#PleistocenePark: "The current mixture of Yakutian horses, bison, musk oxen, elk, reindeer, sheep, yak & Kalmyk cattle have helped grasslands re-emerge. Average annual soil temperatures are 2°C cooler in grazed areas. More carbon is being sequestered" economist.com/christmas-spec…
More from Zimov: "mammalian grazers [..] extinction could have contributed substantially to the shift from predominance of steppe to tundra [..] Our hypothesis suggests a mechanism by which the steppe ecosystem could be restored" semanticscholar.org/paper/Steppe-T…
And this, still from Zimov: "For the late Pleistocene, the largest methane source was megaherbivores, whose total biomass is estimated to have exceeded that of present-day humans and domestic animals." journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…
With all the talk about massive reforestation & grand half-Earth schemes, in as wish to restore Nature (capital N), it is good to have this in mind:

"In the Pleistocene, grassland ecosystems occupied about half of the world's land mass"

science.sciencemag.org/content/308/57…

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More from @fleroy1974

14 Dec
Are #vegan diets really the 'single biggest way' to reduce our carbon footprints & environmental impact on the planet? We argue that this is a highly misleading claim & that the evaluation of dietary change comes with a lot of context & complexity

🧐📑➡️: aleph-2020.blogspot.com/2019/06/greenh…
1) Global data shouldn't be used to evaluate local contexts

Regional differences are important & due to very large variations in feed digestibility, slaughter age & weight, climate conditions, management, sociocultural factors, & nutrient security.
2) Further mitigation is possible

A lot of margin is left for higher productivity, feed strategies, veterinary care, smart use of manure, & herd management. A reduction of waste, the re-use of meat-processing by-products, & the valorization of biogas also hold potential.
Read 11 tweets
13 Dec
@WEF: #TheGreatReset
@EAT: #TheGreatFoodTransformation
@TellusInstitute: #TheGreatTransition
@WBGU_Council: #TheGreatTransformation

The hyperbole, numerism, eschatology, utopian promise,... make it sound like a true cult. Rhetorically similar to New Age's #TheGreatConjunction?
And strikingly similar to the late 19th-C Zeitgeist, with the Millerites talking about #TheSecondGreatAwakening.

Which was ultimately followed by #TheGreatDisappointment 😁

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerism
As if @ProfKlausSchwab is talking here: "Earth..finishes a transformation..that allows a New Earth to be birthed..#TheGreatConjunction represents a changing of an era..As our world view changes, so too does society & the way we choose to approach things"

foreverconscious.com/the-cosmic-and…
Read 9 tweets
12 Dec
Marketeers are geniuses: "And what if we tell them our product is in their best interest?"👼

"Companies that aim to win converts to green products need to convince consumers that they’re also acting in their own best interests" wsj.com/articles/beyon…
You can't make this up: "Beyond Meat’s founder...has long preached this gospel: The quest to get people to save the planet has to include the promise they are saving themselves" 😜
@ImpossibleFoods' CEO further inflating the $$$ bubble

"Our mission is to completely replace the use of animals as a food technology by 2035. We’re dead serious about it ... It’s #gameover for the incumbent [meat] industry—they just don’t realize it yet” vegnews.com/2020/12/imposs…
Read 4 tweets
11 Dec
‼️Position paper by @via_campesina, ahead of the @UN @FoodSystems summit, arguing for a food system guided by the principles of food sovereignty & agroecology, & against corporate takeover (by the likes of @wef/@wbcsd/...) viacampesina.org/en/wp-content/…
"Previous summits saw a..fully supported participation of Civil Society...the UNFSS21 hasn't received any mandate from an intergovernmental decision or process. Instead, the decision was taken by the UN General Secretary, in response to a request made by the World Economic Forum"
"it had crucial support from a few powerful member states & major ‘philanthro-capitalist’ organizations as sponsors. The governance of the Summit remains firmly in the hands of a handful of large international corporations."
Read 9 tweets
8 Dec
@GyorgyScrinis is one of the most sensible and intelligent voices in the food system debate. His new article is spot on: bmj.com/content/371/bm…
It outlines perfectly why FoP systems such as #Nutriscore are so deceitful and why they're favorites of transnational corporations.

The "nutrient focus distracts from the effects of the highly processed, deconstituted, and chemically transformed ingredients and additives"
These corporations play out the "strategy of credibility engineering—by publishing studies in academic journals" & "commodifying nutritional advances around which there is much promise & hype"

Illustrated by the astonishing example below. Thread 👇
Read 4 tweets
2 Dec
Looks like a good day (since it's my B-day 🙃) to introduce you to a pet project I've been working on.

#ALEPH2020 makes the point that animal agriculture needs to be appreciated for the many benefits it offers to humanity, not vilified based on simplisms. aleph-2020.blogspot.com
The website is supported by an interdisciplinary consortium of very fine scientists, incl. @Fabiensapiens, @TyRBeal, @bendormiki, @DJ_de_Koning, @AgusBC3, @u_eson, @MARIOESTVEZ, @IlseFraeye, @GregoriniPablo, @AviajaHauptmann, @puddleg, @ahhite, @PImazaki, ...
Read 4 tweets

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