One diet fad scientists hope will catch on: climate-friendly eating

This fall, thousands of students at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst found a new type of menu waiting for them at their dining commons. The “diet for a cooler planet” menu featured a variety of “delicious low carbon and regenerative foods,” according to flyers that had been put up around campus.

This meant herb-roasted lamb, raised with a carbon-friendly silvopasture approach, which involves integrated tree farming and livestock grazing. It included “gleaned” masala sweet potatoes that had been picked from a local farm’s field post-harvest. From the French onion lentil gratin to the sautéed cauliflower and broccoli leaves, the options were plant-heavy, locally grown, and involved