The case for paying ranchers to raise trees instead of cattle | Patrick Brown and Michael Eisen

Reducing cattle populations and restoring native ecoystems is our best chance to tackle global heating. Here's one way to do it

There is a simple, cost-effective and scientifically sound way to turn back the clock on global warming and reverse the catastrophic collapse of biodiversity: pay ranchers to raise trees instead of cattle.

By mass, the world's 1.7 billion cows are the dominant animal species on Earth, far outweighing the human population, and outweighing all the wild terrestrial mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians left on Earth by more than 15-fold. More than a third of Earth's land is used to feed livestock.