“Eating Our Way To Extinction”: Interview with Director Otto Brockway (vegan), Part 2 of 2

“One of the reasons why we chose to focus a lot on fish is because a lot of people are moving from land-based meat to sea-based meats; to eating the aquatic life. And I think a lot of people don’t quite realize the effects that that has on, not just the ocean, but the planet as a whole. They’re cutting down the Amazon, and they’re burning it down and replacing it with this GMO corn and soya, which they’re then feeding to the fish. And so, just to eat one pound of fish, you’re eating 10 pounds of fish that has been caught in the ocean, that’s been fed to it, and also the burned-down rainforest.”

“In terms of government policy, it’s still so much geared up towards supporting livestock farming and a lot less of plant-based farming. And I think this is one of the biggest reasons why we haven’t made a massive shift towards that so far, is because when farmers want to make that shift, they don’t get the same support from the government.”

“There are many different facets of the film. There were things like looking at the whole food chain. Over 75% to 80% of the soy grown around the world is actually being fed to livestock, including farmed fish.” “And then on top of it, you have water usage, the fact that Nestle, in a WikiLeaks report that was leaked in a meeting, basically said that they were projecting the world to run out of fresh water within the next 30 years. And they said that the main driver of that is livestock farming. And so that is something that we look at in the film.”

“The species and plants are now going extinct faster than when the dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago. There have been five previous mass extinctions, and four of them were caused by the planet heating up from greenhouse gases. And we’re seeing that now, the planet, it’s heating up. We’re seeing this kind of extinction following it.” “And so again, it comes back to the fact that where there may be despair looking at, say, oil companies, and begging that they would change, we actually have this incredible power to make a difference right now by simply changing what we eat to plant-based proteins instead.”

Supreme Master Ching Hai: “Joyfully present the Shining World Award for Noble Film to the Team of ‘Eating Our Way To Extinction,’ with all love, high praises and best wishes for success, plus US$20,000 as a symbol of loving support, in God’s Blessing and Grace. May our world understand the urgency that you all try to convey in this documentary and wake up to save all life on Earth.”