Grazing to Heal the Earth | Wendy Pratt | TEDxIdahoFalls

[Music] my family has been ranching in Idaho for over a hundred years I was born on a ranch and I married a rancher who's a lot like my dad and he takes care of cows all day every day one of our favorite things to do as a couple is to watch cattle graze and as peaceful as that scene looks there's a lot more going on here than you might think and it has what the relationship between grazing animals and grass is age-old and symbiotic and it has the modern-day potential to address some of the most serious environmental threats we face today floods and droughts the loss of species recurring wildfires even climate change but maybe you've heard that cows are a threat to the planet and really why would you listen to a rancher honestly I come here less as a rancher then as a crusader for my children and my children's children and the planet we leave to them because it's not the cows that are in trouble the grass is in trouble grass is likely the least appreciated but most important and abundant plant worldwide grass can be compared to the skin of the earth for our human body our skin is the first line of defense against disease and what are these environmental challenges I've just described if not diseases of our natural world like our skin grafts keeps the planet hydrated and protects against temperature extremes in the soil when our daughter was just a little girl about five she just gotten out of the tub and I was sure she was cold and she said no mom I have my nice warm skin on grass clothes and protects the planet a grass-based landscape is critical to the water cycle so it acts like a sponge to catch rain drops and lets water soak into the ground instead of washing away and taking valuable topsoil with it and as it soaks in it recharges Springs and streams and deep water aquifers this inseok is the hallmark of a healthy functioning watershed and we all live in a watershed grass stops wind erosion which you might think that's old news that happen back in the Dust Bowl right no it's a common worldwide problem still today you can even see it in our own community every spring and grass has this vast root system that feeds life-forms underground a richly diverse and flourishing ecosystem below the ground mirrors that above ground so let's go back to cows cows are a type of animal plant eater called ruminants some of these ruminants are really familiar to us like deer and elk sheep and goats bison and some not so much like water buffalo yak and reindeer they're really unique and that they have a stomach with four compartments and a lengthy digestive process that includes regurgitating what they've already swallowed to chew again it's called chewing their cud they ruminate have you ever heard someone say I'll have to ruminate on that idea or they might say let me chew on that well those phrases came from these animals and it's not surprising they've influenced our language because many ruminants have been domesticated starting about 10,000 years ago and they have played a really important role in the advancement of our own civilization just a bit of trivia all ruminants except one or two only have front teeth on the bottom of their mouths so on the top is this tough leathery pad that they used to press their teeth against rip and it's a really important adaptation that makes them efficient grazers grass evolves being eaten and it thrives with periodic removable growth think about a lawn so what would it look like if you never mowed it large ruminants also till the soil with their hooves which creates that seed to soil contact that is necessary for seed germination the grazing process yields two very important outcomes so first of all it converts much of the shear tonnage of plants that grow every year which are high in fiber low in nutrients and hard to digest into a highly digestible nutrient-dense food meat which is then available to omnivores like us and carnivores further up the food chain second it recycles the nutrients and energy locked in those plants and returns them to the soil in the form of dung and urine to start the cycle again in the soil are billions of microscopic decomposers they feed on one another they trade goods with roots may build soil fertility well they need recycle plant matter to feed the system so and if you choose to eat meat or not I mean that's your decision but if you care about the planet you should care about this cycle what I've just described is a resilient landscape one that will bounce back after wildfire or take on heavy rains or snowmelt without flooding or can withstand prolonged droughts and it's not just for cows and grass it's for all kinds of plants and animals insects so flowering forbs for butterflies and brush for nesting songbirds and it's a landscape that is cycling carbon as it should so let's go back to middle school biology where we learned about photosynthesis so we know that plants pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and then with the sun's energy make food for the rest of us it is really that beautifully simple it's key to life on earth carbon then is held in plants until its release through respiration and decay ideally returning a net zero gain of carbon in the air however and this is the exciting part if we can ramp up that system with well planned grazing to get deeper roots and more diversity or even better if we could reclaim barren dirt with cycling plants we could put more carbon in the ground where it belongs this cycle the Renewable feedback loop of carbon don't confuse this with carbon we extract for oil and gas that is a one-way process that leads to this overburden of carbon in the atmosphere there's another aspect of climate change that's rarely talked about it's a nasty word called desert off' ocation this map was produced by the US natural resources conservation service it's called the global desert of ocation vulnerability map the red areas are very high vulnerability the grey areas are dry now the certification means fertile land turning into desert if that's happening you know that the water cycle is deteriorating there's more barren ground and the land is losing that in-seok capability if that happens all life forms are at risk including humans it also means the all-important carbon cycle is deteriorating so carbon that could be cycling into the ground is instead being stuck in the atmosphere this map also highlights the difference in climate so the in u.s. is green because it's humid all year long in that environment the microbes of decay stay active and plants psycho adequately however in the west where we have humidity that is seasonal the decomposition of plants happen most readily in the gut of an animal where it's always moist and it's always the right temperature in the stomach of a cow live billions of the same types of microbes that live in the soil so the red areas are alarming here's the deal I agree with many experts they just don't make the news that part of the reason this is happening is because we must understand the role that grazing animals play in the environment yes on our continent sheep and cattle have been mismanaged in the past left too long in one place which weakens the soil we can see grass and exposes the soil but in our ignorance we've overcorrected by taking animals off the land removing a vital chain link in the chain of ecosystem health when what we needed was simply a better way to manage these animals luckily this outdated way of thinking is turning around there are alliances being created between people like me that take care of animals and others in our communities that see the value in what we do in California where wildfire is such a concern ghosts are foraging on brush to reduce fuels for wildfires while improving the soil at the same time cows are being managed in smart environmentally friendly ways leaving plenty of grass behind and not coming back until the grass is recovered farmers are putting livestock back into the cycle of crop production which feeds the soil and reduces the need for fertilizer and in my world Wildlife conservationists are working with ranchers in ways twenty years ago we could imagine I have a lot of hope I think we're gonna get this figured out but we need your help you can assist these natural cycles too when you mow your lawn mow it tall don't want short let grass shave the soil plant a vegetable garden and do some of your own photosynthesizing put your phone away take your kids outside we are not separate from nature we are intricately dependent upon nature and please keep learning with me have an open mind about animal agriculture in the environment these animals are our allies as they have been for thousands of years and we just might need them now more than ever [Applause] [Music]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 12,217

Rating: 4.9079285 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Global Issues, Farming, Geology, Nature, Plants, Sustainability, Weather

Id: suHCiRlT-oc

Length: 11min 59sec (719 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2019