Nicholas D Carter
@nicholasdcarter.bsky.social
🌳 Director of Environmental Science at Game Changers 2. 🌎 Research Fellow at Project Drawdown: climate solutions focused on food, agriculture & land. 🌱 Co-founder of iffs.earth
I spoke with @owenjones.bsky.social recently about the withheld Joint Intelligence Committee report on food system pressures, and more. I mentioned that one report makes the point that "a wholesale change in consumer diets would be required" Full conversation here: youtu.be/nTYISpFTIq8?...
Fishermen all over the internet, media, and even congressional hearings are spreading the myth that sharks have become “overpopulated” in the US and should be culled. I charted the NOAA data to show how insane that is. #MarineLife 🧪
It's a point I've been trying to make for a long time: there is no good way to meet even 10% of current demand for animal products. They trash the living world, whichever way you do it. If you want to reduce your impact, switch to a plant-based diet. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Organic eggs have worse impact on climate than eggs from caged chickens
Adopting organic free-range model in UK could lead to greenhouse emissions equivalent to 2,316,000 tonnes of CO2, study suggests
theguardian.com
A trillion insects are farmed now/yr, some emit as much as beef (mostly via temp control), & it's an inefficient feed conversion rate. They also have major risks, like largely inevitable escapes of invasive species. It's a bad idea. My analysis for Project Drawdown: drawdown.org/explorer/dep...
Deploy Insect Farming for Food and Feed
Insect Farming for Food and Feed is not recommended as a climate solution because it offers minimal opportunities for GHG reductions and has significant downsides.
drawdown.org
Project Drawdown@projectdrawdown.bsky.social · last wk.Insect farming start-ups have been on a roller coaster ride. 🎢 In the ups and downs, one perspective has been scarce: Is it a climate solution? The evidence we’ve collected says NO. Dive deeper here 👉 https://bit.ly/3ThlWuR #edibleinsects #sustainablefood #climatesolutions
Insect farming start-ups have been on a roller coaster ride. 🎢 In the ups and downs, one perspective has been scarce: Is it a climate solution? The evidence we’ve collected says NO. Dive deeper here 👉 https://bit.ly/3ThlWuR #edibleinsects #sustainablefood #climatesolutions
Sorry, but insect farming is NOT a real climate solution. Here’s why…
Project Drawdown@projectdrawdown.bsky.social · last wk.Insect farming start-ups have been on a roller coaster ride. 🎢 In the ups and downs, one perspective has been scarce: Is it a climate solution? The evidence we’ve collected says NO. Dive deeper here 👉 https://bit.ly/3ThlWuR #edibleinsects #sustainablefood #climatesolutions
New investigation from @grilledmedia.bsky.social & @theguardian.com Documents from inside Europe's most powerful farming org show how it lobbied "in the same way as the tobacco industry" (their own words!) to block policies for public health & the environment www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Revealed: how Europe’s most powerful farming lobby killed EU’s pesticide law
Exclusive: High-level documents show how Copa Cogeca worked to weaken legislation to protect climate and wildlife
theguardian.com
What does a diet that protects both your health and the planet look like? Almost no one is eating it yet. We checked dietary data from 12 countries against the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet. The pattern is strikingly universal. 🧵👇
Yep. Saw this livestock industry tactic coming 5 or so years ago. changingmarkets.org/wp-content/u...
Greenpeace EU@greenpeace.eu · 4w agoMethane heats the planet equally whether it comes from a cow or a pipeline (and heats it a LOT) Rebranding methane from farmed animals as "natural" just to avoid cutting the massive climate pollution from livestock is wishful thinking This is a scandalous move from the EU Commission
Rewilding land freed from animal agriculture could remove around 8 billion tonnes of CO₂ each year, roughly one-fifth of current global direct GHG emissions, or about the same as eliminating all emissions from the U.S. and EU combined. That's MASSIVE. iffs.earth/living-repor...
In 1961, 2 chickens were killed per person globally/yr Now, 9 are killed per person/yr. More than 4x Yeah it's more efficient than beef but still wastes ~90% of feed calories, drives dead zones, pandemic risks & ethical issues It's wild to see some say it's a GHG win & don't mention huge tradeoff
Thrilled to share 4 new analyses of mine for @projectdrawdown.bsky.social on grazing Many studies that claim grazing benefits SOC are lacking: adequate baseline, controls, duration, 30cm soil-depth samples, & measuring over time And beef remains a leader in CH4 & land-use driving biodiversity loss
Over just the last couple decades, the footprint of animal agriculture has dramatically worsened, driven by a global: 53%⬆️ in livestock populations, 22%⬆️ in their GHGs, & 27%⬆️ in cropland use for feed. New report on the trends since the seminal 2006 FAO "Livestock's Long Shadow": rb.gy/1873pj
This is why efficiency in our food system matters: 🧑🌾 A more efficient food system could mean more affordable food, less strain on land and water, and healthier meal options for families. Read more from The Cool Down 👉 https://yhoo.it/4ak3OpJ
World grows enough calories to feed 14.5 billion people, but only 45 out of 100 are actually eaten by people
A new analysis breaks down where the world's crop calories really go.
yhoo.it
"while most people acknowledge these advantages, vegetarian and vegan diets are still a hard sell. Fortunately, the science on how to change this is getting clearer, too." www.wri.org/insights/res... @worldresources.bsky.social
Restaurants Are Using Behavioral Science to Promote Plant-based Eating — and It’s Working
From Unicorn Burgers to reimagined meatballs, food service providers are getting creative with their plant-based offerings. In the process, they’re saving money and reducing their planetary impact.
wri.org
Anyone thinks grass-fed / regenerative beef is a way we can keep eating meat at current levels and address climate change needs to take a look at @nicholasdcarter.bsky.social's recent assessment of the state of the science on this. (Spoiler: plant-based eating + rewilding makes far more sense)
Nicholas D Carter@nicholasdcarter.bsky.social · 9mo agoMy latest, drawing from 100+ studies: iffs.earth/living-repor... Years in the making, I focus on the science behind the grazing side of regenerative agriculture, comparing it with a plant-based food system that enables large-scale rewilding.
@nicholasdcarter.bsky.social has done research guiding @projectdrawdown.bsky.social's position on grazing: it doesn't recommend expanding grazing drawdown.org/explorer/exp... nor deploying grass-finished beef drawdown.org/explorer/dep.... His LinkedIn post on this: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
Expand Livestock Grazing
Expand Livestock Grazing is Not Recommended as a climate solution.
drawdown.org
Thanks! On a related topic and just FYI, the forest carbon accounting issues I wrote about with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol would allow companies to spuriously claim "carbon negative beef" by attributing non-anthropogenic, non-additional forest growth to beef production — keep an eye on that.
Thrilled to share 4 new analyses of mine for @projectdrawdown.bsky.social on grazing Many studies that claim grazing benefits SOC are lacking: adequate baseline, controls, duration, 30cm soil-depth samples, & measuring over time And beef remains a leader in CH4 & land-use driving biodiversity loss
Animal ag uses ~200× more freshwater than AI. AI data centres are projected to use ~1 trillion litres/yr by 2028. Animal ag already consumes 228 trillion litres of blue water/yr. Not defending AI, but this context isn't well known. I also wonder how much AI water goes to military vs. general use.
Concentrations of methane in the atmosphere are ~2.5x higher than before industrialization. Deep cuts in methane now are key, and we'd see results quickly. Yet efforts from high-emitters continue to attempt to push for sketchy accounting that allows the opposite, via GWP* methanescience.org
Scientist statement on misuse of new approaches to methane
Over 35 climate scientists warn that crucial methane mitigation is being undermined globally by efforts to redefine approaches to greenhouse gas metrics and climate targets – such as through inappropr...
methanescience.org
92% of people globally live with degraded land, polluted air, or water stress. 80% of people in low-income countries live with all 3 of these stressors vs. 43% of people in rich countries not exposed to any! openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/pub...
Half of tropical forests have been lost, mostly for beef, driving biodiversity loss. If allowed to naturally regenerate, >90% of abundance & diversity returns & ~75% similarity to old-growth forest within 30yrs. Invasive pasture grasses prevented faster recovery. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Old-growth forests are irreplaceable and need to be conserved. Yet, more than half the tropical forests of the world have already been lost or degraded. Because 70% of tropical forests are secondary, their conservation can contribute substantially to achieving global biodiversity conservation goals.
Nicholas D Carter@nicholasdcarter.bsky.social · 3mo agoHalf of tropical forests have been lost, mostly for beef, driving biodiversity loss. If allowed to naturally regenerate, >90% of abundance & diversity returns & ~75% similarity to old-growth forest within 30yrs. Invasive pasture grasses prevented faster recovery. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The unbelievable regenerative capacity of nature is one of the few things that give me hope. If we just back off, things can and will be better. This also holds true at the micro level, by the way. You can make even a modest garden a haven for insects, for instance.
Nicholas D Carter@nicholasdcarter.bsky.social · 3mo agoHalf of tropical forests have been lost, mostly for beef, driving biodiversity loss. If allowed to naturally regenerate, >90% of abundance & diversity returns & ~75% similarity to old-growth forest within 30yrs. Invasive pasture grasses prevented faster recovery. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Half of tropical forests have been lost, mostly for beef, driving biodiversity loss. If allowed to naturally regenerate, >90% of abundance & diversity returns & ~75% similarity to old-growth forest within 30yrs. Invasive pasture grasses prevented faster recovery. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Imagine having a neighboring business that produces the eq. waste a city of ~750k people, & sprays a good share of it around you, & uses water equal to 75% of the local supply. This is what Riverview LLP, a Top 5 US dairy giant is proposing to do by increasing the below from 7k to 19k dairy cows:
Sentient@sentientmedia.org · 3mo agoRiverview’s mega-dairy expansion in Morris, Minnesota would store 250 million gallons of liquid manure and use water volumes equal to 75% of the local supply.
Several springs in a row now we share our land with a fox fam - 4 kits this year! My amateur pics of a Northern Harrier & driftwood too. There used to be a big lobster factory here a couple decades ago. Now many young spruce, balsam fir, birch, maple, cedar, pine trees & native plants thriving.
Do alternative grazing techniques really increase soil carbon levels? A new analysis says they likely don’t. Worth a read. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
