EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Harsh Life in a Tough Land

Horsecart and abandoned fishing boat
Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia), China

Explanation:  This week our glorious globe takes another spin around Sol.  As some of us enjoy our parties and celebrate the New Year, it may be as opportune a time to consider that most of us on this Earth do not have as much to celebrate.  

Here is a reminder of a harsh life in a tough land.

In this photo, it is nearing winter in a remote corner of Inner Mongolia, China.  The grass and forbs that feed the livestock and horses have all died back.  The lake is frozen solid and these fishing boats sit high-docked awaiting summer's thaw, so far away, if they ever will float again. 

Food is scarce, the cold merciless, and gone are the days when Mongolian herders could migrate with their stock across vast lands to more palatable pastures.  Now they are compelled to mostly remain in permanent structures as their local pastures become overgrazed.

I visited one fellow in his wool-covered yurt, living alone on a frozen stretch of pasture.  His existence was Spartan and austere, but he opened his home to me as he would to his family.  

So as we face this new year, let us honor the amazing tenacity and generosity of those not so blessed with the goods and services that others of us take from the land and take for granted.  It is a lesson to never forget.