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The last few newsletters we’ve been having a hard time fitting all the recent activity into a single email. Quite literally, the design of the email gets cut off if we include too much. While we’ve curated some of our favorite happenings for this month’s newsletter, we encourage you to follow Savory on social media for the latest news and to explore our Events Calendar for all upcoming events and courses.
NETWORK NEWS
NEW ZEALAND & ARGENTINA HUBS
Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) Webinar
This webinar, hosted by Ata Regenerative and featuring Pablo Borelli of Ovis 21, is a deep dive into EOV, its background, why it was created, and how it can be a global tool supporting regenerative change in land management.
Watch »

LAND TO MARKET
First Regenerative Dairy Verified by Savory's Land to Market Program
At a time when large dairy brands are experimenting with scaling up regenerative practices, Alexandre Family Farm is working to set the standard for the future of the industry.
Read More »
SAVORY FUNDRAISER
Proceeds from Regeneration Nation T-Shirt to Benefit Savory Institute
Our friends at Regeneration Nation are selling this limited-edition 'R.O.D. Soil Tee' with proceeds benefitting Savory. Sales end October 3rd.
Order Yours »
WHAT WE'RE READING
NEW REPORT
Ten Flaws in Assessments of Livestock & Climate Change
The report suggests how pastoralists could be better included in future debates about food and the climate.
Read »
NY TIMES
The Unconventional Weapon Against Future Wildfires: Goats
Profile of Lani Malmberg, goat-grazing fire-mitigating shepherdess extraordinaire
Read »
MIT PRESS
The Myth of a Wilderness Without Humans
For over a century, conflicting views of wild nature created a rift between indigenous people and misguided conservationists.
Read »
DIGGING IN
ONE TOPIC IN DETAIL EACH MONTH
What do we mean by “reductionist” management?
Holistic Management came about when Allan Savory realized human beings were mismanaging living systems, treating them like knowable and controllable machines rather than embracing their unpredictability and emergent outcomes.

We call this mismanagement “reductionist,” as opposed to holistic, because it reduces the infinite complexities of living beings – whether they be a farm, a family, a community, or an ecosystem –  and reduces down that complexity in an attempt to isolate and control individual parts. In talking to one of our Savory Hub leaders the other day, he said it best:

“We’re managing cows, not carburetors.”


So how do you spot reductionist management in this living, breathing (and if done correctly… regenerating) world we find ourselves in? There are two recent headlines that stand out as prime examples.

The first comes from
The Guardian, titled “Cows ‘potty-trained’ in experiment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” I’m not even sure where to begin dissecting this one, but it’s clear that the research team proposing this solution has skipped an ecology course or two in their studies.

The second, “Lab-grown meat is supposed to be inevitable. The science tells a different story.” thankfully points out how companies aiming to bring lab-grown “meat” to the masses fail to address basic tenants of biology – their wishful techno-utopias projected to create in actuality a dystopian future, both ecologically and financially.

There seems to be a common theme with reductionist thinking (and its resulting management) – seemingly brilliant and too-good-to-be-true solutions proving themselves in the end to be just that, too good to be true. No matter how much venture capital or media attention they may stack in their favor, Nature always wins.

How, then, do we address problems and provide for our needs as human beings? It starts with refocusing our gaze, relaxing our intent focus on the parts, and instead seeing the interconnected whole for what it is: a living system comprised of other living systems whose essence cannot be reduced to that of its individual components.

In the case of the articles linked above, that would mean looking beyond greenhouse gas emissions and instead asking “How do cattle connect to the natural world? What other living beings are connected to that living world? What feedback loops are there in both directions?”


With this holistic perspective – one of the four key insights of Holistic Management, that “nature functions in wholes” – only then can we begin to understand the true implications of our decision-making, and only then can we begin to create the quality of life and environment we so desire.

UPCOMING EVENTS
BOULDER, CO, USA · OCT 3
Land to Market x Corrida Partnership Kickoff
Come join this fundraising dinner at Corrida, the first restaurant to join Savory's Land to Market program.
Register »

ONLINE · OCT 13
Where There Once Was Water | Interview with the Filmmaker
We're incredibly excited to be offering Savory Network members an exclusive screening of this new film, as well as hosting a public Q&A with the filmmaker, Brittany App.
Register »

ONLINE · OCT 20
Savory Global Reunión Mensual (en Español)
¿Estás interesado en obtener más información sobre la Red Global del Savory Institute y ver si existe un camino adecuado para usted? ¡Regístrate en la reunión mensual!
Registrarse »
Looking for more events?
Browse the full lineup at savory.global/calendar.
Savory Institute, 885 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, Colorado 80302, United States

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