition or to simply give animals the lives that they deserve.
October 9, 2024
A good book to read if you are concerned about the sustainability of the world's food supply. The book delves into the areas of the cost, sustainability, and waste of eating animals and animal secretions. It contains information regarding the laws and actions that support the beef and other animal industries in the US and the manner in which large animal raising entities have corrupted the rights of individuals and organizations form gaining information or questioning methods of production. This book covers everything from the resources used/needed to produce animal food for both humans and animals and how it impacts both global warming and the impact on the worlds growing population. It provides information about the benefits of skipping the "middleman" (animals who eat plants) and moving straight to a plant-based diet. There is lots of worthwhile and eye-opening info contained in the 165 pages of this book.
December 25, 2019
This book helped give me a nudge, maybe even a shove, toward becoming vegan. Prior to reading it I knew if I educated myself enough I would not want to eat meat anymore. I ate a lot of cheese and eggs and didn't think I'd give that up. But by the time I finished this book, I also realized that the best thing for myself, animals, and our planet would be to become vegan rather than stopping at vegetarian. It's been a little over a year, though a couple of holiday seasons, and while I've had dairy a few times from food other people made me (and at that point I think it's better for the planet if my stomach can handle it to eat it than to throw it out), I haven't bought any or had any meat slips. I've no regrets in changing my way of life except that I didn't make the switch sooner.
July 11, 2019
sweet Lord, this book is a absolute gem. one of the most comprehensive, helpful resources i’ve ever come across on pretty much every aspect of veganism, with a particular focus on the environmental arguments.
read this w my notes app perpetually open - not 1 single page went by when i didn’t read something i immediately wanted to write down so i would remember it, to the extent that i now have a list of notes almost as long as the book itself. some mind-boggling facts in here.
this book should be read by anyone who genuinely cares about the environment and wants future generations to be born into a world which isn’t destroyed. such a good book.
read this w my notes app perpetually open - not 1 single page went by when i didn’t read something i immediately wanted to write down so i would remember it, to the extent that i now have a list of notes almost as long as the book itself. some mind-boggling facts in here.
this book should be read by anyone who genuinely cares about the environment and wants future generations to be born into a world which isn’t destroyed. such a good book.
March 31, 2019
Having gone vegetarian ( and eat mostly vegan) nearly two years ago this book has I think pushed me the final bit. It’s harrowing, insightful, and everything you don’t really want to hear but deep down know is wrong with our current food system!! Please read and then mull it over... the ability for us to change the world is there not by buying a new car or flying less but stopping one thing. Oh and you might get a bit healthier.
June 11, 2019
I read this book after watching the Cowspiracy documentary, both had a profound impact on me and how I live. I am grateful that this book helped open my eyes to ‘what I didn’t know, I didn’t know’. It really blew my mind to find out all these facts and to understand why/how some corporations (even governments) have such a powerful political agenda to keep these facts hidden.
May 21, 2022
3 stars purely because the writing itself felt like I was reading one of those kid’s show episode-to-chapter-book things. Not bad, not inaccurate, just left me feeling disappointed that it was mostly the documentary regurgitated instead of something that Needed to be written and published in book form
July 27, 2021
wonderful research and presentation of data, more controversial at time of initial publishing but has come to be more widely accepted in recent years, super accessible for all levels of prior knowledge - crucial yet intentionally inflammatory
September 27, 2023
Very eye-opening book, which I enjoyed reading a lot. I do think it could have been better reaserched, especially the chapter on health. It also did not adress all essential issues like the meat consumption of pets, which cannot be ignored when discussing this topic.
March 30, 2025
this book taught me an incredible amount about my carbon footprint i was not even aware of. my only qualm with it is that it sounds exactly identical to the netflix documentary of it, so it’s not good for people who wanted to watch the doc first and possibly read the book for more details and such
December 23, 2018
Confronting. Its increased my 'to read' list by quite a few books. Would like to read a book with australian information.
May 28, 2019
Just validates all the reasons why I am vegan and proud.
June 22, 2020
Every human should read this book.. feel the pain of other living beings .. we are not the only one deserve to enjoy and feel the world..
November 13, 2023
Having been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for nearly fifty years, much of Kip Andersen's story already resonated with me. But the gruesome details shared in this book have moved me toward a long-term goal of outright veganism as soon as practical. Andersen testifies to the many problems associated with our meat-heavy diet. I began my own vegetarian journey in college for health reasons and because I had always been repulsed by eating that which had been walking around the barnyard just a short time before. I soon realized there were other serious drawbacks to eating meat - the inefficiency of growing food to feed animals, the drain on water and other resources, the impacts on food production and distribution in the Third World, the inhumane treatment of the animals, the horrid conditions for the farm workers and meat processors, the unsanitary and unsafe state of processing in general, and the high level of greenhouse gas generation.
Like his companion documentary, Cowspiracy, Andersen painstakingly makes a case for each of these points with extensive farm and facility visits, interviews, and an extraordinary degree of research. Twenty-three pages of end notes document and substantiate Andersen's contentions, clearly discounting the meat, dairy, poultry and fish industry claims. His blunt, graphic and sometimes tongue-in-cheek account makes for a most informative, albeit often disturbing, book on the most ignored element of our climate change debacle.
Like his companion documentary, Cowspiracy, Andersen painstakingly makes a case for each of these points with extensive farm and facility visits, interviews, and an extraordinary degree of research. Twenty-three pages of end notes document and substantiate Andersen's contentions, clearly discounting the meat, dairy, poultry and fish industry claims. His blunt, graphic and sometimes tongue-in-cheek account makes for a most informative, albeit often disturbing, book on the most ignored element of our climate change debacle.
June 15, 2022
Just an absolutely amazing, life-changing read. It's everything Cowspiracy was and then 10x more. This should be required reading for all the environmental science majors. Heck, it should be required reading for all levels of education.
September 5, 2017
I am not being overdramatic when I say this book changed my life. There is no going back to my old ways after having read The Sustainability Secret - I have learned things I cannot unlearn, I have finally decided to care about the broken aspects of this world I previously tried to ignore, and through learning and caring I have been inspired to do something about my new understanding and knowledge of the way our world works. My childhood was spent on farmlands, eating animals and animal products with each and every meal (and even in between meals), and I spent countless hours in the woods hunting for meat. Now, however, I am a strict vegetarian, and I am progressing towards veganism with each new meal.
This book can quite literally save the world if enough people decided to read it, learn from it, care about the issues it addresses, and to react to those issues accordingly. The journey I was taken on as I read this has been one of the most influential experiences of my life, and I highly recommend this book to anyone with a will to listen, learn, and act.
This book can quite literally save the world if enough people decided to read it, learn from it, care about the issues it addresses, and to react to those issues accordingly. The journey I was taken on as I read this has been one of the most influential experiences of my life, and I highly recommend this book to anyone with a will to listen, learn, and act.
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