1 / 30

Grasslands, LLC A Holistic Management Enterprise in Partnership with Savory Institute

Grasslands, LLC A Holistic Management Enterprise in Partnership with Savory Institute. John Fullerton Yale University November 15, 2011. www.savoryinstitute.com.

holmes-meyer
Download Presentation

Grasslands, LLC A Holistic Management Enterprise in Partnership with Savory Institute

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Grasslands, LLC A Holistic Management Enterprise in Partnership with Savory Institute John Fullerton Yale University November 15, 2011 www.savoryinstitute.com

  2. A collaborative space to explore and effect economic transition to a more just, resilient, and sustainable way of living on this earth through the transformation of finance. THINK – PRACTICE - TEACH

  3. Our UNSUSTAINABLE economic system Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist - Kenneth Boulding, Economist, Quaker, Co-Founder of General Systems Theory

  4. “Safe Operating Space” -- The world is full “Safe Operating Space” - National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis

  5. Sustainability in Natural Systems Optimum Sustainability 100% Collapse of Financial System 0% Resilience Efficiency Source: Lietaer, Ulanowicz, Goerner 2008

  6. The World’s Grasslands are Vast • 12.5 billion acres — (~40% of total landmass) • ~1B people, many poor,make their living as pastoralists • Grasslands being turned into cropland at alarming rate

  7. Peak Soil? • Soil is second largest carbon sink after the oceans • According to James Hansen, the atmosphere contains 800Gt of carbon, plants 600Gt, and soils contain 1500Gt • We’re losing about 24 B tons of soil per year

  8. What does Carbon look like in nature?

  9. 1ppm of what? 1 ppm by volume of atmospheric carbon dioxide - CO2 CO2 is 1 Carbon + 2 Oxygens CO2 weighs 44 – Carbon weighs 12 and each Oxygen weighs 16 So the Carbon is 12/44ths of the molecule – (3.67 conversion factor) Geological Carbon Capture and Storage (Geo-CCS) “stores” the whole CO2 molecule Biological Carbon Capture and Storage (Bio-CCS) splits off the Oxygen and just “stores” the Carbon atoms.

  10. Is 1 a big number? 1 ppm by volume of atmospheric CO2 = 7,800,000,000 tonnes of CO2 7,800,000,000 tonnes of CO2 = 2,130,000,000 tonnes of Carbon So each 1 ppm change in CO2 is 2,130,000,000 tonnes of solid carbon (or a 1 cubic kilometre block of graphite). How big is this? (1) Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

  11. 5 Billion Hectares of HopeSeasonally dry grasslands of our planet

  12. Current Practices Aren’t Building Soil or Vegetation Technology – Grass seeders Fire - Systematic Land Burning Rest - Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Grazing – Continuous over/under-grazing

  13. “And the most efficient—if not the simplest—way to grow vast quantities of solar panels is by management-intensive grazing…” - Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma

  14. Planned Livestock Grazing Can Double (or more)Land Productivity Skilled holistic planning – land, grazing, financial—based on natural principles Operational discipline – constant monitoring and adjustment of plans to stay on track Increased forage prod. / ecological resilience Steadily increasing financial returns – Dollar returns directly correlated with improving ecological processes More productive, healthier livestock – Typically doubling stocking rates over 10 years

  15. The Life of a Blade of Grass Grows when land is fallow – depletes plant • Holistic management mimics natural behavior of wild herds, who must constantly run from predators • Through ensuring herd movement, grass is not overgrazed • Leaving land fallow can be detrimental due to valuable animal impact benefits Takes weeks to grow – high nutrition Takes months to grow – low nutrition Capturing optimal grass growth pattern is key to maximizing overall benefit

  16. Over-rested, under-grazed bunch grass Both photos taken mid- summer; same soil type, slope, and aspect at 9500 feet, western Colorado Same bunch grass species under Holistic Planned Grazing

  17. Biological Monitoring to Portray the Function of the Fundamental Ecosystem Processes

  18. Same creek, photos within 100 yards of same spot… Continuous Grazing, no planning--1950 Holistic Planned Grazing--2004 Same family, same land, same livestock—different management

  19. Wyoming – both taken same day • Left-side upstream, managed holistically (260% inc in livestock over 10 years) • Right-side is downstream land managed ‘conventionally’

  20. Nature Provides the Solution

  21. Nature Provides

  22. Savory Institute/Grasslands, LLC: 55,000 acres under management, 50mm hectares in our sights, 5 Billion hectares of hope

  23. Sign up for Our Newsletter Join the Conversation Thank you! www.capitalinstitute.org

More Related