h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just watched this video about a solution proposed by Allan Savory.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTHi7O66pI

Looking at the examples where it has been applied, it seems to work a treat.
Not only does Savory claim it will reverse desertification, it will also help to sink carbon into the soil, reversing global warming.

It looks very hopeful.

I hope some good comes from this.

Me too.

phew!

Impressive results. Impressive man.


Does anyone know more? how to actually get started... to control(?) herd movement?

And, of course, how do the animals live while they're being moved around?



So there IS hope...?

A relevant wikipedia section:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Savory#Criticism

Abstract of paper quoted in Wiki:
http://www.srmjournals.org/doi/abs/10.2111/06-159R.1

The abstract doesn't give the effectiveness of the grazing methods or it's range of validity ... it just says other methods are equally good. So without reading further it's difficult to comment further ... except that there is no evidence from within the scientific community that people are jumping with joy that a solution has been found.

yersss

Having let it soak in, maybe I'll watch it again.
There are certainly obstacles but then, it's not problems we want, it's solutions.

>>Land management researchers have heavily criticized the concepts of holistic management because experiments conducted on grazed land in many different places in the last few decades have failed to find any scientific support for their validity.<<
: from Stone Aart's first link (post 5).

Maybe it means 'overgrazed', maybe it means 'semi-desertified' or maybe something else. Anyway, at that point I stopped reading.

After his (Stone Aart's) comments I didn't try his link in post 6.


<<... the effectiveness of the grazing methods or it's range of validity ... it just says other methods are equally good ...<< : (post 5)
Well, that's what we want, eh? variety to choose among, for suitability.


Are these methods real, practicable? ... IS there hope?

I think the wikipedia comment that I linked to is misleading judging from the abstract in the next link. I would need to read the actual paper to comment further. It's a review article so should be worth reading.

I doubt that even if it worked the process could be scaled up in time. It's a shame that he recommended the Zimbabwean Government to kill 40,000 elephants.

I have heard of biochar as a possible method for sustaining soils and carbon - but again the issue is scaling up the process.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar

Okay, here's another quite amazing video where he answers questions in more detail at a university seminar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxPNPXbVtfI

This is quite a long presentation with visual aids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kfh9iz8hqU


"Allan Savory, co-founder of The Savory Institute, has dedicated his life to finding ways to restore grasslands, even those that have degraded into deserts. Growing up in Zimbabwe, he has developed a method using livestock to stand in for the former massive herds of grazing animals that kept grasslands healthy. Called Holistic Management, farmers in environments ranging from dry and brittle to humid can increase the number of animals on their land (and their income) while sequestering significant amounts of atmospheric gases safely into the soil. Offering promise in a time of grim environmental news, Allan Savory's message is hopeful and inspiring."