Saving the Planet With Your Food Choices | Michael Twining | TEDxGrandCanyonUniversity

[@SpiritStride]

This is such an amazing solution! More people need to be innovating in this way ✨

[@valeriehlavigne]

The concepts presented here align with a lot of current research on climate-smart agriculture! We have to continue promoting and funding these technologies to tackle climate change effectively.

[@michaeltwining2123]

Couldn't agree more!

[@lucastanard]

He's so right about the beliefs we have about food. It's been sold to us as organic is better and everyone eats up the fear on genetically modified food.

[@michaeltwining2123]

You said it well! By using technology responsibly in producing our food, we can not only grow wholesome and affordable food but also make a global positive impact on Climate change.

[@someonednamessomeone]

His background in farming adds a lot of credibility to his arguments. It's refreshing to hear from someone who's actually worked in the fields and seen these issues firsthand.

[@michaeltwining2123]

Thanks for your comment. I'm glad you found the talk refreshing. Real and pragmatic solutions to Climate change are ready to be implemented if we can provide the right incentives. Those will only become a reality, however, if consumers like yourself are open and supportive-thank you! Your voice and choices can make a real and meaningful difference!

[@thoseDelawareboys]

Great talk Mike. Excellent delivery covering tough, but extremely relevant, topics on a national level. I appreciate hearing from people with an agricultural background talk about modern food production.

[@michaeltwining2123]

Thanks Phillip! You are one of the people who truly are sustainable ag experts and make a difference every day by helping farmers increase food production in sustainable and climate friendly ways!

[@TomBradyIsthegoat28-3-n6q]

One of the greatest Ted talks I’ve ever seen

[@michaeltwining2123]

Thanks so much for your kind words! That means a lot.

[@ericbluman]

This is a really important topic, lucidly and thoughtfully covered by Mike Twining. Kudos to Mike for being on the vanguard of those within the agricultural community that are prioritizing climate change issues.

[@sheilalindsay]

Thank you, I think I'll be asking a lot more questions about where my food comes from now and how it's grown!

[@michaeltwining2123]

I'm glad you are thinking differently about your food purchases! Food grown with technology-enabled, regenerative practices is good for you and the environment!

[@luna-marco]

I love how he encourages us to think critically about food labeling and marketing. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking certain labels automatically mean "better" or "healthier".

[@michaeltwining2123]

We can have healthy food AND a healthy planet, helped to be healthy by growing that food😊! Thanks for commenting and questioning popular food labels!

[@mariannemortimer7724]

This is amazing and really speaks to how everyone can get involved with creating solutions for climate change!

[@michaeltwining2123]

Everyone really can get involved! Not only can we actively ignore marketing that works against the responsible use of technology in food production, but I'd encourage you to also reach out to your elected officials and tell them to support science-based regulation that creates structure around meaningful Climate-Smart food.

[@lizzaleleflame9967]

Love this kind of thinking! Updating practices with the tech we have available just seems like a no-brainer, especially if it goes towards helping climate change!

[@michaeltwining2123]

Thanks for your comment and you are really on point with your thinking! Using technology in food production that allows us to produce safe, affordable and nutritious food while simultaneously making progress to reverse climate change is possible today and is very exciting. Everyone wins!

[@chewysbacka]

I struggle a lot with healthier eating but this is a nice motivator!

[@kylefereth]

This has definitely impacted the way I am going to shop for groceries in the future. This man did a great job portraying the problem of climate change and CO2 emissions in agriculture and everyday foods. This man has also helped me understand why I should make better decisions when I go to the grocery store.

[@michaeltwining2123]

Thanks for watching and for your thoughtful comment! Climate Change affects and will affect us all, and aligning our food purchases to incentivize the combination of technology and regenerative farming practices is a simple and powerful thing all of us can do!

[@GrayWirth-y4c]

Very insightful thoughts on how our food purchases can help improve the climate!

[@michaeltwining2123]

Gray, glad you found the talk insightful!

[@evielangtree8743]

Glad to hear that there is hope to potentially reverse some of the damage we've done!

[@mateoolsert]

Glad to hear that we could potentially reverse some of the damage we've done!

[@imadampierce]

I love how the talk connects complex issues like genetic modification and herbicide use to everyday things like pizza and wings. It makes the topic much more relatable and easier to understand.

[@michaeltwining2123]

So glad this was understandable for you! We can make tremendous progress by embedding climate-friendly and regenerative technology in our food production because most of us won't have to change what we eat. We can enjoy our favorite foods knowing we are doing something good for the environment! Thanks for the comment!

[@jeremythornton9701]

Thank you, Mike. I appreciate learning from you - a true leader in agriculture!

[@michaeltwining2123]

Thanks, Jeremy! Professionals like yourself help us be better stewards of the land and grow safe, nutritious food.

[@jus-t-s]

What a refreshing take on the role of technology in sustainability!

[@michaeltwining2123]

It is really exciting what can be done when we think about what can be done by combining technology and nature in friendly and compatible ways!!

[@pennjteller]

this guy's perspective on agriculture is eye-opening! never thought about how farming could actually help combat climate change. It's cool to see how tech and nature can work together to solve big problems.

[@michaeltwining2123]

Thanks for chiming in and glad this was eye-opening! It truly is amazing what modern agriculture is capable of and could do to help fight climate change if we are able to advance good policies and support the responsible use of technology in regenerative agriculture systems.

[@busterbeansishere]

This is such a cool idea! Hope to see it take it off

[@wendyrocha8331]

We should be looking at how these technologies fit into smaller-scale community-based farming too.

[@BryanKrehnbrink]

Love this TedX talk and the information it gave for me to think differently at the grocery store. He is right about needing to challenge existing ways and have forward thinking actions.

[@michaeltwining2123]

Bryan, I'm glad you're thinking differently at the grocery store! Our current food labels need to do a better job of helping us understand if the food we are buying is helping or hurting the climate. Savvy consumers like you can help by simply avoiding labels that are designed to scare you and don't convey helpful information. Thanks for the comment!!

[@pengzhou6952]

It was good to hear a discussion on food that wasn't centred around organic vs traditional - I know he touched on that but the analogy about whose sitting in first class on a crashing plane sums up how I feel about all this too

[@GreggHarman-g9h]

Great topic and great message! Thanks Mike for sharing a great message to the World for Agriculture!

[@michaeltwining2123]

Thanks, Gregg. Professionals like yourself are leading the way in developing some of the most exciting and sustainable plant nutrition technologies available today. Thanks for all you are doing for sustainable and climate-friendly food production.

[@pierremartinetto]

Smart talk, thank you Michael. We need more thinking like this to save our planet

[@UniqueSpeakingStyle]

Such a fantastic talk! And such important information to understand!

[@michaeltwining2123]

Tanja you are so kind and openminded!

[@JeffCecil-b8n]

Great message to help support a different conversation from someone who really understands the topic. Thanks for sharing your knowledge Mike.

[@michaeltwining2123]

Jeff, thanks so much for the comment and kind words!

[@KimMcConnell-x2g]

GREAT TEDTalk. Wonderful message. Thanks for sharing.

[@thirstyduck]

Glad I listened all the way through lol I was about to say surely that carbon just comes out the ground when the field gets tilled. Glad there's already a solution for that!

[@michaeltwining2123]

Hi, I'm Mike Twining. Thanks for watching my TEDx talk! I hope my ideas spark curiosity and conversation beyond the standard sound bites we all hear about how our food is raised. I did this talk for my children and their generation. We have an incredible opportunity to combine existing technologies with regenerative farming practices TODAY on a GLOBAL SCALE to begin to reverse climate change, buying us valuable time in the race against global warming. TED put a disclaimer on my talk, and I understand that the concepts I present differ from current norms. I hope I've sparked your interest!

[@judeblyth3606]

great talk Michael, thank you!

[@michaeltwining2123]

Thank you for the comment!

[@duckydoda]

The idea of eating our way to a cleaner planet is pretty cool. It's empowering to know that our food choices can make a real difference in fighting climate change.

[@michaeltwining2123]

I hope you dig in on Climate-Smart Food! I hope we can advance to a meaningful Climate-Smart food label in the near future. In the meantime, I appreciate your comment and your doing what you can to avoid food labels that disincentivize safe, modern food production technology!

[@samanthacampbell3765]

Good points and informative about tilling practices. I don't agree that Glyphosate should be accepted as a practice - too hard to enforce the best ways to use it (sparingly). Soil health is so important, so thank you to Mike for spreading the word.

[@michaeltwining2123]

I'm so glad you found the talk informative! I certainly understand your concern about Glyphosate. I just want to share that I work directly with growers and professional licensed applicators who consistently and carefully follow all labeled requirements and use it sparingly. It is not inexpensive, and growers operate on very tight profit margins, so they try really hard to use only what they have to. I encourage you to think about Glyphosate as many of us think about things like Tylenol - use it when you need it and according to label directions. You and the environment will be safe and experience some great benefits. That said, I'm all about incremental improvements, and helping move towards generally more climate-friendly food production is our biggest goal. Thank you for being open to hearing about and supporting soil health in general!

[@kendalllrose]

I appreciated what he said about how we can tip the scales based on our choices but I'm still a little confused about which food to be buying?

[@sudden-impact]

Gotta admit, I was skeptical about glyphosate at first, but the explanation about how it can help reduce tillage and keep carbon in the soil makes sense. Still, I'd like to see more long-term studies on its environmental impact.

[@lifeisshortliveit]

he lost me a bit with some of the more technical stuff but I love the overall message! We need to start thinking outside the box if we're going to save this planet.

[@chesbronz]

Grand Slam Well Done MIKE!

[@michaeltwining2123]

Thanks, so glad it resonated with you!

[@why-why-why-why1]

I'm all for supporting climate-smart agriculture, but let's not forget the importance of local and sustainable food systems.

[@christopherccooper]

This sounds like such a great solution!

[@KarenWhitt-n9j]

Great job Mike!

[@michaeltwining2123]

Thanks Karen!

[@marishka5737]

I feel like this talk will have me looking at my grocery stores produce section in a whole new light...

[@michaeltwining2123]

Great! A lot of money is being made with labels and misinformation that scares consumers. In addition, very few of our most current food labels give us information about the impact of the food we eat on the climate. Thanks for watching my talk!

[@reynaque]

I'm intrigued by the concept of regenerative agriculture. It seems like a smart compromise between organic and conventional farming methods. Wonder if any local farms near me are practicing this?

[@michaeltwining2123]

Regenerative ag is an exciting and relatively new concept in mainstream agriculture. You describe it well as a "smart compromise." Given the rate of acceleration of Climate Change we need to look for opportunities like Regen Ag to make real and meaningful progress on improving the environment. Unfortunately, a "list" of growers doing it doesn't yet exist. Most farmers who sell directly to the public are very open to talking about their operations and how they farm, and I'd encourage you to stop at a local farm stand and start a conversation with the farmer. You can learn a lot about how they and other local farmers farm. Thanks for watching the talk and thinking about smart compromises!

[@johnathanbrayton]

really good talk! 👏

[@mehdidouinine]

I feel like there's a lot of fear mongering over our food choices, lots of people think that everything is poison and that concern is taking priority over everything else

[@Notthefootykevinrooney]

Sad state of things when everything we do has to be with saving the planet in mind

[@orlageary5104]

Great vid on how these 3 poorly understood technologies can drastically improve our carbon dioxide problem.

[@aaronereid]

Never realized how much carbon gets released when soil is tilled. Makes me wonder about the carbon footprint of my backyard garden. Might need to rethink my approach!

[@kirstenviesitle]

Interesting video, however, I'm still concerned about the health implications of GMOs and glyphosate.

[@forestchancey]

I'm curious about the potential downsides of these climate-smart agriculture methods… they sound promising but I bet there are risks and challenges to implementing them on a large scale

[@jabajaba7488]

"Roop thought he had to fart, but he really had to poop" hahahaha

[@stealtheddefender]

This talk has me questioning some of my long-held beliefs about organic food. I always thought it was the best choice for the environment, but now I'm not so sure...

[@michaeltwining2123]

This is a common misconception. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) created the organic program as a "marketing" program. Don't get me wrong, there are some great organic producers out there, and the most progressive conventional growers today are incorporating many practices championed by organic growers, like cover crops and well-planned crop rotations. However, the fact that organic food takes more land to produce the same amount of food and involves a lot of tillage that interferes with carbon storage, the reality is that organic food, more often than not, is LESS climate-friendly than technology-empowered regenerative agriculture. I'd encourage you to focus on purchasing as much locally grown (less transportation costs) food and whole foods grown in the USA using conventional (modern) production methods. They are both a healthy choice for you and for the environment! Thanks for watching my talk, and please share it as you feel comfortable!

[@burkesimms]

It isn't even a thought for us when we're at the supermarket buying fruit and veg.

[@iambabypink]

The idea of using genetic modification to help plants absorb more CO2 is mind-blowing. It's like giving nature a boost to help fight climate change. Science is so awesome!

[@michaeltwining2123]

It is amazing that the same technology we use to make insulin (GMO) to save lives can be used to save our planet!! If you want to read more about the Harnessing Plants Initiative, just search for Salk Institute Harnessing Plants Initiative. They do a great job of explaining how it works. Thanks for watching my talk!

[@alisonjanicewhite]

When he says that if the Corn, Soybean, Wheat and Rice farmlands put the Suk Institute trait in it would put over 300 million acres to work removing excess carbon. Does he mean, these farmers need convincing? or the tech isn't fully developed yet?

[@michaeltwining2123]

It’s some of both. The trait the Salk Institute has developed is still in the very early stages of commercialization so it’s not yet available for farmers to plant. Once it becomes available (hopefully in at least one crop) in the next couple of years, farmers will evaluate it as a potential option to plant. Having incentives for them to grow it will be really important to scale adoption. If countries ban GMOs this will really make it difficult for farmers to choose this climate friendly option.

[@rebeccadcarl]

Gene-edited crops is so crazy to me. We live in the future.

[@michaeltwining2123]

It is an exciting time! We can do incredible things with careful use of this tech. Thanks for commenting.

[@jessicamahmed]

He makes it sound like technologies are the perfect solution, but history shows that there are always trade offs....

[@michaeltwining2123]

Jessica, that's a good point, and thanks for your comment. To be clear, I don't think technology alone is the solution. In fact, by themselves, it can actually create unintended negative consequences. It is when it is combined in a synergistic way with Regenerative Agricultural practices that we make progress. The bottom line is that there are no easy solutions to Climate Change. Still, we can make significant positive incremental gains on a global scale with food production that uses both "natural" and "technological" tools in a complimentary fashion. When technology is positioned in a way that people become scared of it, we all lose. Thanks for watching and engaging in the conversation!

[@audreylstamford]

I can't believe some of these comments. Why wouldn't you want all your actions to be deliberate and geared towards making the most positive of an impact?

[@IAmTheRealRoblox]

As someone who's always been anti-gmo, this is making me question everything. Maybe I've been too quick to judge? I'm gonna have to do some serious research now.

[@michaeltwining2123]

I'd encourage you to pick up the book "Peeling Back the Labels" by Dr. Josh Miller. It's a quick read, but very well documented look at the origin story of many of our current food labels like Non-GMO and the science behind them. Keep asking questions! We have a planet to save.

[@iamtherealdeal]

He says how glyphosate is a scary word, and then says it's the key avoiding tillage without any comment about it being safe.

[@sorinareina]

kinda mad that we're not hearing more about this stuff in the news. why are we arguing about plastic straws when we could be revolutionizing agriculture?

[@michaeltwining2123]

I couldn't agree more! Thanks for commenting and contributing to the discussion. Ag can scale globally to make significant positive changes; we just need to get this on the policymakers' radars! To put it in perspective, there are over 600,000,000 acres (yes, that's 600 million) of corn grown globally. If all those acres reduced emissions and sequestered excess carbon, it would be incredible what we could do! Thanks again!

[@oguzkaanuremis]

This is a cool idea but I think just the term "GMO's" scares people away

[@t-bonebranson]

Pretty sad state of affairs when it's up to the public to save the planet, food choices or otherwise

[@lorrainegracelacson]

He kinda made these ideas sound like the perfect solution, but surely there are always trade offs?

[@madisongrace9146]

How much carbon dioxide needs removing? What percentage of take up would we need from farmers to turn things around?

[@Iamshawnawashington]

People are such hypocrites, they'll be all like "you shouldn't eat GMO etc" and then smash some Maccas on the way home after the Xmas party...

[@michaeltwining2123]

This is a great observation and definitely the perspective to have. The minor differences in food safety and quality between conventionally and organically grown food are trivial when you compare them to the adverse health AND environmental impacts of highly processed food. Investing in technology-enabled regenerative agriculture can not only make healthy food more available and AFFORDABLE, it can literally save the planet!

[@carljanicek]

This just adds to my confusion... like yeah it's a great cause but I really thought all the GMO stuff was really bad for us?

[@GWTOJENA]

Me yaha free fire pannel keliye ayan hun 😅😅😅😂😂

[@SeegerInstitute]

I really don’t understand. I think this guy is just a commercial for the industrial agricultural paradigm. I’m not even really sure why he’s giving a TEDTalk. Someone should really understand who’s paying his salary and where he’s coming from. This is really pretty bad stuff.

[@kylefereth]

I respectfully disagree with you. Why would he be a commercial if he is going against the normal ideas of agriculture and since farming that is climate friendly is usually a fraction more expensive how would this make him apart of the paradigm. If all the agriculture companies are focused on each and every cent, they would definitely not put the money in a commercial telling them to be more climate friendly (since it is more expensive). He must be a good strong independent man that wants a better future for the planet that has not had influences from industrial agriculture. At least this is what I believe.

[@SeegerInstitute]

@@kylefereth thanks for your thoughtful reply. I’m a regenerative farmer and I’ve been practicing building soil fertility for quite some time. The idea of promoting round up or supporting the kind of agriculture that we’re doing now on any level I find really offensive. We need to make some very radical changes and industrial farming. If we are going to heal the planet from the standpoint of soil fertility. It’s going to involve making some compromises as to how we eat and what we eat to put rebuilding the planet first and foremost, probably for at least the next few decades. My vantage point is he’s coming from place where he is essentially defending industrial agriculture and the practices currently being put forth and I don’t think there’s any way out of this hole if we don’t take the bold steps of putting microbial health first, and that cannot involve round up or genetically modified crops that are being sewn in monoculture environments without regard to a long-term view of healing the soil. But I would be interested to hear your thoughts on that.