> Land clearing happens for ranching purposes, but is also happens for peanuts, coconut oil and all sorts of other products Ranching takes 80% of the agricultu

> Land clearing happens for ranching purposes, but is also happens for peanuts, coconut oil and all sorts of other products Ranching takes 80% of the agriculture land, 50+% pastures were forested in the past. https://ourworldindata.org/drivers-of-deforestation#beef-soy-and-palm-oil-are-responsible-for-60-of-tropical-deforestation https://ourworldindata.org/drivers-of-deforestation#beef-soy... Combined, beef and oilseeds account for nearly 60% of deforestation (majority of oilseeds are mostly used for animal feed). > goats ... can subsist off of marginal lands and foods which humans can't That's the typical argument of animal ag farmers. That land should be rewilded and afforested, to enable return of the wildlife. Goats and grazing are a recipe for desertification: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0959683616670470 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09596836166704... Blame it on the goats? Desertification in the Near East during the Holocene https://grist.org/climate-energy/cattle-grazing-is-a-climate-disaster-and-youre-paying-for-it/ https://grist.org/climate-energy/cattle-grazing-is-a-climate... Cattle grazing is a climate disaster, and you’re paying for it https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/grazed-and-confused/ https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/grazed-and-co... Grazed and Confused? > Veganism has nothing to do with biodiversity loss though https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/ Biodiversity conservation: The key is reducing meat consumption https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/our-global-food-system-primary-driver-biodiversity-loss https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/our-glob... Our global food system is the primary driver of biodiversity loss https://phys.org/news/2023-04-climate-crisis-biodiversity-approached.html https://phys.org/news/2023-04-climate-crisis-biodiversity-ap... The climate crisis and biodiversity crisis can't be approached separately, says study https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22287498/meat-wildlife-biodiversity-species-plantbased https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22287498/meat-wildlife-bi... The way we eat could lead to habitat loss for 17,000 species by 2050 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00603-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00603-4 In terms of carbon sequestration and dealing w/ climate, it is clear that agricultural land use(especially land used for animal feed) is the largest barrier to ecosystem restoration. Potential for carbon sequestration is enormous (literally enough for the entire 1.5C carbon budget) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding... Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth