Public Trust does a fantastic job at exposing the powerful forces working to eliminate public lands in favor of industry and profit. It paints a clear picture of industry and government working hand-in-hand over decades, often in incredibly deceitful ways by promising to protect public lands only to turn around and break those promises for the special interests that finance their campaigns.
Despite its strong storytelling, and narratives of indigenous peoples standing up to massive industries in order to protect their livelihoods and beautiful ecosystems, there is one glaring oversight in this film: cattle. The film briefly mentions cattle grazing on it's list of industries who have been eying and gobbling up our land space, but if fails miserably to call cattle grazing out for the destructive force it has become, particularly in arid western states like Utah. The Center for Biological Diversity states that "(t)he ecological costs of livestock grazing exceed that of any other western land use," including "the most widespread cause of species endangerments."
In fact, the film goes out of it's way to paint ranchers as the victims and as stewards of land protection, when in fact that couldn't be further from the truth. It's not surprising, given that Patagonia is a major proponent of Regenerative Agriculture, including grazing, and I guess somehow feels that if they acknowledge the problems of cattle grazing they are undermining their own mission. And no doubt ranchers and hunters make up a sizable portion of their consumer base.
Of course they are a some ranchers who are doing things more "sustainably" and truly do value the land and ecosystems they work in. But the fact is that raising cattle is inherently damaging to ecosystems and hugely resource intensive, especially for the vast majority of land where cattle graze (and over graze) on our public lands for pennies on the dollar.
Despite its strong storytelling, and narratives of indigenous peoples standing up to massive industries in order to protect their livelihoods and beautiful ecosystems, there is one glaring oversight in this film: cattle. The film briefly mentions cattle grazing on it's list of industries who have been eying and gobbling up our land space, but if fails miserably to call cattle grazing out for the destructive force it has become, particularly in arid western states like Utah. The Center for Biological Diversity states that "(t)he ecological costs of livestock grazing exceed that of any other western land use," including "the most widespread cause of species endangerments."
In fact, the film goes out of it's way to paint ranchers as the victims and as stewards of land protection, when in fact that couldn't be further from the truth. It's not surprising, given that Patagonia is a major proponent of Regenerative Agriculture, including grazing, and I guess somehow feels that if they acknowledge the problems of cattle grazing they are undermining their own mission. And no doubt ranchers and hunters make up a sizable portion of their consumer base.
Of course they are a some ranchers who are doing things more "sustainably" and truly do value the land and ecosystems they work in. But the fact is that raising cattle is inherently damaging to ecosystems and hugely resource intensive, especially for the vast majority of land where cattle graze (and over graze) on our public lands for pennies on the dollar.