George Monbiot's Apocalypse Cow (A body of work)
If you have studied the essays of George Monbiot, you are likely to have developed a sense of the things that vex Mr. Monbiot as well as his general political inclination. If you have not studied Monbiot's essays, his documentary film, Apocalypse Cow: How Meat Killed the Planet, is a good introduction to his many concerns. Please note: The film and the essays cannot be considered to be part of the same non-literary body of work, and no author may be studied twice during your language and literature course. However, you can choose to study either this film or his essays. If you choose to study his essays, you will find that this film is an excellent supplement to your studies. The film confronts serious and difficult issues, and you or may not agree with Mr Monbiot. Whatever the case, the IB and all IB schools make a commitment to making the world a better and more peaceful place. This is unlikely to be achieved without discussing and working to resolve the many global challenges we face.
To be quite clear, your students may not study this film and George Monbiot's essays as part of the same non-literary body of work, and authors may not be studied twice in your language and literature course. If you want, you can decide to study this film, Apocalypse Cow, as a non-literary work. However, we think it is better to use the film to stimulate engagement with Monbiot's essays, and thus it is better studied as a supplement to the study of those essays.
We've packed in quite a bit here, including TOK, ATL skills, the Learner Portfolio, global issues, textual analysis, intertextuality, and creative writing. All the student activities for this page can be accessed in the three PDF documents below and are self-explanatory. We have embedded the documentary film into the page (below). A word of respectful caution in studying this film and using these activities: Monbiot confronts some very serious issues in his film. His views are not uncontroversial. However, whether one agrees or disagrees with Monbiot, there is increasing evidence that climate change is leading to anxiety in (at least) young people. As teachers, we should not avoid difficult issues, but we must also give our students cause for optimism.
Apocalypse Cow: How Meat Killed the Planet by George Monbiot
You are about to watch a documentary. The film is called Apocalypse Cow: How Meat Killed the Planet. It is presented by the British journalist George Monbiot and was first aired in the UK on Channel 4 in January 2020. Monbiot claims that the food industry – in particular, how humans raise animals for food – is, quite literally, killing our planet. Since there is, as the saying goes, no planet B, this should be of serious concern to us. The film is, for the most part, concerned with farming in the United Kingdom (UK). However, the UK – a local context – is used to illustrate a much more widespread global issue. Moreover, globalisation means that it is, in fact, impossible to consider the UK in isolation, as the food industry exists as an interconnected global network. That is, for example, the feeding of cows in the UK is interconnected with deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia. To understand one thing, you must understand the other.
Before watching (i)
Have a whole class discussion:
- The title of Monbiot’s documentary film is an intertextual allusion to a famous 1979 film. Which film? Explain the allusion? For a ‘bonus point’, the 1979 film stars the actor, Marlon Brando. Brando’s character in the film is called Colonel Kurtz, which is in itself an allusion to a well-known 19th century novella. Which novella? What is ‘intertextuality’?
- Think critically about the title of the film. It uses ‘kill’ in the past tense (i.e. ‘killed’). Yet, quite apparently, our planet is not dead. How does language shape our thinking?
- Think back to your early childhood. What stories were you told (in English or other languages you speak) that involved farms and farm animals. In these stories, how was farming and farm animals portrayed? To the extent you know, how do the stories you were told reflect the ‘reality’ of contemporary farming?
- Why do we need trees in the world? There may be a number of reasons!
Before watching (ii)
Before you watch the documentary, we are going to ask you to make some predictions. Then, as you watch the film, check how closely your predictions correspond with the information and data Monbiot presents.
1. Early in the film Monbiot describes the British landscape as a ‘sheepwreck desert’ (sic). What do you think he may mean by this?
2. The UK has a human population of about 65 million. How many sheep are there in the UK and what percentage of UK food consumption in terms of calories do they represent?
a. 5 million and 10%
b. 23 million and 20%
c. 5 million and 48%
d. 23 million and 1%
3. Create a pie chart for land use in the UK. The totality of the pie chart is 100%. How much of UK land is used (%) for arable farming; growing fruit and vegetables; for humans to live and work in; forest; grazing livestock and growing grass?
4. The carbon cost of producing 4kg of beef is the equivalent of…
a. A return flight London to Manchester
b. A return flight London to Singapore
c. A return flight London to Auckland
d. A return flight London to New York
5. One of the following is correct. Which one?
a. One fifth of the world’s crops are being used to feed livestock
b. One quarter of the world’s crops are being used to feed livestock
c. One half of the world’s crops are being used to feed livestock
d. One third of the world’s crops are being used to feed livestock
6. Globally, because of depletion in soil quality, we have
a. 10 years of harvests left
b. 60 years of harvests left
c. 90 years of harvests left
d. 130 years of harvests left
Before watching (iii)
Have a whole class discussion:
It’s not all bad news. It would be possible to see the problems Monbiot introduces as insurmountable. They are not. And you can make a difference. Monbiot’s documentary follows a rhetorical pattern of problem – solution. What, broadly speaking, are the problems created by the ways we currently produce food, and what solutions could there be?
While watching
Make a note of the things that Monbiot claims. In particular, listen actively; how accurate were your predictions?
Infographics: Should we trust them?
Consider the infographics (see separate handout, below) published by the National Farmer’s Union (NFU – the ‘voice’ of British farming – nfuonline.com) and made freely available to be downloaded and shared.
Discuss in class: How convincing do you find the NFU infographics? Explain why. If you can, try to draw on your study of reason in your Theory of Knowledge (TOK) class. More generally, what role do infographics play in shaping opinion in social media?
Get creative (i)
Using the arguments Monbiot makes in his documentary film, Apocalypse Cow: How Meat Killed the Planet, create your own infographic that supports Monbiot’s perspective. Add it to your Learner Portfolio and display it in class. It should be self-explanatory!
Get creative (ii)
Write like George Monbiot. This isn’t easy! Begin by considering a number of Monbiot’s essays (3-4 will be enough) available at www.monbiot.com. Make a note of what you consider to be the ‘generic features’ of Monbiot’s writing. In other words, as a writer, what does he typically do again and again?
You could note the following, for example:
- Monbiot’s essays often inform readers through the construction of argument. At times, he will introduce the ideas of those with whom he disagrees and then challenges or refutes their ideas
- Monbiot begins with dramatic, immediate, often pithy, headlines that ‘hook’ the reader
- Monbiot begins with a lead paragraph that introduces his ideas. His paragraphs are short, often no more than a few sentences
- Monbiot is assertive. He often expresses his ideas without equivocation, frequently using declarative sentences
- Monbiot uses vivid language to shape his ideas. For example, in, referring to a ‘fire’ as a ‘catastrophe’ – a form of lexical substitution – he endeavours to persuade his reader. He also uses adjectives and adverbs to intensify his ideas
- Monbiot includes expert, ‘accessed’ voices in his writing, either quoted directly or paraphrased. This gives ethos or credibility to his claims. The voice of science is, arguably, the voice of reason!
- Monbiot uses pronouns to establish in-group/out-group oppositions in his writing. Inclusive pronouns that establish a sense of cosy and sympathetic familiarity with his reader are a hallmark of his writing.
- Monbiot’s register is relatively informal, containing, for example, idiom, colloquialisms and contractions. Writing that is too informal is unlikely to be taken seriously. Writing that is too formal or elevated could alienate his readers.
Now, using the arguments in the documentary film, Apocalypse Cow: How Meat Killed the Planet, write an essay that follows the films problem – solution rhetorical structure. And, write like Monbiot. This isn’t just another academic essay!
Further Reading and Viewing
If you are interested in the ideas introduced in Monbiot’s documentary, you may wish to follow-up by:
- reading George Monbiot’s book, Feral
- for a challenge to Monbiot’s thinking, reading The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks
- watching the film Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
- visiting and reading the website www.cowspiracy.com
- visiting the Eurostat website – www.ec.europa.eu - and discovering that they grow a lot of trees in Sweden and Finland, but not so many in Malta!
- reading The Overstory by Richard Powers. It’s not a short or simple read, but it may help you fall in love with trees if you are not already
- reading (perhaps on the beach!) Michael Logan’s novel Apocalypse Cow.
Resources required for the lesson (click on the links)
Asking Questions of George Monbiot (A Body of Work)
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George Monbiot: An Invitation to Annotation (A Body of Work)
Here's a simple but effective learning activity! The activity, with your teacher's guidance, asks you to read and annotate Monbiot's essay, 'Natural Language'. Annotation is an important skill. You need...
Getting Familiar with George Monbiot (A Body of Work)
In an earlier post, we introduced the writing of the British journalist, George Monbiot. This previous page, was intended to introduce you to the journalism of Monbiot and the myriad global issues that...
Playing Bingo With George Monbiot (A Body of Work)
Okay, let's play bingo! Let's find out what you understand about George Monbiot's language and style. We think you will enjoy this, but your success in the game will depend a lot on just how much you...
Rewriting George Monbiot (A Body of Work)
Ernest Hemingway, a famous writer and winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature, said “the only kind of writing is rewriting”. William Zinsser, author of a bestselling book on writing, said that...