Giving Compass' Take:

• Scientists propose four ideas focused on reducing the land area devoted to livestock and repurpose it for planting trees to battle climate change. 

• What are the barriers to reducing land for livestock? What are the alternative ways to address climate change?

•  Understand how to use land meaningfully to combat climate change. 


TreeHugger Melissa has written that if we all swapped beans for beef, then we could meet emission goals. I have written that planting trees could be a "mind-blowing" solution to climate change, the best available method of carbon capture and storage. Now scientists have put two and two together and come up with four measures, including reducing the land area devoted to livestock and planting it with trees.

The scientists call for four measures, including:

  • Declaring "peak livestock" when "livestock production from each species would not continue to increase from this point forward."
  • Identify the largest emissions sources and the largest land occupiers, and set targets for reduction.
  • Come up with "a best available food strategy to diversify food production by replacing livestock with foods that simultaneously minimise environmental burdens and maximise public health benefits—mainly pulses (including beans, peas, and lentils), grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds."
  • Finally, where land isn't suitable for grazing, "adopt a natural climate solutions approach where possible, to repurpose land as a carbon sink by restoring native vegetation cover to its maximum carbon sequestration potential."

Read the full article about what scientists are saying to restore climate change by Lloyd Alter at TreeHugger.