Can woolly mammoths save the world?: Luke Griswold-Tergis at TEDxConstitutionDrive

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  • Опубликовано: 28 май 2014
  • Luke Griswold-Tergis is a filmmaker based part time in San Francisco and part time in Haines, Alaska. His first film, Smokin' Fish, played at film festivals around the world and broadcast nationally on PBS. He is currently working on a series of films that examine the human relationship with the rest of the world. The first is about Russian Scientist Sergey Zimov and his unusual "Pleistocene Park" experiment. In a remote corner of Siberia Zimov has single handedly began recreating, or in his words "restoring" the Mammoth Steppe, a vanished ice age grassland ecosystem that once extended from Spain to Canada and was populated and maintained by massive Serengeti-like herds of large, wooly, free roaming undulates - including the namesake mammoths. Zimov believes that, in addition to it's self evident virtues, restoring this ecosystem on a large (continental) scale could stabilize melting permafrost, a ticking "carbon bomb" and global warming feedback loop that threatens to create a worst case scenario of climate change far in excess of current worst case scenarios. When not making documentaries Luke spends his time thinking about sailboats, bicycles, arugula, the apocalypse, and re-engineering the espresso making ritual.
    **
    In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Комментарии • 93

  • @bennybearbyteshanlin252
    @bennybearbyteshanlin252 9 лет назад +50

    mind blowing! as a kid I always dreamed of seeing a real life woolly mammoth just for the experience; it never occurred to me that they could actually benefit the planet as a whole. Brilliant

  • @maryannkaufman7910
    @maryannkaufman7910 7 лет назад +22

    I think Sergei is doing the right thing as far as the herds ability to replenish vegetation and build soils faster than they can be depleted. Interesting about the trampling and it makes sense. The mammoth idea was to use the animal, if succussful, as rallying point for sponsorship for creating human caused extinction animals to be reintroduced to keep the ecology and food web repaired to slow and hopefully prevent and worst case scenario.

  • @l.ohland6992
    @l.ohland6992 7 лет назад +29

    This is the most brilliant project for saving the world that I have heard. How can we get this information out to the wild world and raise money for them ??? I would give a monthly sum to help this out.

    • @scpmr
      @scpmr 4 года назад +3

      They are on Kickstarter

  • @tsaicio
    @tsaicio 2 года назад +2

    The question is why this project is not well known worldwide when it should be supported by everyone of us.

  • @RuneChaosMarine
    @RuneChaosMarine 5 лет назад +12

    get this man his bison back.

  • @PlainsPup
    @PlainsPup 9 лет назад +92

    Great stuff. Russia needs its Pleistocene Park. There are similar rewilding projects in Europe as well. Now it's America's turn.

    • @PlainsPup
      @PlainsPup 7 лет назад +4

      It would be wonderful to restore the Great Plains, rewilding it with extant wildlife, as well as proxies similar and closely related to those extinct. Unfortunately, due mostly to cattle ranching and monoculture crops, it is difficult to rewild with extant wildlife like bison, elk, wolves, and brown bears, to say nothing of camels, elephants, lions, or cheetahs.
      Fortunately, there are organizations fighting the good fight, from big NGOs like WWF and The Nature Conservancy, to smaller groups like the Great Plains Restoration Council, Southern Plains Land Trust, and Colorado Prairie Initiative. Let's all support them and make this vision a reality!

    • @1fishmob
      @1fishmob 7 лет назад +1

      That's why I said make a Pleistocene park FOR the great plains. A swell, cheetahs have the strongest thing being rewild there since they are to small to hunt cows, and will control the pronghorn population.

    • @PlainsPup
      @PlainsPup 7 лет назад +5

      The difficulty with introducing modern cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) to the Great Plains as a proxy for the extinct American cheetah (Miracinonyx trumani) is environmental matching. Most of today's cheetahs are from Sub-Saharan Africa, where it does not get very cold. There are still a few Eurasian cheetahs left in Iran, but they are extremely endangered, which makes experimenting with them a very risky proposition.

    • @rkitchen1967
      @rkitchen1967 3 года назад +1

      Actually, America has always had more natural regions than Europe.

    • @PlainsPup
      @PlainsPup 3 года назад

      @@rkitchen1967 Yes, but we’re behind the times when it comes to rewilding.

  • @danielt.3152
    @danielt.3152 2 года назад +4

    Sergei is absolutely right, he needs government cooperation and funding

  • @moatguy
    @moatguy 5 лет назад +3

    Well Luke Griswold-Tergis you stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish
    something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you
    patterned it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunch box and
    now you're selling it...you're just selling it

  • @ysbrandvdvelde4352
    @ysbrandvdvelde4352 6 лет назад +10

    Sergei is living the male dream.

  • @krakendragonslayer1909
    @krakendragonslayer1909 2 года назад

    Funfact: Siergiei's surname, the "Zimov" means "winter man"

  • @1MonthNoRegrets
    @1MonthNoRegrets 9 лет назад +21

    Great stuff man. Pleistocene park is one of the BIGGEST mind blowing concepts for actually stopping methane feedback. Maybe some Geo-engineering groups/Rewilding Europe could get into it?

  • @RuneChaosMarine
    @RuneChaosMarine 5 лет назад +2

    this is awesome

  • @sdy...5463
    @sdy...5463 5 лет назад +3

    I think in place of mammoths they should bring stepe bison or such alike animal
    To recoure that old environment as pregnancy period of mammoths would be so long as elephants have

  • @davidrubioroldan
    @davidrubioroldan 9 лет назад +7

    No me parece un lunático , me parece una muy buena idea, thanks you are so goud teacher

  • @josemartinezgonzalez2450
    @josemartinezgonzalez2450 4 года назад

    Interesante proyecto que ya está en marcha, y que esperamos visitar.

  • @jaschabull2365
    @jaschabull2365 5 лет назад +4

    That bison-napping incident sounds like karma for the calf-napping incident with the moose.

  • @ericolsen67vw
    @ericolsen67vw 4 года назад +1

    How can I donate to this?

  • @NorthForkFisherman
    @NorthForkFisherman 9 лет назад +12

    We need to see if we can even do it first. Lets get the Passenger Pigeon back first and then we'll expand the ecosystem.

    • @hex8787
      @hex8787 8 лет назад +4

      We have done it. I believe it was a recently extinct mountain goat.

    • @NorthForkFisherman
      @NorthForkFisherman 8 лет назад

      Hector Diaz It was, but did not make a viable animal. We still have a long way to go. I would think we start with something less challenging and a shorter generation period like a bird, reptile, or amphibian.

    • @hex8787
      @hex8787 8 лет назад +3

      +NorthForkFisherman It didn't die due to cloning. It died due to very common diseases there's species would get as infants I believe. There are numerous clones that have survived from that species.

    • @NorthForkFisherman
      @NorthForkFisherman 8 лет назад +1

      Hector Diaz Really? Dude, link me to the info. I have gotta read up on that! Please!

    • @hex8787
      @hex8787 8 лет назад +3

      +NorthForkFisherman en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrenean_ibex. I seem to have gotten dolly and the ibex mixed up. However the point still stands that it didn't die due to cloning but very common lung defects. It's pretty amazing how it was possible to even be brought back. I assume it's possible to continue cloning the ibex but since it's not anything cool like a mammoth they find it a waste of time and resources. Have you seen vice's video on mammoths? It's pretty impressive.

  • @Flowshow88
    @Flowshow88 2 года назад

    Just watching and listening to this guy gives me anxiety 😅

  • @jeanpaulchristian7819
    @jeanpaulchristian7819 6 лет назад +1

    can someone explain how herbivores prevent at short scales melting of snow?

    • @CrownofMischief
      @CrownofMischief 5 лет назад +6

      Basically, with herbivores trampling the snow in the area, the insulation of snow covering the ground is thinned, and the cold Arctic air can penetrate the soil better, thus locking the carbon gasses back in the permafrost

    • @codykochan-erdman9620
      @codykochan-erdman9620 5 лет назад +3

      To add to that, packed snow that has been trampled melts much slower than fluffy snow

  • @Lily2U1515
    @Lily2U1515 6 лет назад +1

    How much methane do they produce? If it's a problem with cows then wouldn't these larger animals be as well?

    • @ilvibos3512
      @ilvibos3512 4 года назад +4

      Minuscule compared to how much would be released if the permafrost melted

    • @magnuseriksson5547
      @magnuseriksson5547 3 года назад

      Cows aren't a problem.

  • @thephenom724
    @thephenom724 8 лет назад +1

    Very interested in this topic. When does the film come out again? Is this like an independent film or is it going to be in the theaters somewhere?

  • @ThomasMurphyCosplay
    @ThomasMurphyCosplay 8 лет назад +1

    oh shit i must stop them from reviving my arch nemesis Mammoth Boy and his army of evil giant Space Mammoths plus.google.com/u/0/+thomasmurphypokemon/posts/DVsgwK7M4fj

  • @samuelaraujomedeiros6682
    @samuelaraujomedeiros6682 6 лет назад +3

    It probably would be best if we tried to preserve the existing ecosystem... We all think it would be cool to bring mammoths back and stuff but it would have a lot of ecological and ethical implications.

  • @lanewaldon6450
    @lanewaldon6450 3 года назад +1

    2 of the first mammoths to be cloned should go to pleistocene park lol. I'm all for de extinction if itll help protect the planet

  • @GoldLove21
    @GoldLove21 8 лет назад +5

    won't creating a mammoth steppe in turn destroy boreal forests and the animals that depend on those forest?Being back a wholly mammoth is a good idea but not if it displaces native species already in those areas.

    • @bobgnarly1312
      @bobgnarly1312 7 лет назад +7

      Alexia Victory yeah but it could possibly be more beneficial then anything that might live there as he said there is very little wildlife in Siberia

  • @autoyota
    @autoyota 4 года назад +2

    great content but like um like um like um ,um,um I think um U should work on your speakings skills!

  • @Turkish_Model_
    @Turkish_Model_ 8 лет назад +3

    Does anyone else think maybe these guys really just want to recreate a biologically diverse and functioning Pleistocene ecosystem, outside of Africa and South Asia? That perhaps they're just using the whole "save the permafrost" thesis as a sort of pretext.

    • @ChickenLordThe
      @ChickenLordThe 8 лет назад +12

      +Chris Luciano And what's wrong with that. It would still help the anti global warming fight and would recreate an extinct ecosystem as a byproduct, just like killing two birds with one stone (Not that I advocate for animal cruelty)

    • @hex8787
      @hex8787 8 лет назад +3

      +Deep Ecologist It's a saying man. No need to be P.C

  • @RuneChaosMarine
    @RuneChaosMarine 5 лет назад +3

    also, i am a supporter or cloning wooly rhinosorus mammoth sabre tooth tiger, Tasmanian tiger, dodo bird, albatross, all that. clone dinosaurs. we have anti tank rifles, we be ok. Carolina parakeet, passenger pigeons....

  • @oldman9843
    @oldman9843 6 лет назад +1

    Wake up , there will no woolly mammoth brought back .

  • @prajnaseek
    @prajnaseek 3 года назад +1

    Great talk, but I think you should focus on the efforts to heal our planet, rather than chuckling at genius preppers trying to avert an apocalypse which is all too clearly headed our way. Seems like disociation from reality to me, which is the very definition of insanity - disociation from reality being the true, great pandemic of our time. The host showed that above all. Sergei sounds eminently sane. The host and our society, not so much.

  • @prajnaseek
    @prajnaseek 3 года назад +2

    Great talk, but I think we should focus on the efforts to heal our planet, rather than chuckling at genius preppers trying to avert an apocalypse which is all too clearly headed our way. Seems like disociation from reality to me, which is the very definition of insanity - disociation from reality being the true, great pandemic of our time. The host showed that above all. Sergei sounds eminently sane. The host and our society, not so much.
    More sci-fi fantasies about technology saving us from ourselves.... But that is from the speaker's delusions. The scientist the speaker is speaking about, by contrast, seems to have both feet firmly on the ground (or permafrost) - unlike the rest of our society.
    Taking existing herbivore species - horses, bison, cattle, goats, sheep, etc. - and getting them back grazing on the grasslands and permafrost where they belong, to proect and regenerate the Earth's ecosystems, makes perfect sense.
    (See Allan Savory and holistic management, or regenerative ranching.)

  • @nicwow8424
    @nicwow8424 8 лет назад +1

    So this great guy stole a baby moose?☹️👎🏻

    • @jameschristophercirujano6650
      @jameschristophercirujano6650 3 года назад

      No, he adopted a baby moose forcefully, anyway, would you rather he shot the mother and took the baby like the other poachers?