Grass, it’s What Cows Want to Eat, Good for Cattle, Better from Environment, Healthier Us.
June 22, 2011
Hosted by Rob Moir
[Download MP3] [itunes] [Bookmark Episode]
Episode Description
Leslie Cox, Hampshire College Farm Center Manager talks with Rob about cow and grass management for happier cows, healthier consumers and a greener nation. The Farm, created by Prof. Ray Coppinger, is a place where college students and faculty integrate science and alternative technology for testing sustainable farming methods. The cows are Dutch Belted, a very rare and highly esteemed breed, developed in the Netherlands in the 1600s. With an excellent grazing ability and forage efficiency, these cows produce as much milk as larger, grain-fed cows. Known for intelligence and friendly disposition, except for Bethany who is short on the friendly but not intelligence, the cows handle easily and are “barn-trained” to do their business outside. Emitting less methane, grass-fed cows and cattle are good for the environment. An attractive alternative to the carbon footprint created by the production and transport corn.
Moir’s Environmental Dialogues
Archives Available on VoiceAmerica Variety Channel
With the knowledge of Carson and the courage of Achilles, individuals are steadfastly going the distance to defend wildlife and ecosystems from assaults of environmental degradations and destructions. Join environmental studies scientist Dr. Rob Moir for lively dialogue and revealing narrative inquiry into how individuals are overcoming the obstacles turning forlorn hope into effective actions for oceans, rivers, watersheds, wildlife and ecosystems. Discover how listening to individuals, thinking locally, and acting in concert with other, you can act to save ecosystems. Got environmental stewardship? Become an Eco-steward. Act to bring about a greener and blue Planet Earth.
Rob Moir
Rob Moir is director and founder of the Ocean River Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Moir, an educator and scientist, has been a leader of citizen science and efforts to clean up Salem Sound and Boston Harbor, as founder of Salem Sound Harbor Monitors & Salem Sound 2000, later president of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, and through his appointment by the Secretary of Interior to the Boston Harbor Islands Partnership. He was formerly Curator of Natural History at the Peabody Essex Museum, Curator of Education at the New England Aquarium and Executive Director of the Discovery Museums in Acton, MA. Dr. Moir was awarded a Switzer Environmental Fellowship from the Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation, and the James Centorino Award for Distinguished Performance in Marine Education by the National Marine Educators Association, which he later served as president. He was Sea Education Association’s first assistant scientist to work consecutive voyages of the R.V. Westward in 1979 and 1980, an advancement officer for his alma mater, Hampshire College and serves today on the boards of his alma mater, Cambridge School of Weston, Ocean Champions, and the Massachusetts League of Environmental Voters. Dr. Moir has a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies and a Masters of Science and Teaching from Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, NH and certificate of studies from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole.
