Can We Feed Ourselves without Devouring the Planet? | George Monbiot | TED

Farming is the worst thing humanity has ever done to the planet, says journalist George Monbiot. What's more: the global food system could be heading toward collapse. Detailing the technological solutions we need to radically reshape food production -- from lab-grown, protein-rich foods to crops that don't require plowing -- Monbiot shares a future-focused vision of how humanity could feed itself without destroying the planet.
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• Can We Feed Ourselves ...
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[@phloxdiffusa]

Domestic goat grazing by the second century AD, had already begun causing climate change in the Mediterranean Region. Goats and over exploitation of the vast oak forests caused widespread erosion of top soil. Man and the Mediterranean Forest: A History of Resource Depletion. By J. V. Thirgood

[@markoszouganelis5755]

🌼Thank you George Monbiot! What a beautiful and hopeful talk! I wish the world would change in this direction! I have been vegan for eight years now and will be forever! It is not possible me to change back from the moment I saw the huge difference! George Monbiot, I think that way too! Thank you again!🍀

[@effie964]

Thank you TED and George Monbiot for getting this ignored and overlooked info out there. Thank you also for reminding us all how horrifically we treat animals for our dairy, eggs and meat. So sad. There is hope for the future ⭐🥬💚

[@nevis4567]

Thank you for mentioning animal agriculture. I believe it's one of the cruelest things we do on this planet, and for some reason phasing it out is off the table. So I'm grateful it was emphasized.

[@spiral-m]

I really recommend his book (also kindle) regenesis. It is all about this and full of well-researched information and things to learn that you can use to help educate others

[@timhanser1943]

100%

[@iffus_akiyoshi]

Sounds great but only if the technology to make these factory-produced food is available to the public instead of kept confidential by companies like Solar Food that the presenter mentioned. Otherwise, it will be the same scenario as what we have currently, with only a handful of companies ruling over the food production in the world.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

This was specifically mentioned in the video. 15:09 Intellectual property rights should be weak, 15:12 and antitrust laws should be strong.

[@iffus_akiyoshi]

@@bramvanduijn8086 no that statement does not alleviate my concern. The presenter said that intellectual property laws _should_ be weak and antitrust laws _should_ be strong but is it ACTUALLY the case for this method of food production? The presenter did not clearly answer that question, hence my comment.

[@Internonalla]

​@@iffus_akiyoshi Unfortunately our current laws in at least western countries don't promote weak intellectual property rights and strong antitrust so our current food production system is riddled with oligopolies and IP control. Laws will need to be passed to prevent microbe fermentation and protein production from going the same way. So whilst advocating for new food systems is great we still need to solve the legal aspects simutaniously

[@iffus_akiyoshi]

@@Internonalla completely agreed

[@data5461]

sadly enough this is actually what will happen. Everything is always about the MONEY

[@wotsitalabowt]

May I recommend George Monbiot's book, Feral. It is superbly-written, packed with innovative ideas and is an extremely wide-ranging book that in some ways defies description. It draws on his own life experiences as well as highlighting the starkness of the issues we are currently facing, and puts forward solutions to some the many crises afflicting the natural world. It deserves to be very widely read and I'm sure in future decades will be seen as a pioneering work.

[@annoyingtosaytheleast]

8 people like the sound of that the rest of the world can’t wait for him to die so his ideas die with him and the world can get back to being half normal

[@tuckerbugeater]

absolute hogwash

[@AnneNihilate]

When everyone switches to whole foods/plant based, absolutely 💜

[@tuckerbugeater]

lol

[@viviendaquino8364]

Agreed.

[@nickhayley]

George Monbiot and Raj Patel need to have a conversation over a beer or two. They share a lot of similar ideas 💡

[@reinatycoon3644]

This is why I have started taking an interest in foraging for my food around town from nut tree, pod trees, fruit trees, and catching fish. I'd love to be one with nature like that. I also can't stand supporting farms that abuse animals. @10:32 Sadly factory farmed animals are the most mistreated and miserable. Humans should make legislation to cut animal product farming significantly and instead start slowly replacing meat with plant based textured and season meat on store shelves. I love the idea of precision fermentation. A protein rich nutrient rich bacteria with meat texture and good flavor. No excuse for people to eat abused animals anymore. I would love to try it.

[@dejavu2752]

I can certainly get behind pancakes and 'innovative' (plant-based) food that could further reduce our carbon footprint, but what about fresh food? I can only eat so many seeds and nuts before craving greens and other veg and fruit, especially for their freshness. On another note, George has a great speaking voice and oratory style. Up to now, I've only known him from his Guardian and Twitter content.

[@BananaArmsMcNess]

The area of land required for fruit and veg is fairly modest. As George says, the majority of farm land is either livestock pasture or cereals (much of which is used for livestock feed). If we move away from that then there will be plenty of space to grow fruit and vegetables without endangering the global ecosystem

[@mrdeanvincent]

Monbiot generally focuses far too much on continuing down the path of increasingly technological solutions, which are exactly what caused this mess. We need solutions that are more distributed, more democratic and less reliant on electricity. If a solution is not accessible to any community using only their local natural resources, then it's not truly sustainable and somebody is trying to sell you something and/or exert control. Tech solutions might have a transitional role to play in certain circumstances, but they inherently come with many of the same dangers we face now... such as profit-seeking, centralisation and reliance on mass energy production. All of this maintains or increases the divisions between the poor and the wealthy. Return to nature. Return to community. Global communication, global cooperation. Local everything else.

[@tuckerbugeater]

@@BananaArmsMcNess Most do not care what you think.

[@someguy2135]

@@tuckerbugeater Most should. I do.

[@someguy2135]

@@BananaArmsMcNess I agree. "If everyone were vegan, agriculture would need just a quarter of the land it uses today. Even a diet avoiding only meat from cattle and sheep would cut land use in half."-The Economist Jan 28, 2022 Reporting based on a peer reviewed Oxford study published in ""Science."

[@Rnankn]

Isn’t it important to see these two crises the lens of their root cause? Overpopulation occurs to any organism with access to abundant food and no natural predators. Populations expand as much as they can, until the face catastrophic collapse. Humans are not different, and are following the same exponential growth curve as an invasive species. Perhaps we could self-correct, but so far the use of money conceals the human relationship to the food system. Through factory farming and consumerism food is abstracted from its context. Only growing our own food could restore this link to nature, but innovating another food revolution risks amplifying the problem before leading to an even larger population decline.

[@nnes759]

There are many sides & angles to this pancake brewery start point revolution (!), one such important angle is what you're eluding to here, there are many, many more to thrash out on this, before,during pilot tests & after..

[@spiral-m]

speciesism in this case is more important than overpopulation. If (where people don't need to eat animal products to survive) people shared the same concern for equally sentient "livestock" as cats and dogs in the west at least, or generally for nonhuman animals, then we wouldn't be and half of the mess we are today.

[@colindailley5062]

Fantastic George !! Why not try introducing it in a charity context to small communities in the poor and developing countries first ; just like clean water charity projects ~ I'd be willing to donate to that ~ good luck old chap = you're our best hope !!

[@jedics1]

This talk would have been helped a lot by showing more images of the brewing of protein to make meat....It makes it easy to grasp how much less space would be needed to feed us at scale, its also a lot less gross than a slaughter house that is for sure.

[@downatthetubestation]

I'm trying to establish the difference between Solar Foods and companies like Formo and Perfect Day? Precision Fermentation exists already but I got the impression from this video that Solar Foods are pioneering its manufacture. Does anyone know what makes Solar Foods different to other companies already dealing with precision fermentation. I hope this question makes sense?

[@foxymuldar]

So why is the government trying to tax farmers out of their farms. Death tax is doing this. Here in Pa we are buying up farmland so it cant be used for any other purpose like housing etc.

[@chaosjacky]

Great enthusiasm and presentation

[@mena376]

I love the message but I feel as though it got a little too technical around the five and a half minute mark

[@MikeFromDownUnder]

Thanks for sharing this❗👍🤙

[@viniciusfranceschi2095]

Let’s be more sincere with ourselves. The first and immediate more important step is adopt a plant based diet. Something that was not even mentioned.

[@tuckerbugeater]

95 percent of people eat a meat based diet.

[@spiral-m]

He is totally on-board with this, he says get rid of animal ag. Read his book regenesis. All about that.

[@MissEuropeangirl]

Can we have Hungarian subtitles for the video? 😊

[@marxagarden]

While money is being invested in these solutions we could be investing in more practical solutions on the ground and utilizing more wisely the resources we get from nature. Just like vertical farming has not vied out, because of the cost of energy, this would likely suffer the same fate. We are trying to re-engineer nature when plants are very good at collecting energy from the sun. While on paper the bacteria mentioned may be more efficient than plants, if the whole supply chain was analyzed including energy production and land use of renewable energy, it may well turn out that they are not efficient after all. I believe his arguments and science are strong, especially considering the ecological boundaries. The need to rewild, and reduce or eliminate meat consumption is a must but building the infrastructure and providing the energy for a solution like lab-grown food is a long shot. We need the renewable energy we produce to be going to heavy industry for now. I see this as a partial solution when all other sectors have decarbonized and their demand for green hydrogen is met.

[@FONASDeadlock]

I take George's point about deforestation and how farming can be destructive. That just means that it's being done wrong. Not that it needs to stop entirely, that's 100% throwing the baby out with the bath water. Disappointing "debate" with him and Allan Savory where you had 2 people talking up their agenda's and zero debate. Wasted opportunity to put two really motivated thinkers together and acknowledge that the problem is how things are done right now and how farming can actually be a positive force in nature.

[@freeheeler09]

As the climate crisis intensifies and water becomes more scarce and fought over, agriculture is my biggest worry. A lot of proposed fixes would require even more energy and fuel inputs.

[@mayarosexxx]

Vertical farming is also coming along too. Allows food grown locally that would otherwise have to be imported like bananas for example. Saving tonnes of carbon emissions. Powered by renewables, they can produce crops all year round. Less or no need for herbicides and pesticides. Seeing they go up instead of across, much less land is needed. The rest can be returned to nature.

[@peanutkaneshiro]

Honestly i like the idea and would love to see it spread

[@VickaCastello]

Same, although many companies will never give their power to make profit out of basic human needs away, which means they will do whatever they can to sink all these ideas until there's no other option but to adopt them

[@manifesting.inner.g]

For what? Profit? To further hurt populations? You guys are SICK

[@manifesting.inner.g]

@@sacksis well spoken🔥❤💯

[@VickaCastello]

@@sacksis Yes, what you say is correct, however, looking at our current situation, most of the food that's available comes from companies that don't really care about soil replenishing, do you think they are going to do anything that costs a penny more to them? Living in a third world country I'm being affected by these issues everyday, people here don't have access to the information required to execute initiatives like yours, I'm looking at what's going on now, I'm not trying to be comical, if that's what you think I was doing.

[@VickaCastello]

@@sacksis well, I do hope that farmers change their ways, but there's something that you mentioned that has not happened Companies change when the stability of their own finances is at risk: yes. Companies change when any factors outside of the company are at risk due to their actions: no. They only change when they are forced to and even if that's the case they don't do enough, take all the different climate change promises and "must do's" and see how many countries have made the effort to change more than the minimum.

[@KaMiQa16]

Amazing talk and amazing speaker

[@tuckerbugeater]

He remind me of ISIS or the Nazis.

[@Moepowerplant]

I agree with this video, except that it did not put equal emphasis on a much more immediate solution than both precision fermentation and reforming the politics behind "unequal distribution." Cutting down on food waste. Edit: Lolol the "easy to say with a full tummy" folks in this thread. Who do you expect to propose solutions, the starving masses?

[@spiral-m]

It's a problem, agreed, but much less effective even if it were successfully tackled. Changing diets will cut it far more quickly. The waste occurs much more in the early parts of the production to consumer line and the extreme inefficiency of animal ag is amplified and "wasted" live animals cannot be simply rescued and kept until needed like many plant foods foods could/can. Food Waste "so when people claim that, because roughly 1/3 of the world's food is wasted (1), salvaging it could feed all those who go hungry today, while saving vast tracts of farmland and much of the fertiliser, pesticide and water that farmers use, don't believe them. The majority of that food is not recoverable (2, 3)" Monbiot, George. Regenesis (p. 134). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition. 1. fao platform-food-loss-waste 2. pulitzercenter frances-groundbreaking-food-waste-law-working 3. doi 10 3389 2019 00090

[@Moepowerplant]

@@spiral-m Doubt that changing attitudes, prerequisite to changing diets, would be quicker than simply preventing food waste including at the consumer stage. Your impressive reference seemed to have closed its position on a rather unceremonious "don't believe them." Care to have them elaborate how "The majority of that food is not recoverable," when supermarkets in France can be compelled by law to donate unsold produce?

[@angelacheng3766]

Wonder how many people even care about the wellbeing of other species of animals, except maybe dogs and cats. Imagine we mass produce pets for meat… I am sure we can come up with food that is healthier for us and for the planet. Hope more people are contributing to this great cause of saving the planet with sustainable food production. 🙏

[@yerahmlee730]

Read his book “regenesis”

[@verdulo]

I'm glad to hear of the new technologies. But they alone won't save us. As long as our goal is "how do we make the most money?", we are doomed. If we can manage to change this goal to "how can we give everyone a decent quality of life while not destroying the natural world?", then there is hope.

[@vanzantium]

Yes

[@someguy2135]

Precision fermentation products are already in stores. The brand of ice cream called Brave Robot, for example.

[@wildpatagoniafilms16]

interesting! who carries that brand? thanks!

[@someguy2135]

@@wildpatagoniafilms16 I don't know, but if you Google their web site, they might have a list of stores that carry the product. Buying in on line might be your best option.

[@someguy2135]

@@wildpatagoniafilms16 One more clue- the parent company is "Perfect Day."

[@wildpatagoniafilms16]

@@someguy2135 thanks!

[@someguy2135]

@@wildpatagoniafilms16 My pleasure! 🌱

[@shaxzodbee6406]

Just perfect

[@michaelrae9599]

Yes we can feed ourselves. We make up .001% of all the organic life on Earth. We can't possibly eat all of it before we start to become part of the fertilizer and propagate life. The problem is powering it all. Vertical Farming means we can turn an acre not ONE plant deep, but 100s of stories of plants per acre taking 100s of times less acreage.

[@tuckerbugeater]

then do it

[@robertyates9973]

Plants like CO2, an area 1.5 times the size of USA has been greened in the last 20 years. More people have been taken out of poverty as crop yields have increased.

[@gaetanovindigni8824]

There are many who disagree on the 'right sizing' of the human population. Researchers cannot agree on a sustainable number and can vary from 500 million to 20 billion. A reasonable number based on research that adds a buffer of one billion is about 5 billion (one billion deducted for unforeseen crisis'). What is NEVER discussed is how and when we reach any agreed upon number. The implication of how-when is disturbing.

[@nataliewilliams9741]

Well now, genocide, eugenics and nuclear warfare do come to mind 🤔.

[@gaetanovindigni8824]

@@nataliewilliams9741 There are those who are now, more and more, suggesting mandatory euthanasia. There are solutions being presented and being applied today by creative and caring people.

[@tuckerbugeater]

@@nataliewilliams9741 Maybe bioweapons like Covid that was funded by Fauci. It only kills the old and sick. I wonder what they release next. Do you think people like Monbiot are joking! Saving the planet is serious!

[@tuckerbugeater]

@@gaetanovindigni8824 People should be able to opt out of this sick system Monbiot is proposing. I know he makes it sounds so clean and rational. How many more will die? RIP to the millions they've killed with biowarfare.

[@angelacheng3766]

We should agree better to have the quality of population than the quantity of population. What is the use of numbers if we all collapsed under the unsustainable food system. Let us strive for food democracy, where we all contribute to eco friendly, less cruel food production.🙏

[@manusal9053]

This will also monopolise the production and is not healthy. Farming can be more effective if its not false mass farming. I can't support this idea of farming in a factory.

[@nnes759]

This could be the long awaited food& all thing revolutions, if combined this with other inhouse vege grows with fish poops; cricket farms; etc local brewers can stop the current planet& people destructions a step at a time instead of all the trucks&rocket factories

[@Iswimandrun]

We can fixate nitrogen straight from the air if we can get clean energy then we should have no problem growing food inside off nutrients.

[@Iswimandrun]

This went Soylent Green real quick. As long as it's not people I would try H2 pancakes.

[@malcolmnew8973]

Interesting and potentialy life changing, for ourselves, for rewilding and for farmed animals. However, i'm struggling to see how such systems fit in to a largly whole food plant based diet , which is healthy, sustaining and sustainable. Simply replacing animal protein with synthetic equivalents may not be answer. Protein difficiency is very rare and is not the issue for human diets. Can you replicate a WFPB diet largely based on fresh complex nutrient dense foods, including proteins, complex carbohydrates other phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals with factory based equivalents and would you want to? Nothing has been said about the health consequences of a diet solely based on precision fermentation. One might suspect that hydrogen based precision fermentation will simply replace the agricultural proteins for animal feed rather than for direct human foods. In which case we might be missing the point of providing a healthy alternative to intensive and extensive agriculture. I guess only time will tell...I will be watching this evolve with interest.!

[@kk-xj5oz]

Hard to distinguish the economic and food systems. Their both optimized for short term profits.

[@salsasosa4428]

Great speech from a great man

[@donuttoy8482]

Yes. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[@jimlamanna7564]

Watch 'Mammy Erff ep 1' here on youtube for a fantastic rebuttal to this.

[@AdenwalaM]

This is a brilliant idea to solve existential threats on our doorsteps. Earlier experiments in this direction of including selected insects in our daily diet, however, did not succeed. Perhaps this apparently less gory solution bypass our embedded biases.

[@Manic.miner2077]

Awesome, I’m down, but you really think that the people with all the wealth and infrastructure are going to allow this technology to be shared out freely? That’s where it all falls flat if you ask me.

[@ARADHYA1451]

😊

[@BrianSmith-nw2jo]

Or atleast talk about current day and industrial farming. There are my h better ways to farm that will also help the climate problem.

[@SibylleLeon]

I'll be the first to buy these products, hope this stuff goes into mass production soon!

[@nnnnevermindddd]

Mass production is the elephant in the room.. that's what we need to get rid of

[@florinapostoiu]

@@nnnnevermindddd Well, mass production has another elephant behind it, even bigger than the first one, and this one is tabu, literary. If we don't educate ourselves willingly, nature will educate us, in ways yet unimagined by men.

[@tme98]

@@nnnnevermindddd Mass production is the element of global economy, as long as there is more people willing to pay - they are willing to produce more.

[@sonyavincent7450]

First. Love from New Zealand 🇳🇿 ❤

[@life42theuniverse]

3:30 I believe India understood pasture raised cattle was unsustainable millennia ago, they made it sacred. Unfortunately the population expanded into pastures and once again facing famine. Leaving out the reasons for elite decisions “I’m sorry citizens there are too many people we cannot raise enough cattle to feed everyone...”

[@life42theuniverse]

Plant oils are nearly indigestible. They make food palpable but they are filler. It’s difficult to obtain necessary quantities of vitamin B-12 on a vegetarian diet, the primary source being cattle and fish. B12 is necessary for mitochondria to activate vitamin D in the skin with sunlight. Lack of vitamin D causes many health issues including tooth decay, bone loss aggravated by the increased consumption of sugar and carbohydrates.

[@life42theuniverse]

Bacteria fed upon hydrogen is also a non solution as hydrogen is mostly processed natural gas(methane). Low and High pressures (wind power) in the atmosphere is solar energy.

[@life42theuniverse]

The solar energy is NOT the sole providence of humanity... claiming it all will destroy all life. The rain/hydroelectric energy is also solar energy. The consumption of geothermal heat raises atmospheric temperature and cools tectonic plates causing earthquakes! Radioactive elements uranium/thorium are finite/limited won’t last predicted ‘centuries’ as consumption rates are increasing.

[@peterdollins3610]

The intensity of farming increased in the First then far more in the Second World War for obvious reasons. My father had a market garden with walled gardens with three chicken coops. I collected the eggs morning times. Then those 60 chickens roamed a large field in the day. This is in 1950. So the idea of food production always being a force of evil is at best dubious. But in 1951 this system my father had was replaced by a barn stacked by confused & suffering chickens. From there on food production became ever more intensified & polluting. I love the idea of brewed up food. But where is it George? Where are your regular two month updates by you or others on this? Where is the political pressure for it?

[@allanmartinez7535]

Is this a good time to buy stocks/crypto in the Europe? I know everyone is saying stocks are at a discount and all, but just how long will It take for us to recover, obviously there are strategies to manoeuvre in this present market but these strategies doesn't come common to the average folk, or am I better off putting my money elsewhere.

[@allanmartinez7535]

@roseallen2521 I agree, that's the more reason I prefer my day to day investment decisions being guided by an inv-coach, seeing that their entire skillset is built around short & long term holdings for profit realisation, coupled with the exclusive analysis they possess, it's near impossible to not out-perform. I've been investing with a coach literally for 4years, and have accrued approx. $1.4m in net-profits thus far.

[@allanmartinez7535]

@roseallen2521 I am guided by ASHLEY AIRAGAHI I found her on a CNBC interview where she was featured and reached out to her. She has since provided entry and exit points on the securities I focus on. You can look her up online if you care supervision.

[@piotrt2570]

Good show but he should speak to that 4 companis not to randoms in room that can just clap

[@ronkirk5099]

Until our governments get up to full speed with policies and regulations to help mitigate climate change, it is incumbent on all of us to do whatever we can on an individual level. To that end and for my own health as well, I started eating lower on the food pyramid years ago.

[@BrianPearce-iu2wz]

More beef lamb pork and takeaways

[@nnes759]

Fraction of, land space; water; energy, no fertilizer or farm machineries, all good, Also good is pancake for starter, then where's the multi color veges, fruits, potatoes; pulses; meats (or crickets); milks& juices ;desert- fruits etc brewers !! Also great idea, all around, is to begin the stopping of all Multinationals, Oligarchs, mega millionairs & stock markets with this starts, (but craft brewery beers're normally twice costly can the local food brewers bring the prices truly lower?) It's definitely way better to have many more different, efficent, local brewers as small millionairs than the current Highly skewed, 1-2% Greedy one-sided Oligarchs& Co's controlled & wildly destroyed Mother Earth & 98% of us, the common people, that're being oppressed/ destroyed slowly, no rapidly, by the hour & mts, currently!!

[@zuhairasulaiman6454]

Can someone explain it in a easier way?

[@billkingston4402]

Sesame Street?

[@spiral-m]

This basic physical law illustrates the huge inefficiency of producing food higher up the food chain (chain = approximately, sun → plants → herbivores → carnivores / omnivores. Humans can be plant-based): "Not all of the biomass is passed from the maize plants to the locusts. In fact, only about ten per cent of the biomass is transferred from each trophic level to the next. The remaining 90 per cent is used by the trophic level to complete life processes. Biomass can be lost between stages because not all of the matter eaten by an organism is digested. Some of it is excreted as waste such as solid faeces, carbon dioxide and water in respiration and water and urea in urine. Because only around 10% of the biomass at each trophic level is passed to the next, the total amount becomes very small after only a few levels. So food chains are rarely longer than six trophic levels." source BBC. Hope that helps.

[@Randomness662]

The insane amount of privilege that most humans have that if this succeeds and we can solve another big crisis they will never have known it happened they will just think it’s another new product. They will never know the stress passion and the work put in by these scientists.

[@ZNLBailey]

Like you with everything else before us? This is a reality of existence for all Humans. For the most part, everything has gotten better as time has progressed.

[@Randomness662]

@@ZNLBailey 🤨

[@MrElvis1971]

You do realise there wasn't a human-made global environmental crisis until science and technology really started to become dominant in societies. For every problem it fixes, it creates 2 more.

[@instantpotenjoyer]

bUt WiLl tHiS MaXiMiZe rEtUrN oN iNvEsTmEnT?

[@tuckerbugeater]

Can you live from eating grass?

[@billiverschoore2466]

Nope. Precision fermentation would once again push us into the hands of the few who would be "god". Pls look into nutrient value of plants; it shows that the more we mess with natural processes, the fewer nutrients the plants contain (e.g. F1s, GMO,... ), and as such we will be eating ourselves to starvation. The trick is to allow the soils to become fertile again; worldwide re-greening projects and regenerative farming are beautiful examples. Roaming and minimally herded cattle play an important part in these Nature-respecting methods. Btw the high CO2 levels are our best chance to achieve this - commercial glasshouse veg producers blow it into their glasshouses at considerable expense; plants lóve it. The continual poisoning we carry out will be more difficult to remediate. We don't just need to do things better; we need to do better things... 🙏🏽 🌳🕊💚

[@Sadrx]

Brewing up a meaty steak the same way we currently brew up the bacterial cultures in cheese? Sign me up!

[@Picci25021973]

"It's not the cow, it's the how".

[@carinaekstrom1]

It's the cow.

[@Picci25021973]

@@carinaekstrom1 Just as an example, Allan Savory restored hundreds of thousands of hectares of grassland using cow herds. Search and see his 2-million-views video here on TED.

[@carinaekstrom1]

@@Picci25021973 There are much better ways to restore land. Look at what what Geoff Lawton has done, or what veganic farming can do. Plant trees.

[@Picci25021973]

@@carinaekstrom1 I know very well Lawton's work. Geoff regularly uses goats, chicken and cows to add fertility both in Australia and in Jordan. And he's not a vegan. I practice permaculture using annuals, perennials and trees. Animals (humans included) are an essential part of the system.

[@carinaekstrom1]

@@Picci25021973 Big debunk of "Sacred cow" coming soon, I heard.

[@s3narasi]

you know Africa and Asia had forest inhabiting humans who sell the tree produce as food. they converted such forests to monolithic Tree farms with road connectivity and now they say that is the problem. Define civilised human being dont call forest dwellers uncivilised and then stop converting mountain tops to tea estates the problems will all get fixed.

[@felipecantalice5326]

That's so interesting! We really need a break from actual farming, but it's really hard, because money rule's.

[@marcosradix1]

So easy to say it with full tummy!

[@bookipzee]

I don't understand why doesn't every talk about the "_____" global crisis start with overpopulation as a key problem. Food crisis? Not enough food and too many mouths, so how about also not having so many mouths to feed?! This taboo has to end

[@aniruddhsrivastava5781]

The real taboo is not talking about a few mouths specially in the west eating or overeating far more than required Eating more than the "overpopulation"

[@bramvanduijn8086]

Because reproduction is already dropping world wide and has been dropping for decades. It is a solved problem, it is just taking some time for the exponential growth to shrink to the point where the population starts shrinking.

[@jonathanbailey1597]

Overpopulation is a red herring, one usually coopted by eugenicists. Overconsumption, waste, monopoly, and gross inequality are the actual problem. The evidence base is pretty unequivocal on that.

[@the0point]

the wealthy emit 50% of greenhouse gases which accounts for much of the global population. the problem is the rich.

[@tuckerbugeater]

@@bramvanduijn8086 Yeah, after they pumped PFAS into our bodies for decades. Now they're trying to ban it! I don't know how people can't see this. The US was promoting depopulation in the early 70s.

[@Cardioid2035]

Also cows produce an absurd amount of Co2 contributing to our ongoing carbon output/ environmental problems. I’ve heard direct air capture (DAC) technology can be used in industrial greenhouses to help grow plants, which I think could be very useful if incentivized through government programs. I think high-rise industrial agriculture is going to be our only option regardless as we move into the future given the rapidly increasing global populous and the current poor land/ resource management.

[@begentlebutdontallowshit2549]

To anyone that might be reading this, I wish that whatever is hurting you or whatever you are constantly stressing about gets better. I sincerely wish everyone that happiness enters your hearts and let all the stress and sadness vanish out of your life...as you know nothing in life is ever easy, but what's important is that you keep going! you're worthy of love and happiness, never allow anyone to tell you otherwise! It can be extra hard sometimes but stay strong and hang in there, your life matters, no one can replace you, I'm thankful you're born and I'm sure your struggles will pass soon! I wish all of you plenty of health and strength during these tough times. remember you are strong, you got this! never forget that! sending much love over towards all of you, May god or whatever you might believe in bless you the way you need it to! ♥️🌟

[@AndyS52]

why do you spam?

[@winstonjen5360]

People who breed instead of adopt should be imprisoned, not rewarded.

[@erwinjessealjas2826]

Agriculture for extensive profiteering.

[@JDiegar]

Oh stop eating meat? Why didn't you say so sooner.. I'm sure everyone would be down for that

[@gaetanovindigni8824]

Transporting nearly weightless live bacteria to make food would be cheaper not only on Earth but to future colonies on and around our moon and Mars. And for that matter, transporting knowledge itself either in the mind of a human or on silicon is also nearly cost free. Solar Farms may realize more efficiency at higher farming altitudes such as the San Luis Valley in Colorado at approximately 8K feet.

[@americron912]

Have you heard about seeds?

[@placeholdername0000]

@@americron912 How big of a greenhouse would you have to build to supply a Mars base. A bioreactor is much more compact.

[@americron912]

@@placeholdername0000 They can make more compact greenhouses, but you're right that a bioreactor is more compact.

[@gaetanovindigni8824]

@@americron912 Yes, seeds as in 'vertical farming' would be another food production technology both on Earth and future human colonies.

[@americron912]

have you heard about hydroponics? They achieve what you claim and more.

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

No.

[@HeavyMetal45]

Don’t wind farms and solar panels use a lot of land?

[@agubata1]

Mr Monbiot presents a highly informative and exciting lecture. But failing to mention the monumental wastage that is food mountains and wine lakes and its historically catastrophic impact on the subject of the lecture amounts to either a fudge or cowardice. Presenting the lecture in universal terms without mentioning the worst culprits amounts to evasion of accountability. Blaming everyone for the greed and malpractice of the few is at best partisan.

[@spiral-m]

He didn't mention it because the problem is far smaller. This is to do with it being spread across the production to consumer line and the fact that the extreme inefficiencies of having to feed animals in order to feed humans are amplified in the wastage and you can't rescue and house live animals as you can with a lot of food. He is not being cowardly etc. He discusses this in his book which I have read and bases his argument on very sound logic. "so when people claim that, because roughly 1/3 of the world's food is wasted (1), salvaging it could feed all those who go hungry today, while saving vast tracts of farmland and much of the fertiliser, pesticide and water that farmers use, don't believe them. The majority of that food is not recoverable (2, 3)" Monbiot, George. Regenesis (p. 134). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition. 1. fao platform-food-loss-waste 2. pulitzercenter frances-groundbreaking-food-waste-law-working 3. doi 10 3389 2019 00090 Here an example: "The opportunity cost of animal based diets exceeds all food losses" pnas 115/15/3804 As consumers our impact here is also negligible

[@wildpatagoniafilms16]

???? what? did you see the presentation at all...? how do you come to that conclusion!?

[@philippajoy4300]

Is anyone working on making this unnatural stuff apt for human digestive system? Sounds hyper processed, and we now know that this causes cancer. Just asking.

[@arjundas7078]

Off the farm into the factory...☀

[@koerttijdens1234]

Factory ? Food comes from the supermarket.

[@tuckerbugeater]

@@koerttijdens1234 And Vegan calories come from agriculture that helped create feudalism and slavery. You can't live off vegetables and fruits.

[@user-wp8yx]

My understanding is there is no shortage of food. That the United States produces enough food to feed the entire planet three times over each year. That Ukraine also produces quite a bit of food. There is no food shortage, there is a distribution shortage and there is a lot of wealth inequality. Eating bugs isn't going to fix it.

[@AndyS52]

It's about control

[@chrisw8011]

You didn't watch the video did you

[@AndyS52]

@@chrisw8011 i did

[@user-wp8yx]

@@chrisw8011 busted! You're right, sir I did not make it to the whole video. However I did watch much of it.

[@tuckerbugeater]

@@user-wp8yx They can cause this crisis using bioweapons. They've already killed millions of swine and chickens.

[@invox9490]

More to eat will NOT make us eat less... Which should be the solution.

[@jonas7510]

if precision fermentation runs on hydrogen , it requires lots of energy (electricity) to produce the hydrogen . . . which requires more and more land even for the tiny percentage of renewable energy we're currently producing . i don't think this is going to be a silver bullet .

[@placeholdername0000]

The overall process is way more efficient from a land use perspective. And also, you can put up solar panels in the desert where food cannot otherwise be grown.

[@spijkerpoes]

The current food system also runs on sunlight: animal fodder made from soy and corn grown in sunlight. Former rainforest mostly. Or where I live: the former most impressive river delta ever. And indeed a big part fossilized sunlight. Diesel and gas for transport, work and fertilizer. The hydrogen could be made and stored in times of plenty of wind and solar. A solution of the ever discussion of green energy never on demand. But indeed there will be many ifs and butts no doubt.. Mostly to do with legal rights patents and money to invest. Not to mention the politicization of eating dead animals = freedom.

[@jonas7510]

@@placeholdername0000 so . . . where is the required energy supposed to come from ?

[@jonas7510]

@@spijkerpoes i gather from your handle you're from the netherlands like me - waar moet de energie vandaan komen ? niet uit olie , en net zo goed niet uit zonnepanelen ... dus waar dan vandaan ?

[@placeholdername0000]

@@jonas7510 Solar, wind, nuclear etc?

[@chrisw8011]

Regenerative ruminant agriculture can restore biodiversity, enhance the soil, improve carbon sequestration, and feed us nutrient dense bioavailable protein. Most of that land isn't suitable for anything else anyways (rocky and hilly grasslands). Why would we gamble on science wheat based on expensive chemical inputs?

[@TheJesusFreeke]

Combined with regenerative agriculture or permaculture, I could buy this idea.

[@AndyS52]

This is against everything both of those things stand for. Did you even listen to it? He wants all your food to be made in a vat in a factory

[@WaterhenBloa14]

Why doesn't this guy take on the rich jet set and war mongers? But no it'll be one rule for them and one for us.

[@RehanRC]

Fail. "I tasted a 'pancake'." Won't work on large scale because it tastes nothing like a pancake or the texture doesn't match or it doesn't have the same cooking physics and chemistry as regular pancake batter. So, people won't want to buy it. No funding. The better way to market it would be as its own thing. A product unique to itself: Something that tastes better than pancakes or is it's own thing like a dough ball maybe? Put frosting on it and boom you've got a hit.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

I'd buy it. Am I not people?

[@davidfortier6976]

So it will never get better? It will never improve? The Ford Model-T was a crummy excuse for a car, but nobody drives them anymore.

[@spiral-m]

When food prices start escalating I think priorities will become more realistic

[@feelingoffbalance]

Go vegan people:) Go to your supermarket and check out what vegan products they have. You would be surprised:)

[@equipt4sound]

Genetic engineering? NASA? Surprising? The look of disgusting? So he ate this pancake, let's check back in 30 years and see what developed.

[@tuckerbugeater]

turn earth into a Mars colony

[@dailydoseofmedicinee]

🗯

[@AndyS52]

If you are concerned about land, look up Allan Savory to see how he transformed deserts back into productive, vibrant, biodiverse land by using controlled cattle grazing

[@jhunt5578]

Allan Savory is a hack. The data from white oaks pastures is terrible. The sheer amount of land needed for it to work is ridiculous. And once the soils are restored they cannot draw down any more carbon. You just have a ton of methane net emitting cows. Woodland and forests absorb more carbon that cattle farms. Smh. Animal regan ag is a meat industry stunt that people who want to hear good news about their bad habits parrot.

[@AndyS52]

@@jhunt5578 ok so you would rather leave those areas desert and draw down no carbon?

[@AndyS52]

@@jhunt5578 have you ever driven across America? we have endless land going unused

[@jhunt5578]

@Andy Scott The false assumption is that the only way yo restore soils is with cows. You can restore soils with regenerative plant agriculture. Using green manures, nitrogen fixing plants and cover crops.

[@jhunt5578]

@Andy Scott The last thing the environment needs is billions more methane emitting cows on that land.

[@nataliewilliams9741]

Sounds like George is a WEF guy. But it's all for your own good, you can take Klaus Schwab's word for it!

[@Aerosol_Masking]

Nonsense.

[@charlessimbolon7333]

Perhaps we already brainwashed about climate change and poverty . Most of the poor from the develpping country are farmers, like in palm oil , soy and poultry. Eventhough we knew the poor and poorest people from developing nations has a much lower than these guys who preach us abou climate change. For your information most of the poor in emerging market and poor countryhas a carbon footprint about lower than one ton CO2 perkapita per year. While most people in developed country has carbon footprint more than 10 ton CO2 per kapita in every single year.

[@IPSSANJEEVYADAVS]

First

[@karlstone6011]

I don't dispute the facts, but the implications from the facts. On a well run farm, an animal has a better life than in the wild; and a less painful death than many a "natural" fate. Arguably, via agriculture, humans have made the world a kinder place than one in which most animals were under constant threat of being torn apart by predators. We killed the predators and raised farm animals. Yes, we did! Monbiot considers that environmental destruction; despite the naturalistic fallacy of assuming that what is natural is therefore good. Agriculture is nature organised for our benefit. Surely, the question should be how agriculture can be practised to promote the environmental good. Alan Savory has some interesting ideas about resisting desertification with cattle farming, for example. For myself, I bang on and on about Magma Energy - a truly monolithic clean energy source demonstrated by Nasa/Sandia Labs 40 years ago and studiously ignored by all. Desalination and irrigation requires enormous amounts of energy; but imagine agriculture had that energy to spend to produce water, to produce food, carbon free! The impact of agriculture on forests and natural water sources would be much reduced if it were affordable to irrigate deserts, plant rough crops for cattle, accumulate biomass, producing food and creating arable land with value. How is that not an environmental good? Monbiot seems to assume continued fossil fuel use; and demand side sacrifices to reduce carbon emissions. But give farmers limitless clean magma energy to spend, and they would have the means to develop the wasteland rather than burn the forest.

[@Cytronik]

The answer you are looking for is veganism

[@evanfinnian]

Too many health complications down the line due to nutrient deficiencies. Our bodies have not evolved for veganism. It is more realistic to grow meat in labs with stem cells than to ask people to change their diets to something that doesn’t suit their nutritional needs.

[@Cytronik]

@@evanfinnian Yeah well I don't know if you know but its 2023. There are supplements for everything you need. With eating animal products you not only contribute to climate change big time but also to exploitation of humans and animals, deforestation and creating multiresistent germs, just to name a few things.

[@evanfinnian]

@@Cytronik That’s true but I think you and I both know that most people don’t care enough to opt out of meat no matter how many facts you throw at them. If you want to be practical, making lab grown meat the cheaper alternative to farming animals is a more realistic solution.

[@ryananderson1007]

I don't understand one of his claims about pastures for grazing animals. Land that sheep, cattle, and goats use for grazing is too dry or rocky, but usually both to support agriculture. Sounds like he paid to be on a TED talk.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

He isn't talking about replacing pastures with farms, he is talking about replacing pastures with nature. 0:23 Farming is the greatest cause of habitat destruction, 0:27 the greatest cause of wildlife loss, 0:29 the world's greatest cause of extinction.

[@ryananderson1007]

@@bramvanduijn8086 oooo. Thanks for the timestamps. Clears that up

[@shaxzodbee6406]

Why???

[@ryananderson1007]

@@shaxzodbee6406 ya I was wrong. Bram pointed out where the speaker explained the issues I didn't fully grasp

[@deanfowles3707]

I see all these climate change solutions and I can't help thinking, ah so that's how the millionaire and billionaire class will live on while the rest of us dle.

[@SamiCoopers]

Sign me up

[@AndyS52]

you want to eat food grown in a vat in a factory?

[@joaoabegao2888]

As always, Mr Monbiot, great commentary on the 'supply' side of the equation. But it doesn't really matter how many solutions, ideas and optimism you bring into the TED stage, if you continue to do the mental acrobatics you have become known to do, on the 'demand' side, by completely ignoring Population growth. As long as our numbers don't globally decrease we will continue to devour the planet, either through farming or other creative ideas such as the ones you propose, and others. Regardless of the process we adopt, any additional human being on the planet, has a non-negligible impact on the biological foundations that sustain all life.

[@dondoodat]

The last century has almost doubled life expectancy in the West and has decreased infant mortality around the world. Many people had more children than they wanted based on the assumption that few would make it to adulthood, their children being their providers during old age. The use of contraception has helped too. Humans will find a balance, as does all of nature, it just takes a generation or two to settle.

[@Tarath721]

Any one can help me to learn English

[@JewTube001]

nope. use an app.