Exploring Carbon Cycles and Why Cattle DO NOT Contribute to Global Warming
In honor of National Ag Day, let's break down carbon cycles and talk about why properly managed cattle DO NOT contribute to global warming like industrial fossil fuels. The current narrative on why we need to reduce animal agriculture is that carbon in the atmosphere is bad, but there is more to it than that.
Anthony Gustin
Sports rehab and functional med clinician. Food and fitness skeptic. Founder @rootedlocaltx and more. Investor. Farmer. Not a guru. Newsletter (192k subs)👇
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In honor of #NationalAgDay let's break down carbon cycles and talk about why properly managed cattle DO NOT contribute to global warming like industrial fossil fuels.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
👇 pic.twitter.com/Q0mtfpkKoy -
The current narrative on why we need to reduce animal agriculture is this:
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
1. Carbon in the atmosphere is bad
2. Cows produce carbon via manure and burping
3. Thus, cows are bad
You can even add:
2b. Cows produce methane
2c. Methane is even more bad
3b. Cows especially bad -
The issue with this is that few people are following the actual cycle of carbon.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
Where does the carbon come from and where does it go? -
In the case of industrially produced fossil fuel carbon, it works like this:
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
1. Dig up deposits of carbon that have been under earth's crust for millennia
2. Burn them and turn them into CO2
3. Repeat until we run out
It's a one way system, carbon doesn't cycle: it accumulates. -
Cow C cycles work like this:
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
1. Carbon stored in grass is eaten by cattle
2. Cattle ferment grass, produce methane
3. Methane is broken down to CO2 + H2O
4. Grasslands breathe in CO2 to grow (& deposit extra into the soil)
5. Repeat until the sun burns out
Pic:@SustainableDish pic.twitter.com/6ZKaGsUVcw -
Not only does this not lead to accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere, it leads to sequestration of carbon in the soil.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
This means when we have well managed cattle contributing to the carbon cycle, they are putting MORE carbon back into the soil than the atmosphere. -
In a regenerative system, each pound of nutrient dense meat that is produced leads to 3.5 pounds of carbon pulled INTO the soil.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
See this summary from a 3rd party assessment of @whiteoakpasture multi species rotational grazing farm in Georgia. pic.twitter.com/6i5cN0FiQ9 -
To recap: carbon is extracted via fossil fuels, and is cycled with cattle.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
Industry 📈 carbon = fossils ➡️ burn ➡️ more net C in atmosphere
Cattle 📉carbon = soil ➡️ grass ➡️ cattle ➡️ C temporarily in atmosphere ➡️ more carbon in soil ➡️ better soil ➡️ more grass -
It's important to note that all of this assumes that viewing ecosystems and assessing our planetary health as the reduction to "carbon in vs carbon out" is the best way.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023 -
We also don't account for all of the follow on effects from supporting these systems. There are many positive/negative externalities that we can pull apart.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023 -
Fossil fuel externalities:
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
- mining equipment that itself needs to be mined and created
- displacement of natural habitat
- displacement of native people
- more machines and vehicles
- increased air pollution
- increased water pollution
- dependence on corporations
and more... -
Cattle externalities:
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
- most nutrient dense food source on the planet
- improved soil carbon
- improved ecosystem resiliency
- increased biodiversity
- improved water holding capacity
- resilient local economies
and more... -
We're preoccupied with "carbon in vs carbon out" because it's simple to quantify. A complex system like an ecosystem or planetary resiliency are far more than one reductive measure.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
The same can be said about the body. It's not just a big "calories in, calories out" machine. -
We can't even agree on what it takes to create a healthy and resilient human. We're becoming fat, sick, and depressed at an alarming rate even though we have more quantifiable metrics to track our "health" by the day.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023 -
If we can't even manage our own bodies and our own health, how are we going to act like we know the first thing about managing the entire planet's ecosystem or health by any metric?
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023 -
The transition from knowledge to language leaves out what can’t be articulated. Language to math leaves out what can’t be quantified. What are we left with? Reductionism that ignores the whole. Everything that can’t be quantified in complex systems is the most important stuff.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023 -
Carbon isn’t the currency of ecosystem health more than calories are the currency of human health.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
Diversity, resilience, sustainability, water.
Why should we not seek to understand the world in terms of a model that takes into account these and many more relevant factors? -
You know health when you see it. You don't need to articulate it or measure it.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
Don't believe me?
Go observe an oil refinery plant, then go observe a regenerative multi-species farm.
Tell me what you think is a healthier system. -
Yes, we can measure carbon, and articulate the cycle in cattle to know that they are not ruining the planet based upon carbon. But we don't have to.
— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023
If you want to know for yourself their impact on an ecosystem, go see for yourself.
Visit your local rancher and farmer. 👨🏻🌾 -
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— Anthony Gustin (@dranthonygustin) March 21, 2023