Chuck DarwinThe case for paying ranchers to raise trees instead of cattle
There is a simple, cost-effective and scientifically sound way to turn back the clock on global warming and reverse the catastrophic collapse of biodiversity:
pay ranchers to raise trees instead of cattle.
By mass, the world’s 1.7 billion cows are the dominant animal species on Earth,
far outweighing the human population,
and outweighing all the wild terrestrial mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians left on Earth by more than 15-fold.
💥More than a third of Earth’s land is used to feed livestock.💥
👉Winding down the cattle population and restoring the native ecosystems that once thrived on the vast land area now dominated by cows 👈is our 🔹best chance to rapidly reduce global heating 🔹and begin to reverse the collapse of global biodiversity and wildlife.
Although many people are aware that reducing consumption of animal products would help combat the climate crisis, ♦️the size of the effect is deeply underappreciated. ♦️
Our peer-reviewed research estimated the climate impact of reduced emissions from livestock and recovery of plant biomass on the land they occupy.
It showed that a 🌟global phaseout of animal agriculture over 15 years would unlock🌟 “negative emissions” sufficient to bring about an urgently needed 🙏🏻30-year window of “net-zero” greenhouse gas emissions🙏🏻– even if all other emissions continued on their current trajectory.