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Regenerative Grazing is Overhyped as a Climate Solution

Provided by: Project Drawdown |Published on: September 9, 2025

Articles/Websites

9101112AP

Synopsis

This article from Project Drawdown explains some of the misconceptions about regenerative cattle grazing, addressing greenwashing and the issues of land use and availability, wildlife displacement/replacement, methane emissions, and the finite capacity of soils to absorb additional carbon over time.
Students will gain a better understanding of the many climate and environmental concerns with meat production, the ways regenerative grazing can be helpful, and why it is best to implement as many related solutions as possible, including reducing meat production, reducing food waste, and applying any improvements to meat production where available.

Related Teaching Resources

Subjects: Biology, Earth and Space Sciences

Authors: Project Drawdown, Jonathan Foley, PhD

Region: Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

The author writes in a friendly, personal tone, which is engaging and inviting for readers.
Students will benefit from this straightforward, realistic explanation of a climate solution.

Prerequisites

It may help to present the sources of various greenhouse gas emissions by sector and for different foods and show them the table of solutions so that they can compare the relative impacts of various climate solutions and reducing the sources of pollution.

Differentiation & Implementation

To provide students with background knowledge about regenerative agriculture, teachers may want to combine this article with this video.
To connect this resource with topics such as deforestation, animal extinctions, and water use, use the linked resources as homework or as a jigsaw assignment and have students present to the class on their topic.
Connections to AP Environmental Science can be made to a number of units and can be supported with this video about ecosystem services.
To practice summarization and demonstrate their understanding of the article, students can write a paragraph to explain why regenerative grazing isn't as effective a solution as it is made out to be.
After reading this article, students can explore how greenwashing is used by companies, as mentioned in the article. Students can search for examples of greenwashing in the meat industry. Teachers can also use this media literacy lesson to explore other examples of greenwashing.
Teachers can make connections to UN Sustainable Development Goal 12, Responsible Consumption and Production, and Goal 13, Climate Action.

Scientist Notes

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Resource Type and Format

About the Partner Provider

Project Drawdown

Project Drawdown is a nonprofit organization that seeks to help the world reach “drawdown”—the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. Cities, universities, corporations, philanthropies, policymakers, communities, educators, activists, and more turn to Project Drawdown as they look to advance effective climate action. Project Drawdown resources for educators include the database of Drawdown Solutions, educational video series Climate Solutions 101, the Drawdown Stories initiative, and more.

Related Teaching Resources

All resources can be used for your educational purposes with proper attribution to the content provider.