Washington (CAR) Analysis | August 10, 2023 by Climate Journalist Noreen Wise; Image Credit: AdobeStock

What we eat is quickly becoming a frontline battle in our effort to stay below 1.5ºC. The US food system amounts to 9 gigatons of CO2e (GtC) each year, roughly 15 percent of the annual greenhouse gases emitted in the US. This is more than the greenhouse gas pollutants of the entire transportation industry, including every car, bus, train, and plane that relies on fossil fuel. At the center of the heated debate, about what we can put in our mouths to lower our food system CO2e, is the cow. 

Cows create methane when they burp. “One cow belches out 220 pounds of methane each year, the greenhouse gas equivalent of burning over 900 gallons of gasoline,” stated Inside Climate News in a June 14, 2022 article. And although methane may only stay in the atmosphere for 20 years, unlike carbon that will stick around for 300 to 1,000 years, the next 5 years are the most consequential if we are to stay below terrifying tipping points.

The Global Methane Pledge, signed by President Joe Biden on June 17, 2022, has made cutting methane from the three primary sources — food waste in landfills, oil and natural gas systems, and agriculture — an urgent priority for the US, as well as the more than 150 pledge signatories.  Theoretically, slashing methane should be on everyone’s radar when we make our daily decisions about what to eat.

“Methane is 80 times more potent than carbon (over 20 year period) and it accounts for more than half, HALF of the heat warming we’re experiencing now. So cutting methane by at least 30% by 2030, can be our best chance to keep within reach of 1.5ºC.”

President Joe Biden, COP 27 Climate Summit, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

Extreme weather events this summer have brought climate change realities into our daily consciousness. An intense heat wave gripped Arizona for the entire month of July, shattering records for multiple consecutive days, and melting street lights at intersections. There was deadly flooding in New York State that nearly drowned West Point Academy that sits on top of a cliff overlooking the Hudson River, making it appear that West Point would one day tumble over the edge and into the Hudson if we don’t get global warming under control. 

Healthy fear of the future by seeing, or even experiencing, alarming weather extremes should motivate us into action. Climatologist Michael Mann, author of the upcoming book, Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons From Earth’s Past Can Help us Survive the Climate Crisis, explained in a recent interview on the CBS morning program that global warming is where the models predicted it would be. “But, we’re seeing the impacts of that warming, and some of those impacts are exceeding what the models predicted.”

THE ART OF CLEAR THINKING

Stealth Fighter Pilot Hasard Lee recently authored a book in which he shared his “timeless rules for making tough decisions.” The Art of Clear Thinking has climbed to #2 on the Wall Street Journal’s list of bestselling business books.

In Chapter 5, Creativity, Lee emphasizes the importance of focusing on the desired effects, rather than the process, in determining the optimal solution for any given problem. He explains that the best solutions will be the ones that “encompass as many desired effects as possible.” 

Lee advises that by letting go of familiar processes, and instead zeroing in on the end results we are seeking, we’re more likely to come up with the creative solutions that will net the desired results. He emphasizes that often the obstacle is that we’e more inclined to gravitate toward options that are “well-defined” rather than ill-defined.”

“Finding alternatives is an ill-defined, messy process which gives the illusion of not making progress toward the end goal,” Lee states. It’s easy to become “exasperated by attempting to measure progress. This leads to an overly quick selection of an obvious solution that’s worked in the past which may not be best for the current situation.”

COW METHANE SOLUTIONS

A seaweed supplement for cows is one remedy being considered for reducing methane. Numerous tests and trials have been conducted around the world to see if it works. The result? Maybe. 

The seaweed supplement Brominata comes from red seaweed, Asparagopsis taxiformis, which generally grows in marine water below the intertidal line, in the tropics and subtropics. Initially, there was high hopes that a cow’s daily intake of Brominata could be scaled up quickly. Based on an extensive study undertaken by the University of California, Davis, it was determined that there would be a methane reduction between 67-98.9 percent for beef steers if given daily Asparagopsis taxiformis. However, according to the study, there’s a problematic downside. The supplement has the potential to alter “meat quality, tenderness, taste, and consumer acceptability.” Additionally, manufacturers would have to make sure bormoform residue wasn’t found in the meat. The supplements would also have to be approved by the FDA which takes time. And there would be significant CO2 emissions in the production of Brominata, which would be grown on land in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii by Blue Ocean Barns, according to Inside Climate News.

When assessing the pros and the cons, it appears that the seaweed supplement option doesn’t result in the maximum number of desired effects that The Art of Clear Thinking advised best solutions should do.

PLANT-BASED MEAT ALTERNATIVES

A second possibility in slashing methane is replacing beef and dairy with plant-based meats and nondairy milk products that are now lining grocery store shelves and the frozen food section. Millions of Americans love and devour nondairy milk, ice cream, yogurt and even cheese, with 41 percent of US households drinking nondairy milk regularly. Many of these nondairy lovers are lactose intolerant and have switched because they’re allergic to milk and milk products. Others want to avoid the toxins and antibiotics that are found in the milk of the cows raised on conventional meat and dairy farms in the United States. 

Meat and dairy-free vegans now make up roughly 3 percent of the US population according to Cook Unity, and meat-free vegetarians are approximately 5 percent.

The challenge with plant-based alternative meats is that they are typically highly processed,  monoculture-grown and pesticide-covered plants (usually soy, pea, and sometimes wheat), mixed with preservatives, oils and seasoning, and thus aren’t as healthy as regenerative or organic meats. There are also substantial CO2 emissions associated with the fossil fuels used in the production of alternative meats and nondairy food products. 

This second option also falls short of the maximum number of desired effects that the The Art of Clear Thinking recommended should be the goal when making a decision, in this case whether or not plant-based meats are the best solution for reducing methane emissions in cows. 

GABE BROWN and the REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE MOVEMENT

And then there are those who love the cow and advocate for the cow as one of the most vitally important climate solutions. “It’s not the cow, it’s the how,” assert regenerative farmer/ranchers like Gabe Brown in North Dakota. There used to be millions of bison roaming North America pre-European settlement (30 million according to The Nature Conservancy), and methane wasn’t a problem then, Gabe assured me.

Gabe is a soil health pioneer and major force in the soil health movement. He, along with David Kleinschmidt, Shane New, Kathy Richburg, and Dr. Allen Williams, are all partners in Understanding Ag LLC. Gabe shared his incredible soil health knowledge with the public in his acclaimed book Dirt to Soil. He’s considered one of the top 25 most influential people in agriculture in the United States. Gabe was invited to speak to Congress about regenerative agriculture and soil health in March of 2021. Additionally, Gabe and his farm and ranch were featured in the award-winning documentary Kiss the Ground, released in September of 2020, which educates the public about regenerative farming and the importance of adaptive grazing. Gabe quickly brushes these many accomplishments aside and repeatedly insists “it’s a whole movement.”

Regenerative farming and adaptive cow grazing restores soil health which results in significant carbon drawdown. The regen ag community enthusiastically explains that when cows are busy doing what they’re supposed to be doing (grazing and pooping), the net greenhouse gas emission is negative. Additionally, cattle grazing reduces methane emissions due to improved forage utilization and diminished enteric fermentation in the cow’s gut.

Thus, the cow is a critical component of the regenerative farming system that can most efficiently and effectively pull carbon out of the atmosphere at a low cost, and quick pace, and safely sink it deep in the soil. Doing so creates a healthy, waste-free closed loop. Combine this with the other regen ag principles, and the result is not only improved soil health that helps solve the climate crisis through accelerated carbon drawdown, and reduced methane emissions, but also increased nutrient density in the crops and the meat produced, decreased need for federally funded farming subsidies, improved water infiltration on farmland, replenished groundwater tables, protection against drought, significantly improved personal health and well-being, and biodiversity restoration.

When evaluating these pros and cons, it’s abundantly clear that regenerative agriculture and adaptive grazing meet The Art of Clear Thinking’s criteria of including as many “desired effects as possible” in the solution.

THE 6 PRINCIPLES of REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

• No till. (Plowing releases the stored carbon in the soil which leads to soil degradation.)
• Keep ground covered at all times with diverse mix of cover crops, 8+ species. (Biodiversity restoration that includes pollinator species.)
• Little or no synthetic pesticides, fungicides, and fertilizers.
• Keep live roots in the ground for as long as possible.
• Integrate animals, grazing and manure.
• Know your context.(Understanding the unique conditions of the farm or ecosystem you’re working with. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach.)

WHY GRAZING IS SO IMPORTANT

Well-managed cattle grazing, that includes rotational grazing to prevent over grazing, results in the extended growth of deep-rooted grasses and a boost in soil organic matter. This hastens soil carbon sink as well as the growth of crops on the surface. 

When cows chomp above ground, it causes a simultaneous positive impact below ground. “Grazing animals are good. They’re not only good they’re a necessity if we’re going to truly heal our ecosystems,” explains Gabe.

DAILY FOOD CHOICES

Our food choices clearly impact our health and well-being. There are greenhouse gas emissions associated with everything we put in our mouths. We have to get this right. If we don’t, we could potentially suffer painful physical consequences, not only regarding our health, but also in the severity of the weather extremes we experience.

Gabe walks the talk and is incredibly humble considering all the lives and acres of land he’s helped restore, along with the regenerative ag movement that he so proudly belongs to. The sheer volume of carbon sink that the soil health movement is responsible for, on the 33 million acres of restored farmland, is mind-blowing. Their goal is to reach 100 million restored acres within the next 3 years.

Whether it’s vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, meat lovers or the indifferent, we all seem to feel very passionately about why it’s important to eat and drink the way that we do. Gabe spoke diplomatically, assuring me that everyone has the right to make their own food choices. He then mentioned a powerful moment in the upcoming documentary Common Ground, that recently debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City in early June 2023. Common Ground is the sequel to Kiss the Ground: “I think Dr. Mark Hyman summed it up really well in the documentary when he said, ‘We will not take large/massive amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and put it in the soil without grazing herbivores. You just can’t do it to the scale we need to without them.’” 

COMMON GROUND

Common Ground 2023 is scheduled to be released in late September 2023. Multiple celebrities are featured throughout the acclaimed documentary: Rosario Dawson, Laura Dern, Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson, Jason Momoa, Ian Somerhalder, and Senator Cory Booker. Gabe explained why the sequel to Kiss the Ground is so important. “We really need to show a call to action. What can people do whether they are a farmer/rancher, whether they are a consumer, whether they are a business?” He continued enthusiastically, “Common Ground shows not only is it possible (regenerative agriculture), it’s being done. And it’s being done at scale. And we can do this anywhere in the world.”

Gabe explained how Common Ground came to be. An Understanding Ag client, Eric Dillon, called after watching Kiss the Ground and asked if Gabe knew the producers, Rebecca and Josh Tickell. Dillon felt that “Kiss the Ground was good, but there were other issues that needed to be addressed.” One thing led to another, and the next thing Gabe knew, he and Ray Archuleta, a Certified Professional Soil Scientist who was also in Kiss the Ground, were being flow to Los Angeles to meet with Rebecca and Josh, courtesy of Eric Dillon.

When I asked Gabe what he thought about the Common Ground poster that shows him standing on his green farmland in North Dakota in a Superman cape, he laughed and mentioned something about being “eye candy” to help promote the documentary which he understood producers Josh and Rebecca along with Eric wanted. He then grew serious and said, “I’m not this Superman. It’s a whole movement that’s going on and I’m just a small part of that.”

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