1.Remember how Freightened made a big deal about the greenhouse gases emitted by ships? Now let’s watch Cowspiracy (1 hour 30 minutes). Its co-producer is, by the way, Leonardo DiCaprio: http://watchdocumentaries.com/cowspiracy-the-sustainability-secret/ (You could watch it for free on Netflix too.)
If we are talking about the real price of shipping, now what is the real price of eating animals? Why is it affordable for many of us aka the privileged to eat meat? What is the actual “inconvenient truth” according to the documentary?
There are A LOT of awkward, cringeworthy, and disturbing as well as enlightening/controversial moments in the documentary. I reckon that you are all educated adults to handle those carefully and critically.
The documentary starts with a quote. What is the relevance of this quote to the documentary’s message?
As your instructor, my message is not to promote veganism nor carnism. I am, however, interested in what you could learn from the documentary and what you think about the “cowspiracy”, about those organization representatives’ inability to talk or ability to defend/deny/deflect/disregard at certain points, about world hunger, morality, sustainability and thrivability, human-induced environmental degradation #Anthropocene, and our overall relationship with/responsibility for other critters and the world.
On the whole, what has surprised/impressed/angered/confused/inspired etc. you the most in the documentary?
Here are a number of links for your further references:
A page of the facts highlighted by the documentary: http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
A scientific adviser’s critic of the documentary: https://blog.ucsusa.org/doug-boucher/cowspiracy-movie-review
A comeback from the documentary: http://www.cowspiracy.com/blog/2015/11/23/response-to-criticism-of-cowspiracy-facts
A short critical video featuring “a political science perspective” (10 minutes): https://youtu.be/Frz_Q69UBCc
By the way, that YouTuber calls an executive director out on her lack of qualification due to having only a bachelor degree in anthropology. Oh well… I don’t totally agree with all of the above, including the documentary. But I do think that some of the final responses by the co-director are worth dwelling upon:
“If you were to make Cowspiracy today – would you change some of the content or would the documentary turn out to be the same?”
We will continually update Cowspiracy as new research comes out. We would like to expose the NGO’s funding, the blanket corruption of governments from this industry and the cultural taboo of speaking about personal change.
Final Thoughts:
I think when people put their personal habits and desires aside they can see the reality of what we are doing to the planet and the necessary changes needed to live sustainably with 7.2 billion other humans. Critics of the film are not providing a viable solution for planetary sustainability.
Anyway, let me know what you think. Feel free to connect with any previous course materials if you like. Remember to cite from the documentary. State the time when the quotes begin. MAKE ILLUSTRATIVE SCREENCAPS.