Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic
\n Salad chain Sweetgreen is adding steak to its menu, an announcement that led to strong reactions online, with customers questioning how that would impact the company\u2019s carbon neutral plans. Founded in 2007 and known as a fast-casual spot serving salads and bowls, Sweetgreen says it will be carbon neutral by 2027 \u2014 meaning it plans to offset its own emissions by putting in place strategies that also remove carbon from the atmosphere.But beef production is incredibly resource-intensive and a contributor to climate change. It\u2019s the largest agricultural source of greenhouse gases globally, emitting massive amounts of methane into the atmosphere, and requires extensive land use.<\/p>\n
Sweetgreen\u2019s rationale for the controversial caramelized, garlic-flavored steak menu addition this week includes using regenerative farming. The chain also says carbon offsets are part of its pledge to combat climate change and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. A Sweetgreen spokesperson referred request for comment to its menu expansion details.<\/p>\n
A person walks past a sign for Sweetgreen\u2019s new caramelized garlic steak bowl on Thursday, May 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n
What is regenerative agriculture?Regenerative agriculture means farming and ranching in a way that not only produces food from a landscape, but also sees that landscape improve ecologically, said Jason Rowntree, co-director of the Michigan State University Center for Regenerative Agriculture.<\/p>\n
This means \u201cminimizing disturbance, keeping ground covered,\u201d Rowntree said, \u201cimproving biodiversity below and above ground through adding animals to your cropping systems or enhancing biology below ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many grocery chains and restaurants are starting to look to regenerative agriculture for animal proteins, grains and fruits and vegetables while meeting climate goals. Starbucks cited regenerative agriculture as one way it aims to slash its carbon, water use and waste in half by 2030. Chipotle and Burger King have also dabbled in it.\u201cIt\u2019s all in what you do and how you implement it,\u201d said Allen Williams, a farmer and founder of agriculture consultancy Understanding Ag. \u201cIt allows for the repair, rebuilding and restoration of our ecosystems \u2014 and that\u2019s critically important if we want to mitigate climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some experts question whether regenerative agriculture can offset all emissions from beef production in particular.What are carbon offsets? Companies, including those in dining, also buy carbon offsets. They purchase \u201ccredits,\u201d as part of a voluntary and unregulated market for projects that claim to absorb carbon dioxide that otherwise would\u2019ve happened. These offsets are an effort to cancel out one\u2019s own carbon dioxide pollution. But it isn\u2019t an exact science.Though companies including Sweetgreen should be applauded for their efforts, \u201cWe all know that the offsets schemes over the last few years have been really problematic, to say the least,\u201d said Jonathan Foley, executive director of climate nonprofit Project Drawdown. <\/p>\n
A Sweetgreen sign is displayed on Thursday, May 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n
What can be done instead?Even if a chain employs productive regenerative agriculture and offsets, experts say its use of plastic, paper or non-renewable energy could negate those practices. So the priority should be focusing on a restaurant chain\u2019s whole carbon footprint, fostering and improving landscapes that are more resilient for food security and improving water cycling, experts say.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day,\u201d Rowntree said, \u201cI think these challenges we\u2019re going to see with aridity, with heightened intensity of rain events followed by longer periods of drought are probably agriculture\u2019s biggest challenge moving forward.\u201d___Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate solutions reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at [email\u00a0protected].___The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.<\/p>\n
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Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Salad chain Sweetgreen is adding steak to its menu, an announcement that led to strong reactions online, with customers questioning how that would impact the company\u2019s carbon neutral plans. Founded in 2007 and known as a fast-casual spot serving salads and bowls, Sweetgreen says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-96935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96937,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96935\/revisions\/96937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}