The TechMobility Podcast
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The TechMobility Podcast
Cadillac's Electric Revolution Continues; The Human Authorship Standard; Why America Imports Oil; and a Hotel for Cows
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Cadillac's electric revolution takes center stage as Ken Chester examines the upcoming 2026 Vistiq, a luxury three-row SUV that represents the brand's ambitious push to dominate the EV market. Despite packing a massive 102-kilowatt-hour battery, the Vistiq's 300-mile range falls short compared to competitors offering 500+ miles. Yet the vehicle highlights how traditional automakers are finally finding their footing in the EV space, with General Motors now achieving operational profitability on electric vehicles.
The episode takes a fascinating detour into intellectual property rights as the US Copyright Office establishes a clear "human authorship standard" for creative works. In an age where AI generates everything from art to voice recreations, this landmark decision confirms that works produced without meaningful human input cannot receive copyright protection. The implications for content creators, media companies, and the entertainment industry are profound as the line between human and machine-created work continues to blur.
Perhaps most surprising is the revelation about America's energy paradox. Despite being the world's largest oil producer, pumping over 13 million barrels daily, the US still imports 6.28 million barrels of crude oil every day. The reason? American refineries are specifically configured to process heavier, lower-quality crude rather than the light sweet crude that dominates domestic production. Most shocking is the industry admission that processing more domestic light crude would create "a surplus of gasoline" – potentially lowering prices but reducing profits.
The show concludes with an innovative environmental solution from Colombia called "silvopasture" – creating a "hotel for cows" by integrating trees and diverse plants with cattle grazing. This approach has doubled productivity while reducing methane emissions and eliminating the need for chemical fertilizers. It's a powerful reminder that sometimes the most effective solutions combine traditional wisdom with modern understanding rather than solely relying on high-tech interventions. Want to join the conversation? Call or text the TechMobility hotline at 872-222-9793.
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Welcome to the Tech Mobility Podcast.
Speaker 2:I'm Ken Chester On the docket the human authorship standard. Why does America import crude oil and a Colombian hotel for cows? To add your voice to the conversation, be it to ask a question, share an opinion or even suggest an idea for future discussion, don't hesitate to call or text the TechMobility hotline, that number, 872-222-9793, or you can email the show directly. Talk at techmobilityshow. Also, be sure to follow, like and subscribe us on social media, our YouTube channel and our two podcasts, the Tech Mobility Podcast and Tech Mobility Topics From the Tech Mobility News Desk.
Speaker 2:Cadillac it's a name that in today's world, a lot of people it's not top of mind anymore. They have been a luxury brand for well over a hundred years and if you talk to your parents or your grandparents, it was the luxury brand. It was the aspirational brand for generations of Americans for years and years and years. That didn't really change until about 40 years ago with the rise of Lexus and the other Japanese upscale makes like Infiniti and others. Today, cadillac is clawing back over the last few years, trying to take a dominant position, not only in the experience of ownership but the actual vehicles that they develop. They had come out with the EV, their Escalade IQ, which is an EV, a battery electric vehicle, large one. They came out with some others between now and then and now they're coming out with this vehicle. It's called the Vistique, and I know they're coming out with one after this and you might notice, if you're following Cadillac at all, it's ending in these cute little IQ types, things like LISDIC, vistic, escalate IQ. I think they're trying to impart that Cadillac needs to be top of mind and that it's a little mystique and quality and all of that thing.
Speaker 2:I want to back up before I get into Cadillac, I want to talk about General Motors for a minute and I've talked to you about GM's plan and GM's investments in the EV world and why they were so brilliant. A few weeks back I told you that General Motors had finally figured out how to make an operational profit from the manufacturing of EVs and I told you that would happen, and all that means is that GM, for the labor and materials that actually go into manufacturing the vehicle, that they're making more money per unit than it costs to make them. It does not yet include the overhead, the plant, the materials, the development, the engineering costs that go into those vehicles, but since they're on that track, in due time, gm will get there, and I told you that when the traditional automotive manufacturers started scaling up EVs, that this would happen Costs would go down, units would go up and they would get profitable. So let me tell you about the Cadillac Vistique. It's going to be a 2026 model and, yes, it's all electric. Cadillac is adding more choice for EV customers with the debut of the 2026 Cadillac Vistique. More choice for EV customers with the debut of the 2026 Cadillac Vistique, a luxury three-row SUV that delivers on the brand's promise of performance, craftsmanship and technology. Let me read a quote.
Speaker 2:Cadillac continues to set the standard for American luxury. The introduction of the Vistique will continue to propel us into an EV future, said John Roth, vice President Global Cadillac. With the addition of Vistique, cadillac will be one of the only brands to offer an EV entry in every luxury SUV segment. Yeah, I'm not so sure about that and how they're defining that, because right now you could argue that Lexus is doing the same thing. Genesis, across across its brands, have several, but I expect that everything they sell eventually will have either a hybrid or an EV selection. So mass market makes are getting there.
Speaker 2:So the question is is there room in the luxury end of the market for a battery, electric Cadillac or several. I mean, let's be honest for a minute. These prices are not inexpensive. You're 70, 80, 90 grand and more. And remember they're using the same architecture across General Motors and when GMC reintroduced the Hummer EV it was $116,000. Current price for an Escalade, a gasoline version Escalade, is up over $100,000. So the question is depending on where this fits in, and I think this will be towards the smaller end of the market. It really looks about the size of an Equinox from here. It may be around that size and if it is, my guess is it's probably going to be at least $60,000 or more would be my guess.
Speaker 2:They're going to build it at General Motors Spring Hill Manufacturing Plant in Tennessee, which is kind of ironic. If you are a student of automotive history, spring Hill may ring a bell way back in your memory, and it should, because Spring Hill was the sole base manufacturing plant for the Saturn brand when GM launched Saturn in the late 1980s and GM's doing a lot of the Cadillac builds there now, and particularly EV manufacturing there, and their plant in Detroit, now called Factory Zero. This vehicle's going to be unique because they're going to start with a standard dual-motor all-wheel drive system, which only makes sense to me, and what they're saying is you're going to have an electric motor on each axle, so you're going to have on-demand all-wheel drive and because it's electric, they can engineer in, literally by code, how they want that vehicle to perform. And I wouldn't be surprised one day because there's a lot of technology in that general direction if vehicles that are electric don't end up going to wheel-based motors, your very high-end performance EVs. They have motors in the wheels and it does all kinds of crazy stuff.
Speaker 2:This is going to have a rather large battery pack. A 102-kilowatt-hour battery pack is large. It is really close to what the Ford Lightning carries and what the Hummer EV carries. This is big. Your average EV carries a battery pack of somewhere between 50 and 80 kilowatt hour. This is like having a large gas tank or dual gas tanks. It's big.
Speaker 2:The question is now, even with that, they're only talking 300 miles of range. That's part of my problem. They need to be about 450, like the Silverado EV pickup truck, and then I think they're really onto something. 300 only kind of puts you in the middle of the pack and it puts you behind the top end makes that are already making 500 miles. We've reported here and that is um. The Tesla Model S is one that's up over 500 miles and then one that I drove uh, that I loved, by the way of a company that gets 520 miles, and the name for some reason escapes me right now, but I will think of it and I had the opportunity to drive that car a couple of years ago and it's fast. This will only increase. It's the one hope I have for all EV-based vehicles, because they're electronic, because they're code-driven.
Speaker 2:As the manufacturers get better at their code and more efficient, I fully believe that they will be able to unlock, years from now, more performance from a vehicle they may have sold three, four, five years ago. And that's the beautiful part. That's something that if you had a gasoline engine, to do that you'd have to go in a shop and upgrade your hardware. It would actually require a hardware upgrade With these vehicles. Added performance will come in later years through an over-the-air update. You'll never have to leave your driveway. They'll send you an email someday saying your 2026 vehicle is available to get at 50 miles, double the range, whatever, and performance upgrade for X amount of money. Are you interested? Yes, you pay the money, you get a code and the thing updates itself. And then presto, without going to the dealer, without inconveniencing yourself, you have just freshened your vehicle. The things like Cadillac and others mean that these vehicles will stay ever fresh for years.
Speaker 2:So, as this happens, it will be interesting to see how this new vehicle, when it comes out next year, compares to other vehicles in the marketplace. Because nobody nobody is standing still right now. Everybody is going aggressively. Consider it the horsepower race of the common day Only has to do with electricity. The US Copyright Office has rendered an opinion about AI-generated work. That's next. You are listening to the Tech Mobility Show.
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Speaker 2:Social media is the main place to be these days, and we are no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Facebook videos, from my latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary of a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you. Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Facebook. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to our Facebook page. Tech Mobility Show in the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to our Facebook page. Social media is the place to be these days, and we're no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Instagram videos, from the latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary on a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Instagram. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar.
Speaker 2:For those of you that listen to podcasts, we have just the one for you. Hi, I'm Ken Chester. Tech Mobility Topics is a podcast where I upload topic-specific videos each week Shorter than the full show. These bite-sized programs are just the thing, particularly if you're interested in a particular topic covered on the weekly radio show From Apple Podcasts, iheart Radio and many podcast platforms in between. We got you covered. Just enter Tech Mobility Topics in the search bar wherever you listen to podcasts enter Tech Mobility Topics in the search bar wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 4:As anyone who has ever owned one of our pickups can tell you, nissan builds one very tough truck Now. Jd Power Associates has ranked Nissan as the best overall truck line and vehicle dependability at five years of ownership, in a tie with Toyota. Fortunately, at Nissan, we've developed a tiebreaker.
Speaker 2:Before I even start this segment, a correction on the last segment that I just did. The vehicle I couldn't remember was Lucid Lucid Air, and apparently I wasn't very lucid For all y'all that was yelling at the radio, please forgive me. I just it just wasn't coming. But it was the Lucid Air and it had a range of 520 miles that it was EPA certified. And it had a range of 520 miles that it was EPA certified. And I think that if Cadillac is going to be aggressive, they're going to need to get there if they're really serious about achieving dominance, and GM has the technology to get there, because Toyota and the others are not standing still. So I wanted to correct that On this commercial that you just heard, nissan, that was from 1995. And that little game changer they were talking about is Toyota quality for $3,100 less was the TV commercial. That was the little game changer that they threw in there, that they showed on the TV but you didn't hear in the commercial and that was their whole point. You know why pay extra money to get the same quality when you can buy a Nissan and have a vehicle as good as a Toyota? Which gives me a whole lot of different emotions of why Nissan felt they had to go there. But okay, it must have worked for them, and Nissan trucks back then were bulletproof, just like the Toyotas, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:The US Copyright Office has issued a report Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Part 2, which provides critical insight into how AI-generated works fit, or don't fit, with an existing copyright law. Well, it's finally come down to this and we discuss. This is Topic A. Let me just boil this right down to the key takeaway In order. According to the US Copyright Office listed in their latest report, here's the key takeaway For a work to be eligible for copyright protection, it must demonstrate human authorship. Ai can be used as a tool, much like a camera or digital editing program, but the final output must be shaped by human creativity to qualify for protection. The report reinforces the long-time principle that copyright is designed to protect human creativity, not machine-generated content. This means that if an AI system independently generates an artwork, a piece of music, a written work without meaningful human input, it is not copyrightable. Let me repeat that it is not copyrightable. Why does this matter? We are being accosted now in real time with all kinds of AI generated content, whether it comes to your ears, your eyes, pictures sounds everything.
Speaker 2:The ability to make money or to commercialize it depends on keeping it unique enough to earn a copyright. The copyright not only protects human work, but allows creators to protect a revenue source. If it's copyrighted, you can't copy it. If you do, they can sue you for damages and get paid if they can prove it. And that's the big deal about copyright in music, copyright in art, copyright in pictures. It's all about the money, at the end of the day, and protecting that right of that individual who created it to be compensated fairly for their work With AI.
Speaker 2:That blurs somewhat. Now, honestly, if you've used, if you've sent an email, if you've written something in Microsoft Word or Google, you have used AI, whether you know it or not, those prompts you get for words to complete and all that. That's artificial intelligence at work already implemented in the system. Copyright office is not talking about that. What they're talking about is if you create a work and maybe you use AI to edit or clean it up or one thing. That's one thing as opposed to telling AI to create something or having AI autonomously create something. That's one thing as opposed to telling AI to create something or having AI autonomously create something.
Speaker 2:That's totally different, that's not copyrightable and the patent office has a long I'm sorry, the copyright office has a long history of dealing with this. They go back to even 1965, and they talked about back then the issue was developments in computer technology, and it even then began to raise difficult questions of authorship, including whether material created using the technology is quote, written unquote by computers or authored by human creators 1965. By computers are authored by human creators, 1965. That 30 years, actually 28 years before the World Wide Web, before the Internet even began to take hold, before even any personal computers had been invented. It would be almost another 10, 11 years before the first Apple was created, the IBM Junior. All of this stuff was created late 70s, early 80s, 1965, with the big room full of computer issues and they were dealing with it then and they believed that they could not take the categorical position that registration would be denied merely because a computer may have been used in some manner in creating the work. And they believed that the same analysis applies in the context of AI technology For a work created using AI, like those created without it.
Speaker 2:A determination of copyrightability requires fact-specific consideration of the work and the circumstances of its creation, where AI merely assists an author in a creative process. Its use does not change the copyrightability of the output. On the other extreme, if the content is entirely generated by AI, it cannot be protected by copyright. Between these boundaries, various forms and combinations of human contributions can be involved in producing AI outputs. Now let me give you some examples or some questions.
Speaker 2:We reported here now, maybe about two years ago, the rise of something called Radio GPT, and it was a program where AI could actually duplicate voices or create independent voices for a radio station that would act as a DJ and on-air host, generate social media posts, blogs all this stuff cover some 250,000 data points in the local market. A major radio chain in Oregon used one of their stations as an example for one of their afternoon hosts a few years back. Here's the question Do you own your voice? Do you own your likeness? If you are a personality TV, radio, whatever how do you know that what you think you hear of the person that you're listening to, maybe every day, every month, every year, is in fact that person and not an AI generated voice? Now, how do you even contract for that? It's you. It's your voice. You hear the voice and the intonation and all the style and everything, but it's not you. What's to stop companies from laying you off, putting you out there and still continuing as if you were still there? This was the point of the Hollywood writer's strike. It's a big deal with content creators. It's a big deal with copyrightability Questions. The United States is the world's largest producer of oil, so why do we still import it? The answer is next, this is the Tech Mobility Show.
Speaker 2:Do you listen to podcasts? Seems that most people do. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. If you've missed any of our weekly episodes on the radio, our podcast is a great way to listen. You can find the Tech Mobility Podcast just about anywhere. You can enjoy podcasts. Be sure to follow us from Apple Podcasts, iheart Radio and many platforms in between. We are there. Just enter the Tech Mobility Podcast in the search bar. Wherever you listen to podcasts, podcast, social media it's the place to be. We're no exception. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Several times a week, I post to TikTok several of the topics that I cover on my weekly radio show. It's another way to keep up on mobility, technology news and information. I've built quite a library of short videos for your viewing pleasure, so be sure to watch, like and subscribe. That's the Tech Mobility Show on TikTok. Check it out.
Speaker 2:Here's a sobering fact. Although the United States of America is the world's largest producer of crude oil, it still needs to import more crude than it makes. I'm going to let you chew on that a minute. This is topic B. This is seriously messed up, but let me give you some numbers and I will quote you where they came from. But let me start. The United States of America imported in 2022 6.28 million barrels of oil, of crude oil, a day 6.28 million barrels of crude oil a day. We exported 3.58 million barrels of crude and products a day. A little messed up, isn't it? The US produces a record amount of more than 13 million barrels of crude oil a day, but its refineries need 16.5 million barrels of crude oil a day to maintain current production levels. Domestic refinery utilization stands at 90%. This is according to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, a trade association. So these are not numbers I'm making up. The amount of crude oil domestic refineries process greatly exceeds the amount the nation produces. How many refineries do you think we have in the United States of America? This is something else that opened up my eyes 132 oil refineries and you thought they were just in Texas. No, the newest refinery, as of January 2024, were built before 1977, 48 years ago, meaning at the best, they need to be woefully upgraded.
Speaker 2:Now, who is the number one country that we import oil from? And no, it's not Mexico, it's Canada. It is Canada. Canada was the top source of US crude oil imports 60%. 6 out of every 10 barrels that we import of crude oil to run those refineries comes from Canada. Mexico came in second at 10%. So Canada's over and away. And why is that? Because the way Canada's set up, they're really a captive producer. They don't have a lot of ways to sell it. It's easy to sell it to us. And here's something you may not know Do you realize that Canadian crude sells at a discount to American crude, sometimes $10 to $15 a barrel, less West Texas Intermediate, which is the crude oil, the description of crude oil and how it's priced. And it's priced for delivery at Cushing, oklahoma. Little tidbit there, that's free, I won't charge you for that.
Speaker 2:How long have we been refining oil in the United States? Well, this article talks about one of BP's refinery in Whiting, indiana, and it was built in the late 1880s. In Whiting, indiana, and it was built in the late 1880s 132 operable petroleum refineries 132. 60% of the 6.28 million barrels a day of crude oil that we import to run these refineries comes from Canada. 60%, six out of every 10 barrels, comes from Canada, because our refineries need more to refine and we export about a little over 3 million 3.2 million barrels a day of crude oil and finished products.
Speaker 2:Now this is where the path gets a little squirrely and I was like what? So I'm going to walk with me for a minute. I'm going to explain this. Here's the problem.
Speaker 2:Many refineries need a heavier grade of crude oil, one that is more viscous than the light sweet crudes produced from US shale. And, by the way, it's the shale oil industry that made us number one. All that technology they used, both out of shale oil and the technology they used to get more production out of what the major oil companies considered worn out wells, put us number one, and I've talked about that before More than Russia, more than Saudi Arabia. Us number one. And not just crude oil, natural gas too. Here's the messed up part.
Speaker 2:So our crude that we produce is what they call a sweet crude. It's light, it doesn't have a lot of impurities in it, but the way that the refineries are configured they got to run the heavier, nasty stuff. Why? To maximize flexibility of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel production. And that's according to the Trade Administration, that trade group. The extremely complex refineries on the Gulf Coast was configured to run these cheaper barrels of heavy sour crude which often have high yields of advantaged products like diesel, jet fuel and marine oil. Us refineries can process light sweet crude and listen to this carefully they can do it, but it's more costly.
Speaker 2:And listen to this can lead to a surplus of gasoline. What Light crude yields more gasoline than heavy crude? And I said, wait a minute. So let me get this straight. Our shale oil industry produces sweet light crude in this country that can be refined by our refineries to make gasoline, and a lot of gasoline, which obviously, if they do that, reduces the price, and a lot of gasoline which obviously, if they do that, reduces the price. So the oil industry already has the way to reduce the cost of a gallon of gasoline in this country today. They can do it. But you're wondering now, why won't they? Well price Notice that? They said it was more expensive. So it's diminishing returns. And the more money they spend to process the crude, the light crude, to turn it into gasoline, the less money they make on every gallon they produce. So why do that Buy the cheaper stuff that nobody really wants, the heavy stuff that's got a ton of impurities in it that they got to, you know, process out and it keeps things in balance.
Speaker 2:That made me a little crazy right there. I was like wait a minute, and I'm still not over it. I've got proof from their trade organization said this, not the government. Their trade organization said this A surplus of gasoline. They have the ability to lower the price. They have the ability to produce and create what they call a surplus of gasoline, more gasoline and obviously supply and demand. The more gasoline you make, the lower the price is, but then again, the less money they make. So in a capitalist country you're to maximize profit. Why would you do that country to maximize profit? Why would you do that? And for all the capital expenses that it does cost to run a petroleum plant, processing plant, you want to maximize your profit because it costs a lot of money and it's very, very complicated to run those plants. That was just crazy for me.
Speaker 2:Yes, canada's benchmark West Canadian Select, on a 10-year average, has generally traded at a discount of $10 to $15 a barrel, cheaper than benchmark West Texas Intermediate. Yeah, so West Texas Intermediate recently finished just below $69 a barrel, back out $15, and you're about $54 a barrel for Canadian Western Canadian select. Again, lower cost to feed stock. It's a lower quality crude too, but the plants can process it. They're engineered and optimized to run it 60%. This is messed up. I thought this was straightforward. I really did when I read this? It's not. And we haven't even begun to talk about the availability of getting the crude to parts of the country that need it, like the East Coast and all the pipelines nobody wants to build. Oh well, a Colombian hotel for cows might just save the Amazon rainforest.
Speaker 2:We are the Tech Mobility Show. To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings of the Tech Mobility Show by visiting techmobilityshow. That's techmobilityshow. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobilityshow. Did you know that Tech Mobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out.
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Speaker 2:Get started today and revolutionize the way you communicate. Social media is the place to be these days, and we're no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Instagram videos, from the latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary on a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you. Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Instagram. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar.
Speaker 2:This segment comes from National Public Radio and I wanted to share it with you. The title is this Colombian Hotel for Cows Could Help Reduce Deforestation in the Amazon. The El Jataco Farm in Cali, colombia, has been transformed by the family who owns it into a radically new environment, and they've owned this. It's been in their family since the late 1700s. The key word you want to remember here is called a silvopastor, and it's the intentional integration of trees, grasses and livestock. Turns out that what's good for the cows is good for the environment. This is topic C Silvio Pastor. Up till 30 years ago, they would clear land, they would clear cut, you'd have a pasture, open field, send the cows out chomping on the grass. What they were finding out is that that wasn't necessarily the most advantageous or effective way to get production from their cows. And they actually call it a hotel for cow, and this is what they said. It is a hotel with controlled temperatures, very good quality food and the cows sleep placidly. The controlled temperatures come from the trees. We talked about this. I told you you want to fix climate change? Plant a tree. It is the one thing that nature gives us that is able to do so much carbon capture, release oxygen, give shade, lower the temperature on the planet a million different things A tree. In 1993, that family planted trees and plants across the farms 130 acres, which now provide shade to cool the cows. Seed pods from mesquite trees and leaves of other trees give the cows protein-rich nutrition. Put a pin in that. We'll come back to that part. The family says that they've almost doubled the number of cows they raise per acre, and the dairy cattle which they also slaughter for beef make more milk. So let me get this straight slaughter for beef make more milk. So let me get this straight by giving them shade, by offering them an opportunity to eat a variety of foods, lower temperatures, better diet, less stress, more production, less money. That increase in productivity is why some climate researchers see this approach to farming as a key solution for reducing deforestation in South America.
Speaker 2:Number one problem in the Amazon for rainforest loss, clearing land for cattle and cows, destroyed forests, shrink habitats for endangered species and release planet-heating carbon dioxide. You may not realize this, and I've said it before the Amazon rainforest is the planet's biggest carbon sink. It absorbs more carbon than any other place in the planet and with it being cleared, it reduces its effectiveness and causes other problems. It reduces its effectiveness and causes other problems. The Amazon is specifically vulnerable because its trees create moist clouds that make rain. Well, if you think about it, they create because it's so dense and so moist in the Amazon rainforest rain forest that all that moisture going up actually creates its own atmosphere and its own rain. If too many trees are cut down, the system could break down, drying the region and releasing a dangerous amount of carbon dioxide. It wouldn't only impact the Amazon. That has implications for the entire planet Because remember I said earlier the rainforest in the Amazon is the world's largest carbon sink. If you lose that, you upset the balance and the whole planet gets warm as a result, or warmer Still by increasing the productivity of cattle and dairy farms.
Speaker 2:Silvopasture can decrease pressures to cut down rainforest. Here's the reality If they went with the typical thing of clearing the land and putting them out to pasture, the cows when they get to the point where they're going to slaughter them for meat are different weights, get there at different times. It's not real cost effective. Depending how well the cows are fed, they reach their slaughter weight at different times. Imagine in a silvopasture, where they're eating better and more consistent and they gain weight quicker, which allows the farmer to bring them to market faster. Meaning you need less land and you need less time. So there's fewer inputs, which means lower cost to get the same yield or a better yield.
Speaker 2:In carefully designed silvopasture systems, nutrient-rich collections of grasses, leaves and tree seed pods mean cattle can get to their slaughter weight faster. A shorter lifespan for the cattle means farmers can use less land. In addition, better diets mean dairy cows can make more milk. Studies that they've done on farms in Colombia, argentina and Mexico like this found milk and meat production increased per acre on all those farms all of them. So you've got to wonder why does such a common sense plan. That is not high tech. It's really not high tech that could solve, or at least go towards solving, a lot of the problems. Why isn't everybody embracing this?
Speaker 2:That formula, in order to work everywhere, takes some adjustment. It's particular to the Amazon for the nature of the climate, the timing and all of that. But it doesn't mean it won't work elsewhere. They even did a study In side-by-side plots one group of cattle grazed under the sun while the others in a silvopasture system with trees and special grasses. The research team that did the work found that the group of silvopasture cattle produced significantly less methane, a powerful plant of heating gas. In all ways, the silvopasture system was performing better Because of the biodiversity, the soil was richer and because the soil was richer it supported different types of plants, much like peanuts and other nuts and berries and things like that.
Speaker 2:Trees at El Hatico support bacteria that fix nitrogen, creating fertile soil without added chemicals. Lower cost, again, lower cost of inputs. Less time, lower cost of inputs, with basically a change in land use and land design. That saves money, reduces climate pollution and manufacturing chemical fertilizers is very energy intensive and, believe it or not, creates 5% of global greenhouse emissions. Imagine if you could do away with that, and all they had to do was literally go back to nature purposely turn a field back into the biodiverse grasses and trees and things like that that it started with.
Speaker 2:And the cows are better off, the planet's better off, and it supports biodiversity in plants as well as animals, birds and all sorts of great things biodiversity in plants as well as animals, birds and all sorts of great things. And then there's knock-on advantages as you go that way. It's called a silvio pastor. I had not heard of that till this, and I think it's so neat. You don't always need a technical solution to get a good solution. We've come to the end of our visit. Be sure to join me again next time, right here.
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Speaker 2:For those of you that listen to podcasts, we have just the one for you. Hi, I'm Ken Chester. Tech Mobility Topics is a podcast where I upload topic-specific videos each week. Shorter than a full show. These bite-sized programs are just the thing, particularly if you're interested in a particular topic covered on the weekly radio show. From Apple Podcasts to iHeartRadio and many podcast platforms in between, we got you covered. Just enter TechMobility topics in the search bar. Wherever you listen to podcasts, social media, it's the place to be. We're no exception. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Several times a week, I post to TikTok several of the topics that I cover on my weekly radio show. It's another way to keep up on mobility technology news and information. I've built quite a library of short videos for your viewing pleasure, so be sure to watch, like and subscribe. That's the Tech Mobility Show on TikTok. Check it out. To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting techmobilityshow. That's techmobilityshow. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobilityshow.
Speaker 2:Do you listen to podcasts? Seems that most people do. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. If you missed any of our weekly episodes on the radio, our podcast is a great way to listen. You can find the Tech Mobility Podcast just about anywhere. You can enjoy podcasts. Be sure to follow us from Apple Podcasts, iheart Radio and many platforms in between. We are there. Just enter the Tech Mobility Podcast in the search bar, wherever you listen to.
