Annotations - grasslands decline history

  1. Schmitz, Rob. “How Your Cashmere Sweater Is Decimating Mongolia’s Grasslands.” NPR. Mongolia, December 9, 2016. https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/12/09/504118819/how-your-cashmere-sweater-is-decimating-mongolias-grasslands.

    Thirty years ago, when the grass grew tall, cashmere goats made up 19 percent of all livestock in Mongolia. It's 60 percent today. And that's not just because goats are eager breeders. This is about money. China, Mongolia's biggest trading partner, has strict controls on importing meat and milk from Mongolian sheep and cows but not on cashmere.

  2. Schmitz, Rob. “How Your Cashmere Sweater Is Decimating Mongolia’s Grasslands.” NPR. Mongolia, December 9, 2016. https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/12/09/504118819/how-your-cashmere-sweater-is-decimating-mongolias-grasslands.

    "We've been wintering in this valley for 30 years," she says, looking away from her cows toward the hills in the distance. "Back then, the grass came up to my chest. It grew so tall that we had use a sickle and horse-drawn equipment to cut through it. But the grass of my time is gone. There's no longer enough to feed the animals."