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Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
A movie poster showing a cow with a sunset in the background
Promotional release poster
Directed by Kip Andersen
Keegan Kuhn
Produced by Kip Andersen
Keegan Kuhn
Starring Kip Andersen
Howard Lyman
Richard Oppenlander
Michael Pollan
Michael Klaper
Will Tuttle
Will Potter
Cinematography Keegan Kuhn
Editing by Kip Andersen
Keegan Kuhn
Release date(s) June 26, 2014 (2014-06-26) (Los Angeles)
Running time 91 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret is a 2014 American documentary film produced and directed by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. The film explores the impact of animal agriculture on the environment—examining such environmental concerns as climate change, water use, deforestation, and ocean dead zones—and investigates the policies of several environmental organizations on the issue.

Cowspiracy has been criticized for falsely asserting that animal agriculture is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental destruction, with other sources assessing the impact as being less than is stated in the film. The film won the Audience Choice Award at the 2015 South African Eco Film Festival and the Best Foreign Film Award at the 12th annual Festival de films de Portneuf sur l'environnement.

Synopsis

The documentary was directed by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn, and explores the impact of animal agriculture on the environment, and investigates the policies of environmental organizations on this issue. Environmental organizations investigated in the film include Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, Rainforest Action Network, and Oceana.

Production

The film was crowdfunded on Indiegogo, with 1,449 contributors giving $117,092. This funding was 217% of their goal, and it allowed them to dub the film into Spanish and German and subtitle it into more than 10 other languages, including Chinese and Russian. Screenings are licensed through the distributor, as well as through the now-defunct Tugg Inc. website.

An updated version of the documentary, executive-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, premiered globally on Netflix on September 15, 2015.

The 2017 documentary What the Health was written, produced, and directed by the same production team (Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn) as Cowspiracy.

Featured individuals

Keegan Kuhn at Cow-Con 2016
Co-producer/director Keegan Kuhn speaks at the Cowspiracy conference in Berkeley, September 2016.

The following individuals were featured in the film:

  • Michael Klaper (physician, author, advisor)
  • Howard Lyman (former rancher, author, activist)
  • lauren Ornelas (Food Empowerment Project)
  • Michael Pollan (author, lecturer)
  • William Potter (journalist)
  • Kirk R. Smith (environmental health sciences)
  • Josh Tetrick (founder of Hampton Creek)
  • John Jeavons (biointensive agriculture advocate)

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Cowspiracy para niños

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