The Sustainability Secret: Rethinking Our Diet to Transform the World

by Kip Andersen, Keegan Kuhn, Chris Hedges (Introduction)

Overview

This companion to the documentary Cowspiracy explores the devastating environmental impacts of animal agriculture—and new paths to sustainability.

The 2014 documentary Cowspiracy presented alarming truths about the effects of animal agriculture on the planet. One of the leading causes of deforestation, greenhouse gas production, water use, species extinction, ocean dead-zones, and a host of other ills, animal agriculture is a major threat to the future of all species, and one of the environmental industry’s best-kept secrets.

The Sustainability Secret expands upon Cowspiracy in every way. In this updated volume, the film’s co-creators reveal shocking new facts and interview the leaders of businesses, environmental organizations, and political groups about the disastrous effects of animal agriculture. Extended transcripts, updated statistics, tips on becoming vegan, and comprehensive reading lists provide an in-depth overview of this planetary crisis and demonstrate effective ways to offset the damage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608878215
Publisher:	Insight Editions
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	289
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Kip Andersen is the executive director of Animals United Movement (A.U.M.) Films & Media—a nonprofit dedicated to producing films and media promoting sustainable, compassionate, and peaceful living. He is the co-director of the groundbreaking documentary film Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret.  Keegan Kuhn is an award winning documentary filmmaker, video producer, and professional musician. He runs First Spark Media, a video production company tailored to creating videos and films for non-profit organizations and conscientious companies. He is the director of Turlock: The Documentary, Something To Be Thankful For, and co-director of the groundbreaking environmental film Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret.  Chris Hedges is a cultural critic and best-selling author who was a foreign correspondent for nearly two decades for The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio. He reported from Latin American, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He was a member of the team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for The New York Times coverage of global terrorism, and he received the 2002 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism.

Read an Excerpt

To feed a person on an all plant-based vegan diet for one year requires just one-sixth of an acre of land. To feed that same person on a vegetarian diet that includes eggs and dairy requires three times as much land. To feed a person on the average diet eaten by an American citizen, with high consumption of meat, dairy, and eggs, requires eighteen times as much land.

This is because you can produce 37,000 pounds of vegetables on one and a half acres, but only 375 pounds of meat on that same plot of land.

The comparison doesn’t end with land use. A vegan diet produces half as much carbon dioxide as an American omnivore, uses 1/11 the amount of fossil fuels, 1/13 the amount of water, and 1/18 the amount of land.

After adding all this up, I realized I had the choice—every single day—to save:

Over 1,100 gallons of water
45 pounds of grain
30 square feet of forested land
The equivalent of 20 pounds of carbon dioxide
And one animal’s life.

Every. Single. Day.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Prologue—Waking Up
Chapter One—A Journey Toward Truth
Chapter Two—Water: An Infinite Resource
Chapter Three—Happy Farms: ”I Love Animals—That’s Why I’m in the Meat Business“
Chapter Four—Factory Farms: Standard Industry Practice
Chapter Five—Oceans: The Circulatory System of Our Planet
Chapter Six—Rain Forests and Biodiversity: Sawing off the Branch We Stand On
Chapter Seven—Activists, Governments, and Corporations: Shutting Down a Movement
Chapter Eight—Ethics, Dairy, and Eggs: Choosing Life Over Death
Chapter Nine—Health: Skip the Middle Animal
Chapter Ten—Veganic (Stockfree) Agriculture: Feeding a Growing World
Chapter Eleven—Transforming the World, One Meal at a Time
Recommended Reading and Viewing List
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Sustainability Secret

“If you care about the future of all life on this planet, start here. The Sustainability
Secret should be a wake-up call for anyone concerned about sustainability; we simply
cannot ignore the devastating environmental impact of our diet any longer. The good
news—yes, there is good news—is that we make a difference at every meal.”
— Will Potter, author of Green Is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social
Movement Under Siege

“The Sustainability Secret proves we have the power to slow, if not stop, the madness of environmental destruction and its consequences for all life on Earth. With a clear and deliberate focus on the facts, authors Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn expose
the environmental community’s stunning willingness to ignore animal agriculture’s
destruction of ecosystems. I will carry this book with me because its illustrations
demonstrate every essential point as to why animal agriculture must end now and how
wonderful it is that we already have its replacement–veganic agriculture.”
—Will Anderson, author of This is Hope: Green Vegans and the New Human Ecology

“The Sustainability Secret vividly exposes the single largest contributing factor to
our demise and that of other species, which is the consumption of animals and
the supportive animal agricultural systems, and then provides a pathway toward a
healthier, more peaceful and just planet by re-connecting us to the stark realities of
food choice and sustainability, urging all of us to act, and to do so now.”
—Dr. Richard A. Oppenlander, researcher, consultant, and author of the award-winning Food Choice and Sustainability and Comfortably Unaware

Press for Cowspiracy

Cowspiracy may be the most important film made to inspire saving the planet.
—Louie Psihoyos, Oscar-winning director of The Cove

A documentary that will rock and inspire the environmental movement.
—Darren Aronofsky, director of Noah

*****! A fresh take. Few films are brave enough to tackle a topic this controversial.
—Examiner.com

[Director Kip Andersen] pulls no punches and makes no apologies: “The future of our planet is being destroyed by this industry.” Hard to argue with the data.
—The Huffington Post

Producers Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn have teamed up to do what Blackfish is currently doing to Sea World.
—James McWilliams, author and writer

Cowspiracy really makes one connect the dots. It’s an undeniable, statistical tour-de-force!
—Shaun Monson, director of Earthlings

I hope that every single person on Earth sees this critical documentary.
—Julieanna Hever, author and dietitian

From the Publisher