(indistinct chattering) (dramatic music) - [Crowd] PB and J, PB and J, PB and J! (people shouting) - In 2019, humanity received a warning. 30 of the world's leading scientists released the results of a
massive three-year study into global agriculture, and declared that meat production
is destroying our planet and jeopardizing global health. - We are being faced,
simultaneously, with a series of humongous existential crises. Climate breakdown. Ecological, cascading collapse. The disappearance of insects. - [Greta] We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction. And the extinction rate is
up to 10,000 times faster than what is considered normal, with up to 200 species becoming
extinct every single day. - A report warning the
world that unprecedented and immediate change is needed to prevent a climate catastrophe. - If we wanna save the
planet, we need to change what we put on the table
and how we produce food. - But the clock is ticking. - I mean, we're talking
about the end of humanity as we know it. - Either the world ends
or we all become vegan. (upbeat dramatic music) - [Woman] What's social
media without social purpose? This film is sponsored by abillionveg. The revolutionary social media platform with a social purpose. Help others by sharing information that's needed to make better choices. Find out more at the end of this film or at the link below. - [Narrator] In 2019, environment
awareness was increasing and people were starting to take action, including corporations
who started to support the vegan economy. The most significant of these was UK High Street Bakery, Greggs, which unleashed media chaos
at the beginning of the year with the launch of its vegan sausage roll. - The vegan edition. Case, pasty layers nice,
flake resolution optimal, taste level maximum, mega
bites, 10 mega bites. - Wow! Wow! - How many, 10, where's three, 96 layers of puff pastry. - [Man On Phone] I was
wondering if you could get me one of those sweet vegan
sausage rolls, bro. (women speaking over each other) - They're nice and (mumbles). - And its got corn inside. You wouldn't really know
that it's not a sausage roll, would you? - [Male Anchor] Well, meat sausage roll. Yeah, yeah, no, you wouldn't. - How lovely. - Okay, so we're out here looking
for the vegan sausage roll and you're out here looking
for one as well, yeah? - Yes. - Why the vegan one? - Really? - Hello, we were just wondering, do you have any vegan sausage rolls? - [Woman On Phone] Oh, unfortunately not. We sold out. I think we're having a
problem with the manufacturer. They didn't get how much
people were gonna like it, how much (mumbles). So, they kind of got backed
up with orders and that. - [Male Anchor] Tell you
what, I'm all about the vegan sausage roll, that's brilliant. - [Narrator] But alongside
the positive coverage of the Greggs vegan sausage roll, some more negative response. - I mean, there's this stink. Oh, god. ("Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies") - When you go to your
favorite fast food restaurant, you're gonna be eating a fake hamburger. - I've always thought it's a balanced diet is the answer for everybody, right? My issue with veganism
is it's not balanced. - They want to create a
race of soulless creatures on this planet. - They're so aggressive about it. - They're changing God's creation. - It's nonsense, isn't it? - Bacon is back on the menu. (cheering) - Most of Britain still eats meat. - I will donate a million dollars if every vegan on the
planet just shuts up. - Oh. - You had your month. You had Veganuary. It's over. - [Narrator] But maybe these
mainstream journalists, without realizing it, are
just there to confuse. (laughing) - [Blonde Anchor] That's
a good look for you. - Oh, god. - [Narrator] And when we're
confused about what to eat, we stick to old habits. And these old habits
feed the power and wealth of the meat, dairy, and egg industries. - The thing is here,
actually, the bottom line is-- - Are you gonna say moderation? - No, I'm not! I'm just gonna say when
you read this stuff, just say, oh I can't be bothered. Don't take any notice of
them, 'cause they all change. (laughs) (slow music) - But, it's the biggest problem
is the elites and the BBC and the conventional media has simply not grasped the
enormity of what's happening. (interviewer stammers) - [Narrator] One of the biggest critics of the mainstream media throughout 2019, was Roger Hallam, a founder
of a new environmental group called Extinction Rebellion, which rose to prominence in early 2019 in an unprecedented way. - [Narrator] Hallam, who has been vegan for more than 30 years, and recently started a PhD
in direct action campaigning, wanted to use Extinction
Rebellion to bring the government to a standstill, in a bid to address climate change and connected issues
like animal agriculture through a democratic process. - Extinction (mumbles)
has a particular role, and that role is to basically
bring the government to a halt. Now, once that's happened, the plan is there's a
national citizens assembly. When you enable ordinary
people to consider the facts, then they come up with
something sensible, right? And it's a no-brainer that we can't have anymore agriculture, so it'll be a no-brainer that
when those ordinary people come together and they realize, then obviously, people are
gonna do what's necessary, like they did in the
second World War, you know? Everyone accepted rush name. Once people get the information,
they change really rapidly. - [Narrator] The Extinction
Rebellion protests of early 2019 sparked the debate, and forced politicians
in a number of countries to declare a climate emergency. - Help us make 2019 the year
that everything changes. We need New York City to take the lead and declare a climate emergency. - [Narrator] By the end
of the year, further, more profound protests
from Extinction Rebellion would shut down several
cities around the world, this time with a more specific
message, front and center, about what was needed to
really fight climate change. (light music) Plant based food system
was already being boasted. In particular, by one company in 2019, called Beyond Meat. After large-scale investment and nearly a decade of
research and development, the Californian-based company went public. (upbeat music) - So, what's really interesting about this is it's a $1.4 trillion market, that has seen very little
in disruptive innovation recently or throughout history, actually. So, what we're able to do here, is bring a new technology
into the marketplace, a new approach that enables
people to continue to consume all the products they love, whether the burgers, sausage, et cetera, but do it in a way that's
still better for them and a little better for the planet. - Back in 2000? - It was great. I mean, it was amazing to meet all the-- (crowd cheering) (crowd drowns out speaker) That's incredible. - (laughs) That's great. - The vegan burger startup, Beyond Meat, got their initial public
listing off to a sizzling start, as its share price almost tripled, to make it the biggest US company IPO since the financial crisis of 2008. It counts Leonardo
DiCaprio, Jessica Chastain, and even Microsoft founder,
Bill Gates, as investors and it's environmentally friendly. Its signature product, the Beyond Burger, reportedly uses less water,
less land, less energy, while also generating fewer
greenhouse gas emissions. That's compared to your
average beef burger. - [Narrator] As Beyond Meat
began to offer vegan products in the meat aisle in various stores, its competitor, Impossible
Foods, also signed deals with major distributors. And a race began to take
over the $1.3 trillion a year meat market. - [Female Reporter] Beyond
Meat's biggest current competitor is another plant-based
company, Impossible Foods, valued at just below a billion dollars, according to PitchBook. - [Woman] It's all heating up. Impossible Foods also joined
forced with Burger King to release and Impossible
Whopper, just last month. - [Ellen DeGeneres] I
don't know if you've heard of the Impossible Burger. If you have not heard of
the Impossible Burger, it is delicious. - They're all going
after the $1.3 trillion global meat industry. - [Narrator] As meat substitute
products grew in popularity, the whole market began to shift. - The beef industry's
fighting to keep market share from slipping to new
plant-based substitutes. - [Narrator] Various meat and dairy brands released plant-based products, including global pork
company, Smithfield's and leading cheese-maker Applewood, as well as Tyson Foods, the
second largest producer of meat in the world. And as the vegan food
sector began to win over public opinion, it also became a pop-culture staple. - Move over soy, there's
a new trendy milk in town, oat milk. ♪ I took a trip to 2019 ♪ ♪ So many brand new milks we're trying ♪ ♪ Cashew, almond, flax milk, oat milk ♪ ♪ Rice milk, soy milk, cat and goat milk ♪ ♪ I've been to the year 2019 ♪ ♪ Somethings have changed ♪ ♪ But it still can get better ♪ - You posted this. You've started a vegan roast dinner. And then Piers Morgan replied oh, for (bleep) sake,
Ramsay, not you as well. This looks utterly revolting. (crowd laughs) - I disagree, I would order that. - I actually think it looks pretty good. What do you say to this,
to Piers' critique? - So, Piers Morgan is now a food critic. Go and (bleep) yourself. - In the last 12 months,
there's been more innovation than in the last 12 years,
in plant-based foods. - In plant-based news. - [Man] In plant-based news. - [Man] It's an interesting publication. - This is the news, okay? This is the real news. - The message we can get out today is that people need to
increase their plant-based in their diets. - Veganism is on the
rise, so we gotta adapt. And yeah, we just have to yeah, eat a slice of humble pie. - [Narrator] As the vegan
sector began to win over popular opinion, vegans began appearing
on TV more and more. - Little about myself, I'm a vegan. Yes, I'm a vegan. Which means, I don't-- (women cheering) Yeah, thank you, three vegans. I appreciate it. (Crowd laughing) So, a vegan, we don't eat animals, we don't eat meat or whatever, and the reason I decided to be a vegan is because I had a dog and I fell in love with
my love with my dog, and I was like I can't
eat my dog, you know? I can't do it. (Crowd laughing) I know most of us don't eat our dogs. But we eat pigs, and guess what? Pigs are smarter than dogs. Pigs are smarter than
chimpanzees, they're just ugly. And you can't eat something
just because it's ugly. 'Cause if that's the case, some of y'all looking
tasty tonight, all right? (crowd laughing) - Do you eat any animal products at all? - I don't, Jim and I haven't
had any animal products in six and a half years, and we are bursting
with energy and health. - It is about how this
diet affects the world. Not just personal health, but also sustainability, ecology, animals. And this is what I care about, so I'm really privileged
to be part of that team. - [Woman] This is the
112th time that David has donated blood. A vegan for 27 years, he
says he wants to challenge the notion that vegans
lack vital vitamins. ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ But Old MacDonald ♪ ♪ He's a vegan ♪ (crowd cheering) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] As demand
for vegan products grew, supermarkets, brands,
restaurants, and fast food outlets continued to release options. Margarine giant, Flora,
made its whole range vegan. And pizza chains updated their menus with vegan cheese and meat. - It looks like meat, believe
me, it tastes like meat, but there is no meat in
any of these three pizzas. Domino's Australia will launch
three plant-based pizzas. The first in Australia from September. - [Narrator] Supermarkets
competed, releasing new products lead by Marks and Spencer's
new plant kitchen ranged, and fast food giant, KFC, found
a vegan-friendly sandwich, selling out in just days. - KFC is now finna go vegan, man. - KFC released their
first vegan burger, guys. KFC released their first vegan burger. - KFC's new vegan chicken burger. - KFC, if you don't roll this
out in all of your stores, I'm gonna be incredibly sad. - [Narrator] But as more and more vegan products were launched, it was becoming increasingly clear that many of them relied on
a globalized food system, with ingredients that
were highly processed. - [Man] Finger-licking vegan. (squeals) Here it is! - And, so, amid the euphoria of new vegan products everywhere, came the realization that actually, these were not the panacea
that many had hoped for. (upbeat music) These issues were addressed by some, who, on the one hand,
explained how vegan options are at least more efficient, and less intentionally harmful than their meat-based counterparts. While others pushed for further progress and more holistic ways of thinking. One increasingly persuasive
option was vegan permaculture, the organic production of
crops, causing minimal harm to animals and the environment. - So, vegan products are, in many ways, a fantastic sign of progress. But, when they're wrapped in plastic, sprayed with pesticides, or
using animal fertilizers, they still don't represent the solutions of a lot of the destruction
that is happening to our natural environment. What vegan permaculture
does is try to think quite aspirationally about
what could we achieve as a civilization, if we really try and think
about that whole big picture? If we think about how to mimic nature, how to create habitats,
how to enrich our soils. So, that's what so exciting
about vegan permaculture and its growth at the moment, because it really
represents that next step in a paradigm shift that we
are going to have to go through if we want to take care of
the Earth more effectively. - Our survival is entirely
dependent on nature. We use it for fuel, for
our food, it sustains us. We're not disconnected from it. This enormous edifice of life, this cathedral of biodiversity,
cannot be replaced. You can rebuild Notre Dame cathedral. And it will look pretty much like the one that's there before. You cut this wood down,
you cannot rebuild it by sticking in a few saplings. It's just an enormous act
of ecological vandalism at a time when we really
should know better. I mean, it's like a light's gone on in one part of our brain, tell us that there's a climate
and environment emergency, and we've all got to make
changes to cope with this, to address this issue, but we haven't yet
turned the other one off, which tells us that we've got to make the short-term progress. Someone, please turn that old light off, so that we can bathe in the
brightness of a new vision of a better future for
ourselves and the planet, like now, maybe. (light music) - [Man] We see beauty
in the natural world. That is the primary source. We see lovely flowers and butterflies, birds, animals of all kinds, birds, whales, gibbons, spiders. If we are to ensure the
prosperity of the human race, we have to understand the natural world. We have to appreciate the natural world. - We've been obsessed with
protein for the past 70 years. Heart disease has gone this way, diabetes has gone this way. We're only getting sicker. We're only getting fatter. Obesity is now a $2 trillion problem. We don't listen, protein
is not the problem, fiber is the problem. We're not eating enough fiber. - I've said that forever. - The strongest animals on
the plant are all vegan. Rhinos, elephants, gorillas, hippos. - [Narrator] As awareness grew
around the health benefits of plant-based diets, mainstream medical establishment started to change recommendations. - There's been a lot
of speculation, lately, about what's in Canada's new food guide. Well, now we know. - [Narrator] Canada removed
dairy from its new food guide at the beginning of the year. - It's actually the first time around this guide was based on science. All previous guides had
invited the food industry to have seats at tables,
to have votes at tables, and to have closed-door meetings. - [Narrator] Canadian food guide showed that without industry-influencing
recommendations, an important shift
towards plant-based diets in the mainstream, could take hold. - And in 40 years of research,
we've been able to show that simple lifestyle changes can undo or reverse the progression of the most common chronic diseases. Diabetes being one. - Diabetes, cancer, autoimmune issues. Not only do we not need animal products, but they're actually not good for us. - There's more and more
evidence coming out showing that animal
protein is inflammatory. It causes chronic inflammation. It causes oxidative stress. - The new understanding
in the path of physiology is so profound in 2019. Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of people using every dollar they have, every social media outlet they have, every way to manipulate
the public mind to hang on. It's just like smoking. They're gonna hang on, but
they're gonna fall off the ship. - Some of our leading
killers can be reversed. For example, heart disease,
the number one killer of men and women. Arteries can be opened,
heart disease, reversed, without drugs, without surgery, just a healthy diet, centered
around whole plant foods. There's only one diet
that's ever been proven to reverse heart disease in
the majority of patients, the plant-based diet. - [Narrator] But in the face
of increasing awareness, veganism faced a new antagonist in 2019, the growing Carnivore Movement. - There's a swath of people right now that are eating nothing but red meat. - Shaun, what would you call
this diet that you're on? - Mostly red meat. - [Male Reporter] Six
foot five, 52 years old. - Actually, one more,
yeah that one's fine. But we need to aggressively push back in a very organized and
well-thought out manner. - (bleep) vegans! - [Man] (bleep) veganism. - I think it's time,
now, to get aggressive. - We see it every time,
vegan mental illness. - It's time to really push the issue, really push back on these people, hard. - A selfie with plant-based youths. - It's time to tell these
people they are not right, we are not gonna fall for
their tyranny, their fascism. So, we need to stop
accepting their framework. We need to have our own narrative. We need to push back. - [Narrator] But, as these
radical counterculture con-ists took to the streets, promoting raw meat as food, they forced people to
confront a simple truth, that meat-eating in whatever
form has profound consequences. And once we know about these consequences, it makes us question what
we'd rather not know. (eerie music) - Bacon is back on the menu. (Laughs) - As far as we know, there have been five major
extinction events on our planet. Events caused by changes, so severe, that many species simply can't
adapt, and as such, die out. Right now, we are in the
midst of the Earth's sixth mass extinction. - [Narrator] While the
impending climate crisis quickly became a topic
of public discussion in the mainstream, a few figure heads emerged. One of these, was
16-year-old Greta Thunberg. - We are in the midst of
the sixth mass extinction. And the extinction rate is
up to 10,000 times faster than what is considered normal. With up to 200 species becoming
extinct every single day. For way too long, the politicians
and the people in power have gotten away with not doing anything to fight the climate crisis. Even most climate scientists
or green politicians keep on flying around the
world, eating meat and dairy. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning
of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you. (crowd cheering) - [Narrator] Thunberg, who
ditched meat, dairy, and flying, to reduce her carbon footprint,
captured public imagination, becoming not only an environmental voice, but also a pop-culture icon, appearing on magazine
covers and winning awards for her ferocious
criticism of politicians. - So, what do you think? What has Greta got that
politicians don't have? - Well, first of all, she's speaking, not only to the young people, but she's speaking to everybody, including, she's speaking
to the politicians, because she says the way it is. Which is hey, you're not
keeping your promises. You keep talking and
you go from one meeting to the next meeting, just signing all kinds
of certificates and laws, and this and that. You're making a big to-do about something but there's no action. - And since our time is running out, we have decided to take action. We have started to clean up your mess, and we will not stop until we are done. - So that's what she's saying. And I think that people woke
up and they listen to her. They said, yeah, there's no action. It's getting worse. The heat is increasing,
the sea levels are rising, people are dying because of pollution. Water pollution, air
pollution, all that stuff, and people are angry about it. So, I think they're listening, and I think that she has really caught on a certain vacuum that was there, that kind of rattled the cage
and it woke everybody up. (light music) - [Narrator] Schwarzenegger, himself, was becoming increasingly visible in the debate around eating meat, and its impact on the
environment and human health. And following in the footsteps
of his Less Meat, Less Heat campaign with James Cameron, Schwarzenegger became involved
in 2019's highly-anticipated, plant-based documentary,
The Game Changers, as an executive producer. - [Arnold Schwarzenegger]
They ate a lot of meat. They show these commercials. - [Commercial Narrator]
Steak, that's what a man eats. - Selling that idea
that real men eat meat. But you've got to
understand, that's marketing. (light music) - When I made the switch
to a plant-based diet, I qualified for my third Olympic team, I broke two American records. I was like man, I should have
done this a long while ago. - When I went plant-based, I wasn't sure if I was gonna survive, and I actually became like a machine. - I think this is going to
wake a lot of people up. Today's blood and yesterday's blood. - We all wanna feel
great, have more energy. - Most guys my age, can't keep
up with their grandchildren. My grandchildren can't keep up with me. - Someone asked me, how
could you get as strong as an ox, without eating any meat? And my answer was, have you
ever seen an ox eating meat? (yelling) - [Narrator] The impact of this film was not to be underestimated. - You know what? I will watch this documentary. The meat-eating ways
of a handful of broncos burned by Netflix documentary,
The Game Changers, challenging the idea muscles
are built by eating meat. - Do a bit of plant-based food instead of the meat all the time. - [Narrator] After the film was released, an important shift took hold. - I eventually started cutting out dairy, started feeling a lot better. Then started cutting out meat, 'cause I never really like it. And then, the more I cut things out, the better I started feeling. - [Narrator] The flood gates opened with more and more people speaking out about plant-based diets, including professional
body builder, Kai Greene, and four-time Tour de France
champion, Chris Froome. The female 2019 plank world record holder announced she was powered by plants. And celebrities, including Kim Kardashian, and comedian Russell Brand announced they had
ditched animal products. - I'm vegan. - [Narrator] Among others,
who've also spoke out, including rock star, Bryan Adams, social media star, Casey Neistat, comedian, Romesh Ranganathan, F1 champion, Lewis Hamilton, megastar musician, Billie Eilish, actors Jerome Flynn and Joaquin Phoenix, as well as Coldplay star, Chris Martin. - The fact that we are encouraged to think about where our meat comes
from and how much we consume, can only be a good thing for us, for animals, and for the planet. - I started because I related
to animals when I was a kid, and then later, I learned
about the environmental impact of animal farming. And I learned that the
biggest thing I could do to have an impact on the planet's health, was to become vegan. - [Narrator] Even World
Wrestling Entertainment used the rise of veganism
to appear more on-trend, by molding stars into
militant vegan characters. - These people harm the
Earth every single day with their needless consumption, every single day, they drink
their plastic water bottles, every single day, they eat
their factory-farmed meat, which emits methane into the atmosphere, which causes permanent
change to the climate! - [Narrator] But there were
some even stranger events in 2019, because as positive support
grew, so did opposition. For example, the animal
agriculture industry said their products were
good for the environment. - Sheep were almost the ultimate
in renewable technology. - [Narrator] Despite the science supporting the opposing viewpoint. - I know two studies from this last year. The first is the most comprehensive study that ever looked at the
relationship between farming and the environment. It looks at 190 countries
and 40,000 farms. And it revealed that the vegan
diet or a vegan lifestyle is the single biggest
way that we can live, that reduces our impact. The second study was the
most comprehensive study ever conducted between
food and the environment. They said in this country, in the UK, not America, but in the UK, we have to reduce our pork, our beef, and our lamb consumption by 90%, to avoid meeting that two
degree Celsius threshold rise that would be catastrophic. - Free range meat has a far
greater environmental impact, even then, the very high impact
of indoor meat production. - Anyone who feels any
shred of responsibility towards the younger generations, really has to look at the impact that their habits are having. The single biggest step we can take as individuals to improve the climate is to ditch meat and diary. - [Narrator] In the face of increasing environmental awareness, meat and dairy brands
trying to thwart the growth of plant-based producers, calling for legislation,
banning then from using traditional animal food names. They claimed consumers
were confused by products like almond milk or vegan burgers, despite data showing
this was not the case. - This is an imaginary crisis. No one is mistaking a
veggie burger for meat. What's really going on is that producers are afraid of the new competition. - [Narrator] The animal
agriculture industry in Australia wanted to ditch the word slaughter when referring to the livestock industry. Instead, choosing to use the word process because of the emotional
connotations that they claimed were associated with
words such as slaughter. As one meat boss put
it, "The word slaughter "is not appropriate for our industry, "as we are processing animals
through the various stages "that end up for food." But the meat industry
failed to realize something that was becoming very clear. As veganism cemented
itself in popular culture and the economy, there was
nothing that could be done to halt the changing tide. And anything meat industry
representatives tried to do, only made them look desperate. - What our legislation does, is it clearly says that
what is on the label is what the product is. So, if you wanna have a burger, and as long as you know that
it is plant-based, that's fine. But you can't call it a meat
burger when it's not meat. And all we're saying is
that the label was conformed to the identity of the food product. - And is the purpose here
to protect consumers? Or is it to prevent competition? Because I must tell you, having eaten a vegan meal this week, which was delicious, I can
understand why the status quo, the meat industry would
be very, very nervous about what's coming. - [Narrator] Veganism was
breaking growth and sales records all over the world. The 2019 Veganuary campaign
saw hundreds of thousands of people sign up. And the vegan food and beverage market grew in response to the burgeoning demand. - We heard about Veganuary. This is an all-year-round thing now. - Oh, absolutely. It's gone past the stage of being a fad. And it really is massive. It's been following a
decent level of growth over the last 30 years. I mean, in the last two years alone, there's been a 700% increase in people that have been following
a plant-based diet. - I went vegan, it was about
six or seven years ago, and it wasn't popular. Now, it's become a trendy thing to do. And a lot of cafes and
restaurants are catering for dairy-free,
gluten-free, vegan options. And, so, it's actually quite easy now. - It is a very popular
search on Google these days, what is a vegan? - I do see veganism being normalized. And it is flipping. But, once it flips,
veganism will be normalized, and people will just eat vegan. And they won't think of it as vegan. It's just food. - In the last four years,
there's been exponential growth. People are really becoming
more conscious about this and I see that it's gonna be growing even more than it has
in the last few years. - Veganuary, the campaign
to get people to go vegan for one month. Reckon that by the end of this month, half a million people around the world will have tried moving
to a plant-based diet. - Major burger chain, Grilled,
is going meat-free Monday. Today, all 137 restaurants, nation-wide, will substitute plant-based
protein for meat. - Veganism has been on the rise. Last year, there were
over 540,000 in the UK in comparison to just 150 back in 2006. - [Narrator] As a rising
number of Australians are becoming vegan. - Last year, the demand for
meat-free food, up 98% in 2018. 25% of millennials are now
either vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian. - This is the moment. This is the time for change. Let's transform. Let's dare to hope. - [Narrator] In the
face of growing support, pro-meat advocates try to
impede momentum once again. This time, at the end of the summer, at the 2020 US Dietary
Guidelines Advisory Committee. - Meat and poultry products
are important sources of micronutrients. - Over 20 Gold Standard studies have shown that beef contributes
favorably to heart health and other positive health outcomes. - [Narrator] The USDA Dietary
Guidelines Advisory Committee, which brings together
industry figures and experts every five years, convened in 2019, to discuss the US government's
food recommendations for 2020. - Plant-powered diets rich in fiber are becoming very popular, including for athletes
performing at the highest levels. - We ask the committee to
discourage the consumption of processed meats. - Consumption of processed
meat causes cancer. - For athletes and non-athletes alike. - Too much animal food, too much dairy, too much processed food. - Prostate cancer, breast cancer. - Put these people on
a low-fat, high-fiber, plant-based diet. - A whole food, plant-based diet. - A whole food, plant-based diet. - And they get better. - [Narrator] Even though the
vast majority of speakers promoted a plant-based diet, a bitter war of words ensued. With many arguing their
patients are confused by the mixed messages they receive. - My patients are confused. They're confused by the guidelines and they're confused
by the discussions here and they're confused by bad science. - It is inappropriate and
a disservice to the public to consider beans or tofu
as equivalent to meat and poultry products, because they're not. - There's a lot of confusion about diet. Some of it's been said here. People advocating high-fat diets. - When you put carbs in
your body, you become sick. - Animal protein and animal fat, causing intramyocellular fat, causing ceramide toxicity,
causes insulin resistance. - You are not making
important distinctions between high and low-quality evidence. - This committee now has control
over our number one killer. - [Narrator] The USDA
Dietary Guidelines debate showed exactly where the
general public was so confused. Because although awareness of the benefits of plant-based nutrition was increasing, there was always an opposing viewpoint that left people bewildered. Such as misleading stories
from industry-funded studies, or overblown headlines. - They say that our views of
red meat in the United States are in fact, built on shotty evidence. And that if red meat has
any negative health effect, it's a small one, huh. - [Narrator] But, behind the scenes, an important breakthrough
emerged out of Europe, providing aspiration for
how the medical system could operate. It started with a company called NFI, which began exploring
potential opportunities within the healthcare system. The founders noticed that
despite the overwhelming evidence supporting plant-based nutrition, it had not yet integrated
plant-based medicine in any serious way. What was shortly to follow
had important implications that could change the
medical industry forever. The company created a protocol based around whole-plant
foods, but went a step further by using an algorithm to
completely personalize it. The results were so good
that the personalized diet was prescribed by a national
institute in Europe, achieving an unprecedented type
two diabetes remission rate of over 96%. It was an extraordinary experiment that showed why used a novel
and business-focused approach, it was possible to integrate
plant-based nutrition into the medical system
in a very significant way. The message spread beyond
the medical community. As consumers swapped out regular options for plant-based alternatives,
with health cited as a factor. Plant-based food sales
in the US grew at a rate that was five times that of the growth of the total US retail food market. And when it came to dairy-free milk, a 6% growth in sales was observed, while cow's milk sales fell 3%. But then everything
changed after the release of the biggest dairy
farm expose in history, where consumers were given
another powerful reason to ditch milk. Fair Oaks Farm used to be described as the Disneyland of agricultural tourism. It welcomed half a million
tourists every year to see its museum, restaurant, and hotel. As well as dairy farm. But in 2019, this quaint facade
was exposed for what it was. Totally phony. - Hello, my name is Mike McCloskey, owner and founder of Fair Oaks Farms. Yesterday, Animal Recovery
Mission released a video that contains footage of Fair Oaks Farms. Watching this video broke my heart and created a sadness
that I'll have to endure the rest of my life. I am sorry, and I apologize
for the footage in this video. - [Narrator] When the media
found out about the systematic violent abuse, the story blew up. Because of the extent of the abuse, the sheer scale of the farm,
the corporation it supplied, and it's previous high welfare claims, the expose made for an explosive story. With mainstream media coverage
of the systematic violence rattling on for days. In a way that animal
rights exposes rarely do. And it set the scene for further exposes to penetrate the mainstream. - Animal rights activists
promised mass disruption and they certainly delivered
across the country yesterday. They invited abattoirs, rescued sheep, and brought traffic in
mo-ben CBD to a standstill. The protest comes as a
rising number of Australians are becoming vegans. - [Woman] Farmers are fuming, calling for animal rights
group, Aussie Farms, to be stripped of its charity status, after it launched an online map revealing addresses and contact
details of hundreds of farms across the country. - [Woman] The prime minister
has called these protests un-Australian. Saying his government will
support any affected farmers wanting to pursue legal action. - The commonwealth is totally
open in supporting them in a test case to show these
green-collared criminals that you don't get to go an pull the rug from under our Aussie farmers. - [Woman] "The real criminality
is the systemic torture "and slaughter of billions of animals "in the cruelest, filthiest,
most sadistic conditions. "It breaks multiple laws. "But the police protect
the corporate criminals, "and instead arrest those saving lives." Greenwald tweeted. - The word terrorism implies
someone's being terrorized. And, those activists are
trying to stop animals from being literally butchered
against their will, okay? So, who's the real terrorists here? - This is an unbelievable
exercise in mass cruelty, in the torture of
intelligent, sentient beings. - They keep them tightly confined, so they can't move around, they fatten them up and
they kill them real young. - To suggest that
farmers have been subject to invasion of their personal
homes is blatantly untrue and seeks to deliberately
mislead the public. - No one wants to go into these farms. I do not want to go into these
farms and slaughterhouses. They are horrific places. I don't wanna see that. I have been personally traumatized by it. - If a practice is painful
and cruel for one animal, so much so that it carries
significant criminal penalties, how can it possibly be
legal for another animal, who will also be subjected
to pain and suffering? For example, the excruciating gas chambers used in all major pig slaughterhouses. World leading, very humane, the pigs just gently fall
asleep, we've been told. That was before extensive footage
was obtained by activists. Footage of pigs entering gas chambers, thrashing around in
ever-increasing panic and agony as their lungs are seared
from the inside out, desperate to escape, many of whom inadvertently
pull their own legs off, fighting for their lives. (eerie music) (fire crackling) (sad music) - [Narrator] In August, data
revealed that the Amazon had seen a record number of fires in 2019. The National Institute for Space Research detected more than 70,000 fires
between January and August. An 84% increase compared
to the same period in 2018. The increase coincided with the election of Brazil's far-right president,
Jair Bolsonaro, in January, who pledged to develop the region for farming and mining
when he took office. Despite the warnings of conservationists around deforestation. - [Female Reporter] In fact,
there's an 80% increase in fires, just over the last year alone. And this comes, of course,
after the hottest July our planet has ever seen. I want you to take a
look at these pictures showing the smoke from space. These images from high above, covering huge parts of South America. - Do you know why the Amazon is burning? It's because, to make
cattle farms, to raise cows, and kill them for people to eat, they used to chop down
trees to make lots of room in any forest, and
because that got outlawed, people start fires in forests. That's not happening on its own. It's literally people making
fires to burn down the trees. They're getting what they want. It's not like it's an accident. They did it on purpose. - The fires in the Amazon,
that's being caused, largely, by cattle ranchers and farmers clearing land for cattle or to grow food to feed farm animals. People don't realize that
more than 70% of all soy is fed to farm animals. - [Narrator] Brazil declared
a state of emergency as the whole world watched, helplessly. (light bouncy music) - We are all in a burning
building now, right? That's the situation that we're in. As Greta Thunberg says, I want you to act like our house is on fire, because it is. So, that's why we're back on the streets, because after our rebellion in April, parliament declared a climate
and environment emergency. But what's actually being done? Where's the actual action? - [Narrator] The mobilization
of the environmental movement, including the call to move to a plant-based food system, as part of Extinction Rebellion's
animal rebellion faction, represented a new phase of awareness. - That if we stop eating meat and dairy, we have an enormous potential then, for sucking carbon out of the atmosphere. Because so much of the
land which is currently occupied by livestock, would revegetate if those
livestock were removed. - [Narrator] But with this new phase came a number of sobering questions. Has the unprecedented rise of veganism only been brought about
as a tragic response to the devastating
environmental destruction? And as the planet continued
to spin out of control at an ever-increasing rate,
can we change fast enough? - We've talked about corporate corruption, campaign finance, agriculture,
environment justice, all of these things are interrelated. You can't separate them out. When we talk about healthcare, let's not just talk
about doctors and nurses, let's talk about healthy food systems. - Many people should be
adopting a plant-based diet, I don't see our government
talking about that. - I felt gut-punched because
I felt like we had been advertised to our whole lives, that we absolutely have
to have meat to be healthy and had to have milk for strong bones. I mean, growing up, my mom was-- - Calcium, calcium, calcium, calcium, yes, absolutely. - Exactly. - The access to knowledge is so vast now. And I wanna be a part of spreading that. - It's just as easy to
be vegan, here in Asia, as it is the US, Canada,
Europe and Australia. - The truth is the truth. It cuts through everything. - [Narrator] As more and
more people spoke out, the tide seemed to be turning. With old institutions
implementing new ways, including universities ditching meat, and entertainment companies going vegan. - We have to do this. We have to go plant-based. - It's the most exciting
trend in medicine today and it's a way that hasn't
even begun to crest. - [Narrator] Major new films
promoting plant-based diets announced they would be launching in 2020, while others were
released to huge acclaim. - [Male Anchor] The Game
Changers doco on Netflix, which has captivated the world. - And it includes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lewis Hamilton, and Novak Djokovic. - [Narrator] Top designers
in high-street stores took steps toward
becoming more sustainable, with even the queen ditching fur. - Vegan TV shows hit the small screen, and animal-free options
continued to be released across a range of retailers. The predictions made by media pundits that 2019 would be the year
of the vegan were coming true, as a new narrative was emerging. One that promoted compassion,
health, sustainability, and equality for all. - Someone doing something
kind for an animal, I mean, floods, 'cause it's so sweet. It, oh, it's affirmation. It's the best the people could be. - [Narrator] Suddenly, a
vision was being provided, where a movement would finally flourish. (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Why post on Instagram when abillionveg can raise
a dollar for animal welfare every time you make a review? This film is sponsored by abillionveg, the revolutionary social media platform with a social purpose. Every review converts into a dollar that you can use to donate
to animal sanctuaries and non-profit groups. This is the fastest-growing platform for the plant-based community globally. You can find reviews, recommendations for vegan-friendly dishes and products. There's more than 450
plant-based Mylk products reviewed on the abillionVeg app. (light upbeat music) - We wanted to show
businesses around the world that one out of every
25 dishes on their menu being plant-based isn't good enough. By creating a dish-review platform, we create a lot of really
interesting data points. Chefs, to owners of
businesses, showing them what people are saying
about their vegan options to compete for your vegan dollar. - [Narrator] Help others
by sharing information that's needed to make better choices. Join the abillionVeg movement, and let's work together to make
the world more plant-based. (upbeat music) ♪ Whoah oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Whoah ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Whoah ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, hey ♪ - We really are heading into
a plant-based revolution. - There's no stereotype anymore. - We're gonna be looking at
a very, very different world in about five years. - The world is changing. - [Man] Plant-based news! - [Man] Plant-based news. - You know, the evidence is clear. The future is definitely plant-based. - [Man] Brought up in plant-based news. - [Man] Plant-based news. - [Man] And interesting publication. - [Man] This is the news, okay? This is the real news. - Demand for meat-free food increased by nearly 8,000% last year. - Now more and more people
are cutting out meat and dairy products, and adopting a plant-based diet. - [Man] This next year is our year. Like, it's the year we go mainstream. - [Man] What was once a fringe
movement is now mainstream. - [Woman] It's not just a trend. It's not just a phase. - [Man] People have been
hit with multiple sources of information, and it
still hasn't hit everybody, but more and more people are
seeing some pretty dramatic and compelling research. - [Woman] What do you think
is the biggest misconception about a vegan diet? - [Man] The biggest
misconception is everyone says where do you get your protein? - [Woman] And I've had a
long-term health condition, and I've seen a dramatic
shift in my health in the last 12 days. - It's recognized, again, by the American insurance industry, that there's only two dietary plans that can reverse heart disease. There's no meat in those programs. They're plant-based programs.
Man, I missed the whole thing except the last 90 seconds.
Well this got me amped.
Watch to get amped.