272 - Animal Ag is Killing Us with Climate Scientist Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop

Episode • Mar 6, 2024 • 1h 0m

Humans are the dominant species on the planet, but we have lost sight of our connection to, and dependence on, an ecosystem that we have pushed dramatically out of balance and to the brink of collapse.

Today’s guest, Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop, is an Australian environmental scientist, and he is passionate about highlighting the influence of our food systems on climate change. Gerard is currently the executive director of the World Preservation Foundation, but for three decades, he monitored vegetation cover and deforestation as the principal scientist with Queensland Government Natural Resources. He’s also appeared in the excellent documentary Eating Our Way to Extinction, which discusses these issues.

From the carbon footprint of raising livestock to ocean degradation, stay with us for this powerful MUST-LISTEN episode as we discuss the connection between animal agriculture and climate change, learn how our everyday choices have far-reaching consequences, and what we can all do right now to make a difference!

“The old metrics that we use to gauge the ferocity of nature out the window. We’re living now in a new climate, and it’s going to get fast and furious. The climate warming, global warming is actually accelerating. We are in a new world, and this is, I think, what’s going to help us to wake up to the new reality and realize that we’ve got to make some radical changes to how we live.” - Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop

What we discuss in this episode:

- How and why the number of climate-related disasters is increasing and the rate of global warming is accelerating?

- How the Middle East and Northern Africa became deserts.

- Animal agriculture’s role in the 6th mass extinction.

- How factory farms are perfect incubators for zoonotic diseases.

- How eating plants instead of animals would create a surplus of food for humans.

- How we can make an immediate and powerful impact on the environment.

- The importance of forests for our future.

Resources:

- Eating Our Way To Extinction: https://www.eating2extinction.com/about/the-cast/

- BiOptimizers Magnesium Breakthrough: bioptimizers.com/switch4good - http://bioptimizers.com/switch4good

- Vote for the Switch4Good podcast here: https://bit.ly/s4gpodcast