How to green the world's deserts and save the planet, by eating more meat!

I wanted to share this powerful TED talk by Allan Savory, about how to restore the deserts of the world, which are growing, by reintroducing herds of animals to the landscape!  According to common perceptions for a long time, herbivores were thought to destroy the landscape: here, Allan Savory explains how they are actually needed to revitalize and restore to green fruitfulness the deserts of the world.

Think about the American dust bowl of the 1930's, that literally blew away the topsoil of the American Western great plains- this was the land that had hosted an estimated 30 - 60 MILLION buffalo, all roaming about in vast herds, keeping the land green and viable for other creatures that lived upon it, like coyotes, wolves, big cats, and humans.  When the buffalo were hunted almost to extinction, and men planted wheat over their old grassland habitat...

Eventually, the topsoil all just blew away in huge, black clouds of dust!

We need herbivorous animals, in large numbers, to keep our habitat healthy!!

Here is the intro to the talk on youTube:

Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert," begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And terrifyingly, 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.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.
Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com/translate

So, eat (grass fed) meat, and know that you are doing the right thing, both for your own health, and for the health of the planet!

J