So if I claim to be a Rational Scientifically minded Skeptical person,
which I do by the way, then when I get a new piece of information, I should
immediately look at it explore its authenticity and then when it checks out, I
would need to re-evaluate my position and change. One would think.
That is the way it works, however, there are people out there that receive new information all the time and then decide it must be wrong and refuse to change. I believe that these people are wrong. So when I received new information this week that forced me to change my thinking on a recent blog post about Vegetarianism, I thought I would share.
The thought that changed was, “cattle farming is destroying the land.” I do believe that cutting down rainforest to turn into pastureland is still wrong and bad, but the perception that cattle farming is bad for the environment, which I did not state, but is a common environmental perception, is wrong. More specifically, cattle farming on marginal land should be increased not decreased. I was watching a TED Talk and a respected environmentalist from South Africa was talking about the problem of the desertification of grasslands in Asia, Africa, Australia, North and South America. The perception of people was that the land was drying out and turning into a desert because of cattle farming. Governments were clearing vast tracks of land or cattle vermin to allow the land to reach a natural equilibrium and return to a state of normalcy which would be preserved as a park, but all this did was to accelerate the death of the land.
The effects of desertification are many and none of them are good. Vegetation becomes sparse and large areas between the stands of plants become exposed. Rain when it falls sits on the surface or runs away, when the rains are over the water evaporates and the land it now dry until the next rainfall. How does it get to this point? Roots of plants grow into the earth and these roots provide channels for the water to infiltrate into the ground. A well covered stretch of land holds most of the water in the ground and when the rain stops the cover deflects more of the light and the plants use the light for growth and the water is used in transpiration through the grass leaves. After a growing for awhile the grass builds up a lot of organic matter if allowed to go undisturbed. The old stalks actually prevent younger growth from occurring and the result is that old grass dies, including its roots and the next time it rains, the water does not penetrate the ground as much. As the years go by the effect is more exaggerated and desertification begins to occur.
Because they tried everything to get the land back up to the pre-agricultural standards, exasperatedly they decided to in a limited way to increase the numbers of cattle on some land and to move them about in a pattern consistent with predatory herding. The result was that the land bounced back into production and the desertification was halted and reversed.
While I do advocate for marginal land to be used for cattle farming, milk and egg production, the results suggested that livestock farming should be increased 400%. Given that it would mean that in marginal lands would have about five times the cattle that they currently have, meat production might be the only way to keep the herds sustainably.
The effects of cattle on desertification lands are plenty. The old or dead grasses are eaten or trampled flat against the ground. When the rains come, the water encounters a layer of grass mulch which absorbs the water and deflects the sunlight keeping the wet ground cooler and wet. Without the old or dead stalks the grass begins to spread out again and grow roots into the ground, increasing infiltration of the rain to the ground water, allowing plants to grow longer into the dry season. In addition to the mulch provided by the trampling of the grass, the cattle add fertilizer and mow the grass down, allowing for more growth of grass. The end result is more healthy grassland.
Ideally this would have been accomplished with massive herds of roaming herd animals with predators in tow, but thanks to mankind, the great herds of Bison of North America, have been wiped out, the same for the herds of Asia and Africa and all the rest. So we can use our own, well bred cattle to do the same. Add a huge flock of chickens to disperse the manure and eat bugs and drop more guano and the effect would be increased.
Where are these locations that would benefit from more intensive livestock herding? In the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains in western Canada and the United States, in the rain shadow of the Andes in Argentina and Paraguay. Sub-Saharan Africa, the Australian Outback, the Middle East and the Plateau in central Asia
That is the way it works, however, there are people out there that receive new information all the time and then decide it must be wrong and refuse to change. I believe that these people are wrong. So when I received new information this week that forced me to change my thinking on a recent blog post about Vegetarianism, I thought I would share.
The thought that changed was, “cattle farming is destroying the land.” I do believe that cutting down rainforest to turn into pastureland is still wrong and bad, but the perception that cattle farming is bad for the environment, which I did not state, but is a common environmental perception, is wrong. More specifically, cattle farming on marginal land should be increased not decreased. I was watching a TED Talk and a respected environmentalist from South Africa was talking about the problem of the desertification of grasslands in Asia, Africa, Australia, North and South America. The perception of people was that the land was drying out and turning into a desert because of cattle farming. Governments were clearing vast tracks of land or cattle vermin to allow the land to reach a natural equilibrium and return to a state of normalcy which would be preserved as a park, but all this did was to accelerate the death of the land.
The effects of desertification are many and none of them are good. Vegetation becomes sparse and large areas between the stands of plants become exposed. Rain when it falls sits on the surface or runs away, when the rains are over the water evaporates and the land it now dry until the next rainfall. How does it get to this point? Roots of plants grow into the earth and these roots provide channels for the water to infiltrate into the ground. A well covered stretch of land holds most of the water in the ground and when the rain stops the cover deflects more of the light and the plants use the light for growth and the water is used in transpiration through the grass leaves. After a growing for awhile the grass builds up a lot of organic matter if allowed to go undisturbed. The old stalks actually prevent younger growth from occurring and the result is that old grass dies, including its roots and the next time it rains, the water does not penetrate the ground as much. As the years go by the effect is more exaggerated and desertification begins to occur.
Because they tried everything to get the land back up to the pre-agricultural standards, exasperatedly they decided to in a limited way to increase the numbers of cattle on some land and to move them about in a pattern consistent with predatory herding. The result was that the land bounced back into production and the desertification was halted and reversed.
While I do advocate for marginal land to be used for cattle farming, milk and egg production, the results suggested that livestock farming should be increased 400%. Given that it would mean that in marginal lands would have about five times the cattle that they currently have, meat production might be the only way to keep the herds sustainably.
The effects of cattle on desertification lands are plenty. The old or dead grasses are eaten or trampled flat against the ground. When the rains come, the water encounters a layer of grass mulch which absorbs the water and deflects the sunlight keeping the wet ground cooler and wet. Without the old or dead stalks the grass begins to spread out again and grow roots into the ground, increasing infiltration of the rain to the ground water, allowing plants to grow longer into the dry season. In addition to the mulch provided by the trampling of the grass, the cattle add fertilizer and mow the grass down, allowing for more growth of grass. The end result is more healthy grassland.
Ideally this would have been accomplished with massive herds of roaming herd animals with predators in tow, but thanks to mankind, the great herds of Bison of North America, have been wiped out, the same for the herds of Asia and Africa and all the rest. So we can use our own, well bred cattle to do the same. Add a huge flock of chickens to disperse the manure and eat bugs and drop more guano and the effect would be increased.
Where are these locations that would benefit from more intensive livestock herding? In the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains in western Canada and the United States, in the rain shadow of the Andes in Argentina and Paraguay. Sub-Saharan Africa, the Australian Outback, the Middle East and the Plateau in central Asia
No comments:
Post a Comment