Allan Savory is a controversial figure with a shocking message: Global warming and desertification can be radically reversed by grazing large herds of animals. The antithesis of accepted thought on climate change, Savory's solution has rubbed many in the scientific community the wrong way. But the question remains -- can his method save us from imminent environmental doom?
Standing ovation for a radical message
After Allan Savory's presentation, "How to Green the Desert and Reverse Climate Change," at the 2013 TED global conference, The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered., he received an enthusiastic standing ovation from the audience. This was not the typical parched scientific lecture on global warming. The TED talk explored the disturbing trend of desertification, described by Savory as "a fancy word for land that is turning into desert," and the implications this holds. The devastation of habitat, usable land and waterways are the stark realities of spreading deserts. Climate change is also accelerated. Due in part to the widespread practice of burning dry grasslands in an attempt to revitalize the soil, global warming is also aggravated by the carbon and moisture loss from exposed soil. Considering the burning of a single hectare of land "gives off more and more damaging pollutants than 6,000 cars," said Savory, better solutions are urgently needed. Keep in mind that Africa alone burns over one billion hectares a year.
