Lost opportunity to rewild
Because animal agriculture is less efficient in its use of land, we lose the opportunity to rewild land when we farm animals. Rewilding is a natural solution to a human-made ecological crisis. It allows for carbon sequestration, and the support of flourishing biodiversity which is critical to a healthy planet full of wildlife.
Inefficient land use
With a transition away from animal-based agriculture and consumption, global farmland could be reduced by 75%, and we could still clothe and feed the world.
When we look at knitwear specifically, 0.12 hectares of land must be cleared to produce one bale of cotton, compared to 40.5 hectares of land for wool.
This is an inefficient use of precious land, which could instead be rewilded; with native plants grown and cared for by First Nations peoples who have a knowledge of how to care for country. Through this process, native wildlife would thrive, as would the wider ecosystem.
Carbon sequestration
The use of land for inefficient animal agriculture incurs a ‘carbon opportunity cost’ of sorts. A study from leading environmental experts shows that if, we transition to an entirely plant-based agricultural system by 2050, we would see the sequestration – or long-term, secure and sustained storage of greenhouse gases – equivalent to 99-163% of our carbon emission budget. This budget is the total amount of carbon emissions we have left before it’s all out of our hands.
In other words, with this action alone, never mind the also necessary clean energy revolution, we would see a 66% chance of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Image: The Ikara-Flinders Ranges are home to the Arkaba Conservancy, a former sheep station that now hosts eco-tourists.
Biodiversity regeneration
Shifting baselines, where we remember a different environment full of plants and animals than our parents, and their parents, means we do not realise just how much biodiversity we have lost.
Australia has recorded the highest rate of mammalian extinction across the world in the past 200 years, with great loss of plant species, too. Australia’s biodiversity is utterly at risk, and we need to do all we can to protect and regenerate it. By freeing up land through agricultural transition, rewilding is an effective way to do this.
Image: The northern quoll is on the Australian endangered species list.
Photo by Jonathan Webb
References
With a transition away from animal-based agriculture and consumption…
Journal Science
To produce one bale of wool… To produce one bale of cotton…
Formula (referencing AgriFutures, Learn About Wool, Australian Wool Exporters, Cotton Australia.)
…if by 2050, we transition to an entirely plant-based agricultural system…
Journal Nature; Sustainability
Australia has recorded the highest rate…
Guardian Australia