The Animal Welfare Society ran a screening of the jaw dropping ‘Cowspiracy’. On Thursday 17th November, students gathered to watch the documentary that summarises the devastating effects animal agriculture is having on the environment. Intensive animal farming is undeniably the most destructive industry on the planet; responsible for mass species extinction, large rates of deforestation, huge emission of greenhouse gases, enormous consumption of water, large land use, billions of tons of waste, and the exploitation and depletion of oceans.
‘Cowspiracy’ encourages people to not only dispute the bad stigma plant based diets seem to have, but to adopt a plant based diet- i.e. avoid meat and dairy products. The harsh reality is that we can’t sustainably kill and eat the enormous quantities of animals we currently are any longer. The documentary states how a vegan diet, compared to that of a meat eater, produces 50% less CO2, uses 1/11th oil, 1/13th water and 1/18th land.
The documentary was followed by a raffle. Although Starbursts and t-shirts are nice prizes, everyone’s hearts were set on the cardboard cut-out of dapper environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio. There were also goodie bags up for grabs, which included yummy vegan chocolate, cruelty free lip gloss (from Beauty Without Cruelty) and a £10 gift voucher for Yours Naturally Naturally Yours- a luxury natural skin care and soy wax candle company who tick all the vegan and cruelty free boxes.
The £75 raised in the raffle is going to the GR Animal Sanctuary in Barrow, Lincolnshire. The GR Animal Sanctuary are a not-for-profit charity who provide respite for animals in need. Unfortunately the sanctuary was recently broken into, resulting in animals and property being stolen. The money will therefore provide the sanctuary with support to get back up and running and continue their good work.
Bertie Donkin
(Images: courtesy of The Equation and Rosie Bell)