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Cows Save the Planet: And Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth Paperback – April 1, 2013

by Judith D. Schwartz (Author), Laura Jorstad (Editor), Gretel Ehrlich (Foreword)

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In Cows Save the Planet, journalist Judith D. Schwartz looks at soil as a crucible for our many overlapping environmental, economic, and social crises.

Schwartz reveals that for many of these problems—climate change, desertification, biodiversity loss, droughts, floods, wildfires, rural poverty, malnutrition, and obesity—there are positive, alternative scenarios to the degradation and devastation we face. In each case, our ability to turn these crises into opportunities depends on how we treat the soil.

Drawing on the work of thinkers and doers, renegade scientists and institutional whistleblowers from around the world, Schwartz challenges much of the conventional thinking about global warming and other problems. For example, land can suffer from undergrazing as well as overgrazing, since certain landscapes, such as grasslands, require the disturbance from livestock to thrive. Regarding climate, when we focus on carbon dioxide, we neglect the central role of water in soil—”green water”—in temperature regulation. And much of the carbon dioxide that burdens the atmosphere is not the result of fuel emissions, but from agriculture; returning carbon to the soil not only reduces carbon dioxide levels but also enhances soil fertility.

Cows Save the Planet is at once a primer on soil’s pivotal role in our ecology and economy, a call to action, and an antidote to the despair that environmental news so often leaves us with.

“Judith Schwartz takes a fascinating look at the world right beneath our feet. Cows Save the Planet is a surprising, informative, and ultimately hopeful book.”—Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction

From the Publisher

sustainable, environmental, ecology, regenerative, climate, soil, grazing, agriculture, food

michael pollan, omnivore's dilemma, in defense of food, sixth extinction, soil, ecology

	THE REINDEER CHRONICLES	WATER IN PLAIN SIGHT	BRINGING BACK THE BEAVER	DIRT TO SOIL	EAGER

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Most of us acknowledge that the earth beneath our feet is important for raising crops and nourishing lawns, yet few realize just how vital it is to our planet’s overall health. Inviting readers to roll up their pant legs and wade with her into the dirt, veteran journalist Schwartz reveals a wealth of detail about soil’s beneficial properties and presents a compelling case that proper soil management can end escalating worldwide desertification and slow, or even arrest, global warming. While these assertions may sound surprising, Schwartz collects abundant testimony from leading-edge soil scientists and activists, such as noted Zimbabwe biologist and rancher Allan Savory, whose sophisticated sheep- and cow-herding methods in several countries have completely restored arid grasslands in less than a decade. She also highlights evidence from little-known studies demonstrating that soil-restoration techniques can sequester about a billion tons of atmospheric carbon per year, potentially neutralizing damaging greenhouse gases. A well-written and persuasive manifesto for healing earth’s environmental woes with one of its most underappreciated resources. --Carl Hays

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“Cows Save The Planet is a wonderfully comprehensive book, challenging some of the current popular theory relating to climate change and the mending of our damaged planet. . . Schwartz's work provides us with solutions and hope, for spiraling environmental and social destruction, through the rehabilitation of the earth beneath our feet. . . . [It] gives us motivation and determination to want to make some very real positive changes in our communities and lands.."—Permaculture
"Here's a secret climate-change activists and energy-efficiency and renewable-energy promoters neglect: Nature is designed to be self-healing, and her most profound 'tool' is photosynthesis. 'Free' sunlight is the best energy source to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while also producing organic matter and oxygen—and a by-product is healthier soil, forests, wetlands, and ecosystems. When politicians, policy leaders, and activists get serious about cost-effective solutions to climate change, then a top priority will be ecological restoration to harvest and store carbon naturally, and Judith Schwartz's new book will provide a destination and map."—Will Raap, founder, Gardener's Supply and Intervale Center

"Lucid, enlightening, and often surprising. It is also an enjoyable, compelling read that will appeal to a wide audience, offering hopeful and creative solutions to some of the most daunting questions of our day."—ForeWord Reviews

"Inviting readers to roll up their pant legs and wade with her into the dirt, veteran journalist [Judith] Schwartz reveals a wealth of detail about soil's beneficial properties and presents a compelling case that proper soil management can end escalating worldwide desertification and slow, or even arrest, global warming. . . A well-written and persuasive manifesto for healing earth's environmental woes with one of its most underappreciated resources.”—Booklist

“Judith Schwartz’s book gives us not just hope but also a sense that we humans—serial destroyers that we are—can actually turn the climate crisis around. This amazing book, wide-reaching in its research, offers nothing less than solutions for healing the planet.”—Gretel Ehrlich, from the foreword

“Judith Schwartz takes a fascinating look at the world right beneath our feet. Cows Save the Planet is a surprising, informative, and ultimately hopeful book.”—Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change

“In Cows Save the Planet, Judith Schwartz takes us on a fascinating, John McPhee-style journey into the world of soil rehabilitation. The eclectic group of farmers, ranchers, researchers, and environmentalists she visits have one thing in common: they all believe in the importance of organic matter in the soil for solving our most pressing environmental issues. Some of the innovative techniques they use to increase the vitality of their soil include no-tillage, using deep-rooted perennial grasses, cover crops, mulching, and, surprisingly, grazing large herds of animals according to a program called 'holistic management.' Imagine, a book about soil that’s a real page turner!”—Larry Korn, editor of The One-Straw Revolution and Sowing Seeds in the Desert, by Masanobu Fukuoka

“Judith Schwartz reminds us that sustainable range management is as much about the microbes in the soil and their feedback loops with cattle as it is about the cattle themselves. When I finally go home on the range to be composted, I want to be part of the miraculous cycle of rangeland renewal that is managed in the way that Schwartz describes so well.”—Gary Nabhan, author of Desert Terroir, Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems, University of Arizona

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chelsea Green
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 1, 2013
Edition ‏ : ‎ 5/21/13
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1603584323
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1603584326
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.68 x 9.01 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #316,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #132 in Sustainable Agriculture (Books)
- #195 in Food Science (Books)
- #2,364 in Sociology Reference

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Judith D. Schwartz

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Judith D. Schwartz is an author who tells stories to explore and illuminate scientific concepts and cultural nuance. She takes a clear-eyed look at global environmental, economic, and social challenges, and finds insights and solutions in natural systems.

"Cows Save the Planet and Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth" is a soils-eye look at the world: at once a primer on soil’s pivotal role in our ecology and economy, a call to action, and an antidote to the despair environmental news so often leaves us with. Soil represents that fateful point where earth and sky meet, and our future turns on how we treat it.

In "Water In Plain Sight: Hope for a Thirsty World" we meet water innovators from Zimbabwe, Mexico, Australia and across the U.S.: these stories show how water intersects with climate, biodiversity, food security, and peace and conflict, and how understanding how water works—the way it moves across the landscape and through the atmosphere—will help us address our many global challenges.

Her latest book, “The Reindeer Chronicles and Other Inspiring Stories of Working With Nature to Heal the Earth”, is a global tour of earth repair, featuring stops in Norway, Spain, Hawai’i, New Mexico, and beyond. We know our natural world is under great stress. The book explores the question: How do we reckon with this, and where do we go from here?

Judy has a B.A. from Brown University, an M.S.J. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern. She writes for numerous publications, including The American Prospect, The Guardian, Discover, Scientific American, and YaleE360. She lives and works on the side of a mountain in Vermont with her husband, author Tony Eprile, and cherishes visits from their musician son, Brendan. When it snows, she cross-country skis, and when ski season is over, she’s in the garden. Three times a week she trains in Uechi-Ryu karate, and has reached the rank of shodan. Visit her website at www.judithdschwartz.com

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Customers find the book educational, with one noting it presents critically important information well for all audiences. Moreover, the book receives positive feedback for its content on soil health, particularly its coverage of soil carbon and environmental interactions. Additionally, customers appreciate its readability, describing it as relatively easy to follow and understand.

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Educational value Soil health Readable

27 customers mention "Educational value"27 positive0 negative

Customers find the book educational, praising its wealth of worthwhile information and interesting topic, with one customer noting how well the critically important content is presented for all audiences.

"...It’s an interesting little book and I recommend that anyone interested in the environment or good nutrition or global climate change should read..." Read more

"This is really important information...." Read more

"Very informative book about how important our soils and our lands REALLY are for just about the entire cycle of life on earth." Read more

"...First, it's a hopeful message that we can overcome our bad past decisions and correct the factors that are causing the degradation of our..." Read more

22 customers mention "Soil health"22 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's focus on soil health and environmental issues, particularly its coverage of soil carbon and regenerative agriculture.

"...It’s really about restoring the earth’s soils—with a little help from grazing animals...." Read more

"Very informative book about how important our soils and our lands REALLY are for just about the entire cycle of life on earth." Read more

"...It even takes us to the point of a new economic model based on carbon, while we improve the nutrition of the food we eat and the water we drink." Read more

"...OF OUR AGE, ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE, PREDATORS, GRAZERS, GRASSES, WATER AND MICROBES IN THE SOIL, AND with A SISTER VOLUME,..." Read more

4 customers mention "Readable"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and easy to follow and understand.

"...Michael Pollen, taking an urgent and complicated message and making it accessible and a pleasure to read...." Read more

"This book gives us important biology and science in a readable form! Writers like Judith Schwartz may be able to save the planet!" Read more

"Great writing. Relatively easy to follow and understand." Read more

"Readable, very interesting, and educational..." Read more

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Faith A. Colburn
Thought-Provoking Read
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2014
Format: KindleVerified Purchase

I ran across this book and, given the bad rap cows—meat animals in general—have been getting lately, I picked it up and read it. It’s an interesting little book and I recommend that anyone interested in the environment or good nutrition or global climate change should read it.

It’s really about restoring the earth’s soils—with a little help from grazing animals. In a chapter entitled “Ground Zero for Carbon Dioxide Reduction Is the Ground,” she cites some startling studies describing the relationship between soils and global climate change. According to Rattan Lal of Ohio State University, “. . . the soil could offset about one-third of the human-generated emissions annually absorbed in the atmosphere.” She goes on to say that “We’ve lost an estimated 50 to 80 percent carbon in our soils over the last 150 years.”

In a chapter called “Beyond Eat Your Vegetables,” Schwartz reveal the lack of nutrition in our soils and how that translates into less nourishing food. She quotes nutrition and agriculture educator, “Some nutritionists estimate that the food we eat today has just 30 percent of the nourishment of what our grandparents ate as children. The major reason,” says Sait, “is declining soil quality . . .”

“. . . the major portion of farm income is now expended on the inputs required to maintain production as soil function fails. An enormous industry . . . depends on us not finding solutions to the problems in agriculture,” Schwartz writes. These problems generate enormous income for manufacture of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, toxins that sterilize the soil, she continues.

And how do cows get into this discussion? It’s not through the gas they emit, although the digestive process that produces methane also benefits the soil. Herbivores’ chewing and digesting with the help of millions of microorganisms in their guts break down plant materials so that they can fertilize the soil. Their hooves disturb the soil so moisture and nutrients can enter.

My dad wrote in a letter, back in the late forties, that the “future of the Great Plains is in cattle.” One argument against growing meat animals states that they take up land that could be used for growing crops to feed people. But some areas, not suited to growing food for people, provide good grazing. Managed properly, those areas can produce succulent grass-fed meat as well as building soil and sequestering carbon.

Schwartz’s arguments are compelling. Again, I recommend Cows Save the Planet: And Other Improbably Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth by Judith D. Schwartz.

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bookie
Oodles of Worthwhile Information
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2022
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
The only drawback here is you finger might get tired from underlining all the worthwhile material contained within. Out here in the Southwest, home of brittle soil, it does a world of good not to think about the water scarcity problem as simply a water problem, but also a soil problem That sounds like making more problems, but in reality it gives the farmer, the landowner, the average citizen additional ways to combat the ever intensifying drought.

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Carolyn W. Walker
Essential Environmental Information
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This is really important information. This country needs to stop growing so many annual crops (corn and wheat) which deplete the soil and require huge amounts of petroleum fertilizers and petroleum for harvest and planting. We must put more land back into grass. The USFS and BLM need to really monitor the grass on existing land so as to maintain natural grasses that cattle feed on. A friend of mine raises Wagyu cattle on public land which has been monitored responsibly for over 50 years and those cattle eat only grass. The meat grades choice and sometimes prime so it tastes good plus has very high Amino fatty acids. It can be done.

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3 people found this helpful

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Laurens
INFORMATIVE AND IMPORTANT
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2014
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Very informative book about how important our soils and our lands REALLY are for just about the entire cycle of life on earth.

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2 people found this helpful

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Russ Speer
A key part of solving the climate change crisis. Illustrates proven solutions.
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2016
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This book shows that cows, and their relatives, are the key to restoring degraded land by the use of Holistic Planned Grazing. Massive land areas, along with their attendant water cycles, have already been restored. When this happens, tremendous amounts of carbon are drawn out of the atmosphere and sequestered in the soil, from where it was released due to poor land use practices. I am approaching friends with extreme Boy Scouts of America connections. Holistic Planned Grazing and other restoration techniques, which can be done without animals, are worthy and timely projects for scouts looking for Eagle Scout projects.

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SE Noble
Our world will be all right, thanks to this book.
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Judith D. Schwartz has written an entertaining and instructive book Cows Save The Planet: And Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth, that left me with two feelings. First, it's a hopeful message that we can overcome our bad past decisions and correct the factors that are causing the degradation of our environment which is at the root of so much human suffering and disruptions around the globe. Second, she introduced me to a cast of inspiring characters who are working hard to find ways to restore grasslands, utilize natural systems to increase the quantity and quality of our food, conserve water, safely store carbon from the air into the ground, and most important, improve the vitality of the most important resource on earth - soil. Finally, after finishing the book I look forward to help solve our many pressing problems. Cows Save the Planet made me fall in love with this world again. I recommend people read this book and be inspired to look at our future in a fresh new way.

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Mary-john Hart
your food is only as healthy as the soil in which it grows!
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2023
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
an inveterate reader of nonfiction I gotta say this is one of the most important books I've read. It's full of crucial information.

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Gerald R Gillman
Finally someone has a possible solution to slow or reverse global warming and improve food quality.
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Well written journey of discovery about a new solution to global warming and sustainable agriculture's roll in mitigating what is happening. It even takes us to the point of a new economic model based on carbon, while we improve the nutrition of the food we eat and the water we drink.

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Top reviews from other countries

Careful with money
Excellent book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2025
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Excellent

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john drummond
highly recommend it!
Reviewed in Canada on March 8, 2017
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an important, small, but dense book. highly recommend it!

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Kindle Customer
Engaging, inspiring, positive
Reviewed in Australia on July 3, 2019
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
So well written on such a pertinent topic. A really positive outlook but some down to earth straight forward warnings of the dire situation we are in. This book has inspired me to learn more and spread the message that our soil matters, our planet matters and there is a lot we can do to save it! One of the best books I have read

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Rainer Boegle
We can restore soil via cows and grasslands
Reviewed in Germany on February 8, 2021
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This is absolutely amazing!
Everyone interesting in restoring the Earth should read this!

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Gill Evans
Interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 20, 2024
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So much info

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Cows Save the Planet: And Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth Paperback – April 1, 2013

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If you want to spark a fire to learn more about ways that you can save our Earth, read this book!!!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book

5.0 out of 5 stars highly recommend it!

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, inspiring, positive

5.0 out of 5 stars We can restore soil via cows and grasslands

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting

Excellent book

highly recommend it!

Engaging, inspiring, positive

We can restore soil via cows and grasslands

Interesting