Think dairy farming is benign? Our rivers tell a different story | George Monbiot

If a river was polluted by any other industry than farming, there'd be outrage. But we don't want to know about the impact of our livestock

Eat less meat and fish, drink less milk. No request could be simpler, or more consequential. Nothing we do has greater potential for reducing our impacts on the living planet. Yet no request is more likely to elicit a baffled, hurt or furious response.

This point comes across with astonishing force in the film Cowspiracy. I would question some of the figures it uses, but its thesis - we just don't want to talk about it - is undeniable. Leaders of the big US green groups either avoided the film makers like the plague or smiled and shook their heads when asked about livestock. State officials were struck dumb by the question.