^ Holistic Management Keynote at PaleoFx
By Chris Kerston – Director of Public Outreach & Events
How often do you go to a conference where there’s a pop-up gym section right in the middle of the tradeshow with people working out on row machines and doing squats and pull-ups in between speaking sessions? Well, PaleoFx, an annual event in Austin, Texas, is no normal conference. It’s the largest paleo event in the world and it’s entire focus is on helping people get healthy by balancing diet, sleep, stress and movement.
Savory Institute team member Chris Kerston got invited to give a keynote about Holistic Management and how consumer choices through their buying habits could impact how land is managed. Since the paleo diet focuses on healthy meat consumption, there was a great opportunity to give a deeper education about making good meat choices and help people understand key concepts like carbon sequestration, that overgrazing is a function of time not stocking rates and that it’s crucial to manage grazing based on grass recovery times.
Livestock often get vilified for land degradation, but this planet once held many more wild ruminants than we have domesticate or wild today. The difference is management, and livestock can be both mis-managed and lead to negative results, or properly managed as a tool for positive ecological impact and restoration. Managing holistically involves mimicking nature while finding solutions that are ecologically, economically and socially sound.
Robb Wolf, a major supporter of our work, and a paleo super-star was there as one of the keynote speakers as well, so it gave a good opportunity to catch up. Robb will also be one the keynote presenters at the Savory Institute’s International Conference this year in San Francisco [LINK to page in site].
Chris also got a chance to catch up with the crew from EPIC Bar. Taylor Collins and Katie Forrest, who founded and manage EPIC, have also been HUGE supporters of our mission. Last December they helped raise over $25,000 for our work in restoring grasslands around the globe. We are continuing to work with them to help them source the volumes and specific cuts of meat that they need for their grassfed meat bars and bites from ranches that are managed holistically. Right after the conference Katie and Taylor left for Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Afterwards they will be visiting Allan Savory and some of our other Savory Institute team members in Zimbabwe at the Africa Centre for Holistic Management. Look for updates on that trip shortly.
Paleo Fx was a huge success and were so honored to be asked to be a part of it.
