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This is really interesting to consider, and I hadn’t before. It lends a lot more potential weight and credibility to the idea that rewilding plains (for example
by steve_adams_86 3y ago
This is really interesting to consider, and I hadn’t before. It lends a lot more potential weight and credibility to the idea that rewilding plains (for example), thus increasing the biomass there, would have significant climate benefits. This falls deep into the “We can’t know that” category, but I’m a fairly large proponent of leaving more land alone and letting nature do what it does. At the moment, economic activity like grazing cows seems like it could be a net negative since it’s clearly harming the environment while also preventing natural landscapes from establishing, which could have significant ecological benefits.
The idea that biomass can bring stability and better conditions is certainly supported by my aquarium experience, though it’s a closed system. If you limit the number of species, water parameters will swing all over the place. Add more species (particularly plants and micro flora/fauna), and the water becomes clearer and cleaner. Add some small crustaceans, snails, or other animals which love algae and it’ll get even cleaner, and their populations will self-maintain quite well. Add some tiny fish and they will live on the algae, micro fauna, offspring of the shrimp, etc. These systems work well, but they need a huge amount of plants and tiny creatures, bacteria, and small animals to groom and maintain things. Without them, it’ll crash and swing all over until just about everything is dead.
If we imagine the world as a giant aquarium where we inhibit the micro flora and micro fauna, bacteria, and other balances, it certainly seems possible that restoring this would improve all kinds of factors like water and air quality.
- runsWphotons 3y agoIf you graze animals the right way you can also increase biomass/help the ecosystem.
- myshpa 3y agoNot really true. https://newrepublic.com/article/163735/myth-regenerative-ranching https://newrepublic.com/article/163735/myth-regenerative-ran... https://grist.org/climate-energy/cattle-grazing-is-a-climate-disaster-and-youre-paying-for-it/ https://grist.org/climate-energy/cattle-grazing-is-a-climate... https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25138 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25138 https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/grazed-and-confused/ https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/grazed-and-co... https://plantbasednews.org/news/environment/george-monbiot-regenerative-grazing-in-debate/ https://plantbasednews.org/news/environment/george-monbiot-r... “So any story that says it’s good to be farming these livestock, it’s good to be eating these livestock, is a story which justifies among the most devastating processes on Earth,” he said. “It is climate science denial.” Monbiot linked this denial to the interests of major corporations like McDonald’s, General Mills, JBS, and the Murdoch Network, who he says have “backed and weaponized” the idea that grazing cattle is environmentally beneficial. “The story is false,” he said. “When you make a grand claim such as this one, that livestock can mitigate climate change, either you produce the evidence for that claim or if you cannot produce the evidence you withdraw the claim. The evidence has not been produced, the claim does not stand.”
- steve_adams_86 3y agoFor what it’s worth, there are other studies indicating this as well. There isn’t good data suggesting we can graze animals on a large scale and increase biomass in a meaningful way compared to other options. The trouble is that other options inevitably include “stop eating meat”, and people don’t like to hear this.
- steve_adams_86 3y agoThat’s a big if. The vast majority of animals raised in North America aren’t grazed sustainably, especially if you exclude Canada. It’s kind of like saying you can drive without emissions when 99% of the world is driving gas cars, only in this case, there’s no trend towards grazing sustainably and no reason to believe it will start happening (whereas vehicles likely will continue trending towards electric motors). I just can’t think of a better analogy at the moment, but hopefully it makes sense. Proper grazing seems unlikely to ever be adopted on a broad scale, so it’s unlikely to matter that it can be done better.
- eep_social 3y ago> aquarium experience Is this the Walstad Method?
- steve_adams_86 3y agoYes! I love it. Have you given it a shot?
- eep_social 3y agoNo, I visited a friend of a friend many years ago and learned of it from them. I hope to one day but far too many projects compete for my time.
- steve_adams_86 3y agoIt’s worth getting to one day! Once you get it started, it’s really not too much work or time, either. But I hear you, too many projects, not much time. It’s a real problem.