Kentucky (Rural Roots Canada) – What would the world be like if we woke up tomorrow and all the cows were gone?
That’s the question a new documentary, “World Without Cows,” tries to answer by exploring the impact of cattle on economies, ecosystems, cultures, and human nutrition.
The theatrical trailer for the highly anticipated documentary, which is a Planet of Plenty® production, was filmed in 40 global locations over three years has been released.
The Storytellers
The two people behind the making of the documentary, journalists Michelle Michael and Brandon Whitworth, are no strangers to travelling the globe and telling stories about agriculture.
Their journey to answer whether we are better off in a world without cows took them to Kenya, India, Brazil, and beyond to speak with agricultural and environmental scientists, farmers, ranchers, academics, and other experts.
They learned that the answer is not black and white. Humanity’s reliance on cattle is more complex than often realized, as are the global and local conversations about their role in enabling people and the planet to thrive.
Michael says the more they learned, the more they felt like they had no choice but to explore it further.
“We had a responsibility. We had to tell this story. Literally around the world, farmers just opened their doors to us,” Michael said.
“We talked to dozens and dozens of people around the world — various experts in a number of different fields,” Whitworth continued. “And we posed the question: What does a world without cows look like?”
RELATED: Reduce, Reuse, Ruminate: Documentary Explains How Cattle Can Fight Food Waste
Farmers, Ranchers, and Scientists
The 85-minute documentary features experts ranging from farmers and ranchers to scientists and internationally renowned experts like Dr. Jack Bobo, a food futurist and director of the Food Systems Institute at the University of Nottingham.
“For 10,000 years, farmers and ranchers have been asked to do one thing, and that’s produce more food,” Bobo said. “We’re adding a billion people every 11 or 12 years. The challenge is, every day between now and 2050, it gets harder to feed the world.”
Justin Sherrard, a global strategist at Rabobank, estimates that about one in 10 people in the world depends on cattle for their livelihood directly — more than 800 million people.
“Ultimately, we’ve got to address every part of the global food system,” he said.
Dr. John Lynch, a climatologist from the University of Oxford, said scaling down greenhouse gas emissions is urgently needed.
“What’s the world going to look like in 30 or 40 years if we just carry on heating up the planet and making these more extreme events occur more often?” Lynch asked
“I think we could go a do a survey, and many people would say, yes, cows are the worst thing in the world for the climate,” he continued. “Cows are not the biggest contributor to climate change. That’s still fossil fuels.”
Dr. Frank Mitloehner, a professor and air quality specialist who leads The CLEAR Center at the University of California, Davis, addresses global land availability, greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of cattle on climate.
“I’m not a person telling you livestock has no impact, or that it’s a tiny impact,” Mitloehner said. “Like every part of society, animal agriculture needs to do its part and help reduce our impact on climate. We can and we should do that. But, we should not make up stories of these animals being responsible for the majority of emissions. They’re not responsible for the majority of emissions.”
To learn more about the filmmakers’ experiences and hear insights from their travels around the world, watch their behind-the-scenes video, “The Making of World Without Cows.”
“World Without Cows” will be featured in two upcoming film festivals, the Twelve Lions Film Festival on Sept. 28 and the San Pedro International Film Festival in November, and more film festivals appearances are planned. Visit worldwithoutcows.com to sign up for updates, find out when this documentary is coming to a screen near you or request a screening.
