Depressing stuff from Kenya
 

Warning - this is not cheerful news from Kenya.

It won't affect your holidays (unless you are going to the far north) and I am only putting it up here because it was not the picture I was getting and (especially) a paragraph about the drought cycle.

How can you help? Donate? Ask your congressman if he takes global warming seriously? Like I said it's depressing....

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world...784611,00.html

Kimburu,
Thanks for the link. There’s a link to AMREF at the bottom of the article. http://uk.amref.org/index.asp?PageID...sReleaseID=117
http://uk.amref.org/index.asp?PageID=16

Yes, very depressing. The worst is that is not the only case - and nowhere do I find that solutions are being found to the problems of pastoral peoples anywhere in the world.

...and it makes a mockery of a recent thread where people were discussing whether they would have enough water to carry out the 'essential' conditioning of their hair while on safari.

Tragically, in this case some sort of solution IS possible - these people are fortunate in that their land is considered worthless by others. However, the bad news is it would require not only considerable investment on behalf of a relatively small number of people but also, it seems, rapid and real action on global warming before the drought cycle is reduced to every 3 or 4 years.

There are things that can be done like investing in wells and boreholes etc and stopping all political encouragement of cattle rustling. Selling cattle at the right time is easier said than done because it’s important to have as many as possible, so that hopefully all, or in case of a bad dry season, at least some will survive. If all die, the little money from the selling done at a time when everyone was selling will be spent on buying food and when/if the rains return calves will not spring up from the soil.

Tanky, your comment about “essential” conditioning touched my most sensitive spot. I wasn’t alone in that thread – didn’t even start it - but I’m the worst offender. To me conditioning is essential without quotation marks. :-[ If I were happy with wearing my hair short I could feel complacent about using very little water – as long as I didn’t stay in camps with private plunge pools and ice in the drinks, and just as I could feel complacent about being serious about global warning if I had no desire to leave the place where I’m living. Anyway, this water use is a small “crime” compared to long distance, high-speed travel – like flying to Africa. I’ve never even seen global warming mentioned on Fodor’s before this thread. And it’s apparently not a factor considered when people plan their trips. It might seem silly after the killer flight to Africa, but road travel is always better than domestic flights, public transport is better than private vehicles, shared game drives are better than exclusive ones and walks are a lot better than drives. After this preaching I could pretend that the reason I’m not going to Africa is that I’m serious about global warning, but the truth is that if I started to raise money for boreholes in northern Kenya I’d probably steal the money for myself and use it on a safari.

Have you guys heard about global dimming and its relation to global warming? You may find it interesting (and frightening) - http://www.globalissues.org/EnvIssue...baldimming.asp

Patty,
I didn’t even know that dimming was a word in English. Thanks for the link.

Yes, all very depressing and disturbing. Think I'll escape from it all and go condition my hair.

But thanks for the article links anyway.

It is frightening. It is disturbing. Are any of us doing anything other than talking about it?

Other than posting glib notes, I do a little, which is better than nothing.

Walk or bike for transportation. (I am within 3 miles of my worksites, unlike many.)

Take the bus. (Fortunately stops are close to my home.)

Use energy efficient light bulbs.

Donate to charitable organizations that protect the environment. I don't know if the ones I give to directly benefit the Turkana nomads.

The first article mentioned this agency:
www.amref.org/uk

Write/email my reps on environmental issues, as Kimburu suggested.

Of course my annual pilgrimage to Africa via jet across several continents is not that environmentally sound.

On that note, Natural Habitat, a nature-wildlife travel company I have used has a carbon replacement program where you can donate based on the number of miles traveled to help counteract the pollution you create. I think there are other programs like this as well. I don't know how successful these are, but it is a response to question "are any of us doing anything about it?"

Thanks. All but the last are similar for me. Will check that one out. Much appreciated.

I’d like to be able to say that the reason I’ve never owned a car is that I’m serious about global warning. I just do normal, insufficient, not too demanding things. I also avoid bottled water when I can get hold of reasonably safe unbottled water. I think the carbon counteracting consists in planting trees and is a bit questionable, but better than nothing.