Taking it personally: musings on Cowspiracy

By Kirsty Nortje

A few weeks ago the ACDI, in collaboration with Vegelicious, screened a documentary called Cowspiracy (see the blog post by Dian and Alicia here for a bit more about the film). The film focusses largely on the environmental impact and footprint of animal agriculture, asking tough questions about the large environmental organisations in the USA. Writer and producer Kip Andersen attempts to find out why organisations like Green Peace for example are throwing themselves into reducing reliance on fossil fuels and ocean pollution, while ignoring what is proven to be one of the biggest contributors to climate change: animal agriculture.

The documentary advocates a vegan life style- one where there is no consumption of animal products in any form. Moral and ethical issues around animals as sentient aside (we would need another blog post for that!), it is clear to me that the negative impacts and externalities of animal agriculture are undeniable- current levels of consumption and farming of livestock are destroying our environment and are not sustainable. As an omnivore who consumes meat, dairy and animal products on a daily basis, Cowspiracy resulted in some serious (and uncomfortable) introspection as I was forced to consider the environmental impact of my food choices.

I made a choice to begin a journey of becoming more informed, and making a conscious decision to cut down on the amount of meat I eat. For the time being (two weeks since the documentary), I have decided to define myself as a ‘choice’ vegetarian. My definition of choice vegetarian is someone who, when they are able to make a food choice, chooses to consume as little animal products as possible. So when I cook at home, pack lunch for work, go out for dinner I will choose a vegetarian option.

The reason for my ‘choice’ vegetarianism is twofold. Firstly because I simply cannot go cold turkey (excuse the pun)- I love meat (including turkey, warm or cold haha). I  have grown up eating it, I love socilaising ‘around’ it (think braais and family Sunday lunches) and my recipe repertoire is full of meat dishes. From a purely mental/physiological point of view, cutting out meat completely ‘just like that’ was a bridge too far, so I decided to take a small step in the right direction.

The second reason, and the inspiration for this blog post, is my recent discovery that vegetarianism, veganism and eating sustainably is an EXTREMELY touchy subject.

The very emotionally charged reactions come from two perspectives:

From the meat eaters, some of the immediate responses I have received in the last few weeks when explaining my new conscious and more ethical eating  abits  generally start with shock and/or confusion, usually combined with  something along the lines of “you can’t be serious”, or “that’s ridiculous”. My personal experience is that people become immediately angry and even seem personally offended by my choice, and I have found this overwhelmingly negative response frustrating, peculiar and surprising. Some launch into a defense (or attack, which ever way you want to look at it) and immediately identify a number of problems, obstacles and issues associated with my choice -‘but have you thought about…”  or “how can you be sure you will get enough protein”. These are friends and family members who are well educated and otherwise supportive of many things ‘green.’

From the perspective of those who believe that “You can’t be an environmentalist and eat animal products. Period” (ex cattle rancher interviewed in Cowspiracy). My response is:  Woah, easy there. I think you can. While it may be ideal for us all to follow a plant based diet, a great start would be to eat less meat.

I have been trying to get my head around these emotionally charged reactions, and understand people on both ends of the animal production consumption scale, and understand this strange reaction.

Are the omnivores threatened that I have personally chosen not to eat meat? Does my choice cause them to examine their own choices, or evoke a memory of feeling ‘guilted’ by a raw vegan who accused them of murder? I am for not one minute suggesting that they become a vegetarian/vegan, or even that they cook me vegetarian food (my ‘choice’ vegetarianism allows me to ask people I feel comfortable with if they would cook a vegetarian meal for me, but in other cases I am happy to eat what has been prepared as a labour of love).

Do vegans think that I’m a lost cause because I still love meat and want to consume dairy and eat eggs? The disparaging ‘it’s all or nothing’ approach can be demoralising and unhelpful – similar to telling a friend on a diet who has just ‘cheated’ that they should just eat the whole cake.

Happily, there have been a small number of people who have engaged with me in an open, receptive and encouraging way. Fighting the knee jerk reaction to a person, conversation or situation that challenges your current paradigm or the status quo, I hope to have dialogues with more people like this- those who are open to debate and discussion and will investigate, critically examine facts and make their own decisions while respecting mine.

So for the time being I will remain a ‘choice’ vegetarian because, for the time being (despite the facts, figures and mountains of proof), I cannot jump from my happy omnivore habits to full vegan. To drastically alter the eating habits I have formed, followed, thrived on, socialised around and learnt to cook with over the past 20 odd years is a paradigm shift my mind is not ready to make at this point. Secondly, as a choice vegetarian I can chose my battles (and keep some of my friends), avoiding having to defend the food choices I have chosen for myself.

At the end of the day it’s all a choice. You can choose how much to think about something (where does this lamb chop come from, and what impact does it actually have), you can chose how much research to do to have an informed opinion (even though the amount of information available can be overwhelming), and then choose how to engage with people on it. So for now, I am choosing to be an open-minded and informed ‘choice’ vegetarian who cares about our planet and its people.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views and opinions of ACDI or its members.