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By Mark Devries
The animal agriculture industry spends millions on deceptive advertising to persuade consumers that farmed animals roam freely on bucolic pastures. But I've been piloting drones over animal agriculture facilities for several years, and the video I've captured tells a far different story. Nearly all animals raised and slaughtered for food in the U.S. live in factory farms—facilities that treat animals as mere production units and show little regard for the natural environment or public health. Instead of creating widgets, these factories confine, mutilate and disassemble animals who feel pain and pleasure just like our dogs and cats.
<p>Aerial views of the first <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/factory-farming">factory farms</a> I visited—<a href="https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/11ca54a043ee3a87275b25a346a613dfb0246598?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DayGJ1YSfDXs&userId=1827072&signature=6eb78d0f8417899d" target="_blank">pig facilities</a>—didn't capture grass and rolling hills, but instead exposed rows of windowless metal buildings. Each confined thousands of intelligent, sensitive pigs who spent their lives on concrete floors in crowded pens. The footage also reveals what appear to be red lakes but are in fact giant, open-air cesspools. Waste falls through slats in the pigs' concrete flooring and is flushed into these massive pits, which sometimes have the surface area of multiple football fields. To lower the levels of these cesspools, many facilities <a href="https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/21373c13469aaaa2637990c0b66eb4a01d4cf2dc?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.democracynow.org%2F2017%2F5%2F3%2Fnc_lawmakers_side_with_factory_farms&userId=1827072&signature=dd132e38352338e3" target="_blank">spray their contents into the air</a> where they turn into mist and drift into neighboring communities.</p><p>In North Carolina, this practice has been associated with <a href="https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/263b583689384fdc6711fbb122f643ad9c1bc147?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgrist.org%2Ffood%2Ffactory-farms-raise-a-stink-and-your-blood-pressure%2F&userId=1827072&signature=b6864dd6283784f2" target="_blank">spikes in blood pressure</a> among community members and <a href="https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/bd9485baf52d59fb4ec648f4bbe1bfd037cf9951?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2Fpmc%2Farticles%2FPMC3980580%2F&userId=1827072&signature=9fb5d437b831cab4" target="_blank">increased asthma symptoms</a> among nearby schoolchildren. I spoke with neighbors who described walking outside and falling down in their own front yards because the stench of these factory farms made it so difficult to breathe.</p><p>I recently piloted drones over factory egg farms, perhaps the most industrialized sector of animal agriculture, with each shed confining thousands of hens and some facilities holding over a million. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought the 24 sheet-metal buildings were airplane hangars or industrial storage facilities. <a href="http://www.mercyforanimals.org/" target="_blank">Mercy For Animals</a> <a href="https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/5665bfb08441dc6853a33eacafd5aa70e6e55a86?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mercyforanimals.org%2Finvestigations&userId=1827072&signature=f0e5e65353d91e47" target="_blank">undercover investigations</a> have revealed that hens inside such facilities spend their lives trapped in cages so small the birds can't even fully spread their wings. Such confinement is so intensive that many hens die and decompose among cagemates still producing eggs to be sold as food.</p><p>Indeed, drones have put to bed the myth of Old MacDonald's farm. Armed with the truth, we must take responsibility. The practices exposed only exist because people purchase products of factory farms. Each of us has the power to stand up and vote against this industry by simply <a href="https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/e04fc910792f348bcb825dd086164c7a562de1c3?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chooseveg.com&userId=1827072&signature=daac5cf25447b507" target="_blank">leaving animals off our plates</a>.</p><p><em>Mark Devries serves as special projects coordinator for investigations, with a focus on directing short-form documentaries about factory farming and animal rights. Before joining Mercy For Animals, he directed Speciesism: The Movie and conducted the world's first drone-based investigation of factory farming. The movie is widely used as an introduction to animal rights, and the drone footage has amassed tens of millions of views globally. Mark is also an attorney licensed to practice in Washington, DC.</em></p>
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Neil H / Flickr
By Rachel Krantz
When I spotted fellow vegan James Cromwell in line for food at an advance screening of An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, I couldn't help but try to talk to him. Recently arrested at a protest against SeaWorld, the Babe and Six Feet Under actor is a remarkable environmental and animal activist.
"Can you believe they're serving chickens here?" I asked him. "I mean, I guess it's a little better for the environment than eating cows, but it's still ironic to be serving animals at a party for a documentary about climate change."
<p>"Yeah, really!" Cromwell answered. "Besides the damage it does to the atmosphere from <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/methane">methane</a> release, and the terrible torment of the animals, it is destroying us spiritually. You eat one hamburger and have no idea of the process that led to that one hamburger, how many animals suffered, how much waste, what it does to us, and what it does to the planet."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"></p><div id="14ff3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="GWUE951502380430"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="895101090001289216" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Sequel' Conveniently Leaves Out This One Big Truth https://t.co/WJ5yf4U224 @SoilAssociation @eatsustainable</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/895101090001289216">1502243704.0</a></blockquote></div><p></p><p>He's right. We aren't serious enough about the impact our diet has on the environment, despite overwhelming evidence. For instance, to produce <a href="https://www.bustle.com/articles/76177-5-ways-animal-agriculture-is-destroying-our-environment-because-consuming-animal-products-has-a-very-real" target="_blank">one hamburger takes as much water</a> as two months' worth of showering. Additionally, the livestock sector is one of the <a href="https://www.bustle.com/articles/149271-the-single-biggest-thing-you-can-do-for-the-environment" target="_blank">largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions</a> and the single largest source of both methane and nitrous oxide. And according to the <a href="https://journals.law.stanford.edu/stanford-environmental-law-journal-elj/blog/leading-cause-everything-one-industry-destroying-our-planet-and-our-ability-thrive-it" target="_blank">World Bank</a>, animal agriculture <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-deforestation-slaughterhouses-2466280439.html">is responsible</a> for nearly 90 percent of Amazon rainforest destruction, with more <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-talks-daily-destruction/" target="_blank">than 80,000 acres of forest</a>—and 135 animal and plant species—<a href="http://www.savetheamazon.org/rainforeststats.htm" target="_blank">lost</a> each day.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"></p><div id="7f63b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4Y6DZ41502380430"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="891414308323766273" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Study Links Most Amazon Deforestation to 128 Slaughterhouses https://t.co/K6CRKZr9Tc @lunchboxbunch @TheVeganSociety</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/891414308323766273">1501364707.0</a></blockquote></div><p></p><p>Simply put, <a href="http://www.mercyforanimals.org/killing-animals-is-killing-the-planet-heres" target="_blank">animal agriculture is one of the main culprits behind climate change</a>. An <em>Inconvenient Truth</em> failed to address this, and people have been wondering whether the sequel would make up for it, particularly since it again stars <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/al-gore">Al Gore</a>, who himself went <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vegan">vegan</a> after realizing the connection between animal agriculture and global warming. Unfortunately, as James Cromwell and I were about to find out, the sequel likewise failed. And that's truly disappointing.<br></p><p>Instead, too much of the new documentary was devoted to spotlighting former vice president Gore as a leader, rather than informing viewers about the many concrete actions they can take to limit their carbon footprint, like <a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/how-eating-vegan-even-for-one-day-a-week-helps-fight-trumps-decision-on-the-paris-climate-agreement-62386" target="_blank">adopting a plant-based diet</a>.</p><p> <a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/how-eating-vegan-even-for-one-day-a-week-helps-fight-trumps-decision-on-the-paris-climate-agreement-62386" target="_blank">At the end of the film, the audience is asked to</a><a href="http://pledge.inconvenientsequel.com/" target="_blank"> take the pledge to #BeInconvenient</a>, to keep demanding that schools, businesses and towns invest in clean, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a>. "If President Trump refuses to lead, Americans will," the call to action reads, encouraging viewers who want to fight <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a> to use "your choice, your voice, your vote." This is great, but aside from a few seconds where Gore mentions that "agriculture is another major cause" of CO2 emissions, the link between climate change and eating animals is entirely left out of the film.</p><p>And any environmentalist worth her salt should find that outrageous.</p><p>The link between our diet and the environment is both direct and strong. To give you an idea, if every American committed to just <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/134650/the_startling_effects_of_going_vegetarian_for_just_one_day" target="_blank">one meat-free day a week</a>, the impact would be equivalent to switching all our gas-powered cars to hybrids. In fact, according to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-014-1169-1" target="_blank">research published in the journal Climate Change</a>, if you adopt a plant-based diet, you'll cut your carbon footprint in half.</p><p>Yet these facts are nowhere to be found in this supposedly environmentalist documentary.</p><p>Perhaps the filmmakers thought that mainstream viewers couldn't handle the truth. I like to think otherwise.</p><p>It's time for environmentalists to face reality and start acknowledging the impact animal agriculture has on climate change. As Cromwell told me, "You can't consume another creature out of sloth, ignorance, and unconsciousness and then switch that off and go with dedication and consciousness in another area of your life. You have to be conscious in the entire course of living."</p><p style="">To call yourself an environmentalist and ignore what eating animals is doing to our planet is hypocritical and perpetuates the selfishness that got us into this mess in the first place. If you really care about the environment, take the film's pledge to <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BeInconvenient&src=typd&lang=en" target="_blank">#BeInconvenient</a>, and tell everyone you know that one of the biggest things they can do to fight climate change is to <a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/how-eating-vegan-even-for-one-day-a-week-helps-fight-trumps-decision-on-the-paris-climate-agreement-62386" target="_blank">leave animals off their plates</a>. Whether or not they find your statement inconvenient, it's the truth.</p><p style=""><em>Rachel Krantz is lead writer for <a href="http://www.mercyforanimals.org/" target="_blank">Mercy For Animals</a> and host of the podcast <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/honestly-though/id1125507987?mt=2" target="_blank">Honestly Though</a>.</em></p>
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Sequel' Conveniently Leaves Out This One Big Truth
07 August 2017
Popular
By Rachel Krantz
At the end of An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power, the audience is asked to take the pledge to #BeInconvenient—to keep demanding schools, businesses and towns invest in clean, renewable energy.
"If President Trump refuses to lead, Americans will," the call to action reads, encouraging viewers who want to fight climate change to use "your choice, your voice, your vote."
<p>Feel-good cheers in the audience abounded, but in my seat, I was seething over the truth that was conveniently omitted from the new sequel to <em>An Inconvenient Truth</em>: that the most significant thing we as ordinary individuals can do every day to <a href="https://www.bustle.com/articles/149271-the-single-biggest-thing-you-can-do-for-the-environment" target="_blank">fight climate change</a> is to adopt a <a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/how-eating-vegan-even-for-one-day-a-week-helps-fight-trumps-decision-on-the-paris-climate-agreement-62386" target="_blank">plant-based diet</a>. Al Gore himself went <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vegan">vegan</a> in 2014, but aside from a split-second where he mentions that "agriculture is another major cause" of CO2 emissions, the subject is entirely left out of the film.</p><p>And that's disgraceful.</p><p>You want me to #BeInconvenient? OK, here are some facts: According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa">EPA</a>), the livestock sector is one of the <a href="http://www.mercyforanimals.org/killing-animals-is-killing-the-planet-heres" target="_blank">largest sources</a> of carbon dioxide pollution, and the single largest source of both <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/methane">methane</a> and nitrous oxide. According to the <a href="https://journals.law.stanford.edu/stanford-environmental-law-journal-elj/blog/leading-cause-everything-one-industry-destroying-our-planet-and-our-ability-thrive-it" target="_blank">World Bank</a>, animal agriculture is responsible for nearly 90 percent of Amazon rainforest destruction. The rainforest is our planet's lungs, and we are destroying it simply to make enough space to kill more <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/animals/">animals</a>. More than <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-talks-daily-destruction/" target="_blank">80,000 acres</a> of tropical rainforest—and 135 animal, plant and insect species—<a href="http://www.savetheamazon.org/rainforeststats.htm" target="_blank">are lost</a> due to this destruction each day.</p><p>If that kind of devastation is too massive to comprehend, consider these more convenient truths: If every American committed to just <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/134650/the_startling_effects_of_going_vegetarian_for_just_one_day" target="_blank">one Meatless Monday</a> a week, it would be the environmental equivalent of all of the cars on the road switching from sedans to hybrids. The link is so significant that according to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-014-1169-1" target="_blank">research published</a> in the journal Climate Change, if you adopt a plant-based diet, you'll <a href="http://www.mercyforanimals.org/killing-animals-is-killing-the-planet-heres" target="_blank">cut your carbon footprint</a> in half.</p><p>Yet the bulk of An Inconvenient Sequel focuses on former Vice President Al Gore's quest to save the world, and the behind-the-scenes drama at the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris climate</a> accords. While it's inspiring to watch Gore help convince India's leaders to use more <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar">solar</a> energy, far too much of the documentary is devoted to spotlighting him as a leader rather than informing viewers about the many concrete actions they can take to limit their own carbon footprints.</p><p>Telling viewers to fight back simply by taking the hashtag pledge to #BeInconvenient and ambiguously "vote with their choices" is a cop-out. What about the very concrete choice we can all start making today to <a href="http://www.chooseveg.com/" target="_blank">leave animal products</a> off our plates? Perhaps the filmmakers thought mainstream American viewers couldn't handle that message. After all, when we're still trying to get parts of the country and politicians <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier">to admit climate change is real</a>, the bar is awfully low when it comes to confronting reality—even <a href="http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/sectors/transportation" target="_blank">transportation's impact</a> on the climate went unmentioned in the film.</p><p>But Gore is right when we he argues that we don't have any time to waste. If <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-level-rise">sea levels continue to rise</a> at current pace, scientists estimate that <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3272456/New-Orleans-Miami-set-flooded-water-rising-sea-levels-400-cities-past-point-no-return-new-study-claims.html" target="_blank">New Orleans and Miami</a> will be underwater by the end of the century. Due to our warming oceans, weather events are becoming more and more extreme—as Gore says, "every night on the evening news is like a walk through the Book of Revelations." Lobbying for solar power alone isn't going to cut it.</p><p>So yes, by all means, #BeInconvenient. Demand alternative energy reforms, vote in every election, and consider making the ultimate environmental statement by leaving animals off your plate—if not for their sake and your health, then for humanity. Because here's one of the most uncomfortable truths: We talk about climate change as if Earth's destruction hangs in the balance. But the truth is, the planet will persevere. It is mankind—and the many species we should be stewards of—that may not.</p><p><em>Rachel Krantz is lead writer for <a href="http://www.mercyforanimals.org/" target="_blank">Mercy For Animals</a> and host of the podcast <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/honestly-though/id1125507987?mt=2" target="_blank">Honestly Though</a>.</em></p>
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