The role of ruminants in reversing global warming with Seth J. Itzkan of Soil4Climate

Media Advisory For Immediate Release

Media contact: [email protected] +13866243044 WhatsApp

The Role of Ruminants in Reversing Global Warming

Middlebury, VT − As the world races to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, all solutions must be on deck to help prevent the drastic consequences of a changing climate. One important and often overlooked solution is the role of ruminants in restoring the soil, storing carbon dioxide, and contributing to food security.

Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op in collaboration with the Middlebury College Food Studies program, the New Perennials project, and the Vermont Grass Farmers Association, is hosting Seth Itzkan of Soil4Climate, Inc., at Middlebury College on Tuesday, March 14th. Seth Itzkan is available to the media to speak on this important topic.

WHAT: Seth Itzkan of Soil4Climate, Inc. will present on The Role of Ruminants in Reversing Global Warming

WHEN: Tuesday, Mar. 14, 2023, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

WHERE: Middlebury College Bicentennial Hall 220 Bicentennial Way, Middlebury, VT

WHO: Seth Itzkan of Soil4Climate, Middlebury Natural Foods Co-Op, Middlebury College Food Studies program, the New Perennials project, the Vermont Grass Farmers Association, and special guests Josh and Janelle Lucas of Lucas Family Farms and Meadow Squier of Squier Family Farm, with opening remarks by Abe Collins, a grazing consultant who serves clients to design and build livestock farms and ranches from the soil up.

WHY: All too often, discussions about climate change focus on the negative aspects of livestock production. But sustainable livestock farming (regenerative grazing) can substantially reduce emissions and deliver environmental and social benefits including promoting food security. Soils are a major carbon reservoir, storing more carbon than the world's forests and atmosphere combined. Increasing carbon stocks in the top meter of the soil by one percent would capture more carbon than the total annual global emissions from burning fossil fuels, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN Issues Brief, November 2015). Soil4Climate aims to help restore the approximately ten billion acres of grasslands on the planet and replenish them with the carbon that has been lost through centuries of mismanagement. In 2017, Soil4Climate and the Maasai Center for regenerative pastoralism launched the Maasai Lands Restoration Project to improve degraded soils in Kenya. The venture aims to provide permanent solutions to the challenges of drought, desertification, and food and water security. Improving the land will sequester carbon, helping to mitigate and eventually reverse global warming. Soil4Climate is raising emergency funds for the Maasai who are in a terrible climate-fueled drought.