The case for paying ranchers to raise trees instead of cattle

Reducing cattle populations and restoring native ecosystems is our best chance to tackle global heating. Here’s one way to do it.

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.

Read the full article here.