Could humanity’s hoofprint overwhelm nature?

Abstract

Humanity’s global footprint is greatly affected by food and the way it is produced. Agriculture already occupies nearly half the useable land surface of the planet – 80% of which is devoted to meat and dairy. As an equation, humanity’s footprint has three components: the number of consumers multiplied by the amount consumed multiplied by the way those resources were produced. Future sustainability relies on addressing all three components of humanity’s footprint: population, consumption and method of production. Global action is therefore needed to alleviate poverty, address overconsumption of livestock products and move food systems to regenerative forms of conservation agriculture.