Reindeer Chronicles - Wyrmsign.org

256 pages

English language

Published May 23, 2020 by Chelsea Green Publishing.

ISBN:: 978-1-60358-865-2

(1 review)

Award-winning science journalist Judith D. Schwartz takes us first to China’s Loess Plateau, where a landmark project has successfully restored a blighted region the size of Belgium, lifting millions of people out of poverty. She journeys on to Norway, where a young indigenous reindeer herder challenges the most powerful orthodoxies of conservation―and his own government. And in the Middle East, she follows the visionary work of an ambitious young American as he attempts to re-engineer the desert ecosystem, using plants as his most sophisticated technology.

Schwartz explores regenerative solutions across a range of landscapes: deserts, grasslands, tropics, tundra, Mediterranean. She also highlights various human landscapes, the legacy of colonialism and industrial agriculture, and the endurance of indigenous knowledge.

The Reindeer Chronicles demonstrates how solutions to seemingly intractable problems can come from the unlikeliest of places, and how the restoration of local water, carbon, nutrient, and energy cycles can play a …

Award-winning science journalist Judith D. Schwartz takes us first to China’s Loess Plateau, where a landmark project has successfully restored a blighted region the size of Belgium, lifting millions of people out of poverty. She journeys on to Norway, where a young indigenous reindeer herder challenges the most powerful orthodoxies of conservation―and his own government. And in the Middle East, she follows the visionary work of an ambitious young American as he attempts to re-engineer the desert ecosystem, using plants as his most sophisticated technology.

Schwartz explores regenerative solutions across a range of landscapes: deserts, grasslands, tropics, tundra, Mediterranean. She also highlights various human landscapes, the legacy of colonialism and industrial agriculture, and the endurance of indigenous knowledge.

The Reindeer Chronicles demonstrates how solutions to seemingly intractable problems can come from the unlikeliest of places, and how the restoration of local water, carbon, nutrient, and energy cycles can play a dramatic role in stabilizing the global climate. Ultimately, it reveals how much is in our hands if we can find a way to work together and follow nature’s lead.

1 edition

Derek Caelin reviewed Reindeer Chronicles by Judith Schwartz

Change is Possible

5 stars

I made a video review: sunbeam.city/system/media_attachments/files/109/003/050/194/362/756/original/0d0cad431b57cf3a.mp4

This book looks at the work that goes into ecosystem restoration, exploring case studies from across north-central china, the Sinai, Yemen, New Mexico, Spain, and many others. What's striking is that the work is not simply planting trees or protecting animal species. Each story is deeply focused on the humans who need to come together, collaborate, resolve conflicts or plan for a complex future.

This reflects the reality that humans are not "outside" of nature, or separate from it. We are deeply enmeshed in our ecosystems, and the damage we see to the world stems from our failure to recognize that fact. In many places, our conflicts over water (see the story about New Mexico) as much result from our own land management policies as the broader trends of climate change. I really appreciated book's focus on the humans involved in ecosystem restoration, looking …

I made a video review: sunbeam.city/system/media_attachments/files/109/003/050/194/362/756/original/0d0cad431b57cf3a.mp4

This book looks at the work that goes into ecosystem restoration, exploring case studies from across north-central china, the Sinai, Yemen, New Mexico, Spain, and many others. What's striking is that the work is not simply planting trees or protecting animal species. Each story is deeply focused on the humans who need to come together, collaborate, resolve conflicts or plan for a complex future.

This reflects the reality that humans are not "outside" of nature, or separate from it. We are deeply enmeshed in our ecosystems, and the damage we see to the world stems from our failure to recognize that fact. In many places, our conflicts over water (see the story about New Mexico) as much result from our own land management policies as the broader trends of climate change. I really appreciated book's focus on the humans involved in ecosystem restoration, looking at the movements to preserve reindeer herds in Norway and regenerative agriculture in Hawaii as culural, justice-oriented campaigns.

On a personal note, it was a pleasant surprise to see my organization's partners Commonland in The Netherlands and AlVelAl in Spain featured in the final chapter. A principle character featured is Dietmar Roth, a very kind German man who was an adopted son of his community in Vélez Blanco Spain. Dietmar generously spent several hours with me early on when I started working in my conservation-oriented job. He passed away in July 2021, and it was pleasant to see the work he loved held up as an example in the story.

Read the book!