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In using the word “adaption,” I don’t imply that
it’s a successful adaption or that adaption is
always a positive thing — while we can adapt to
the loss of a leg, or a loved one, most of us
would rather not.
Lance Olsen
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” … one of the hundreds of thousands who in
recent years have abandoned their nomadic herding
lives for an urban existence.”
“The biggest problem is that [the warming] leads
to an increasing loss of soil moisture, which is
critical to plant growth,” Goulden said.
The average amount of precipitation has remained
steady. But rains tend to be more infrequent and
heavier when they occur.
“When you have these heavier rains, you get
greater runoff, with less of the moisture being
soaked up by the soil for the summer growth,”
Goulden said
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National Geographic News: NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/NEWS
Climate Change Driving Mongolians From Steppe to Cities
Stefan Lövgren in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
for National Geographic News
February 21, 2008
Lifelong herder Namdag lives in a traditional
felt tent home-or “ger”-among some half dozen
cars in various states of disrepair, an informal
junkyard against the towering, snow-capped
mountains that surround the Mongolian capital of
Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator).
“I miss my old life,” said the 71-year-old, now a
world removed from the sweeping steppes he once
called home. “But life out there is too
difficult.”