Last Monday, spur of the moment, I decided to go to the Racing Extinction event. I was completely blown away by the film. I am very passionate about environmentalism and finding climate change solutions, and the film was beautifully made, but also very informative and compelling. I probably spent at least half of the movie in tears. The film was mostly focused on two things, climate change and its effect on species extinction and illegal trade of endangered species, which also contributes to species extinction.

One of the hardest things to watch was the scenes showing the trade of illegal animals. There were some shots taken in China of exotic animal trade where there were hundreds of shark fins and stingray gills covering roofs and filling rooms. There was also part where they followed a hunt for a stingray of the coast of a small Indonesian town. The men speared the majestic ray and gripped tightly as it flailed desperately, creating a giant pool of blood in the water. When interviewed later one of the men said that he thought that there would not be enough rays to sustain the town long term but he also needed the money to support his family. I think when we are fairly far removed it can be difficult to think about the harmful global effect that these illegal animals can have, and for those who do consume the products of the trade it is hard to make the connection between shark fin soup and a real life endangered animal.

I was very inspired by the segments of the film that talked about climate change and how to prevent it. Particularly because the film brought up the issue of animal agriculture and its effect on climate. Many people are unaware that cattle and other agricultural animals produce massive amounts of methane, which is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Between 18 and 51% percent of total greenhouse gas emissions come from animal agriculture, while all of transportation combined is only about 12%. Additionally vast areas of rainforest are cleared daily to make space for grazing and growing grain for feed. I am vegan, and my main reason is to help the environment. I truly think that as food become scarce and climate change becomes an even bigger threat society will shift more and more towards a plant based diet. And although it would be great if everyone could immediately give up animal products, just small amounts of change, such as skipping meat once a week could make massive changes in the health of our planet.

One of the messages in the film was to start with one thing. If you are a person who eats a lot of animal products, maybe reducing how much you eat would be a good “one thing” to start with. As for me, I could work on my water usage. I tend to take very long showers, and I know that’s not sustainable long term. I have hope that if we work together to educate each other and to hold people accountable for pollution, illegal wildlife trade, ect. that we could stop the progress of climate change and the loss of species to extinction. If we don’t we run the risk of becoming extinct ourselves.