Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Introduction
Wasteland or
Food-Producing Oasis?
R
A Time to Choose
Warm-Up
As I begin this effort to share with you the many remarkable ways that
desert farmers around the world have adapted to their changing climatic
conditionsconditions that global climate change will be bringing to
many more foodscapes* on this planetI want to take you back to where
the journey began for me. Perhaps you will then understand my motivations for gathering these stories of adaptation and resilience, and why
they might inspire all of us to improvise similar strategies on our own
home ground.
For much of the last four decades, I have lived in the Sonoran Desert
of southwestern North America, working on both sides of the USMexican border. The farming cultures living in this arid regionlike traditional
communities of farmers in deserts elsewherehave experienced at least
700 years of adaptation to dramatic climate changes while continuing
to farm in many of the same places their ancestors did.1 I have had the
privilege of visiting and working with traditional farmers in other arid
and semi-arid regions as well: the Sahara Desert; the Omani highlands
above the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert; the Gobi, Taklamakan,
and Pamirs deserts of Central Asia; the Painted Desert of the Colorado
Plateau; and the Chihuahuan Desert. While most of the farmers I have
spent time with have lived their entire lives within one particular desert,
Ive realized that few, if any, of them viewed the arid conditions they face
* Terms that appear in bold are defined in the glossary at the back of this book.
Parable
Fortunately, around that time I met a remarkable Moroccan farmer and
Sufi visionary, Aziz Bousfiha,2 who lived on the arid edge of Fez, the
World Heritage Site historically inhabited by Berber, Arab, and Sephardic
Jewish artisans, scholars, scientists, and holy men. Some mutual friends
of ours thought that I would be interested in visiting the remarkable
orchard-gardens that Aziz had planted around his parents home, and to
hear of his effortsalready in processtoward restoring an ancient oasis
out beyond the last suburban settlements of the sprawling metropolitan
area. Fez itself is a semi-arid landscape, historically averaging just less
than 20 inches of rainfall a year, but the aridity of the Moroccan landscape
increases dramatically as you travel south of the city, toward the western
edges of the Sahara.
Indeed, as I came out of the glaring sunlight of a Moroccan thoroughfare into the shade and fragrances of the Bousfiha family estate, it was
clear that someone thereprobably Aziz himselfhad the gift of a green
thumb. There were trees filled with jujubes and loquats, pomegranates,
and prickly pear cactus fruits. There were kumquats, grapefruits, mulberries, agaves, and olives. As I wandered through the orchard before going
4
Sufi mystic Aziz Bousfiha at work toward his vision of a resilient oasis culture here on earth, restoring an abandoned ancient oasis near Fez, Morocco. Photo by Josh Dick.
manifested in each kind of little seed. There is love and care embedded in
each olive growing on our trees, in each grain ground into our bread.
But we dont stop with making [this diversity flourish at] just one
oasis. The idea is to bring many small oasis-like farms into a chain [a
corridor, a connected network or community], so that all of them will be
in exchange with one another in order to serve the larger community of
which they are part.
They will also be in exchange with the more urban settlements
nearby that cannot grow all of their own food. And so the farmers [from
the desert oasis] will give a portion of the food they produce to urban
dwellers, who will become ambassadors for them.
We will generate solidarity between people on and off the farm, who
will begin to walk the long road of ancient wisdom together. They will
bring back the old grains of the region as symbols of the seeds of wisdom
that we must plant. Over the centuries, these ancient seeds have [dynamically] adapted to place. It is not just a natural ecosystem, but a cultural
ecosystem as well.
It is not just about farming with plants [adapted] to a particular
desert oasis, it is about cultivating solidarity among people . . . as well as a
thousand other things that will emerge from that.
And so we must regenerate a series of diverse desert oases, and then
link them through our solidarity. That solidaritynot just [what happens
in] any one placeis the cohesiveness, the core which will keep all this
6
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Gary Paul Nabhan offers a necessary guide to the ways of plants, and to managing water wisely in an increasingly unpredictable climate. Past civilizations could
have used a book like this. And if we ourselves dont want to become a distant
memory, we would do well to heed the hard-won lessons of desert farmers from
around the world, and learn the practical earth skills needed to create a perma
culture oasis of our own.
Michael Phillips, author of The Holistic Orchard and The Apple Grower
Drylandsare home to 40 percent ofthe worlds people: a figure sure to rise
in the coming decades as our world grows more parched. That is why Gary
Nabhans latest book is indispensable. Everyone who grows foodmake that,
everyone who eatsfoodshould be grateful he wrote it. An homage to old wisdom andtothe latter-day soil magicians who are Nabhans living muses, it is a
rich herbarium of delicious, hardy sustenance and a manual for our future.
Alan Weisman,author of The World Without Us andCountdown
In a world where climate change is the new normal, Gary Nabhan offers a
blueprint for food production. Using desert agriculture as a backdrop, Nabhan
is the ideal guide for understanding and addressing the challenges of rising
temperatures, depleting water resources, and ever-shifting conditions. It is a cautionary book of hope, full of dry-farming wisdom, to-do lists, and Gary Nabhans
enjoyable combination of insight and humor.
Dan Imhoff, author of Food Fight, CAFO,and Farming with the Wild
In Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land, Gary Paul Nabhan has crafted a
cogent treatise blending his own considerable knowledge and experience with
the traditional ecological wisdom of indigenous desert farmers, who have been
thriving in the face of climate uncertainty for many generations.
The hard-won lessons and innovations described in this book are applicable
for farmers cultivating in all changing climates, and inspirational for all people
who depend on their survival and success. A must-have arrow in the quiver for
all pragmatic Thrivalists!
Brock Dolman, director, WATER Institute and
Permaculture Design Program, Occidental Arts & Ecology Center
We face an unprecedented future. The scale and speed of the changes bearing
down on us as a consequence of climate uncertainty has no analog in history.
Fortunately, we have guides like Gary Paul Nabhan to lead us through the crazy
labyrinth in which we find ourselves. By looking to age-old practices and taking
lessons from nature, Dr. Nabhan builds a compelling case for a type of resilience
that matters whether you are a food producer or eaterwhich is everyone!
Courtney White, founder and creative director, Quivira Coalition
All of Gary Nabhans books carry us on deep, enchanting journeys to the hearts
of people, plants, and cultures across the world. Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier
Land offers the rich stories and cultural insights weve come to expect, but now,
when we badly need it, Gary also tells us explicitly how to use the dryland wisdom hes assembled over a lifetime. Heaped with practical principles, techniques,
plant lists, parables, and more, his new book offers important tools for preserving our food and water security on a warmer, stormier planet. Im inspired and
heartened by this timely and important offering from a true desert sage.
Toby Hemenway, author of
Gaias Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture
If the 20th century strove to insulate us from the harsh realities of nature (while
exacerbating its extremes), Gary Nabhans latest book introduces us to the 21st
centurys rude reminders that change is here, uncertainty commonplace. With little
room for the hand-wringers, Nabhan provides everyone else, from novice gardener
to deep ecologist, important food for thought and the practical know-how to address our modern problems with ancient desert wisdom. I couldnt put it down.
Richard McCarthy, executive director, Slow Food USA
Gary Nabhans books never fail to inspire and inform me. This book is no
exception. After just one read through, Ive dog-eared, highlighted, and noted
countless gems, facts, and stories to which I will return again and again. The pattern of the book makes this easy. Each section begins with a Warm-Up problem,
followed by a Parable of people or natural systems addressing the problem. Principles and Premises distilled from the problem and parable, along with Planning
and Practice tips, then help me work cooperatively with the life around me to
formulate solutions unique to my sites conditions and changing climate.
Best of all, I feel Im part of an incredibly diverse, caring community as I
do so, thanks to Gary sharing so many engaging examples of different people,
cultures, and ecosystems doing likewise. Read this book!
Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond