A film about global warming

[Alejandro CL]

Hello everyone,

I watch a movie called "Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret" (I paste all the information from this movie in the lists that Mary created) and I feel that the facts that the movie talk about can be helpful to understand some of all the environmental implications that the meat consumption has on the environment.

Here I list some of these facts listed in the movie and are related to fact from the US, they can also be read on their webpage:
WATER CONSUMPTION

• 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of beef.
• 477 gallons of water are required to produce 1lb. of eggs; almost 900 gallons of water are needed for 1lb. of cheese.
• Agriculture is responsible for 80-90% of US water consumption.
• Growing feed crops for livestock consumes 56% of water in the US.
• 1,000 gallons of water are required to produce 1 gallon of milk.
• 5% of water consumed in the US is by private homes. 55% of water consumed in the US is for animal agriculture.

GREEN HOUSE EFFECT FACTS:

• Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
• Methane has a global warming potential 86 times that of CO2 on a 20 year time frame.
• Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years.

LAND FACTS

• Livestock or livestock feed occupies 1/3 of the earth’s ice-free land
• Livestock covers 45% of the earth’s total land.
• Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction.
• 1/3 of the planet is desertified, with livestock as the leading driver.

WASTE FACTS

• Every minute, 7 million pounds of excrement are produced by animals raised for food in the US.
• A farm with 2,500 dairy cows produces the same amount of waste as a city of 411,000 people.
• Animals produce Enough waste to cover SF, NYC, Tokyo, etc. (US Livestock produce 335 million tons of “dry matter” per year.)
• 130 times more animal waste than human waste is produced in the US – 1.4 billion tons from the meat industry annually. 5 tons of animal waste is produced per person in the US.

Ocean, rain fores, wild life and humanity facts are also included on the webpage but I feel this post is quite long already.

Alejandro CL

[Eloisa]

I really liked this documentary.

I thought it was great how the dude who made it went on a discovery mission and experienced all this stuff for himself! I also liked how he stood up for what he believed in even when threatened and also how he exposed that the biggest issue causing the most damage to the planet is - livestock production - and how this is totally dismissed and completely denied.

Having been personally responsible for environmental destruction and mass murder of animals in order to make money and live off the sheep's back literally (and meat production - cattle farming), I feel that if livestock production does not change and the people demanding the products and the primary producers producing them don't make some drastic changes that there are going to be even worse and more detrimental consequences than we are currently experiencing to our planet and our soul's.

I often notice that people get very angry about animal killing and often farmers/producers are targeted and blamed. I feel that we need to see the relationship between producers and consumers - supply and demand. And our lack of ethics in regards to meat/animal product eating/producing and mistreatment of animals and environmental destruction.

I feel we need to examine our own personal responsibilities to the destruction of the environment and what in us causes these issues and aids the continuation of unloving practices. I find it very interesting to look at what we do and why we do it. I know personally that decisions we made on the farm were about money. About greed, about 'getting' by. We claimed to 'love' animals, but this is not actually true due to killing them for financial gain. We also valued/'loved' some creatures more than others and due to this imbalance in love we created disharmony between creatures and created a lot of attack and competition between creatures.

We personally valued domesticated livestock above native or introduced wildlife and they reflected this to us - through segregation, attack upon other species, attack upon plants and things we made. We also experienced a lot of spirit manipulation and attack through animals - spirits used animals to attack and destroy various parts of our property (all attractions to help us to heal emotional injuries created by our soul's).

We chose to be unethical and to destroy rather than create. The amount of damage livestock do to the environment, particularly in concentrated farming set ups is huge, fast and immediate and it takes a lot of effort to rehabilitate and heal the destruction that happens so fast. It doesn't have to be as destructive and detrimental as it is I believe that primary production/agriculture and livestock could be run in a loving manner, but it will take changes at a soul level in order for this to happen and for it to be in harmony with God's Laws and practiced in a loving manner, on both the part of the producers and consumers. In the last few years we experimented with leaving some paddocks stock free and plant species that we had never seen before appeared, birds that nested in the grass increased, as before stock had eaten the plants and trampled the birds/plants or destroyed their homes.

We found it was so easy to justify what we did. So easy to dismiss what was going on and to minimise the damage we were doing. The thing that is changing is allowing ourselves to actually feel the Truth of what we have done and how we have done it. As we open to hearing the Truth, seeing the consequences of our actions and feeling about them and the reasons about why we engaged them in the first place it is becoming harder and harder to justify and continue to do what we have done in the same way. (We have recently sold our farm and have plans now for doing projects to heal and compensate and hopefully learn more about and share with others ways to lovingly engage with the environment, we have much work to do and many experiments to engage in and measure).

I am finding it interesting to learn about what would be loving in regards to primary production. It has taken us five years to get through enough of our resistances to even begin to see our part in the destruction of the environment and the harm that we are causing to animals and people though our addictions and desire to use animals to make money.

We have had many conversations with Jesus and Mary about how we might bring our farming/livestock practices into harmony with Love and Principles of God's Truth and it is totally possible to do so.

As mentioned above it will take people who are willing to change, who are willing to see what they are doing and why and a sincere desire to change in a loving direction at a soul level.

I feel the first step to change is a lot about our examining our intentions and the reasons and motivations for what we do in the first place. It is going to take a sincere desire to know God, learn God's Truth on all matters and to experiment and implement experiments that have been done and work even when others disapprove or resist.

I suggest to find out God's opinion on the matter and personally investigating and feeling about it. That is the only way you are truly going to know the Truth and are going to be able to act in a loving manner.

As someone mentioned in another post, being angry at another soul is a greater sin than killing an animal from God's perspective. Often I notice that we get far more concerned and upset about someone killing animals than we do about our own or others projected, overt or covert rage. And though I do not condone the killing of animals anymore, I also feel it is an important issue to contemplate about why we accept violence and engage in violence with our brothers and sisters and are more likely to get 'up in arms' about animal killing than we are about abuse of self or others.

I have personally noticed that by looking at the ethics of what is going on, finding out how things are produced and the Truth about all that we engage in and our personal part in what is going on, getting sensitive to what is really going on and feeling though all the feelings we have in regards to what is going on and the information we find out and looking at our personal intentions and the intentions of those that produce various commodities that we can find and feel a lot about what is loving and what is not.

I feel that my intention is hugely important. Some questions I reflect upon in regards to livestock/food/clothing production (these can be applied to many subjects/topics and situations):

• Is my intention to Love?
  Is my intention to take or to give?
  Do I feel entitled or do I value the gift?
  What are my true feelings in regards to consuming and producing?

I have lots of thoughts on this subject, many to still feel about.

Thanks for your time,

Eloisa

[Alejandro CL]

I feel motivated to change my diet and the way I treat the environment after I watch this film. I wanted to show it to my family and friends but very few actually interested on the subject. My mom even told me that it was a lie everything that I was talking about (even when she have not watch this documentary), I find a lot of resistance and it made me realize that the pad towards God is one that each person must decide by itself.

I realize that in my attempt to become a more loving person I will find a lot of resistance from the environment and I guess that is why Mary and Jesus said that we will need to develop our "will to love muscle", because our environment is not going to motivate us to become more loving and we will need to have a true desire to love to become the fuel for this change.

I also reflect about how it is more important to avoid being angry at another person rather than actually killing an animal, and I find this to be a more difficult task. And right now I feel I am becoming more aware of all the unloving things I do in my life. First become intellectually aware that it is a sin, now I need to make the transition to the next step, be willing to change and emotionally understand that it is a sin.

Alejandro CL