While there does not appear to have been much action in support of plant-based diets during the COP15 gathering of world leaders, almost 200 people attended the screening of Meat the Truth during the people’s climate summit, Klimaforum09, on December 17. Meat the Truth is a 2007 Dutch documentary that identifies livestock production as one of the most important causes of climate change, an issue that other documentaries have failed to address.
Meat the Truth was the first major project undertaken by the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation and, according to its website, demonstrates that “livestock farming generates more greenhouse gas emissions worldwide than all cars, lorries, trains, boats and planes added together.” The calculations on greenhouse gas emissions used in the film were validated by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO), the World Watch Institute, the Institute for Environmental Studies of the Free University Amsterdam and numerous other authoritative sources. The English language version calculates carbon savings based on American standards. The film is presented by Marianne Thieme, leader of the Dutch Party for the Animals who states in the film that, if everyone is the U.S. went meatless one day a week:
- The carbon savings would be the same as taking 19.2 million cars off U.S. roads for a year.
- They would also save 99.6 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions, the same as 46 million round trip flights from New York to Los Angeles!
Meat the Truth on YouTube.