Why should we give land to the Indians
when it clearly says on the paper, it belongs to the farmers. But surely you must realize
that this is their home. These Indigenous tribes
have been living on this land for hundreds of years. Listen, this world is not fair. Some people win, some people lose. The whole world… …think they can tell Brazil
what to do with her land. Sorry, no. We do what we please. NARRATED BY KATE WINSLET Our Earth... She is ever in flow and motion. A dynamic symphony of forces
all working together, breathing life into
the four corners of the world. And for millennia, cultures the world over have called her their mother. I WANT We live on an incredibly beautiful planet. A home that we will hopefully
pass on to generations to come. OTTO BROCKWAY, DIRECTOR
UNITED KINGDOM But as the years go by, it's becoming increasingly hard to imagine what kind of a world
we're leaving behind us. We've spent the last four
years traveling around the world filming the stark reality
that people now face from the threat of ecological collapse. It's now become very clear to us that there's one thing
driving the destruction of our ecosystems
faster than anything else. Let us show you how this very same thing might just also be our salvation. EATING OUR WAY TO EXTINCTION Climate and environmental scientists warn that we are fast approaching the point of no return if we don't make
a substantial course reversal. LECTURER We'll see really serious
catastrophic effects in the next few years, certainly
in the next decade or two. OCEAN PHYSICS PROFESSOR The world will be different
from the way it is now. A CENTURY OF WEATHER RELATED DISASTERS Since 1900,
we have seen a dramatic increase in worldwide weather related disasters. There have now been four times
more weather related disasters in the last 50 years
than in the previous 100. PEAK OF OVER 2000 MAJOR DISASTERS We began to work together to move this issue onto the global center stage. There was a lot of discussion
about the contribution from buildings
and from industrial factories, but I became aware during
that same period of time… PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER …there was another undiscussed factor, that is the role of animal agriculture,
which I could see was playing some significant role around the planet. But this was the elephant in the room
no one wanted to talk about. Whatever environmental issue
you want to look at… FOUNDER …from species loss to water pollution, to water use, to climate change,
animal agriculture is one of the top causes. The critical, widespread negative impact of animal agriculture
on our planet is undeniable. Severe global crises from climate change and environmental damage
to species extinction, hunger, poverty, disease
and antibiotic resistance, all of these have direct connections to animal agriculture and the massive inefficiency of our current food production systems. A report published by
WikiLeaks as far back as 2009… CONFIDENTIAL …exposed the conversations
between Nestlé executives and U.S. officials
called "The Tour D'Horizon." The Nestlé executives said that
their own research had shown that the world was set
to run out of fresh water within the next 30 years. It stated that one of the greatest reasons for our detour down this catastrophic path is the global demand for meat products. If you look at the impact
that food choice has on global warming, it's very significant. Eating meat is huge for global climate, and that's something where personal
choice is the determining factor. So there's the only case I can think of where individual human choice would have a big effect, would be food. We're now over the line. And the idea that we're going
to double meat production between now and 2050, this is just unsustainable. This is going to have to give. Our diet is taking us to an abyss. A significant reason
why livestock production has been having such a huge impact
on greenhouse gas emissions is because of the large surfaces of forests that have been destroyed in order to make room
for pastures and for the growth of soybean and maize
for feedstock production. Our forests were once full
of the most incredible life. In more recent years, we began
to grow an insatiable appetite for meat and dairy, and as
our demand for more meat grew, we needed more and more land. So we slashed and burned our way
through the pristine forests, destroying everything in our paths to make way for the animals
we desired to eat. As these animals
weren't allowed to roam free as they naturally do in the wild, their grazing areas soon became empty, and so, of course, we needed to feed them, so again, we slashed and burned our way through more and more forests, sowed the ground with genetically
enhanced corn and soya, and then dowsed it in pesticides, herbicides and synthetic
chemical fertilizer. AUSTRALIA Animal agriculture has literally
changed the face of our planet. The green land is used for human crops. A great area that spans the globe. And yet the land we use
for animal agriculture, shown in red, now occupies vast
amounts of our Earth's land, a far greater area
than that used for human crops. Almost all the Earth's surface
bears the mark… FOOD CLIMATE RESEARCH NETWORK …of some kind of human impact, and most of that is livestock production. Agriculture has transformed
the planet like nothing else. ZOOLOGY DEPARTMENT To produce milk,
we farm an area about the size of Brazil. To produce beef, we farm an area
about the size of Canada, the United States,
the whole of Central America, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador combined. To produce eggs, we farm
an area the size of Sweden. To produce aquaculture feed, an
area about the size of the UK. A plant-based diet would reduce
the amount of land required to produce our food
by 3.1 billion hectares. That's an area the size
of the entire African continent. The Amazon is the world's
largest tropical rainforest. This ancient and richly biodiverse world is slowly being replaced. It is often assumed that much of the soy being planted in Brazil
is for human consumption. SOYA BEANS
GENE MODIFIED In fact, less than six percent of the soy grown across the globe is fed to humans. The vast majority is grown to create animal feed for livestock. The soy is exported all around the world and fed to the billions
of chickens, farmed fish, pigs and cows that we eat each day. The forests are not only home to millions of species of wildlife and plants, but are also great regulators
of our planet's atmosphere. Day by day, they slowly
breathe in the carbon dioxide whilst producing billions
of tons of fresh oxygen for our air. Each year, an estimated 18 million acres of forest are lost, which is roughly the size
of the country of Panama. It is thought
that about half of the Earth's mature tropical forests
have now been destroyed, and some scientists have predicted that unless significant measures
are taken on a worldwide basis, by 2030, only ten percent
of the forests will remain. THE SINGLE GREATEST CAUSE OF DEFORESTATION
IS ANIMAL AGRICULTURE NASA One of the most precious things
we have in the world is our rainforests. The rainforests are
literally being chewed away… FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN …by farmers who know they can make money by cutting another acre,
and then another acre, and then another for meat. Our grandparents,
the tribal chiefs said to us, "You are going to suffer a lot because of the foreign man,
their agribusiness." Each year, hundreds of tribespeople, indigenous to the Amazon rainforest, have their villages burned to the ground. They have been forcibly
removed from their land, with many of them murdered
by the agribusiness paramilitary who seek to turn their jungle home into farmland for growing
soy for livestock feed. PARAMILITARY ATTACKS
AGAINST GK COMMUNITIES FOOTAGE: ATY GUASU One of the worst affected
tribes is the Guarani Kaiowá… DOURADOS
BRAZIL …in Mato Grosso do Sul. For us, Indigenous people,
the forest was our home. The destruction of our land is because of animal agriculture. They brought down our forests, killed all the animals and poisoned our rivers. They plant soya, then they spread the poison, agrotoxics. All of that will end up in the river, where we drink our water. We need to return to our ancestral land... ...and return to our family. BRUSSELS
EUROPEAN COUNCIL So there was actually
a report that came out in 2018, and they found that the world's
top five livestock corporations now release more annual
greenhouse gas emissions than ExxonMobil, Shell and BP. It is crazy when you think about it because the EU is spending £24 billion of taxpayers' money
on livestock farming each year, and this is at a time when we are facing an ecological collapse,
and we drastically need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So it's no surprise that people are asking questions now about the fact
that there seem to be some serious conflicts
of interest going on here. There's some very heavy
lobbying going on of government… FOOD INDUSTRY AND POLICY CONSULTANT …and that happens throughout the world,
and it's just a historic thing that needs to be, I think, rebalanced. LONDON LOBBYIST
LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY As I mentioned to you over the phone, I've worked with a number of large
livestock companies around the world. So the way it works is that
a representative from ***** or ***** pays us usually
up to half a million Euros. We then target the relevant politicians from different governments
around the world and motions are made to pass legislation in favor
of the company's business strategies. For environmental policy,
we can be very persuasive in order to abolish or heavily relax environmental regulations in government, so our clients have
more freedom in their work. I mean, the other day we managed
to kill a proposed legislation that would've had
a huge impact on the Industry based on a report from the UN FAO. The Industry
is just concerned with growth, but the environmental data
that's coming out now is really making that difficult for them. Today, democracy does not always function… FORMER SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR …as well as it should
because of the huge influence that agribusiness corporations,
and livestock producers in particular,
exercise on decision-making. The former director
of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization,
Dr. Samuel Jutzi, warned as far back as 2010, that interventions
by agribusiness lobbyists were blocking reforms
that would offer better standards for human health
and preserving the environment. Big animal agribusiness corporations' and food producers' influence
over political decisions about the regulation of their industry,
has been a concern for campaigners,
who see the narrow interests of the industry taking widespread control. If we have any doubt about
how powerful this influence is, we can recall that, for example, when the Advisory Committee
on Dietary Guidelines in the US made recommendations to the US government as to how dietary guidelines
should be shaped, they were blocked by this very powerful
lobby of agribusiness interests. In 2013, the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization released a landmark report called Tackling Climate Change Through Livestock. CLIMATE CHANGE ASSESSMENT The report states that livestock farming is responsible for more
greenhouse gas emissions than all global transportation combined. A growing number of scientists believe that the impact
of animal agriculture is, in fact, even worse
than stated in the FAO report. There are close ties
between the research organizations… FORMER PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST …and governments,
and government policy and industry. It's very pervasive
because livestock industries depend on government
policies that support them. The FAO report was prepared within the FAO by specialists of agriculture
and livestock production, not by specialists
of the environmental issues associated with agricultural production. I believe that the more serious concern is that the International Meat Association was involved in preparing the report, which does raise
the question of the independence with which the study was prepared. Government policy in that
regard is not for the benefit of the land,
it's for the benefit of the industry. In their report, the FAO partnered up with member countries,
non-governmental organizations and many other organizations, including the European Feed
Manufacturers Federation, the International Dairy Federation, the International Meat Secretariat, the International Egg Commission, and the International Poultry Council. In an industry worth
over a trillion dollars, are these not the very institutions that have the most to lose from a damaging scientific report
against livestock farming? VIRGIN ISLANDS There are few people that know more about the ocean than Dr. Sylvia Earle. Dr. Earle was the first woman
to become chief scientist of the United States National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, and held the record for spending more time walking along the sea floor
at depth, untethered, than any living person. When I was a child, the idea of a dead zone in the ocean… FORMER CHIEF SCIENTIST …was not even in our vocabulary, but in the 20th century, as agriculture began to greatly expand, the areas around the coast began
to show signs of wear and tear. The first, most notorious… …spotlight area I think
was off the Gulf of Mexico. And it has simply grown over
the years, an annual phenomenon. It is coincident with the application of massive amounts of fertilizer. The millions of square miles,
given over to growing feed for the animals we eat, are heavily sprayed
with nitrogen fertilizers. The nitrogen runs off the fields
working its way down rivers, and eventually into our oceans. The nitrogen-rich water stimulates
massive overgrowth of algae, resulting in algal blooms so large, they can be seen from space. The algae starve the water of oxygen, leading to the death
of the marine life around it. HYPOXIC AREAS Since the demand for meat has grown, these low oxygen dead zones have been steadily growing and growing. LIVESTOCK FARMING IS THE LEADING CAUSE
OF OCEAN DEAD ZONES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, USA There are hundreds of dead zones that have developed
all around the coastlines of the world. And… Okay, people say,
"That's too bad for the fish, so sorry, fish." But… …we need to understand
that what we do to the ocean, we're doing to ourselves. I want others to see it
and to see for themselves. This is all we've got,
this little blue miracle. It is believed by some that switching from eating meat to fish will have a beneficial
effect on our planet. This simply could not
be further from the truth. If the ocean dies, then we humans would probably die with it, as every other breath of air we take has been created by our ocean. As reported in the leading
science journal, Nature, we have lost nearly
90 percent of all large fish in the ocean since the '50s. One of the most in-depth
studies ever carried out investigating fish stocks, also in the journal, Nature, stated that at the current
rate of fishing, the world's fisheries
are predicted to collapse in less than 30 years. According to IPBES,
the intergovernmental body which assesses
the state of our biodiversity, the leading cause of marine
life extinction is fishing. Our taste for fish is literally
draining our oceans of life. Today, we have agreed
on fishing opportunities for European fishermen worth
more than five billion euros and benefiting more than 50,000 fishermen. The catches agreed today
will continue to make the European fishing industry
highly profitable also in 2019. 1/3 OF ALL EDIBLE FISH CAUGHT IN THE OCEAN
ARE NOW FED TO LIVESTOCK AND FARMED FISH UNITED NATIONS FAO NORWAY
BERGEN Norway, a beautiful country
with breathtaking landscapes. It is also a place that
harbors some darker secrets. Norway is one of the world's largest exporters of farmed fish. An industry that is
worth billions of euros to the country's economy. As much of the wild ocean
large fish populations collapsed to near extinction, fishermen are turning to aquaculture as a way of growing fish
in a controlled environment. Norway produces more farmed salmon and cod than any other country in the world. About 70 percent of the fish we eat today now comes from artificial fish farms. COD FARM As thousands of fish
are kept close together in very small sea cages,
disease and lice spread easily… SALMON FARM …and have become a massive
problem for the industry. As a result, pesticides, disinfectants and antibiotics are used extensively to keep the fish alive
long enough to go to market. In order to rid the fish of lice, special pumping boats are used, which suck the fish up
in a giant water vacuum. The fish are then pumped
through the system, and as they flow through,
they are either heated to a high temperature or bathed
in a chemical solution which removes most of the lice before being pumped back into the cage. The fish are bathed in chemicals
such as hydrogen peroxide and azamethiphos, to kill
the parasites and diseases, and given feed with chemicals
such as teflubenzuron, emamectin and diflubenzuron, which, by their very nature, are toxic. Researchers have found
that traces of chemicals can end up in the fish,
and ultimately on our plates. This is much the same for farmed
fish all around the world. Taryn Bishop, an environmental activist, is meeting with the Green Warriors, a conservation organization
based in Bergen, on the west coast of Norway. The Green Warriors have been investigating
the devastating practices of fish farming on the local
ecosystem for many years, and are taking Taryn
to see the darker side of the farms that lies
beneath the surface. A specially built submersible has enabled them to see
the seabed below the cages. All along the ocean floor
lies a thick layer of sludge made up of fish waste,
bacteria and uneaten feed. The sludge is full of the
pesticides added to the feed, and new research has shown that
the massive amounts of pesticide being added around the world
to the marine ecosystem in fish farms is having
a devastating effect on the natural ocean biodiversity. The sludge also releases large amounts of climate warming methane. Researchers at Oxford University have found that some types of aquaculture are now releasing more methane
than beef production. Liv Holmefjord is the head of the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries. Whilst in Norway,
we were given information that not only is
she in charge of regulating the country's fish farm industry, but also owns shares in one of Norway's largest fish farm companies. Many conservation groups
feel this is a great conflict of interests. Holmefjord has agreed to meet Taryn to answer questions about the
state of Norway's fish farms. Well, fish farming is quite
a new industry in Norway. DIRECTORATE OF FISHERIES It started back in the 1960s, so it's some local entrepreneurs
starting with hobby, and it's grown
until it's a billion euro industry today. And seafood is the second largest export
industry in Norway, and fish farming accounts for 2/3
of the export value of seafood. So, recently, we found out
that you also have shares in one of the largest fish
farm companies in Norway. Do you not feel that
that's a conflict of interest? Of course, there could be a con-- in-- conflict of interest, but this is a fact that's been known since before I got this position, and I've been open about it. I have-- do not-- I'm not involved in the business from day-to-day or at any-- so it's-- an if this-- We have-- I have-- Sorry, I have to--
you have to start over again. So all the decisions that I made will either be for the whole industry, not specially for this fish farm, or it's only an advice to the
politicians, and the politicians are setting the limits
and the actual regulations. So if there's an actual case… …handling, regarding this company, then I will step aside. SCOTLAND
UNITED KINGDOM When on a few jobs, I was working here
over the years as a diver, we used to get in the fish farms,
cleaning the dead, deceased fish from the nets and fixing the nets, etc., after storms. And on occasion, we'd seen
some of the boats come in to clean the lice off them. There's quite a lot of dead fish, diseased, they've died. There's a lot of pink mush, not healthy looking. Having seen what I've seen
and worked on the various sites around about where I've been in Scotland, I wouldn't eat farmed salmon. No would I f***. Pretty rank. Salmon is marketed as healthy. FISH FARM INVESTIGATOR It's also marketed in a very devious way, deceptive way
that they think it's a wild product, but it's a fake product. It's a fatty product, it's contaminated. It's marketed as healthy, but it's not. So salmon, if you see salmon,
alarm bells should start ringing. It's pretty grim when you dive
down to the bottom of the cages because we always see
the bottom full of dead fish. And it's basically
because many of these fish are so disease-, so parasite-ridden
and laden with chemicals that they become sick,
and they live out their sad short lives, basically looking like zombies. You don't see this when you go to the restaurant or the supermarket, but this is basically what a lot
of the fish actually look like before it ends up on our plates. So, tonight Don wanted to show us how much of the farm fish actually dies. Because of the very unnatural and unsanitary ways that they are kept, and they have rows
of very large metal containers that they are constantly
filling up with the dead fish. And I have to say
that the smell as we get closer is actually pretty disgusting. So this is the sordid side of salmon farming in Scotland. This is the dirty secrets the industry don't want you to see. This is disease-ridden farmed salmon, it's 15 to 20 percent fat. That's where the cancer-causing
contaminants, PCBs, dioxins,
and the artificial colorings are. So this is something
to be avoided at all costs. This is the salmon farm just here. We got freedom of information… …data from the Scottish
Environment Protection Agency showing the use
of over 50 tons of formaldehyde, not just at this site,
but other sites across Scotland. It's formaldehyde: "May cause cancer, suspected of causing genetic defects, toxic if swallowed, may cause respiratory irritation, causes damage to organs. Do not breathe." THE UK'S HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE HAVE
SAID THAT GOVERNMENT EXPERTS HAVE RULED THAT THE CHEMICAL LEVELS IN FISH
DO NOT POSE A HEALTH RISK One of the fish farm workers
told us that the workers come down to the farm
early in the morning, spraying the chemicals
into the fish cages. They're obviously spraying something
down there in the water. The guy who gave us the tip-off said
that toxic chemicals are widely used across Scotland, including formaldehyde
and also hydrogen peroxide. And these are supposed to treat
the diseases and lice problems which are both rampant
across the fish farms. These are not chemicals
that you want in your body. Whatever he's spraying must be
pretty powerful if he needs to wear full protective
chemical suit and a face mask. THE SCOTTISH SALMON PRODUCERS ORGANISATION
HAVE SAID THAT THEY AND THE FISH FARMS ARE COMMITTED TO GOOD
ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE AND THE HEALTH AND WELFARE
OF FARMED FISH IS PARAMOUNT TO THEM MEDICINE USE IS REGULATED BY THE SCOTTISH
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AND ITS USE HAS FALLEN
BY HALF IN THE LAST DECADE SCOTTISH SALMON PRODUCERS ORGANISATION
STATEMENT: "AS THE UNITED NATIONS HAS STATED AQUACULTURE WILL BE
INSTRUMENTAL IN MAKING SURE FUTURE GROWING POPULATIONS
DON'T GO HUNGRY, THE SSPO IS WORKING TO MEET
THIS DEMAND RESPONSIBLY" As the ocean becomes a dumping
ground of seven billion people and farms saturate
their fish with chemical feed, eating fish has never been so toxic. Our oceans have become humanity's sewers. Everything eventually flows into the sea, so if you had a time machine that went back before
the industrial revolution, it's a different story, but now, the highest levels are many of these
persistent organic pollutants. We're talking about DDT,
and PCBs and dioxins. The highest levels in our food supply
are found in the aquatic food chain. Fish are not the safest choice anymore. -Tony, great to see you.
-Great to see you too. -Thanks for coming.
-Not at all. ENTREPRENEUR So I wanted to ask you
if you could share with us what exactly it was you began to feel when you realized something was going wrong? I was exhausted more than usual, and I was losing short-term memory, and that scared the hell out of me. Then I tore my rotator cuffs
in a really intense snowboarding accident. The doctor said,
"You want to do your metals test?" I said, "I got my amalgams out
25 years ago." He goes, "There are many
environmental metals, you should." So I did. I get a phone call a week later, I said to my assistant,
"Have them send the report." And he said, "It's an emergency.
He has to speak to you." It was like, no one wants to hear that. I called him and he said,
"Tony, I showed your blood tests. You have extreme mercury poisoning, on a zero to five scale, five being toxic, you're 123. How long has this man
been in the hospital?" And I just got off stage. So I said, "I can't understand this," so I went out and they thought, someone was trying to poison me,
the number was so high. And I was very disciplined.
I was a vegan for 12 years then I just went salad, fish, salad,
fish. And they brought the medical group and looked at it,
and I found this man named Dr. Shade who's the only guy
that has an ideation process where he could see where the mercury
came from, it was fish. It's been three years,
and I had some severe moments. It burned a hole in my esophagus
and I collapsed. I lost a third of my blood supply. I could've died.
I lost half of my hemoglobin. -People begin to lose their hair.
-Yes. Their memory, lose their memories. REGENERATIVE MEDICINE As you noticed. But they can also have headaches. They can complain of fatigue, and they can also have depression. What we're seeing now is with
the toxic environmental exposure, and especially with methylmercury in fish, is that everyone has got to be careful because the levels are going up. Udo, your specialty is in this, how do you get the fish oils we all need for the brain and for the body if we can't have fish?
What do you suggest? Well, we used to get them from fish oils. NUTRITIONAL EXPERT
FATS THAT HEAL, FATS THAT KILL We can actually get them from vegetables. Flax is the richest source of omega-3 that everybody thinks
should come from fish oil. If you get enough
of that as starting material, your body will make what the fish oils
make, and it'll be clean. Many people take fish oils or have fish for the long-chain
omega-3 fatty acids, you have to ask yourself,
"Where do the fish get them from?" And it turns out they get them
from the algae in the ocean. NHS DOCTOR
UK They get them from plant food.
So if you want the purest form of the long-chain ready-made
omega-3 fatty acids, the best way of doing
that is simply to take an algae supplement, because
then you've got the purest form of it and you don't have the extra risks of having the toxins and the heavy metals and the saturated fat and the cholesterol that you would get from eating a fish. A peer-reviewed study from researchers at Scripps
Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, undertook one of the largest studies of fish pollutants in the world. The scientists found
toxic contaminants in fish right across the planet's oceans. Nobody would go
to the nearest body of water and put in like a cup and drink the water. You're basically getting
the concentrated toxins if we're eating fish. Our oceans have also become filled with plastic. As the oceans are so large, it is a challenge for any scientist
to accurately understand where most of this plastic is coming from. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, covering an area of about
1.6 million square kilometers, may provide a unique opportunity
to better understand the growing problem
of microplastics in the sea. A team of scientists from
the organization Ocean Cleanup have been studying the patch for some time and were surprised when they discovered that the vast majority
of plastic in the Patch is not from old drinking straws
or used plastic water bottles, but from thousands of tons
of discarded fishing gear broken down by the sea into trillions
of pieces of microplastic. A study, recently published
in the journal, Nature, found that about 80 percent
of the plastic in the Pacific is made up of discarded fishing gear. Many scientists agree
that one of the greatest things we as individuals can do to solve
this problem of a plastic ocean is to move away from eating fish and switch to a plant-based diet. At least half
of the plastic in the sea today comes from discarded or lost fishing gear. Because all those nets,
all those lines, all that stuff, it's just become a plasticized ocean, but we have a chance. We have a chance right now
to change our eating habits. PLYMOUTH
UNITED KINGDOM There's an estimate
that there's over five trillion tons of plastic currently
floating in the ocean. It's absolutely everywhere. Everywhere we looked,
we found microplastics… HEAD OF SCIENCE …whether it's at the polar
regions, in remote islands. Also, if we're looking
on the surface or the seabed and everywhere in between,
we find microplastics. We've also found microplastics in just about every animal
group that we've looked in. We've been sampling
for microplastics for quite a while now, and we found that there's
27 times more bits of plastic than there are fish larvae. Microplankton are found throughout the oceans. They are filter feeders. When the researchers add microplastics into the plankton's environment,
they consistently observe them ingesting the plastic particles. Unaware that the tiny particles
are made up of toxic chemicals, the plankton consume them
indiscriminately. The researchers observe
how the chemicals accumulate within the organs
of these small marine creatures. The toxic plankton
are then eaten by larger fish, and researchers have
found that much of the fish that we are eating today
has bioaccumulated these chemicals within their flesh. A study by the University of Plymouth found that over a third
of all the fish tested contained microplastics. As we eat these contaminated fish, we ingest the same toxic
chemicals into our bodies, and recent research suggests similar toxic
accumulation in humans. SINCE 1970 WE HAVE WIPED OUT OVER
60% OF ANIMAL POPULATIONS ON THE PLANET Our scientists tell us we're now in the sixth extinction event
of life on this Earth. ENDANGERED RED FOX It doesn't even make the headlines. No one even knows about it. My ancestors have walked these forests
for thousands of years. We have lived here in harmony
with the world around us. This is not our forest. We are just a small part of it. As are the plants,
trees, insects, and animals. There has always been balance. But now there is a change in the air. When the men came to cut down the forest, the balance has been upset. Since the time of my ancestors, you could hear the song of the sky bird. But now, you cannot hear her song anymore. The monkeys would sit above us, filling the forest
with calls to their young. But now the forest is silent. The animals are dying… …for they have no place to live. We've had five mass extinction events on this planet in 450 million years. Let me be clear on this,
the last time we had an extinction event of this magnitude, was 65 million years ago. It's incredibly sad to realize
just how many species, both in the oceans and on land
that we're losing at the moment, and it's up to all of us to make sure, that this doesn't happen in the future. Today, over 26,000 species are threatened with extinction, and the most important driver of that is our use of land for agriculture. Over time, livestock have been a major, major driver of biodiversity loss. Some have predicted that by 2045, the species loss will be
so great that we won't recover. The Earth will suffer ecological collapse. And the biggest thing you and I can do… …is change our diet. Some scientists have begun
to call this current crisis a "biological annihilation." According to the journal,
Science of the Total Environment from Florida International University, livestock farming is the leading
cause of biodiversity loss. According to a study published
in the journal Science, if the entire world were to switch to an exclusively plant-based diet, we would free up over 75 percent of the world's arable land, and many of the forests,
previously cut down for livestock farming, could be restored. There are now many great initiatives around the world doing just that. Ecosia, an online search
engine similar to Google, is one such initiative
that uses the revenue made from advertising to pay local
communities to replant trees. One of Ecosia's
main foresters is Mauricio, who has been working hard
to replant the rainforest in Brazil. FOUNDER I planted my first tree
when I was just five years old. I could not even imagine
that 20 years later... ...such a small endeavor would become one of the largest tree planting
initiatives in Brazil's history. More than 2.5 million trees were planted
in more than 2,000 hectares of land. A lot of land was preserved
thanks to the fight against forest fires. Trees breathe life into our world. When we plant a tree,
we sow the very seeds of our future on this planet. The most recent in-depth study into the environmental
impact of what we eat… OXFORD UNIVERSITY …was a peer-reviewed journal by an
international team of researchers. KEEPING THE FOOD SYSTEM
WITHIN ENVIRONMENTAL LIMITS This landmark study,
headed by Dr. Marco Springmann of Oxford University in England, found that in order
to have any chance of keeping temperatures below the dangerous
two-degrees-Celsius threshold set out in the Paris Climate Agreement, in high-income countries
we need to drastically reduce our consumption of meat
by around 80 percent. Policymakers have been very, very reluctant
to address the livestock issue. It's entirely out
of keeping with the urgency of the crisis that we're facing. Hi, Otto Brockway for Broxstar Films. This is a question for Commissioner Hogan. The scientists at Oxford
University have been clear that livestock farming has a far greater impact
than plant-based farming. With this in mind, would it
not be common sense to reduce the billions in subsidy
payments to livestock farming in Europe and offer them
to plant-based farming instead as an incentive to a much
more sustainable food system? We have made our proposals… EU COMMISSIONER FOR AGRICULTURE …based on protecting the farmers,
because they are, unlike you and I, they're out in all sorts
of weathers, all sorts of market risks,
and you and I may not know this because this is their lives. They're producing
high-quality food for us all so that we can have this particular good-quality products
available to us at all times. Sometimes under local
conditions like organic, more times it's conventional farming. So we provide financial support
at the moment for that. And it's a public good
that's not always recognized, the movement of our policies
is in the direction of our farmers being centrally involved
in providing public goods. And if you want to do anything
in life, you have to pay people. Sometimes I understand
there's a moral obligation and there's people of principle,
but most of the time, 99 percent of the time,
they have to get paid. So as professionals,
we're expecting to provide good-quality food
and do more on public goods. We pay our farmers. This is a decision
that we make at a political level. Livestock emit
and methane and nitrous oxide. Most people,
when they think of climate change they think of CO2, carbon dioxide, which is a very potent global warming gas. But methane is 25 times more potent per molecule when it's released than CO2. And nitrous oxide is 298 times more potent per molecule than CO2. These are very powerful
global warming gases. So today we have a very special camera called a hyperspectral imaging camera, and it basically enables us
to be able to see gases that would be otherwise
invisible to the naked eye. And today we're looking at methane gas. Methane is a gas that is being produced
by cows when they belch. Methane, together with the other gases it produces in the atmosphere, has caused a third
of global warming since 1750. Livestock are the largest source
of methane that we can control. Steep cuts in methane emissions
can slow global warming by 15 to 25 years, making it
the most effective means we have to slow warming
in the critical years ahead. -Whoa, look at that.
-Wow. Wow. To demonstrate
the different heating potentials of climate gases,
we can look to an experiment known as the "infrared
absorption experiment." Here we see four Earth-shaped ice statues, each one in its own airtight chamber. The chambers represent the atmosphere surrounding the planet. Each has an infrared
heater placed above it, set at identical temperatures, and each one is then filled
with a different gas. The first chamber
is filled with normal air that we breathe from day to day. The second chamber
is filled with carbon dioxide, a well-known climate warming gas. The third chamber is filled with methane, a gas associated with animal agriculture, and the fourth chamber
is filled with nitrous oxide, also a gas associated
with animal agriculture. Over time, we begin to see the ice statue
in the carbon dioxide chamber slightly melting,
compared with the normal air. But in the same short time, the statues in the methane
and nitrous oxide chambers begin to melt rapidly as the temperature
inside rises considerably higher than both the normal air,
and also the carbon dioxide. 16 hours later, the results are stark. We can clearly see that
the methane and nitrous oxide, the two main gas byproducts
of animal agriculture, are potent climate warming gases. Of the estimated 70 billion land animals reared for human consumption
each year around the world, nearly 90 percent are chickens. An emerging problem
is that chicken consumption is now on the rise. Whilst chicken has a lower environmental
impact than red meat, over 90 percent of chicken globally is now intensively farmed, and this is having devastating
effects on our planet. If we compare
the equivalent protein calories for meat and plant-based
proteins, such as chickpeas, chicken does less harm to the environment than commonly consumed red meats. And yet, still causes 40 times
more climate-related warming per calorie of protein than chickpeas, and uses 50 times the amount of water. THE FUTURE OF FOOD We know that if we would shift
from ruminant meats to other meats,
then we probably would reduce our footprint just
from that particular product by about a factor of ten,
which is quite a bit. But if you compare that with how much you would
reduce your footprint if you went to plant-based products, that is about a factor of 100, and that's the reason why shifting towards more plant-based diets
has such a big impact, we're talking about different scales here. Organic meat has been claimed to have less environmental and climate impact. However, a study carried out
by researchers at Oxford University, found that, in fact, organic
or conventionally produced meat has little significant difference
in greenhouse emissions. So in our data, we didn't find… …big differences
between organic and conventional across multiple indicators. What we did find is that no matter how you produce animal products, even
the lowest impact forms of production still create higher emissions
and use more land than typical vegetable proteins. PLANT-BASED BURGER
20 GRAMS OF PROTEIN That's saying that even if you go
into the shops and try and purchase sustainable meat or dairy,
it's going to be better to purchase vegetable proteins instead. Each year the US Government
gives around $20 million to subsidize fruit and vegetable farming, but meat and dairy farming
get a massive $38 billion from the government. It is now estimated that the annual cost to the US taxpayer of diseases related
to meat and dairy consumption are now around $314 billion. When you cram tens of thousands… SPEAKING IN MAY 2018
PHYSICIAN …of animals in these crammed,
unhygienic conditions, basically live atop their feces,
it's just like a breeding ground. Animal-to-human diseases that arise are because of the way
we're treating animals. Whether it's these live
animal markets in East Asia, whether it's the bushmeat trade, the concern is that with enough
spins at genetic roulette on these swine factory farms,
these chicken factory farms, we're going to end up
with one of these viruses that's not only deadly
to chickens, but can jump and transmit human to human and
cause the next human pandemic. The risk of large-scale factory
farming increases the risk… VIROLOGIST …or the likelihood
that we might have a pandemic, particularly, of influenza in the future. This pandemic has been very severe,
but is not necessarily the big one. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Swine flu, which killed
over half a million people is believed to have
originated in pig farming. AIDS and the Ebola virus
are believed to have come from eating wild animals,
while MERS from camels, and also camels' milk and meat. SARS is thought to have spread
from live animal wet markets as was the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Bird flu is believed
to have come from chicken farms and also live animal wet markets. And the measles virus is thought
to have originated from farm cows. People know now what
a global pandemic feels like, and they've seen the effects.
They will be feeling the effects for many years to come,
and this is a chance, I think, an opportunity to point out that this particular route of infection is a very concerning one. The World Health Organization
has announced that the post-antibiotic era is near. A time where a simple scrape
on the arm could become fatal. Our miracle lifesaving antibiotics
are being rendered useless due to overuse, not
because of overuse by humans, but because we give them each
day to billions of farm animals. OVER 75% OF ANTIBIOTICS PRODUCED AROUND
THE WORLD ARE NOW BEING GIVEN TO LIVESTOCK OUR WORLD IN DATA BY 2050, MORE PEOPLE WILL DIE FROM
ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE THAN FROM CANCER UK GOVERNMENT So having been a butcher for six years, if people knew what happened… FORMER BUTCHER …in the production of their food,
they wouldn't eat meat. So one of the things
that we would hit every day was pus, nodules, tumors, cysts. It was something that
we would hit on a daily basis. Having worked in a supermarket chain, I saw this firsthand every single day. So here's one that's running
along the shoulder blade. Oh! -Yeah.
-That is what I remember in the butchery, it comes out like thick toothpaste. I remember that every single day. It's interesting to hear
you had that experience all the way over there,
in the UK it's exactly the same. FORMER BUTCHER We would see that on a daily basis. But those people who say,
"It's not my butcher who does this." -No.
-They need to open their eyes, because if their butcher is
being honest with them, we know. -Yeah.
-We both know, any honest butcher is going to admit it. They won't tell the public
because it will affect -their business, but it is a fact.
-Yeah. And me working in multiple butcheries, I saw these common trends
across the board, so I know that it wasn't
just isolated to the one that I was working in,
it was across the board for me. People need to reconnect
with what they're eating -and the whole process that we were…
-Yeah. …we're talking about here
of how that food gets to them. It's hidden from them,
and it's hidden for a reason, because if they saw it,
it would most definitely make them think harder about what they're eating. As our oceans and atmosphere
begin to warm, the water cycles of the planet
are beginning to change. Climate change changes
the water cycles of the planet. The heat that's being generated is forcing the precipitation
into the clouds, so we're getting more concentrated
precipitation in our clouds, and more dramatic, extreme, and unpredictable water events
all over the world. In the northern region of the
remote Pacific island of Taiwan, the Atayal people live
high in the mountains. Taiwan is no stranger to extreme weather, but in recent years
the strength and frequency of the typhoons have increased. This has had a devastating effect on the Atayal people
and their way of life. The rain has become unbalanced. The rain is a blessing. But too much rain is a curse. When I was young, we always had enough water, but never too much. In the future, you will have to be strong to overcome what is coming. I fear many will not make it. Whilst much of the world
has been experiencing increasing levels of extreme flooding, in many places, the opposite is happening. Much of the world is increasingly entering into extreme drought, destroying
thousands of tons of crop, as millions of farmers struggle to find enough water for their fields. LOS BANOS
CALIFORNIA I'm worried about the future of our farm. I think we're seeing… PRESIDENT / CEO …many more swings in climate
than in the past, but we want to use all the land
that we have to grow food, but we haven't been able to just
because of the shortages of water. It will have an impact
on food supply and prices and availability, and so estimates now are between 500,000 to over
1,000,000 acres of farmland that will come out
of production in California. THE LIKELIHOOD OF A GLOBAL FOOD
SYSTEM COLLAPSE IS INCREASING NATURE Almeria, in the south of Spain, is home to 31,000 hectares
of indoor vegetable farms. Almeria produces
half of Europe's fresh fruit and vegetables, an essential component in the supply
of the continent's food system. Worryingly, Spain has been in
the grip of a 20-year drought, a drought that climate experts suggest is closely linked to climate change. PRESIDENT In terms of water,
the truth is that the drought in Spain has become
a complete catastrophe. Our harvests are decreasing
in massive quantities. Last year, in the area we are now, there was almost no harvest. People don't realize
the food system is collapsing. As a result of this shift
in the global climate system, the drought across Africa has deepened. THE WORST DROUGHT FOR 60 YEARS Rivers and lakes
that supply hundreds of millions with fresh drinking water
are beginning to run dry. As new conflicts break out
over these dwindling resources, we are witnessing the beginning
of a mass exodus of people moving north, desperate to survive. These climate refugees
are willing to risk everything to get themselves and their
families to what they see as the safe shores of Europe. In response to this modern day
mass migration, Spain has built a massive wall that runs along its
southernmost border in Melilla. Thousands of refugees
are beginning to swarm the border fences,
overwhelming the Spanish police. Amid predictions
that this migratory pattern is set to increase,
it seems increasingly clear that our world is poorly prepared to cope. Water is life. Without it… …we are nothing. MONGOLIA As the Gobi Desert in Mongolia begins to spread deeper and deeper into the country, like a beast
consuming all life in its path, many of the lakes
that support both the people and the wildlife have now dried up. If the lakes continue to disappear, then the people will be
forced away from their home and into distant and strange lands. There used to be a time, not so long ago, when nature was in balance. The elders have agreed that nature is on a new path. Our people have adapted before, but I fear that this change is too great. You will have to be strong if you wish to survive in this new world. LAUGHING OUR WAY TO EXTINCTION A lot of people talk
about how much fresh water… PRESENTER …we use for hydrofracking. 700 billion gallons
globally is wasted on fracking. So, 700 billion gallons.
Sounds like a lot, but animal agriculture, the production of animals that
we use for meat around the globe uses 70 trillion gallons
of fresh water a year. Hundreds of thousands of times as much as fracking. And we give the cows and the
chickens the good stuff, right? They don't get the Flint,
Michigan lead-tainted, condoms-floating-in-it water. They get the top shelf stuff, we don't want to screw up
our sausage links. I know what some of you are thinking now. You're thinking, "Oh, here's the part, 'I'm a vegetarian and pigs are people too, meh!'" But no, let's ignore
how the animals are treated in our factory torture farming. Let's pretend they're treated
amazing, for just a minute. It's like a celebrity
backstage at the Oscars, they're just being fawned over and they get swag bags
with free Apple watches… Point is, you should still be
upset about this because animal agriculture is killing us, and corporate media is fantastically
pathetic on this topic. SWITCHING TO LOW FLOW SHOWER SAVES WATER They never mention meat production. They never mention that a Quarter Pounder takes 660 gallons
of fresh water to create. That's the equivalent of showering
for two months. So, one, usually underestimated impact of livestock production is the huge amount of fresh water required for that production to be
maintained and to be increased. The problem is that in many
places, water is being used… WATER MANAGEMENT PROFESSOR …much faster
than the natural renewal rates. Overall, in the world, 1.8 billion people are living in areas
with severe water scarcity. The livestock sector is
the biggest water user in the world. 1/3 of the water use
in the world is being used for producing animal products,
meat and dairy, it's not because
those animals drink so much, it's because there's
a lot of water required to make the feed for the animals. If we want enough fresh water
for future generations, water alone dictates
that we must change our diet away from meat and dairy. All over the world we can
see evidence of a global shift towards animal-free foods that
is enough to give us some hope. In 2021, a record 580,000 people signed up to the UK's Veganuary campaign,
and it's estimated that there are now
over four million people identifying as vegan
across the United Kingdom. In Canada, it's estimated
that ten percent of the population are now either vegan or vegetarian, and in the US, over 50 percent of chefs have added vegan items to their menus, with a 600 percent increase in the vegan lifestyle
in the last three years. 100% PLANT-BASED HOT DOG A few years ago, it was quite a challenge to get hold of good vegan food,
but today we're pretty much spoiled for choice, and there are
vegan options everywhere. -Mm.
-Yeah, thanks. It tastes like a normal hot dog,
is it a hot dog? Or is this like plant-based or something? -What is it?
-It is actually plant-based. -Yeah.
-It's really nice. I prefer it, I don't really eat
meat that much, so this is good. I like meat and it tastes good… -Yeah?
-…for not being meat. -Would you be happy with that?
-Yeah. I'd be stoked. I love meat too much, if I went plant-based, I'd miss it, but if this stuff tastes the same… -Yeah.
-…I'd be very happy with this. 100% PLANT-BASED BURGER -…nice, messy fingers.
-It is, yeah. Solid food burger. -Okay.
-Thank you. Would it interest you to know
that's completely plant-based? I wouldn't know. I would definitely-- -That's a winner.
-Yeah, I'm amazed. If burgers always tasted like that, would you be happy
to not eat a beef burger? I'd like you to tell me
which one of these nuggets is plant-based and which one is real meat. Okay. It's very hard to say which one is… They taste exactly the same, honestly. -These are not the chicken?
-No. -That's interesting.
-Yeah. Which one of this is animal meat and which one of this is plant-based? Meat or not meat?
You're not sure? You're not sure. -No.
-No. Yeah, I'm not sure. -Meat.
-You… -Yes.
-…are wrong. -Oh.
-Okay, okay. -…you think the second one was chicken.
-Yeah. -The second one was actually plant-based.
-No way. -Yeah, the first one was chicken.
-No way. -Yeah.
-Okay, I couldn't have guessed that. I definitely thought the first one. Yeah, definitely. It seems that changing what we
eat to a more sustainable diet can also coincidentally be
very beneficial to our health. There is a growing understanding
that we can actually prevent, and in many cases even reverse
some of our most common diseases all through a shift
towards a whole food vegan diet. Humans can survive
on many different kinds of diet, but many decades
of research has now shown us that the best way of not just surviving… VEGAN ATHLETE …but thriving, is on a whole food
plant-based diet. The human can be healthy
on a plant-based diet... CONSULTANT HAEMATOLOGIST ...without animal products.
The major dietetic associations… VEGAN ATHLETE …including
the British Dietetic Association, have produced statements
to say exactly that, that a diet made up of whole plant foods
is healthy for humans, all stages of their life. And not only can they be healthy… VEGAN ATHLETE …but they can restore
or reclaim their health adopting a plant-based diet. There's certain populations in the world that have extraordinary
health and longevity, a large number of centenarians, people that live over 100,
these so-called "Blue Zones." What's interesting about the Blue Zones, they have more centenarians
than anywhere else… DIETICIAN …and a centenarian is someone that lives at least 100 years. But what's really interesting
about the Blue Zones is when people reach these advanced ages, they are still productive,
so the Blue Zones have taught us a lot. And the bottom line is,
we really want to try to emulate what the people
of the Blue Zones are doing. The five regions known as the Blue Zones are Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy, Icaria in Greece, Nicoya in Costa Rica and Loma Linda in California. So the question is, "Well,
what do they all have in common?" They have a predominantly
plant-based diet. They have a diet rich
in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans,
soy, lentils, chickpeas. They have a diet rich
in all these nutrients and that's one thing they have in common. So the EPIC study is the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. It followed over half
a million individuals from ten European countries
for more than 15 years. Those in the EPIC study
that were eating predominantly plant-based or eating high levels of fruits
and vegetables lived longer, had lower incidence of cancer
and heart disease. About two and a half thousand
of the individuals in the EPIC Oxford only ate plant foods, so they were vegan. And even though they weren't the most healthy
vegans or healthy plant eaters, you could show that these plant
eaters were healthier, they had lower incidence of heart disease,
diabetes and cancer. From everything we have
discovered on this journey, it seems that moving away
from animal foods to plant-based foods instead can not only give us a whole
host of amazing health benefits, but also gives us
a chance to be able to leave a sustainable planet
for future generations to come. Perhaps the single most meaningful change that we can make as individuals is ultimately deciding
what ends up each day on our plates. We are running out of time. The world community must acknowledge that animal agriculture
is the most destructive industry on our planet. We can't wait for government policies and other organizations to create a better life for ourselves. SCHOOL STRIKE FOR CLIMATE We need to stand up now
and make our voices heard. Globally, for the typical consumer, avoiding meat and dairy is
probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on Earth. Without addressing what we eat,
we simply won't make it. This is a number one priority. This is a next step in taking responsibility
for our communities, our planet, our biosphere,
our fellow species. Climate justice! When do we want it? Now! People say, "What can I do?
Feels overwhelming." You can make individual choices.
We all can. Our individual choices
affect the collective choices. We hear about airplanes and cars. We're still going to use those things, but the choices we make in our diet, this agricultural business
where we use animals as the primary source of protein, the one thing I think we can all do is, make our own individual choices. How we will live, how we will eat. Plant-based diet makes all the difference. Make choices that are good for you, and being good for you,
it'll be good for the planet. This planet is our home. And it is up to us what happens now. History has shown
that when we stand together, united in a common cause,
we can achieve great things. Before us lies
an opportunity to build a world in which we can thrive. But the clock is ticking... ...and time... is running out.
