TED Talks: How to green the desert to reverse climate change

[Ein~+ein]

Allan Savory: How to green the desert and reverse climate change

FILMED FEB 2013 • POSTED MAR 2013 • TED2013

“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And it's happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it. He now believes -- and his work so far shows -- that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.

Allan Savory works to promote holistic management in the grasslands of the world.

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He may be right--fossil fuels might not be the major contributor to climate change--'Big Oil' would love to hear that. Seems deforestation is not just happening in rain forests--it's happening everywhere and partly due to the big feedbacks that kick in, compounding the problem--the increasing prevalence of bugs and diseases and intense winds that are doing their own deforestation. I'm always impressed by how many trees and massive ones, there were in photos of my youth and how much land has been developed.

[Ein~+ein]

If roaming animals can reverse desertification, the question arises over what advantage there is in terms of climate changes as such animals do contribute methane to the atmosphere. Here's a site that discusses the matter:

Agriculture is responsible for an estimated 14 percent of the world's greenhouse gases. A significant portion of these emissions come from methane, which, in terms of its contribution to global warming, is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. The U.S. Food and Agriculture Organization says that agricultural methane output could increase by 60 percent by 2030 [Source: Times Online]. The world's 1.5 billion cows and billions of other grazing animals emit dozens of polluting gases, including lots of methane. Two-thirds of all ammonia comes from cows. ....

[velacreations]

Basically, you are turning the soil into a carbon sink. Soil organic matter = carbon

[thurstjo63]

Silliness

Not surprised that the USDA without understanding the interaction of animals with the bio-system tries to blame cows for global warming. It's just silly. Why don't you start with Viktor Schauberger's books on water and agriculture to understand how man has disrupted the natural processes causing ALL of the problems that we witness today. All the best!