Stella McCartney hosted a screening of “Food Inc.” earlier this year, I had seen the movie in Los Angeles a few months ago and was delighted to attend again. I secretly hoped this brilliant documentary would win an Oscar, because it is possibly the most important film in the world right now. It directs us towards answers about how we can revive this dying planet . 99% of all meat production in America comes from the bowels of Factory Farms – and this industry alone is responsible for a staggering 18% of the world’s harmful greenhouse gases – more than all air transport. The answer is not necessarily to stop eating meat (although I have!) but to make choices about where we buy our produce, and those choices need to be informed by what goes on in factory farms. There’s a reason why we as a culture can eat meat 3 times a day – but it means that the meat has to be cheap. Our planet, the future of our species is paying a much higher price than we realise for the short term cheapness of factory farm meat. And anyway, ‘should’ meat/life be cheap? No parent, no person with a grain of compassion would want to feed their children meat that when briefly alive received appalling treatment, sometimes cruelty that is the stuff of nightmares. That said, one of the best things about Food Inc is that there is optimism at the heart of the story – which is that we can change the world through the simple choices that we make at the supermarkets. If we don’t have choices that honour our values then there’s always a vegetarian option! Meat is a political issue, an ethical issue, an ecological issue. Get informed, the future of all our children depends on it.