writeaboutwarming

October 31, 2011 - I learned about something that's a real game changer last week. It's called Holistic Management (HM), and it has to do with the way grasslands are managed. The fact is, HM was developed for the express purpose of changing the way ranchers and farmers do business. Allan Savory, a Rhodesian (Zimbabwe was called Rhodesia decades ago) biologist, game ranger, politician, farmer and rancher, saw the need to repair grasslands in his native country nearly fifty years ago. What was it he saw? Livestock Raising was being managed in much the same way all over the world at that time. Sedentary livestock was easier to keep track of than animals that were allowed to roam, so ranchlands had gradually been fenced off. Once cattle were confined, ranchers figured their lives had been made a whole lot easier. The land degradation that resulted from the continual scuffing of cows' hooves across a relatively small area was easily corrected: cattle were simply moved to another...

June 30, 2009 – First of all, my apologies for the dark print in my last post. I realize this is very difficult to read. I’m not sure what caused this! Perhaps enlarging the font will make it easier to read. Again, I’m sorry that happened. I referred, in my last post, to the Sahara and Gobi Deserts. When I said they were advancing I meant, of course, that they were expanding. The expansion, in both cases, is caused by irrigation and animal grazing, activities associated with farming. Different types of land can support different amounts of irrigation and grazing. Clay soils, sandy soils, cannot support as much as top soil containing humus. Dry soils which are over-irrigated become salty, then parched. Over-grazed land gradually loses the vegetation that holds soil in place. An over-abundance of these activities occurs when too many people are trying to eke a living out of soil meant to support fewer people. The result is desertification. This is what has taken place in both...

June 28, 2009 – Before proceeding to more serious matters, I really must mention the new, online version of The Ecologist magazine. What a gift! It’s ALL covered here: the global warming effects on housing, transporta-tion, energy use, family, education, farming, social effects, political effects, psychological effects and more, More, MORE: every facet of life and how it is or will be affected by the changing climate. The authors are not only passionate, but knowledgeable. The articles are, bless us, well written, and they convey an enormous amount of timely, useful information. I don’t understand why my blog link doesn’t go to their website, unless it’s because they’re overseas. However, you can definitely find this marvelous publication at www.theecologist.org . READ IT! By Julie Cart April 9, 2009 “Reporting from The Murray-Darling Basin, Australia -- Frank Eddy pulled off his dusty boots and slid into a chair, taking his place at the dining room table where most of the criti...