Film Review - Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret

I recently watched a documentary that got me thinking about our global food production system and inspired me to use this space after a bit of an extended break. I must say it feels great to be back!

As I'm sure you can recall, the topic of animal agriculture and its impacts on the environment is one that I find particularly fascinating (albeit extremely complex). Having lived in urban spaces my whole life, I've come to realise how easy it is to forget about where the food we consume each day comes from. Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret brought this issue back on my radar but for a completely different reason.

The documentary aims to raise awareness of the environmental impacts of the animal agriculture industry. Animal agriculture, as we've talked about previously (e.g. here and here), is a key contributor to environmental degradation and global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Throughout the film, the California-based filmmakers Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn attempt to dig deeper into the environmental issues linked to animal agriculture and discover that the likes of environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs), governmental bodies and the agricultural industry are not prepared to acknowledge the fact that the current demand for meat and animal products is simply not sustainable. The documentary is particularly effective at portraying the reluctance of the key players in the environmental movement to address the issue, all the while inspiring individuals to make changes in their lives. Before watching the documentary, I was unaware of the fact that this is not an issue that organisations are keen to publicly back - especially after having read so many peer-reviewed papers that found animal agriculture to be a key contributor to GHG emissions! If you need a little inspiration or have been in a bit of a sustainability rut, this documentary is for you!

I'm sharing below the Cowspiracy infographic which highlights some of the figures discussed in the documentary.

Have you seen the Cowspiracy documentary? What are your views on the issue of animal agriculture and its environmental impacts? Would you be ready to adopt a vegan diet to curb GHG emissions? I'd love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to share in the comments section below! 

Ugly Fruit & Veg

Firstly, Happy New Year! Today's post is going to be a quick one about food waste. As you may already know, this is a topic that keeps coming up here on Picnics Past & Present and for good reason. In my eyes, food waste is an extremely important environmental issue and is one that everybody can easily get involved in. 

The "Ugly Carrot", part of
 Intermarché's campaign for "Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables"

A few posts back we touched on the global food waste issue when we talked about the close relatives of perfect produce: the ugly fruit and veggies. EndFoodWaste have recently launched a new campaign on twitter and Facebook that focuses on aesthetically imperfect fruit and veggies (or "uglies"). Their campaign aims to rally the public to demand ugly fruit and veggies at major retailers worldwide in a fun and interactive way. According to their website, at least 20% of all produce is wasted because of its size, shape, colour, or appearance. The group have created an information sheet outlining 10 reasons why people should support ugly fruit and vegetables, which range from world hunger to climate change. To take part in this great new campaign (and to have some fun!), follow #UglyIsBeautiful on twitter and post your own pictures of your ugly beauties to @UglyFruitAndVeg - the best pics will be retweeted!

Recent tweet from @UglyFruitAndVeg:
"I refuse to be the butt of your jokes"

If you want to go one step further and support the food waste cause, you can join the Feedback movement and pledge to reduce your food waste here. Feedback is the environmental organisation that campaigns to end food waste at every level of the food system.