Commentary by Dr. David Duke — Modern, Monsanto-type agriculture is the greatest destroyer of the environment of planet earth. Not industrialization or carbon emissions from fossil fuels, but the desertification of the planet is the probable cause of most of “man-made” climate change. Desertification, or the massive increase of desert on earth, destroys the ability of the planet to absorb carbon and carbon emissions. Vegetation absorbs carbon, as plants depend on carbon dioxide. Vegetation causes rainfall to absorbed rather than run off. Vegetation decreases temperatures, as easily seen by the fact that bare land is much hotter in the daytime. This affects both the local area of the environment and the Earth’s global temperature. The biological evidence today is that large numbers of grazing animals actually increase the vegetation on seasonally dry land, rather than diminish it.
In fact, over the last decades, the efforts to stop desertification by decreasing the number of grazing animals, has had the opposite of the desired effect. In fact, before the advent of civilization and mass agricultural expansion, nature provided huge herds of animals that moved and literally renewed the land in areas of dramatic seasonal change. For instance, the historical accounts of the American West show vastly more plant life in many areas turned to desert. Increase of desert occurred simultaneously with the kill off of the hundreds of millions of buffalo.
Dr. Savory shows, that in Africa the tragic killing off of 40,000 elephants in a huge wildlife area in Africa in an effort to stop desertification actually had the opposite effect, not only did it reduce the elephant population, but it accelerated desertification, and killed untold numbers of other species of animal and plant life in the area.
Today, man can mimic the workings of Nature by the careful reintroduction and movement of livestock upon desert and semi-desert areas of the earth.
Watch this video, and know that careful and well-planned livestock management can help save the planet. Far from being an ecological sin, eating meat, especially from healthy grass-fed animals is not only vital for your health, but important for the ecology and well-being of the Planet Earth!
The following video is from TED talks. Watch it for a vital new perspective — Dr. Duke
