All language subtitles for All.the.World.is.Green.2026.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-cinepth

Is this how our
story is due to end?

A tale of the smartest
species doomed...

by that all too human
characteristic of failing...

to see the bigger picture in
pursuit of short-term goals.

Now, the global
population officially

passed 8 billion people today.

That number has more than
doubled in the past 50 years.

Last year was the hottest
year since records began.

Global sea levels rose by
more than expected last year.

Temperatures were
1.6°C degrees higher...

than the pre-industrial average.

UN scientists have
warned we are on course...

for a catastrophic 3.1
degrees Celsius of warming...

this century.

Bird flu is at a
dangerous point.

H5N1 has taken root in US dairy

farms, and now
it's jumped species.

With evidence
that climate change

has played a significant role...
in Los Angeles fires.

Abundance.
Microplastics.

170 trillion pieces
in the ocean.

Human-made chemicals
known as forever chemicals.

Toxic chemicals.

That consuming a
single serving of fish...

would be equivalent to a
year of contaminated water.

Nearly half of humanity is
living in the danger zone now!

Drought, floods, and fires.

Sea level rise.

Time is almost out.

At the point of no return.

We are way off target when it
comes to how dire things are...

and those impacts
are getting worse.

It could potentially
be irreversible.

It isn't too late yet...

Now or never.

People must be capable of
caring about things...

beyond is my belly full...

and, am I dry when
I sleep at night?

Otherwise, it is all lost.

We are biological creatures
and we live in an ecosystem.

The ecosystem that
we live in is partly...

what we have inherited over

history, from
3.8 billion years...

of life's evolution
on this planet.

And, partly what we have done.

The choices that we've made.

Things that we've engineered.

Things that we've destroyed and
the things that we've protected.

It's an intellectual challenge
to try and figure out...

what that would look like.

Whether there would
be a final collapse.

Or whether this
planet would just...

continue to drift
through the universe...

containing...

human engineering and almost
no other form of diversity.

We should be concerned about
that final handful of species...

on a dying mud ball...

floating through the universe...

that used to be planet Earth.

That's what we should be
concerned about...

in the immediate sense...

For the last 15 years or so

there's been a
series of papers...

published in Scientific Journals
saying we really don't like...

the look of what's happening
to the food system.

It looks a bit like the
financial system...

in the approach to 2008.

The food system
itself could collapse.

It's dominated by just a
few huge companies.

Like the financial system
was before 2008.

So for example, just
four corporations...

control 90% of
global grain trade.

That's really dangerous.

If one of those corporations
fails, and it could just...

bring down the whole system.

People starve then.

Huge numbers of
people would starve.

Everyone's doing the same thing.

They're all producing crops
in the same way...

with the same chemicals,
with the same seeds...

from the same companies.

That's very dangerous.

It stripped the diversity
out of the system.

Everyone's doing it
for maximum efficiency.

That strips the redundancy
out of the system.

These things like diversity
and redundancy...

they're essential for the

resilience of a
complex system...

which is what
the food system is.

No one seems to know this.

No government is
prepared to talk about it.

They're not interested.

So food system just
refers to the fact...

that it's an interconnected
web of connection...

between the food chain
and basically everything...

that is along that food chain...

and how it has external
outputs onto the world.

We think about the food chain.

We think about
getting food from,

let's say, the grocery store...

but what are all
of the significant points...

that made it possible for that
food to come onto our plate...

and for us to get it to
the grocery store?

and then the politics of
how land is used.

Then that goes into how
livestock are treated...

how they're fed,
in factory farms...

the antibiotics so that we have
the pharmaceutical part...

as well, finally how that
food is packaged...

and brought to
the grocery store.

Every single part of that
chain is interconnected.

It's this flow,
and that's why actually...

it's so challenging
to change it.

Where are we heading?

In my lighter moments, I think
maybe we will be heading...

to a future where we
can live sustainably.

In my slightly darker moments...

I think we're heading towards
the world of Mad Max.

Because we have converging
threats, existential threats...

that will impact on
our food system...

that will impact on
our water security...

they're going to impact on our
wellbeing in general.

The major players within
the food industry...

they abide by regulations.

The question is, are
those regulations...

the ones that are
best for our health?

I'd love to see regulations that
help to make us healthy...

while also yielding profits for
those who are involved...

in the production of food.

We have a food system today
that is focused on profit.

Food corporations
are selling food...

in an extremely
competitive environment.

Many of them
are privately held...

which means that
their stockholders...

have the power.

So the agricultural
system like any other...

is focused on immediate
and higher returns on profit.

And it really doesn't matter
what is being sold...

or the health or
environmental effects...

of what is being sold.

What matters is how
quickly the companies...

are making money.

The system of food
production today...

is based on an industrial
and intensive model.

Intensive, meaning what?

All the components, the input
and the animals within it...

even the workers, they are all
used to the utmost intensity...

in order to produce the
maximum possible profit...

in the shortest time
and with minimal costs.

We need to be looking at
the whole system.

And what I began to see...

reluctantly, because
I did not want to see...

and I still don't
want to see it...

but I can't unsee it now...

is that "the" biggest threat
to the living world...

is food production.

Food production is the primary
cause of wildlife loss...

the primary cause of
habitat destruction...

the primary cause
of species extinction...

the primary cause
of fresh water use...

the primary cause
of soil erosion...

and the primary
cause of land use...

which is the most
important issue of all.

And it's also one of
the biggest causes...

of both water
pollution, air pollution...

and land pollution,
and climate breakdown.

All of these things together.

I mean, it's up there...

it's worse than the
fossil fuel industry.

Today's food system
is not just impacted...

by animal agriculture...

but indeed dominated
completely by it...

in the sense that, take for
example land occupation.

So you have two types of land...

you find cropland and
you have a range land.

In the cropland, the
predominance of corn...

and soy for feed production
results in most...

of the cropland occupation.

And that is the key asset
that we need to feed ourselves.

Use the cropland to
produce corn and soy...

feed them to livestock...

and then eat the products
of the livestock.

And that has efficiency of
somewhere between...

you know, 10 or even 15%...

all the way down to
about 3%, which is beef.

And what that means is that of
100 kilograms of protein...

in feed, in corn,
wheat, oats, et cetera...

that you feed to beef...

you get only three kilograms
of edible beef protein...

a hundred in, three out.

The most important
environmental issue of all...

is the amount of land we use.

Because every hectare
of land that we use...

for our own purposes
is a hectare...

which can't be occupied
by wild ecosystems.

Now, the great majority
of species on Earth...

need wild ecosystems
for their survival.

They can't survive in ecosystems
which we've manipulated.

But also the Earth
system itself...

the whole planetary system...

is totally dependent
on wild ecosystems...

and the less wild
ecosystems you have...

the more likely that earth
system is to collapse.

Now, what's the major reason
why we don't have...

enough wild ecosystems?

Cattle ranching.

It's outdoor cattle keeping
is the biggest cause...

of the transformation
of wild ecosystems...

into a man-made,
human-made ecosystem...

which is cattle pasture.

Animal agriculture
impacts climate

change primarily through...

two, two and a
half, let's call it...

major greenhouse gases.

The trickiest to
handle is methane...

and that's mostly from what they
call enteric fermentation...

which is basically
burping by ruminants...

especially beef, cattle,
and dairy as well...

then there's CO2, which
mostly is incurred...

in the production of the feed...

that goes to feeding
those animals...

and then there's nitrous oxide,
a third greenhouse gas...

which is mostly the result
of manure management...

not exclusively, but mostly...

and they account somewhere
between 25 to 30%...

of all greenhouse
gas emissions...

by far and away,
the biggest impact...

of food production on land is
meat, dairy, and eggs...

is animal products.

That hits ecosystems harder...

than anything
else we do on land.

And at sea, by far and away...

the biggest impact
is commercial fishing.

That hits marine
ecosystems harder...

than anything else we do at sea.

I think the sea is
always somewhere else...

somewhere other than the place
that we consider to be home.

At best, we think of the planet
as three quarters ocean...

and water and quarter land...

but in fact, the ocean makes
up something like 97%...

of the volume of living
space on planet earth.

The assumption that
we always made...

was that the sea
was wild and intact...

and you could take as much
as you liked from it...

with no consequences.

We've come late to
this understanding...

about the impact that we've
had on the ocean.

That just as on land,
the underwater world

has been transformed
by human action.

The ocean has
absorbed something like

30% of the carbon
dioxide that human...

activities have
emitted since the

industrialisation of the planet.

What we realise now is
that that carbon is not...

necessarily safe, particularly
the carbon in shallow seas...

and those are the seas that
we exploit most...

intensively because they're
the most productive.

They supply about 95% of the
seafood that we eat.

And much of that
seafood is gathered by...

dragging trawl nets and
dredges across the seabed...

and as they pass
across the seabed,

they kick up lots of
sediment and mud...

and the stored organic carbon
inside those sediments...

and when it's released
into the water column...

it can then be turned back
into carbon dioxide...

and some of that carbon dioxide

can end up back
in the atmosphere.

There was a study
that was published in

2021 that estimated
that the amount of...

carbon which was
being released from these

disturbed seabed
carbon stores was...

equivalent to emissions from the
world aviation industry.

Can we perpetuate
this forever while not...

accruing ever rising
environmental degradation?

No! The answer is
no, we cannot do that.

Scientists have
long worried about

progressive change in things...

like you know the
temperatures rising like this...

as carbon dioxide builds
up in the atmosphere...

but actually the world doesn't

act in linear
ways all the time...

and what we are beginning
to appreciate more is...

that there may be tipping
points in the Earth system...

and if you cross
those tipping points,

then you can get
very rapid change.

So, for example,
loss of ice from

Greenland or West Antarctica...

you know once warming
progresses sufficiently, then...

you know, warming from
beneath the ice sheet...

from the sea is
actually melting it from

below, which speeds
up the rate of ice...

loss off the continent or
the island of Greenland...

and if the rate of ice loss
accelerates enough...

then you could see massive
deglaciation happening...

and loss of ice from the
Greenland ice sheet alone...

would raise world sea levels
by seven metres or so.

Is it wise to sink ever deeper
into environmental debt?

To me, the answer seems no.

We should strive
to act in a judicious,

timely fashion,
well ahead of a pending...

catastrophe so that we have the
latitude and the flexibility...

to choose the kind of response
that we are comfortable with.

I don't think there is enough

attention to
environmental problems.

There have been five mass

extinctions in
planetary history...

which wiped out more than
75% of species at the time.

But the sixth mass extinction,
which we're in right now...

is unfolding around us and
we're not doing enough about it.

There isn't nearly enough
public attention. There isn't...

enough resources
being put into the

protection of the environment...

and so we're sort of sliding
towards a time of reduced...

biodiversity and increasing
instability for the planet.

It's about education,
all the time...

and that's where we fall down.

All over the world.
On so many fronts,

kids are not genuinely educated.

Climate crisis may
come up a bit here and

there and they feel
a bit scared by it...

you know, from something
they've heard in geography.

Who is actually
genuinely telling them

how animals are farmed,
how they are killed...

and what the consequences
of that are for them, their...

family's health,
for those animals

themselves and for the planet.

Because we are now in...

the sixth mass extinction.

This is serious...

and if we care about
our future, then we

have to take this
seriously and stop...

farming billions of animals in
the most appallingly cruel ways.

Now, we all love
animals, don't we?

The big ones, the little ones...

maybe not the ugly ones.

My favourites are
the old meat and

dairy animals,
burgers and shakes.

And they're never
going to go short because

apparently there's
now 70 billion of them.

We're eating the earth.

Believe it or not,
they eat so much, they

need 80% of all the
agricultural land in...

the world and horror of horrors,
we've now run out of it.

We're eating the earth.

We're eating the earth.

We're eating the earth.

Someone just told me
that we're in the

sixth mass extinction
and that a million...

different species are
going to be wiped out.

Ha! That's the bunny
huggers for you.

We're eating the earth.

We're eating the earth.

We're eating the earth.

I want to keep hold of
our creamy ice creams

and bacon butties.
We're just going to...

have to chop down more forests.
That's fine with me.

If we are serious
about the survival of

the species and about
our own so-called...

civilisation, there
needs to be a radical

rethink in the way in
which we behave and...

the way in which we treat others
and other species as well.

I used to be an merchant banker,

specialising in
corporate finance...

and I went out to see a client
who had interests in many...

different industries.
It was a conglomerate.

And one of the
operations that they

had turned out to
be a slaughterhouse.

And we should bear
in mind that at the

time I was a meat
eater and my favourite...

food was fillet
mignon and lobster...

a fact for which I am so
profoundly ashamed today.

Well that day in
that slaughterhouse

I was absolutely terrified.

So I moved out of my
profession and decided

to become involved
in a process of...

learning as much
as I could about

these industries but I
call them atrocities.

And as a consequence
of that, today

we support about 850
projects in 54 countries.

As I travel around the world
I give talks to sometimes...

small groups of 100 people
and sometimes 5000 people...

and they are all good,
caring, loving people

who genuinely want
to change the world...

as long as they don't have
to change themselves.

Animals must be off the
menu because tonight

they are screaming
in terror in the...

slaughterhouses,
in crates and in

cages, vile, ignoble
gulags of despair.

Eight billion people
are alive today and

we humans torture
and kill two billion...

sentient, living, loving
animals every week.

10,000 entire species
are wiped out every

year because of the
actions of one species.

If we were killed
at the same rate...

we would be wiped out as
a species in one weekend.

This is a crime of
unimaginable proportions.

Meat is still holding a
symbolic status of power...

partly because,
throughout history,

it was the food of the kings.

Of the higher class...

It holds an
inspirational element,

as we can see
in all societies...

when they reach higher
sources of income...

the first thing we observe is an
increase in meat consumption.

Everybody agrees
that China is a country...

with a huge impact on
the rest of the world.

So China's food
system has shared...

many similarities with
food systems elsewhere.

And, for the last few decades,
meat consumption...

was on the rise and capitalist,
production of food...

and consumerism made
people just want more.

Even they don't need more.
But with all the risks that

come with this increasing
consumption of meat in...

a country with huge populations,
we can see that...

the risks are pronouncing
themselves much...

more clearly now.

This is a matter of
scale, the scale at...

which animals are
raised for food...

for people.

The industrial scale
husbandry of livestock...

huge pig operations,
huge poultry operations.

Tens of thousands, hundreds
of thousands, in some cases...

millions of chickens on
a particular chicken farm.

Where you have thousands or
tens of thousands of pigs...

in particular pig operation.

Something like 99%
of the animal products

that we eat are produced
in factory farms...

and factory farms are these
concentrated operations where...

I don't think any of us...

whether we're vegan
or not, can ethically

stand by what happens
in factory farms...

where animals are
treated as objectified

commodities rather
than as beings.

They find it difficult
to think that animals

deserve to have equal
consideration for their rights.

It is a difficult thing.

It's also very difficult,
using the laws...

of supply and demand and

economics,
to get companies and...

businesses and farms and
institutions to change as well.

We accepted and
allowed to the removal of

a control system
on a political level...

and that they would
become privatised.

All of this dates back
to the 70s and the 80s...

with the rise of neoliberal
ideologies and politics...

so the current system
whose functioning forces

people to buy and
eat what is produced...

it is functional
and motivated by

its own existence and survival.

Corporations have an
enormous amount...

of political power...

and they use their money
to get governments...

to do what they want...

to do things that are
good for business.

When I visited a small river...

in this county in Devon...

which was famous
for its wildlife...

and I turned up with a friend...

and you could
tell straight away...

something was very wrong.

We stepped up to the bank of
the river and it was dead...

and its stank was a really
powerful stink...

and so I thought,
what's happened here?

I couldn't understand.

Eventually, I found this pipe
coming into the river...

and even though
it was a dry day...

there was shit pouring out
of this pipe into the river...

and you could see below
the pipe, everything was dead.

And so I thought,
what is this pipe?

Where is it coming from?

And so I followed the pipe
up the hill to a dairy farm...

and it came straight out of one
of the slurry pits.

And I looked at Google Earth and
I saw that a few years before.

The size of the dairy unit
had been doubled.

And I later found it had twice
as many cattle as it had before.

But they hadn't bothered to
build any more slurry lagoons...

any more shit pits.

Because it was
cheaper just to build a

pipe going straight
down into the river...

and literally pour the
shit straight into the river.

So I thought, well, look,
I'm a Guardian journalist.

I'm a well-known
environmentalist.

I'm about the most empowered
person there could be...

when it comes to
making a complaint.

So I rang up the Environment
Agency's pollution hotline.

And they said, oh,
this is very serious, sir.

A few days later,
I phoned up the

Environment Agency
again and said...

so what are you
going to do about it?

They said, well, we decided
not to take action, sir...

because it's not
a serious incident.

So we went
and had a look.

And we didn't find any
evidence of a fish kill...

so it's not a serious incident.

I said, of course
you didn't find

any evidence of a fish killing.

There aren't
any fish left to kill.

And then I got this
massive response

from people all
over the country...

saying our rivers had
the same problem.

But I also got
two whistleblowers

from the Environment Agency...

came to me and said,
this is inevitable...

because we've been
told from the top...

from the Secretary of State
for the Environment...

not to prosecute dairy farmers.

So then I looked
into it further and

found that dairy
farm pollution...

is one of the biggest forms of
pollution in the whole country.

Chicken farm
pollution is another one.

They don't
prosecute that either.

Pig farm pollution
is another one.

They don't prosecute that.

And I thought, if they're not

going to regulate
this industry...

I'm not going to
eat its products.

There is an expression,
what goes around comes around.

You can't escape
the consequences.

The amount of plastic entering
the ocean every year...

has been estimated to be
around 14 million tonnes.

Of course, anything that doesn't
degrade over time very fast...

is going to build up.

If you keep adding
14 million tonnes...

14 million tonnes year after
year, then it all accumulates.

So the ocean now
has up to an estimated

200 million tonnes of plastic...

embodied within the water
and the sediments of the seabed.

As plastic breaks down, it forms
smaller and smaller particles.

So it then is ingested
by marine life.

But those particles also attract
nasty chemicals.

Forever chemicals
they're called.

Things like DDT and PCBs
and the plastic additives...

that are added in agrochemicals.

And those attach
those plastic particles.

As they're ingested by marine

life, they build
up in the tissues.

So when you catch a fish, which
is at the top of the food web...

like a tuna, the tissues
may be laden with toxins...

some of which is
being absorbed from

plastics that they have eaten...

and if we eat that fish,
then we then become...

the carrier of those toxins.

Change is difficult
for everybody...

because animal agriculture
forms such a significant part...

of our gross domestic product,
of our cultures.

In fact, a lot of our
best memories...

occur from sitting
around the dining table...

and many of the bad habits
that we live with today...

we learned when we were babies
in the arms of our mothers...

and we associate the comfort
food that our parents gave us...

because they loved us, with
safety and security and care.

So it is almost hard-wired
into our systems...

that this is something
that is good for us.

As well, there is this feeling
about people and livelihoods.

This is a heroic way
of making a living.

Instead of seeing the
dragging of trawl nets...

across the seabed as incredibly
destructive and impacting...

on the sea in an
industrial sense...

this is just as destructive as
clear-felling forests.

It's seen instead as being part

of the culture
and the history...

and the heritage of a country.

And that these
people are going out...

and they're resting
a living from the sea.

They're bringing back good
quality food for people to eat.

And we celebrate that without
understanding the impacts...

that it's causing.

Most people
imagine that the meat

and the milk and
the egg they eat...

come from these little
farms with a few cattle...

a few chickens, maybe growing a
few vegetables at the same time.

And all the marketing
suggests that.

The advertisements,
the packaging...

yeah, look, a few chickens
scratching outside.

If people knew the reality, they
would be absolutely horrified.

these enormous
steel factories...

which might have
tens of thousands

of chickens crammed into them...

thousands of pigs,
hundreds of dairy cattle...

all in one huge
great steel factory,

living in horrendous conditions.

It's totally different
to the public image.

So for instance, Tesco,
one of our big supermarkets...

here in the UK, has got a
brand called Willow Farms.

And if you buy the eggs, you'll
see Willow Farms and these...

chickens scratching
about outdoors.

And there might be flowers and
butterflies and stuff like that.

There's no such
place as Willow Farms.

Willow Farms does not exist.

The eggs come from
these huge factories.

Willow Farms is just a brand.

Those drawings aren't
based on reality at all.

It's the story they tell because
it's the story we want to hear.

And if someone like me
is rude enough to say...

actually, it's not like that.

That's not the reality.

It's not just the farmers and
the supermarkets that hate you.

It's the consumers as well.

People don't want
to hear that story.

They don't want to
be told the reality.

The food industry has followed
the tobacco industry playbook...

to the letter, cast doubt
on the research...

blame personal responsibility,
fund your own research...

so you get the kinds
of results you want...

fund groups that will support
you, fund nutrition societies...

so they won't say anything
bad about your product...

insist on being at
the policy table...

and when all of that fails,
lobby and litigate.

That's the tobacco
industry playbook.

It's staved off concerns about

cigarette smoking
for 50 years...

and the food industry
is doing much the same.

So, Chris, bringing
up the date for

the litigation of
the court case.

Well, we won the first round...

but there's no injunction
granted on the footage.

They had a 28-day period...

and unfortunately they
didn't decide to appeal.

It seems like they
want to drag this

whole thing out
as long as possible.

And by the time we're able
to release the footage...

if ever, it's going to be old...

and they'll be able to say that
it's not relevant anymore.

So it's a difficult
position, but I

don't think we
have a choice, but...

That's a rather cynical abuse of
power and money, isn't it?

Very much so, yeah.

I mean, they're a massive
multi-million-dollar company.

And at least we know one thing.

What you do is on the
right side of history...

and I often say that one day...

when animal rights is enshrined
not just in the human heart...

but also in legislation
and our behaviour...

your fingerprints are going
to be on every page...

and I can't wait for that
beautiful day to dawn.

It is such an enormous empire
that we're up against...

that has many billions
of dollars at their disposal.

They have the status
quo at their disposal.

You know, it's considered
normal to eat animals...

and extreme to
not eat animals...

to not pay for animals
to be abused and killed.

So we're up against all
these social norms...

and an industry that is able
to spend billions of dollars...

upholding those social norms.

When I walk inside
an intensive farm...

I think that I'm going
to get used to it...

because I've been doing this
for many years.

And I use the camera
to protect myself really...

to try and distance myself.

And then you just can't.

You know, you'll see an
animal who's in pain...

who's lying on the floor.

Not a rare sight.

And this animal is clearly
in the last throes of life.

Whether that be a
chicken who's collapsed...

because they're forced
to grow far too fast...

or whether that's a pig who's
writhing around in agony...

whoever it is...

I just feel their pain...

because how can you not, they're
right there in front of you?

and you feel an obligation
to do something about it...

and so you times that by
the number of animals...

who are being factory
farmed across the planet.

And wherever you look, whether
that camera's in Italy...

whether it's in Australia,
whether it's in Saudi Arabia...

wherever that
camera's pointed...

it's the same over and
over and over again.

It is that it's
kept so secret...

and the industry relies
entirely on this secret-ness...

on keeping
consumers in the dark.

I think that most people are
opposed to animal cruelty.

They just don't know
that they're paying for it

when they're buying
meat, dairy, eggs,

and other animal products.

A lot of the time we
were going into farms...

and slaughterhouses...

middle of the night...

knowing that we could be caught,
we could be charged.

And we would put
in hidden cameras...

and try and capture
what was going on.

You good?

I've been to a number
of turkey farms...

egg farms, chicken farms...

which are bad enough,
as it is...

but there's something
about pig farms...

that are a whole
other level of hell.

The moment you step into these
places, you smell...

I mean, it's a smell that just
never leaves you.

It never leaves your clothes,
it never leaves your skin.

It is the smell of death,
it's the smell of fear...

it's the smell of waste...

because these animals are
living in their own faeces...

and urine, they are packed
tightly together...

in small barren concrete pens.

And I came out of
that place on fire...

I'd never seen anything
like that in my life...

and it just changed me.

You know, I wanted to go
to all of these places...

and just show people
what the hell was going on.

We were going to pig
farm after pig farm...

dozens of them, and showing
the exact same kinds...

of conditions in all of these
farms across the country.

Something else that we captured
as part of that film...

was the largest
slaughterhouse for pigs.

We'd heard that they
were gassing pigs...

that was their method of
stunning them before slaughter.

They would send them into these
carbon dioxide gas chambers.

There was no footage
anywhere in the world...

that I could find.

The only information
I could find about it...

was the industry
saying that it was

the most humane
method of killing pigs.

I am currently inside the top
of the gas chamber.

How this could
possibly be legal,

how this could
be the standard...

how the industry can
turn around and say to...

people that they care
about their animals...

that they treat
their animals well.

It goes so deep, everything
from what's sprayed...

on the crops that are grown
for feed for animals...

the preventative use of
antibiotics on factory farms...

because of the terrible
conditions animals are in...

the way the
pharmaceutical industry is

involved providing
those antibiotics...

which is then having
huge downstream

effects as possibly
antibiotic resistance...

meaning...we won't be
able to take antibiotics

if we have an
infection in the future...

which would have huge and
dire consequences of course.

Antibiotics have two purposes
in intensive farming.

First, they prevent the
spread of diseases...

this is because we
have many animals

in cramped spaces
next to each other...

while sharing the same
genetics, by the way...

Second, the antibiotic
is facilitating growth...

because the body is able
to spend less energies to

protect itself, since it's
supported by medications.

You might think
you're getting seafood...

from a wonderful pure
water fjord in Norway...

but actually that salmon might
be dosed with antibiotics...

it might be being
treated with various

kinds of anti-fungal compounds.

The kind of chemicals
that go into the...

aquaculture industry would
make your hair stand on end.

In Scotland,
for example, huge oil drum

sized quantities
of formaldehyde...

are being added to salmon pens

to control sea
lice infestations.

And that formaldehyde
is a known carcinogen.

People are actually eating
the meat from those...

animals, their bacon,
their ham, their sausages...

is coming from these
typical factory farms...

where animals are in such
diseased and ill states...

and you'd think that Covid would
have woken us up, wouldn't you?

Three in four
infectious diseases

cross from animals to people.

So that is the majority
of new infectious

diseases that are
coming across that way.

Among the most dangerous
things that we are doing...

is raising livestock
for food on these...

industrial scale poultry, pig
and cattle operations.

As one point of extreme jeopardy
to emerging diseases...

I graduated from veterinary
science in 1984...

and avian Influenza was
considered a very rare disease.

However, as human population
has increased...

the population of intensively
raised chickens...

has also increased.

And that's facilitated
the amplification of...

avian influenza,
causing extremely

high mortality in chickens...

but the concern
there is it can also

mutate, cause
illness in people...

and now we're seeing the
expansion and spread of H5N1...

that it's mutated such
that it's now causing...

deaths in wildlife, and it's

entered the dairy
herd in the US.

New CDC report
on the first severe

human case of
bird flu in the US.

New cases of the
bird flu are raising

alarms among health officials.

53 confirmed human
cases across seven

states this year
alone...but this week...

the first person has died
from bird flu in this...

country in that state.
The question then comes up...

okay...given that
this happened,

what is the risk
for everybody else?

The spillover of a virus from
a wild animal into a human...

happens because
of opportunity.

It doesn't happen because
the virus seeks us out.

A virus can't walk,
it can't run, it can't swim...

it can't fly.

it rides inside

the cells of a cellular host,
meaning an animal.

And how does spillover occur?
It occurs because...

usually because
human activity...

brings humans...

into contact with wild
animals that carry that...

particular virus.
We hunt them, we trap them...

we kill them, we butcher
them, we eat them...

or we take them alive and
we ship them around...

and in doing that, the virus
has an opportunity...

to spill, to tumble into
the human host...

and then if the virus is
lucky or it's very adaptable...

it can take hold in a new host,
a new kind of host...

and when a virus does
that and succeeds...

in transmitting from
human to human and...

passes all around the world
the way SARS-CoV-2 has...

that virus has
achieved extraordinary...

evolutionary success.

It has won the
Darwinian sweepstakes.

It has gone from a virus
that had only a little...

bit of habitat hiding in these
relatively rare animals...

into a virus that is infecting
humans all over the world.

Do we feed ourselves
in a sustainable and...

healthy way today in the
developed nations?

No, absolutely not.
It is clear that there is...

a huge proliferation
of degenerative diseases...

essentially people
choosing implicitly by...

the way they choose to eat.
They choose to have...

degenerative diseases.
From the environmental...

standpoint,
it is very similar...

no, we are very much
not sustainable.

You just asked a question
about whether...

dietary advice is...

influenced by food corporations.

The simple answer
is yes, of course.

The best example
is the meat industry...

which for decades
has fought against any...

suggestion that eating
less meat would be...

better for health or
the environment...

and has done that
quite successfully.

Is meat consumption going up?

It absolutely is and
it's set to go up...

even further if you look
at the targets around...

the meat industry...

and if you look at the tactics
amongst the meat industry...

they are working with retailers
to target consumers...

with precision...

going after consumers who are...

actively reducing their
meat intake so there is...

no mandate at the moment
within the meat industry...

to actively reduce meat
intake and switch across...

to more of a plant-based
horticultural strategy...

High meat consumption is...

an environmental problem
without question.

It's a health problem only in
countries where people...

have enough money
to buy a lot of it.

Whether people
choose to eat meat...

is another question entirely
and you don't have to eat meat.

You can eat a perfectly
healthy diet without it.

With all the problems in the
world, it's so easy...

to get overwhelmed like what
can I do as one person...

to make a difference in...

in global warming, and hunger...

and deforestation,
in the Amazon...

and what people need to know...

is that what we put in
our mouths every day...

can make an important
and a meaningful

difference in all
of these things.

It's why Vice
President Al Gore...

who owned a cattle
ranch became a vegan...

because he realised that's
where you can really...

make a difference.

That it takes 14 times more...

resources to make a pound
of meat-based protein...

than plant-based protein.

That's 14 times more...

people that can be fed for the
same amount of resources.

I've been doing research
now for almost 50 years...

and we were able to show
that when people...

change their diet,
when they eat primarily...

a plant-based diet, fruits,
vegetables, whole grains...

legumes, soy products,
and so on...

as close as possible to how
they come in nature...

low in fat, low in sugar,
low in refined carbs...

that our bodies have this
remarkable capacity...

in many cases to
begin healing if we

stop doing what's
causing the problem.

If you are going to have a
predominantly whole food...

plant-based diet we're
going to shift the...

dial in terms of our health
and that of the planet...

and that really means at
least 80% of our diet...

needs to be whole
foods plant-based...

and there's no limit to
how you can push that.

So being vegan
is the ultimate and...

organisations all around the
world dietetic organisations...

nutrition organisations,
medical organisations...

the WHO it's all acknowledged...

that for all stages
of life you can...

achieve on your nutrition.

A lot of athletes
are finding that...

when they go to a
plant-based diet...

that they perform
at a higher level.

So it's a complete myth that
you need meat to be strong.

In fact, it may be the opposite.

I think healthy diets
are really simple...

so simple that...

the journalist
Michael Pollan can...

explain them in seven words.

Eat food not too
much, mostly plants.

That's really all
you need to know.

A plant-based
diet provides all...

the nutrition that you need,
with the exception if you're...

on a strict vegan
diet that you need

to supplement that with a B12...

but, other than that,
it provides all the protein...

all the nutritional value,
and also it's low...

in the things that
cause disease and high...

in the things that
are actually protected.

What's good for you is
good for the planet.

What's personally sustainable
is globally sustainable.

People have to be
taught what to eat.

The ancestral
humans ate whatever

was available, but we're...

not hunter gatherers anymore.

We're supermarket gatherers...

and if you're in a supermarket
where there are...

50,000 products available,
you have to be...

taught which ones to choose...

and people who are
not taught eat junk

food because it
tastes better to them.

Eighty-six percent
of the four trillion...

dollars that we spent in the
U.S. last year were for...

chronic diseases.

Half of the American population

today is diabetic
or pre-diabetic.

Big multinational corporations
spend billions of dollars...

to try to find the
right combination...

of fat and salt and
sugar that are really

going to activate
all those taste buds.

Statistically speaking,
eating plants is far better...

for the human body
certainly than eating beef...

eating meat, and
eating animal products

in descending order of emphasis.

Red meat, especially
processed meat...

has been linked with a
significant increased risk of...

prostate cancer, breast cancer,
colon cancer...

heart disease, stroke,
and type 2 diabetes.

So if there's one area
that people can make...

the most difference
in, it's cutting

out red meat from their diet.

You know, these
biological mechanisms

that cause chronic diseases...

are common to all these
different chronic diseases...

so, the dietary
recommendations are not like...

here's your diet
for heart disease...

here's your diet for
prostate cancer...

here's your diet for
type 2 diabetes...

here's your diet
for Alzheimer's.

It's the same diet
and lifestyle program...

because they all
share the same...

underlying biological
mechanisms.

Things like chronic
inflammation,

oxidative stress...
changes in the microbiome.

You know, we have 100 trillion
cells in our gut...

that can cause a healthy
gut or a harmful gut...

and we're learning
more and more about...

how this is part of
the underlying cause...

of so many chronic diseases.

So when we
change all of these...

diet and lifestyle factors...

it affects all of
these underlying

biological mechanisms...

in ways that allow
our body to heal...

and because these
biological mechanisms are...

much more dynamic
than we once realised...

you can get better quickly
and you can get worse quickly...

depending on what you
eat and how you live.

When you are transitioning
from having a meat-based diet...

it can feel overwhelming but...

actually it's about how
we learn to fall in love...

with food again and I think
everybody really needs...

to be doing that and once
you do that you realise...

you put a bit more effort
into the planning...

of it and give it time to
become second nature...

A plant-based diet is the way
that, people have been eating...

for thousands of years before
they had refrigerators...

before they had factory farms...

before they had
the prosperity...

to be able to eat
meat several times a day.

So the paradox is that,
when people are starting...

to eat like us
and live like us...

they're starting to die like us.

If they go back to their
older patterns of eating...

they're gonna be
much healthier...

and it's a much more affordable
way to eat as well.

Oh, the single most
important problem...

is that people
eat too much of it.

It's calories.

Calories from everything.

I mean, 75% of
American adults...

are overweight or obese...

20-30% of American children.

That's a calorie problem.

You know, when you switch
from a typical American diet...

or a typical European diet, to a
whole foods plant-based diet...

you're actually getting
a double benefit.

You're not only reducing
the intake of foods...

that are harmful,
but you're also getting...

thousands of other substances
that are protective...

that have anti-cancer,
anti-heart disease...

and even anti-aging properties.

So for a long time,
public health...

advocates have advised
against eating...

a lot of meat,
the advice is not to stop...

eating meat,
but just to eat less of it...

and the meat industry
opposes that quite...

forcefully and effectively.

Theoretically,
we do have a chance

to mitigate the impact
of climate change...

but we have to act soon.

We can't wait too much longer
because we're starting to...

set changes in systems
that it's going to be...

impossible to reverse
unless we act quickly...

and...we really need our
politicians and our...

very big corporate entities
to work together...

for the benefit of all of us,
including the environment.

There's no way we would
have a liveable future.

We would have a
sustainable planet.

We would have
met our climate goals

without reducing our
meat, dairy, and eggs.

There's no way.

That is very
clear scientifically.

The question is how do
we make this happen...

culturally and politically
and economically...

that is the challenge.

Changes have to mostly
begin from the bottom up.

You have to persuade people.

Anybody who does
anything that involves...

persuasion or talking about the
world has to think about...

these things and help
people be persuaded

to make choices
for themselves....

And I think it's like throwing
a pebble into a lake.

You don't realise
where the waves are...

going to end or what
impact it's going to have.

In the 70s, for example,
my friend Peter Singer...

wrote a book called
Animal Liberation...

and that book didn't make
a big impact immediately...

but now...

I can't think of
anybody in the activist

movement who
hadn't read the book...

or hadn't been
profoundly affected by it.

I spend most of my life
either studying or...

teaching or writing about
philosophy and more...

specifically ethics.

I'm probably best known
for my book Animal Liberation...

which was first
published in 1975.

There was almost nothing
that was ever published,

up to 1970,
about factory farming.

I know that there
were people who

read it and were
influenced by it.

For example, Ingrid Newkirk,
co-founder...

of people for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals...

the largest radical animal
organisation in the world.

When you're in a community
that doesn't do...

anything much for animals,
it's hard to break.

I think it's important
now that there...

are communities of people
who are vegans and...

who are...effective altruists.

That is another movement
that is important here...

and that makes it easier
for any individual...

to be vegan or animal activist
or effective altruist...

We have changed people's
attitudes about what...

they wear, what they eat,
what they buy, and how...

they entertain themselves.

We've stopped all car crash...

tests internationally
on animals.

We used to slam...
them into walls.

We've stopped NASA sending...

live animals into space.
We have introduced...

all sorts of vegan products
into the marketplace...

and we have stopped
a lot of experiments that...

were absolutely
pointless, fruitless...

but have a lot to go.

But I do think everyone
is on that journey.

Whether they
want to be or not...

everyone's kind of on that
journey. And I think certain...

things like environmental
crisis will push us...

will push more people to
thinking, "What can I do?"

and there's not that
many things you can do

as an individual that
have a very big impact.

We've been around 80 years...

our founder, Donald Watson,

actually coined
the term vegan...

and since that
point, obviously...

we've kind of done a lot of work
to build veganism as a concept.

We also do a lot of
political lobbying...

and talking to policymakers...

trying to encourage
them to choose vegan,

as a kind of
compassionate solution.

In 2021, on the Earth Day...

we launched in
Yunnan Province in

China, the China Vegan Society.

One important thing we
did was to try to come...

up, with the Chinese
word for veganism...

and this character
has been around

for centuries and centuries...

but nobody
uses it anymore.

This actually means,
thriving plants...

so we used this as
the departing point...

for us, to promote,
an entirely new narrative...

on veganism
in the 21st century.

Going from 25 members
to say 2 million people...

in the UK is big growth,
and I think it will...

always be hardest
at the beginning...

while it's a fringe idea
and a fringe philosophy...

many people go "Oh,
I don't want to be difficult...

I don't want to be strange
or unusual" on the sidelines...

and the more
people that do it...

the easier it should be.
So I would hope that...

when we get to the kind of 5%,
10% mark, we'll see...

quicker change because it
will become more normal.

That's my optimistic,
idealistic vision.

We need to keep fighting
for the better world...

which we know is possible.
And there are...

just so many people in the
world who want that...

and who need it, that I'm not
assuming that...we're powerless.

I think that's
wrong. I think that...

individually we can each make
a small contribution...

and collectively that can be...

extremely important
and can really turn

things around over
the next decade.

I would sincerely
hope that this film

achieves as many
viewers as possible...

who are willing to change their
diet into a plant-based one...

and the reason being so
that as an individual...

they improve their health
and medical condition.

Secondly, so that
as a global citizen

they contribute to
the environment...

and stave off the threat
of severe global warming...

leading to so many
natural calamities.

And thirdly, so that
as a person of conscience...

they alleviate the
horrible suffering...

and cruelty to
millions of animals...

that are slaughtered
every day...

to satisfy the desire of human
beings for meat and fish.