Meat or Plants: Which Is Better For Reversing Climate Change? with Nicolette Hahn Niman

Meat or Plants: Which is Better for Reversing Climate Change? |
This episode is brought to you by Thrive Market, Athletic Greens,
and Rupa Health Using the lens of Functional Medicine, we know we
can’t blame just one part of the body for disease or dysfunction.
The same goes for agriculture and climate change. We can’t just
blame cows and call it a day. It’s a complex issue that deserves a
comprehensive plan of action. Regenerative agriculture recognizes
the essential role of grazing animals in an ecosystem to create
stronger soils, healthier crops, and produce better meat. On
today’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy, I sit down with Nicolette
Hahn Niman to explore where we’ve gone wrong when it comes to
raising meat, some of the biggest areas to focus on for a positive
climate impact, and so much more. As a vegetarian rancher for
almost two decades who now eats meat, she offers a unique
perspective on raising and eating animals.  Nicolette Hahn
Niman is a writer, attorney, and livestock rancher. She authored
the books Defending Beef (2014, and second ed. 2021) and Righteous
Porkchop (2009), as well as numerous essays for the New York Times,
Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times. She has also written
for The Atlantic, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Earth Island
Journal, among others. Nicolette has appeared on The PBS Newshour,
The Dr. Oz Show, and in numerous films and documentaries, including
Eating Animals and Sustainable. Previously, she was the Senior
Attorney for the environmental organization Waterkeeper, where she
focused on agriculture and food production; before that, she was an
environmental lawyer for National Wildlife Federation. Today, she
lives in Northern California with her two sons, and her husband,
Bill Niman, founder of the natural meat companies Niman Ranch and
BN Ranch.   This episode is brought to you by Thrive Market,
Athletic Greens, and Rupa Health. Thrive Market is offering all
Doctor's Farmacy listeners an extra 25% off your first purchase and
a free gift when you sign up for Thrive Market. Just head over to
thrivemarket.com/Hyman.  Athletic Greens is offering Doctor’s
Farmacy listeners a full year supply of their Vitamin D3/K2 Liquid
Formula free with your first purchase, plus 5 free travel packs.
Just go to athleticgreens.com/hyman to take advantage of this great
offer.   Rupa Health is a place for Functional Medicine
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over 20 labs like DUTCH, Vibrant America, Genova, Great Plains, and
more. You can check out a free live demo with a Q&A or create
an account at RupaHealth.com.  Here are more of the details
from our interview:  Four popular camps of thinking around
meat production and consumption (6:09) The history of how beef came
to gain the reputation as the most environmentally destructive and
least healthy food we eat, and why this is actually a much more
nuanced issue than the question, is beef good or bad? (7:34)
Is regenerative agriculture the solution to climate change? (13:13)
Why Nicolette started eating meat again after decades of being a
vegetarian and what she noticed about her food cravings after
making this change (16:26)  The vital role that beef and
animals play in creating healthy food and ecological systems
(27:39) Soil as the foundation of the food system and planetary
sustainability (31:42) Why we need to move away from the dualistic
view of meat vs. no meat (40:22) Animal and human’s innate
nutritional wisdom (44:18) The latest research on methane, cattle,
and global warming and what we previously got wrong (54:56) The
role of policy in mitigating climate change (1:04:07) Get a copy of
Defending Beef: The Ecological and Nutritional Case for Meat at
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/defending-beef-pb/.