Saving the planet….
….not exactly a humble goal, but that’s what is at stake.
The earth’s surface has been turning into a vast desert, releasing more carbon into the atmosphere every year than all the fossil fuel engines combined. This “browning” of the planet is the cause of all the hunger, suffering and war than we can possibly deal with.
Strangely, while largely blamed for all our environmental woes, it is the lowly cow that holds the key to the problem. (I wanted to write: “our survival”) As pollyanish as it may sound, we do believe that grass fed beef is the answer. Good for your personal health, a grazing cow is good for the soil and the earth. Only slowly are we beginning to recognize the restorative powers of herds of cows.
Recently Alan Savory, the founder of Holistic Management International, gave a very brief talk on the subject that has suddenly gone “viral” on the internet. So far, more than 300,000 views for a decidedly unsexy topic and all the more remarkable because there’s no music.
We think this is probably the most important video we have ever posted and urge you to set aside 22 minutes to view it.
Our friend Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Grasslands Beef, after viewing the video and forwarding it to us, made this comment:
We learned in our research that 120 years ago there was 275 ppm of Carbon in the earth’s atmoshpere. Today there is 380 ppm. The increase in the atmosphere is directly proportional to our loss of topsoil worldwide. It has been calculated that if we can increase the carbon in our agricultural soils by .1% a year – we can be back to the 275 ppm we had 120 years ago. That is why we are committed to making Grass Finished Beef a financially viable means of food production. Our culture’s survival depends on it.
Two years ago we joined a pilot project sponsored by Savory’s Holistic Management International. Thistle Hill is one of a half dozen farms in Rappahannock and Fauquier counties Virginia that have been working with HMI to improve our land and grazing techniques. This video certainly inspires us to redouble our efforts.