The levers for a sustainable food system to combat global warming

[Philip Bogdonoff]

 A large-scale model study now shows how the global food system can contribute to the fight against global warming. It identifies 23 levers, calculates their effectiveness and concludes: a decisive transformation of this sector alone, without the indispensable energy transition, can limit the global temperature increase to 1.85°C above pre-industrial levels by 2050. In addition, food will become healthier and cheaper, and agriculture will be more compatible with biodiversity conservation. ...

The levers for a sustainable food system to combat global warming

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-levers-sustainable-food-combat-global.html

[robert patterson]

Thanks Philip - very pretty.

But I confess to being more than tired of studies, system analysis, conceptual approaches and all that blah blah.

I am tired of thinkers - I yearn for more do-ers.

There are simple and productive steps that we all can take, in our actual three-dimensional lives.

One, perhaps the most important of these, is the hyper-localization of fresh food production.

Please folks, start posting about what you are doing - - not what you are thinking.

Robert Patterson         

"He who feeds you, controls you."  Thomas Sankara

202-744-8860 / WhatsApp +1-202-744-8860

www.thegrowingconnection.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O__ZNQiRnQ

--
View this message at https://groups.google.com/a/googlegroups.com/d/msg/ecorestoration-alliance/topic-id/message-id
 
Group emails flooding your inbox? Click here: https://groups.google.com/g/ecorestoration-alliance/settings#email
 
Our website is at http://EcorestorationAlliance.org/
Our calendar is at https://tinyurl.com/EcoResCalendar
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "EcoRestoration Alliance" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ecorestoration-al...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ecorestoration-alliance/CADBd-rmwbjc-kREPGiBYpVw4mtr8qVYLbuhcPa33vk6xp2JhYQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Peter Bruce-Iri]

Thanks for posting this Philip. Its is very useful for a workstream underway in our food systems work down here in Aotearoa (New Zealand). We are starting to quantify the total value proposition of a full shift to regenerative agriculture.

regards,

Peter

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ecorestoration-alliance/CAB52DjdsY5ziwZ9p%3Dr4Y%2BgTFrt0uxqe-KWGmrod2ip4GWpncjg%40mail.gmail.com.

--

Peter Bruce-Iri
ph 4377927
021 683 145
website: https://northlandclimatechange.org/

[Peter Bruce-Iri]

Thanks Philip. This is very helpful for a project exploring the total value proposition of a full transition to regen again in my region in Aotearoa (New Zealand).

Peter Bruce-Iri
ph 4377927
021 683 145
website: https://northlandclimatechange.org/

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ecorestoration-alliance/CAB52DjdsY5ziwZ9p%3Dr4Y%2BgTFrt0uxqe-KWGmrod2ip4GWpncjg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Hart Hagan]

I see a number of red flags here. Heavy emphasis on plant-based diet, lowering meat consumption. No mention of regenerative or small-scale farming.

I recommend Sacred Cow, by Diana Rodgers and Robb Wolf. Also Defending Beef by Nicolette Hahn Niman. 

Happy to host or participate in a panel discussion on these issues, with anyone who wants to roll up their sleeves and look at the real connections between food and climate.

Historically, people in different locations have lived well on a variety of different diets, with varying degrees of meat, milk, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts and legumes. Nutritionally, it's hard to get essential nutrients on a plant-based diet. For example, it's hard to get biologically available iron without red meat, according to studies cited in Sacred Cow, cited above. 

That's why I say, if you're an adult, then eat a plant-based diet if you choose to, but pushing it onto people who can't choose like children, hospital patients, nursing home residents and prisoners is unethical, for health reasons and also because it's a type of greenwashing that is actually bad for the environment. It's not neutral. It's not innocuous. It's bad, unless you're among the rare people who can afford a complete diet of plant based food grown regeneratively and/or locally.

Let's unite with vegans and vegetarians to end concentrated animal feeding operations, which are bad environmentally and bad for animal welfare. But let's raise nutritious food ecologically, which does not describe the prevailing food system or the proposed system that is going to deliver everyone a "plant based diet."

Livestock can be an important part of ecological restoration, including the restoration of water cycles, which is necessary for making clean drinking water more widely available, so that we don't have a billion or more people experiencing water scarcity. By contrast, conventional agriculture, including the annual crop farming that produces plant-based commodities (rice, corn, wheat, soy), has a problematic impact on soil, water cycles and ecosystems. I would also argue that conventional agriculture, including crops and livestock tends to reduce the amount of food available to people, because it degrades the land.

We have plenty of land, plenty of sunshine and enough water to produce food, but the land is used in a way that is destructive and inefficient and puts people at the end of food supply chains thousands of miles long.

I would like for somebody to show me how analyses like this are not PR for Big Food, because that's what it looks like, from where I sit. Not trying to be harsh, or even obtuse. But some people profit from business as usual, while posing as change agents, not least of all the people who are invested in lab-grown meats, and stand to lose financially, unless people buy into the false dichotomy between meat and plant based foods. The real dichotomy is between food production that is regenerative or not. Both crops and livestock can be either regenerative or destructive. Either can exhibit a favorable or unfavorable carbon footprint. Either can be good or bad for soil, water cycles and ecosystems.

I can show you credible information (see below) from Will Harris of White Oak Pastures in Georgia who employed a company named Quantis. Quantis did a life cycle analysis of burgers from White Oak Pastures and also burgers from Impossible Foods. They found a mirror image.  Impossible Foods emitted 3.5 lbs of carbon per pound of meat produced, whereas the White Oak Pastures sequestered 3.5 pounds of carbon for every pound of meat produced.

See this slideshow: White Oak Pastures Life Cycle Analysis, Quantis - Google Slides

And it's a myth that conventional agriculture raises more food per acre. While it's true that corn produces an impressive 13 million calories per acre (according to Mark Shepard in Restoration Agriculture), it's not nutritious, and most of it goes to biofuels and livestock feed. Rodale, in upstate New York, and other long-term scientific farms can produce food regeneratively with yields comparable to conventional agriculture. And how are you going to "feed the world" if you are constantly degrading the soil? 

We are losing several tons of topsoil per person per year. I've heard estimates in the tens of billions of tons of lost topsoil per year. That's because of bad farming and also because of desertification. Regenerative crop farming and regenerative grazing can improve the soil and in the best case scenario, they will create soil faster than it can erode.

I know I'm making a lot of sweeping claims here, but most of it amounts to common sense and most of the rest is well-grounded in solid science. The rest is details. 

In light of the above, I welcome anyone who can explain to me, in rational terms, why I should embrace the conclusions of the phys.org article or any of the sources cited therein.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BLC Leadership Team" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to blc-leadership-team...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/blc-leadership-team-boston/CADBd-rmwbjc-kREPGiBYpVw4mtr8qVYLbuhcPa33vk6xp2JhYQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Peter Bruce-Iri]

Thank you Philip.

This is very useful for a project on quantifying the toral value proposition of a full shift to regenerative agriculture in my region in Aotearoa (New Zealand)

On Mon, 22 Dec 2025 at 05:21, robert patterson <rob...@thegrowingconnection.com> wrote:

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ecorestoration-alliance/CAB52DjdsY5ziwZ9p%3Dr4Y%2BgTFrt0uxqe-KWGmrod2ip4GWpncjg%40mail.gmail.com.

--

[Eston Mgala]

studies, system analysis, conceptual approache

Universities, organizations, heavily of  funded by donors , very technical and complex 

But the question is how does that being tricked to the rural illiterate rural mass in villages 

My thoughts also is on the some 

There is so much that is being shared through univ

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ecorestoration-alliance/CAE4xhE3tq%2Bxr-sFECH4Xj1_ARPbZa%3DAUSy6wH8kNqV%2BkTbDf2A%40mail.gmail.com.

[Peter Bruce-Iri]

I totally agree Hart. You make some excellent points. We need a far more nuanced conversation about meat. I like your sentiment to work with the vegetarians and vegans to end CAFOs.

And the context has to be considered. Aotearoa (New Zealand) is a small country, but we produce a lot of meat and dairy. Our benign climate means in much of the country we can grow pasture year-round. So talking about “pasture raised. meat” here is a bit like talking about wet water. However, between intensive dairying and regenerative/organic, our farms are on the extractive-regenerative continuum.

One of the workstreams for our Kai (Food) Sovereignty project is quantifying the total value proposition of a full transition to regenerative ag. And for my region, 50% of land cover is pasture. The first draft is underway, and with the help of AI, we clustered it into six clusters of value outcomes. The Paper Philip shared recently was very helpful.

1.        Farm assistant efficiency and economic resilience

2.        Animal health, welfare and biological function

3.        Soil, water and catchment function

4.        Ecological integrity and biodiversity

5.        Climate, bio security, and systemic risk reduction

6.        Community, culture and food system resilience

There is a lot to calculate and we intend to designate one of three levels of confidence to each value outcome. If anyone is interested in collaborating on this, perhaps mirroring it with another bio region, please get in touch.

Cheers, and season's greetings,

Peter

--

View this message at https://groups.google.com/a/googlegroups.com/d/msg/ecorestoration-alliance/topic-id/message-id
 
Group emails flooding your inbox? Click here: https://groups.google.com/g/ecorestoration-alliance/settings#email
 
Our website is at http://EcorestorationAlliance.org/
Our calendar is at https://tinyurl.com/EcoResCalendar
---

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "EcoRestoration Alliance" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ecorestoration-al...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ecorestoration-alliance/CAJKDyLAQ2VXm273ojZz3%2BfYQctNip_X7HJAsv6K8PBhKUUeAaQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Louise Mitchell]

I like the idea of hosting a series of panel discussions on food and climate, Hart!!  I would love to discuss this further with you.

Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Louise

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/blc-leadership-team-boston/CAJKDyLAQ2VXm273ojZz3%2BfYQctNip_X7HJAsv6K8PBhKUUeAaQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Hart Hagan]

This is the book-length study on which this thread is based:

Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems - The Lancet

Here is a quote: 

"Biological processes that produce emissions are intrinsic to crop and livestock production and some greenhouse gases will always be generated by biological processes associated with agriculture. Therefore, although ambitious targets for reducing emissions of anthropogenic greenhouse gases should be set, eliminating all greenhouse-gas emissions (ie, methane and nitrous oxide) related to food production is not feasible."

Earlier, I showed you a credible analysis that said that for every pound of beef produced by White Oak Pastures, they sequester 3.5 pounds of carbon. White Oak Pastures Life Cycle Analysis, Quantis - Google Slides

That's inconsistent with the paragraph above, which says "eliminating all greenhouse-gas emissions (ie, methane and nitrous oxide) related to food production is not feasible." Regenerative agriculture, almost by definition, will sequester carbon, because regenerative agriculture regenerates the soil. That means taking carbon dioxide out of the air and storing it in the ground, improving the soil. The soil, the vegetation and the surrounding ecosystems will continue to sequester carbon as long as they are allowed and empowered to grow in size, reach and complexity, which is entirely feasible, if we take our degraded cropland and pastures and manage them according to proven methods that store carbon and regenerate the soil.

The study reflects a widespread assumption that human food production is inherently burdensome, in terms of carbon emissions and should therefore be minimized. But if we can believe White Oak Pastures and its consultant Quantis that did the life cycle analysis on beef production, then we want to do as much as possible, not as little as possible. If cattle, properly raised, can serve to sequester carbon, then we want to do as much as possible, not as little as possible. 

Crop production and orchards are the same way. They can be designed and operated so as to sequester carbon with every unit produced, while also delivering nutritious food, cleaning the waterways, restoring the soil and supporting populations of birds, insects and small mammals. This is the message of Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown. This is the message of The Ecological Farm by Helen Atthowe, and also Regenerative Soil by Matt Powers.

The study is the length of a book.

Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems - The Lancet

Some people are going to take it seriously. But the complexity conceals important assumptions that deserve serious scrutiny.

One assumption is that CO2 is the only cause of global warming that we need to talk about. We're not going to talk about hot surfaces or deforestation. We're not going to talk about how in our farms, forests and landscapes, we are busy removing vegetation instead of figuring out ways to grow more vegetation, including plants that grow food sustainably.

Another assumption is that policymakers are ready to listen to technocrats delivering a needlessly complex analysis that pretends to summarize the global food system. For the time being, we have consented to be part of a system that makes policy in favor of those who bring the most money. For example, according to Kiss The Ground, by Josh Tickell, US farm policy is determined by about a dozen giant agribusiness companies. Our "policymakers" are not reading book length studies. 

Another assumption is that Lancet is a credible source of information related to nutrition or the health impacts of climate change. Another assumption is that Western powers are a benevolent influence on the rest of the world, or whether Big Food is going to deliver a healthy, sustainable diet.

I also recommend Eating Tomorrow, by Timothy Wise, who explains how Africans have lost control of their land due to interference by US corporations and "philanthropists."

Let people control their own land without interference by agribusiness giants, and then we can talk about what a healthy, sustainable diet looks like. Let people use local land to grow food without being subject to laws that criminalize seed saving. Give people something resembling food sovereignty, where local farmers don't have to compete on global markets, from which big players can flood local markets with cheap food of dubious quality and unknown origin.

[Michael Pilarski]

Hear, hear,  Great comments by Hart,

I have studied regenerative agriculture for 50 + years and can add hundreds of other books to the few Hart mentioned that detail how good farming can contribute to planetary regeneration and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.  The problem isn't regenerative agriculture.  It is the damaging forms of agriculture which are the problem. 

Broadly speaking there are two categories of agriculture in the world, 1) agriculture which is good for the environment and 2) agriculture which is bad for the environment  All forms of agriculture could be placed on a continuum from very bad to very good and everything in between.  There is a spot in the middle where ag is benign.  What the world needs is to greatly reduce the “bad” forms of farming and greatly increase the “good” forms of farming.  I am of the belief that this is the quickest (or one of the quickest) ways to sequester the excess CO2 in the atmosphere and green up the planet. This is of critical importance!

Of course, different experts will place particular ag practices at different points on the continuum.  Experts from big agribusiness will place things differently then someone who is expert in regenerative ag.  This is a topic we will address at this May’s Global Earth Repair Convergence. We will have many regenerative agriculture experts at the convergence.

Here is a recent video (one day ago) I recommend on the current ag situation in Africa. It is 13:23 minutes long, but worth watching. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xONzzAbf9Os

Indigenous African crop biodiversity, colonialism’s impact and the current groundswell of change.

Michael "Skeeter" Pilarski

Earth Repair - Permaculture - Agroforestry - Wildcrafting - Medicinal Herbs

Global Earth Repair Foundation

Friends of the Trees Botanicals

Friends of the Trees Society

NW Herbal Fair

Fairy Congress

PO Box 1133
Port Hadlock, WA 98339
# (360)-643-9178

I acknowledge that I live on the stolen lands of the Chemacum, S'Klallam and Klallam Peoples.

--
View this message at https://groups.google.com/a/googlegroups.com/d/msg/ecorestoration-alliance/topic-id/message-id
 
Group emails flooding your inbox? Click here: https://groups.google.com/g/ecorestoration-alliance/settings#email
 
Our website is at http://EcorestorationAlliance.org/
Our calendar is at https://tinyurl.com/EcoResCalendar
---

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "EcoRestoration Alliance" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ecorestoration-al...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion visit

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ecorestoration-alliance/CAJKDyLDhk9oJmV2OWvasu%2Bx22o5nS3u6HcMtGZwbk3%3D47Zyj2Q%40mail.gmail.com

.

[Hart Hagan]

Robert,

I like your quote from Thomas Sankara, "He who feeds you, controls you."

Sankara fought for independence for his people in Burkina Faso. This was unacceptable to the Western Powers, and as a result, Sankara met an unhappy fate. 

The modern day Sankara is Ibrahim Traore, the current head of state of Burkina Faso, who by all accounts is beloved throughout Africa.

It is my personal opinion that the driving forces behind the Lancet article have little interest in allowing the people of Africa to be independent. I can't prove that. But I always say that the world would be a different place if environmentalists understood the true history of the West and the power dynamics behind deeply entrenched institutions, including those that preserve Big Food. (No pun intended.) The true history of the West will not be reported in the NYT or on NPR. Have you noticed the latest round of American exceptionalism in the NYT?

“The tragic reality is that very few sustainable systems are designed or applied by those who hold power, and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them. We should cease to look to power structures, hierarchical systems, or governments to help us, and devise ways to help ourselves.”
--Bill Mollison, founder of permaculture

Hart

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ecorestoration-alliance/CAB52DjdsY5ziwZ9p%3Dr4Y%2BgTFrt0uxqe-KWGmrod2ip4GWpncjg%40mail.gmail.com.

[robert patterson]

Very interesting, Hart, that you felt the need to tell me who Thomas Sankara was.

Interesting also that you cite Bill Mollison as the "founder of permaculture". 

Perhaps Bill (bless his heart) was the first westerner to give it that name. 

Permaculture as an activity long predates Mollison and the Lancet both!

For a simple example, see, for example, chinampa production in Mesoamerica.

And, Hart, perhaps the key word in this message is "activity".  

It's very useful to spend less time at the keyboard, and more time being active, with one's hands in the soil.

Season's Greetings!

Robert 

[Georg Hansen]

I also agree that there are too many studies and analyses, especially those driven by open or hidden agendas. The Savory Institute/ Africa Centre for Holistic Management (https://savory.global, https://achmonline.org) in Zimbabwe have demonstrated in practice that their approach on husbandry are an excellent way to both address/reverse climate change and improve biodiversity.

Georg Hansen

-----------------------------------------------------

Nyberg Urtegård G. Hansen

Stuertvegen 27

9014 Tromsø

Tel. 46432945

Webpage: http://www.urtegard.no

E-post:      geo...@msn.com​

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nybergurtegard/

---

From: ecorestorat...@googlegroups.com <ecorestorat...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Eston Mgala <eston...@gmail.com>
Sent: 25 December 2025 19:38
To: Peter Bruce-Iri <peterash...@gmail.com>
Cc: EcoRestoration Alliance <ecorestorat...@googlegroups.com>; Philip Bogdonoff <pbogd...@gmail.com>; BLC Leadership Team Boston <blc-leadershi...@googlegroups.com>; robert patterson <rob...@thegrowingconnection.com>
Subject: Re: [ERA] The levers for a sustainable food system to combat global warming

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ecorestoration-alliance/CADx%3DwrQYdtbBBi1hG5q0gmFEjrFkc6SYicHm1WjBDKKeYd4T0w%40mail.gmail.com.