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The Reindeer Chronicles: And Other Inspiring Stories of Working with Nature to Heal the Earth
"Compelling, Fascinating, sometimes unexpectedly moving, this vitally important book is, above all, a springboard for hope and transformation."―Isabella Tree "A lucid and compelling look at the global movement of ecological rehabilitation."― The Boston Globe In a time of uncertainty about our environmental future―an eye-opening global tour of some of the most wounded places on earth, and stories of how a passionate group of eco-restorers is leading the way to their revitalization. Award-winning science journalist Judith D. Schwartz takes us first to China’s Loess Plateau, where a landmark project has successfully restored a blighted region the size of Belgium, lifting millions of people out of poverty. She journeys on to Norway, where a young indigenous reindeer herder challenges the most powerful orthodoxies of conservation―and his own government. And in the Middle East, she follows the visionary work of an ambitious young American as he attempts to re-engineer the desert ecosystem, using plants as his most sophisticated technology. Schwartz explores regenerative solutions across a range of deserts, grasslands, tropics, tundra, Mediterranean. She also highlights various human landscapes, the legacy of colonialism and industrial agriculture, and the endurance of indigenous knowledge. The Reindeer Chronicles demonstrates how solutions to seemingly intractable problems can come from the unlikeliest of places, and how the restoration of local water, carbon, nutrient, and energy cycles can play a dramatic role in stabilizing the global climate. Ultimately, it reveals how much is in our hands if we can find a way to work together and follow nature’s lead.
256 pages, Paperback
Published July 27, 2020
52 people are currently reading
753 people want to read
About the author
Judith D. Schwartz
7 books34 followersI am a longtime freelance writer with wide-ranging experience with books, magazines, newspapers, and a variety of writing and editing clients. I’ve written articles for women’s magazines, co- and ghost-written books with therapists and doctors as well as a couple of my own. I’ve trained as a therapist and written a novel based on my grandmother’s psychoanalyst who was a member of Freud’s inner circle in Vienna. (It’s just a few tweaks away from sending out.)
About four years ago my work took a different direction: I wrote an article on the then fledgling Transition movement, and the reporting turned my thinking upside down. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, I started asking questions like, “What is money?” Each inquiry led to more reporting, which took me on a whirlwind journalistic tour of New Economics, which sees the purpose of the economy as serving people and the environment—as opposed to the other way around. Which led to environmental economics. Which ultimately led to soil.
Now for the requisite credential info: I live and work on the side of a mountain in southern Vermont. My husband, Tony Eprile, is also a writer and our son, Brendan, is a singer/songwriter/guitarist on the verge of finishing high school. I have a B.A. from Brown University, an M.S.J. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern. I’m a longtime member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, and serve on the board of the One World Conservation Center in Bennington, Vermont. In the winter I cross-country ski and in the summer I grow things. Alas, from the state of my garden one would never guess I’d devoted the better part of two years to learning about soil. But there’s always next season.
About four years ago my work took a different direction: I wrote an article on the then fledgling Transition movement, and the reporting turned my thinking upside down. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, I started asking questions like, “What is money?” Each inquiry led to more reporting, which took me on a whirlwind journalistic tour of New Economics, which sees the purpose of the economy as serving people and the environment—as opposed to the other way around. Which led to environmental economics. Which ultimately led to soil.
Now for the requisite credential info: I live and work on the side of a mountain in southern Vermont. My husband, Tony Eprile, is also a writer and our son, Brendan, is a singer/songwriter/guitarist on the verge of finishing high school. I have a B.A. from Brown University, an M.S.J. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern. I’m a longtime member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, and serve on the board of the One World Conservation Center in Bennington, Vermont. In the winter I cross-country ski and in the summer I grow things. Alas, from the state of my garden one would never guess I’d devoted the better part of two years to learning about soil. But there’s always next season.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
October 18, 2021
I loved this hopeful book detailing how humans can regenerate our earth--not just preserve it--through taking actions on our own, with others in our community, and not waiting for governments to take action.
The author shows us how we can act together to regenerate the soil, replenish water tables, slow climate change and create healthy ecosystems for ourselves and the other beings on the planet.
Each clearly written and interesting chapter focuses on successful actions taken by people all over the planet, showing how we can change our thinking from gloom and doom to thinking beyond the impossible, challenging our assumptions about what can't-and CAN--be done to bring ourselves back into alignment with the earth's natural processes.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in creating a healthier planet.
The author shows us how we can act together to regenerate the soil, replenish water tables, slow climate change and create healthy ecosystems for ourselves and the other beings on the planet.
Each clearly written and interesting chapter focuses on successful actions taken by people all over the planet, showing how we can change our thinking from gloom and doom to thinking beyond the impossible, challenging our assumptions about what can't-and CAN--be done to bring ourselves back into alignment with the earth's natural processes.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in creating a healthier planet.
January 16, 2021
This book reads like someone's scribbled diary from their exciting gap year or sabbatical. It's heavy on trivial detail - a blur of people, NGOs and social enterprise startups. Each chapter focuses on an example of one or another project, but often meanders off into other projects that are related or vaguely similar or just happen to be nearby. The explanations of the projects are mostly in the form of interviews with proponents, and mostly giving about as much detail and insight as you would get from an NGO's promotional brochure. This is all a shame because there are some genuinely interesting things here that many people may not have heard enough about, like the opening chapters on restoring degraded land in China's Loess Plateau and the Arabian peninsula. At least the interested reader could go and look up those examples and find out more about them.
There's also some really terrible stuff - like the section on feral animals in Australia. It seems that, because a cattle farmer in Western Australia thinks the invasive feral donkeys on his land provide some use (keeping vegetation from getting too thick and becoming a fire hazard, it seems) therefore feral animals (of all kinds) should be embraced. Despite then going on to quote from controversialist wildlife academic Arian Wallach, the account doesn't really present and weigh the evidence, it just promotes a particular view. If you want to promote a risky contrarian embrace of invasive feral animals, I think it's fair that your audience might expect a fairly high level of evidence, and the account is seriously lacking.
That's really the problem with a lot of the more substantial material that Schwartz discusses: presenting and weighing the evidence from all sides. As science journalist George Monbiot has pointed out, regenerative agriculture has plenty of TEDx talks (and other material such as this book) promoting it, but not so much in the way of published science. Until that gap is filled I feel that I am justified in showing some skepticism, whether it's the contrarian wildlife views of this chapter, or the much-promoted, little-analysed grazing methods of Alan Savory.
Lastly, the projects examined here tend to be establishment friendly, with the exception of some of the Indigenous projects like the Sami reindeer herder and the Hawaiian permaculturists who do have some conflict with governments and big business. A lot of the projects are run by philanthropics, NGOs and social enterprise type organisations. The Loess Plateau restoration was a project of the World Bank. In many cases this kind of working within the system is inevitable and unremarkable, and better than doing nothing. But while the book often implies we need to progress beyond the capitalist world system, the view of many of its actors seems to be the highly unlikely proposition that responsible investment within that system will somehow defeat the massive monopolistic multinational corporations that control the power centres of the world economy.
There is undoubtedly interesting and inspiring material within this book, but trying to dig it out is a real labour. Overall, one star.
There's also some really terrible stuff - like the section on feral animals in Australia. It seems that, because a cattle farmer in Western Australia thinks the invasive feral donkeys on his land provide some use (keeping vegetation from getting too thick and becoming a fire hazard, it seems) therefore feral animals (of all kinds) should be embraced. Despite then going on to quote from controversialist wildlife academic Arian Wallach, the account doesn't really present and weigh the evidence, it just promotes a particular view. If you want to promote a risky contrarian embrace of invasive feral animals, I think it's fair that your audience might expect a fairly high level of evidence, and the account is seriously lacking.
That's really the problem with a lot of the more substantial material that Schwartz discusses: presenting and weighing the evidence from all sides. As science journalist George Monbiot has pointed out, regenerative agriculture has plenty of TEDx talks (and other material such as this book) promoting it, but not so much in the way of published science. Until that gap is filled I feel that I am justified in showing some skepticism, whether it's the contrarian wildlife views of this chapter, or the much-promoted, little-analysed grazing methods of Alan Savory.
Lastly, the projects examined here tend to be establishment friendly, with the exception of some of the Indigenous projects like the Sami reindeer herder and the Hawaiian permaculturists who do have some conflict with governments and big business. A lot of the projects are run by philanthropics, NGOs and social enterprise type organisations. The Loess Plateau restoration was a project of the World Bank. In many cases this kind of working within the system is inevitable and unremarkable, and better than doing nothing. But while the book often implies we need to progress beyond the capitalist world system, the view of many of its actors seems to be the highly unlikely proposition that responsible investment within that system will somehow defeat the massive monopolistic multinational corporations that control the power centres of the world economy.
There is undoubtedly interesting and inspiring material within this book, but trying to dig it out is a real labour. Overall, one star.
February 3, 2021
Mixed feelings regarding the book. Some of it was tedious. Some of it was very interesting. I didn't feel like there was a clear path. I know it was a look at separate stories all around the them of environment regeneration but there was lots of skipping around it felt. And no summary at the end to tie it all up. Overall, I found parts of the stories generated inspiration and certainly made me think. The comments how soil regeneration is just part of the equation and neither is global warming all we must consider. As the writer indicates early, "With this movement still young, there are few tidy stories and no formula. And so this book is about the process: how to grapple with the task of ecological repair and what mind-set drives it forward." (p. 9). Glad I read it.
October 15, 2020
This is like an excellent mix of Half the Sky and Braiding Sweetgrass! It’s basically about how people can listen to the earth and work with the earth to help restore itself, showing how restoration produces economic, environmental, and social change. 4.5
April 10, 2021
This is the kind of book that I immediately tell my friends and family to read. It inspires hope and is filled with stories from around the world where ecology is being centered. I particularly enjoyed the focus on female-owned ranches in Washington.
January 19, 2025
read for work!
i was such a hater getting into this because of the dopey name and sorbet cover but it's really well-written and i think handles complicated NBS-topics really really well! works best when it stays close to the reporting and is not trying to make political arguments about climate change. this is not a political book! and i'm trying to be okay with that. maybe it's fine it just sticks with the science. still, i think pressuring "inspiration," especially when it comes to climate, is a stale tactic and i think actually undersells the complexity the book proposes.
a lot of this is really inspiring! i wanted to see more stuff about land grabs and tenure ,though.
i was such a hater getting into this because of the dopey name and sorbet cover but it's really well-written and i think handles complicated NBS-topics really really well! works best when it stays close to the reporting and is not trying to make political arguments about climate change. this is not a political book! and i'm trying to be okay with that. maybe it's fine it just sticks with the science. still, i think pressuring "inspiration," especially when it comes to climate, is a stale tactic and i think actually undersells the complexity the book proposes.
a lot of this is really inspiring! i wanted to see more stuff about land grabs and tenure ,though.
May 19, 2021
Interesting book on eco-restoration.
May 10, 2023
Wow. Inspiring and challenging. This book makes me want to do better and start now to do something good with the land I have. Lowkey going to try and convince my husband we need chickens.
July 11, 2021
The structure of this book centers on a few examples of ecosystems management:
1. The book begins with an impressive story of how China was able to reverse centuries of desertification through smart, dare I say, "hacked", agriculture based on ecosystems management. All organized by the Chinese government on a grand scale in the Loess Plateau in midwestern China. Don't say communism never gave you nothin'. Anyway very cool, dramatic example.
2. Reversal of desertification in the Middle East. Schwartz begins to make the case that warmer local microclimate i.e. literally weather is changed by loss of fertile land to desertification.
3. In my opinion, the most important point in this book: consensus work- a framework for mobilizing people to both 1. give a shit and 2. do something about X, in this case, deforested, deconditioned desertified land. It involves 1. having people express their feelings on the shittiness of the current situation 2. having them express their fears about continuing along the same shitty trajectory 3. Asking them to wildly spitball best possible outcomes to improve shittiness of said situation. Gives a great example of New Mexico water hoarding.
4. Ecosystems need ruminants. Reindeer and pasturing animals improve land quality by packing down ice to prevent early thaw and fertilizing soil with... you guessed it, their poo. However, in order to be net positives for the land, they need to be actively managed and grazing should be rotated to different pastures so all the plants don't die at once. Should be simple, but actually wildly difficult to convince people to do in real life, according to book.
5. Schwartz makes the case that current economics is based on scarcity, whereas nature tends towards abundance. This chapter also covers Monsanto and their GMO pesticide experiments in Maui and the fact that they never took accountability for literally spraying pesticides over small indigenous children. By accident of wind, but still. Imagine if this bullshit happened in Westchester? You bet everyone would about lose their goddamn minds... as they should. Fuck them. Fuck them. Fuck them. I'm actually for GMOs, but not ones genetically bred to be resistant to pesticides.
5. Women may lead the way for agriculture and ranching. Gives an example of a cool lady that teaches people how to run a ranch. Lots of women are interested. Not really sure about this one- gives a stat that 30% of farmers are women and 50% of farm in the midwest are owned or co-owned by women. Schwartz also states that half of US farmland is set to change hands in the next 20 years due to old people dying, so basically women can just... swoop right in. I'm paraphrasing but damn. What about the rest of the US? Why selectively report when you could just give all the numbers? I mean, awesome, go women, I agree, but I'm not sure this evidence really clinches the case for me.
6. Restoring ecosystems across the world can be more accessible with the help of ecology camps, which actually, hear me out, sound like a lesser Burning Man meets ecology meets coliving sort of mashup. Maybe I'm overstating, but still, very cool.
So, overall, in retrospect, this is exactly the format of book I loathe: a collection of short stories, with little narrative thread to neatly tie them all together. Knowing next to nothing about ecology, it's a testament to either Schwartz's writing or the absolute awesomeness of the subject that I actually finished this thing.
1. The book begins with an impressive story of how China was able to reverse centuries of desertification through smart, dare I say, "hacked", agriculture based on ecosystems management. All organized by the Chinese government on a grand scale in the Loess Plateau in midwestern China. Don't say communism never gave you nothin'. Anyway very cool, dramatic example.
2. Reversal of desertification in the Middle East. Schwartz begins to make the case that warmer local microclimate i.e. literally weather is changed by loss of fertile land to desertification.
3. In my opinion, the most important point in this book: consensus work- a framework for mobilizing people to both 1. give a shit and 2. do something about X, in this case, deforested, deconditioned desertified land. It involves 1. having people express their feelings on the shittiness of the current situation 2. having them express their fears about continuing along the same shitty trajectory 3. Asking them to wildly spitball best possible outcomes to improve shittiness of said situation. Gives a great example of New Mexico water hoarding.
4. Ecosystems need ruminants. Reindeer and pasturing animals improve land quality by packing down ice to prevent early thaw and fertilizing soil with... you guessed it, their poo. However, in order to be net positives for the land, they need to be actively managed and grazing should be rotated to different pastures so all the plants don't die at once. Should be simple, but actually wildly difficult to convince people to do in real life, according to book.
5. Schwartz makes the case that current economics is based on scarcity, whereas nature tends towards abundance. This chapter also covers Monsanto and their GMO pesticide experiments in Maui and the fact that they never took accountability for literally spraying pesticides over small indigenous children. By accident of wind, but still. Imagine if this bullshit happened in Westchester? You bet everyone would about lose their goddamn minds... as they should. Fuck them. Fuck them. Fuck them. I'm actually for GMOs, but not ones genetically bred to be resistant to pesticides.
5. Women may lead the way for agriculture and ranching. Gives an example of a cool lady that teaches people how to run a ranch. Lots of women are interested. Not really sure about this one- gives a stat that 30% of farmers are women and 50% of farm in the midwest are owned or co-owned by women. Schwartz also states that half of US farmland is set to change hands in the next 20 years due to old people dying, so basically women can just... swoop right in. I'm paraphrasing but damn. What about the rest of the US? Why selectively report when you could just give all the numbers? I mean, awesome, go women, I agree, but I'm not sure this evidence really clinches the case for me.
6. Restoring ecosystems across the world can be more accessible with the help of ecology camps, which actually, hear me out, sound like a lesser Burning Man meets ecology meets coliving sort of mashup. Maybe I'm overstating, but still, very cool.
So, overall, in retrospect, this is exactly the format of book I loathe: a collection of short stories, with little narrative thread to neatly tie them all together. Knowing next to nothing about ecology, it's a testament to either Schwartz's writing or the absolute awesomeness of the subject that I actually finished this thing.
August 23, 2021
The climate crisis demands hope, demands solutions. It’s clear that we cannot rely on governments to provide these in time. Meanwhile the media loves to fill us with adrenaline by seizing our attention with worst possible outcomes; these fill us with fear and become self-fulfilling prophecies. But what if we allowed ourselves to imagine the best? What if we could explore solutions that will benefit the planet and our societies?
This book is so hopeful, so inspiring, so grounded. Schwartz takes us on a journey around the globe to discover ways in which grassroots activists and communities are creating a better world. From the rehabilitation of the Loess Plateau, greening the deserts in the Middle East, finding ways to resolve conflicts and reach consensus in Mexico, to encouraging women to take up leadership roles in agriculture… its scope is vast and varied.
It’s like Isabella Tree’s Wilding but on a global scale with a touch of the spiritual found in Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass.
I learnt so much from this book. My eyes open wide to the possibilities and solutions, to the knowledge that other humans have and are using to create magnificent things. There are so many ways that we can work in harmony with nature, our economy, our culture and fellow human beings.
In Valencia, Schwartz meets Millán, a scientist working on improving weather conditions through the landscape’s microclimate. “The emphasis solely on carbon emissions has blinded people to what’s happening in front of them, he says. “People aren’t looking at local-to-regional effects.””
Reading this book I’m so inspired, maybe considering a career change to restorative agriculture but realistically knowing that this is the energy I need to take with me into a new school year. As my class move into their new, off grid room on a biodynamic farm I hope I have what it takes to inspire them and show them the beauty of being in harmony with our land and each other.
The future is in our hands and we have the knowledge and power to create sustainable change.
Thanks to @chelseagreenbooks for my #gifted copy. My honest opinions are my own.
March 14, 2021
There are some interesting and important messages in the book: natural or traditional ways of keeping the ecosystem in balance, e.g. reindeer pruning brush through their grazin; and the ways in which changes to the landscape can drive changes to the weather (not just the other way around).These ideas are just mentioned in passing, though, supported by a few anecdotes rather than solid evidence.
Overall, this seemed to be more a collection of essays rather than a book. The chapter focused on the lessons of the Loess Plateau was very impressive. It had a clear narrative arc: a desolate landscape caused by poor environmental management; clever and persistent ecologists experiment with ways to help nature recover; everyone lives happily ever after. None of the other chapters have that sort of arc, unfortunately.
A similar example of regeneration in Saudi Arabia was incomplete; as was an example in the Netherlands. The chapter about Maui outlines the environmental problems and causes, but Schwartz just describes interesting conversations that she has with interesting people there. There is no resolution. The chapter about women in the saddle was similar in not having an obvious conclusion other than the observation that women may be well suited to working on ranches. That’s an important point in general, but it doesn’t fit with the theme of the book from the title - working with nature to heal the earth. Even the chapter about reindeer is only partially about healing the earth. I kept waiting for the inspiring part of the story, only to learn that there was no happy ending. Any potential wisdom in the old ways of indigenous people was being lost in politics and/or bureaucracy.
Schwartz drops some hints about a positive potential for the planet, and there is one inspiring story, but this book didn’t deliver on the promise in the title.
Overall, this seemed to be more a collection of essays rather than a book. The chapter focused on the lessons of the Loess Plateau was very impressive. It had a clear narrative arc: a desolate landscape caused by poor environmental management; clever and persistent ecologists experiment with ways to help nature recover; everyone lives happily ever after. None of the other chapters have that sort of arc, unfortunately.
A similar example of regeneration in Saudi Arabia was incomplete; as was an example in the Netherlands. The chapter about Maui outlines the environmental problems and causes, but Schwartz just describes interesting conversations that she has with interesting people there. There is no resolution. The chapter about women in the saddle was similar in not having an obvious conclusion other than the observation that women may be well suited to working on ranches. That’s an important point in general, but it doesn’t fit with the theme of the book from the title - working with nature to heal the earth. Even the chapter about reindeer is only partially about healing the earth. I kept waiting for the inspiring part of the story, only to learn that there was no happy ending. Any potential wisdom in the old ways of indigenous people was being lost in politics and/or bureaucracy.
Schwartz drops some hints about a positive potential for the planet, and there is one inspiring story, but this book didn’t deliver on the promise in the title.
November 20, 2021
Brilliant, though best in the first two-thirds. Central insight is that climate change is best understood as “not, simplistically, temperature change” but rather, “as the manifestations of disrupted carbon, water, nutrient, and energy cycles.” Critical to thinking about environmental impact - underlying cycles and dynamics more important than surface measurements. There is also a wonderful anecdote about re-greening a desert in the mid-east; engineers built old school aqueducts and water capture structures; project ran out of funding; three years after this they came back and with no maintenance, the structures held 80% of the water they were designed to capture. Much of what might make a difference is old-tech; problem is this sort of thing never gets financed; unsexy and difficult to structure eco-system gains into an entity that captures these in financial terms. Love the parallel to Arthur Brooks’ How To Build A Life; build structures in your life to capture the ‘rain’ - family, friendships, work you love, activities and hobbies, etc.
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August 23, 2022Published in Edible Bozeman Magazine
Bookshelf
Rain in the Desert, Boots on the Ground
By Katie Geraci
Right now, countries are competing for trade routes and natural gas extraction in the melting polar ice caps in what the “Harvard International Review” is calling a “modern gold rush.” Instead of individuals with wagons and mules, each country is boasting its brigade of icebreakers. This scramble for resource extraction is a tale as old as our push for progress. But these resources aren’t limitless, and progress, in our global economic system, often leaves oppressed people groups in its wake.
What if, instead of forcing people to degrade their own landscapes by pulling the last trees to create a sellable product, we determine that a healthy, intact ecosystem is the product? What if we had a quadruple bottom line that integrates financial capital with ecologically regenerative ventures that enhance local well-being and offer a sense of purpose, rather than relegating emissions or landscape degradation to an externalities box? What if we saw natural disasters as cultural ones? This is exactly what Judith Schwartz proposes in The Reindeer Chronicles: And Other Inspiring Stories of Working with Nature to Heal the Earth (Chelsea Green, 2020). Schwartz’s compilation is both an overhaul of our economics-equals-profit thinking and a start-where-you-are restorative effort.
This book is jam-packed with organizations and individuals working to heal the earth, as well as a growing number of women interested in regenerative agriculture. Schwartz masterfully spotlights Allan Savory’s Holistic Management practices and Bob Chadwick’s consensus model for guiding management level decision-making and community conflict resolution—methodologies taught in MSU’s Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Department.
Schwartz also highlights the astronomic damages of colonialism. Particularly striking is the use of Aesop’s fable of the wolf and the lamb, as told through Ánde Somby, a Sámi from Norway, in which the wolf blames the lamb for arbitrary offenses in order to eat it. Schwartz writes, “[a] tyrant will try to rationalize the harm they do to those they prey upon.” The lamb is too dangerous, traditional, or different. She follows with examples of the Norwegian government approving construction of a copper mine in 2019, touting it as “the route to a prosperous future,” and Sámi children being sent to boarding schools where the schools tried to strip children of their cultural heritage, a familiar history for Indigenous peoples in the U.S.
One gap in this book may be that Schwartz never quite explains how to partake in these restoration efforts in solidly urban settings. She employs a short section on Natalie Topa, an employee with the Danish Refugee Council, who composts and houses chickens on her apartment balcony. And though Topa explains the need for dignified employment, affordable housing, and food accessibility in low-income areas, this falls short in light of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ prediction that 68 percent of the global population will be living in urban areas by 2050.
In 800s Algeria, at the originally wooded outpost of Timgad, “Romans cut down the forests to heat their baths and build up the city.” That city was eventually swallowed by the expanding Sahara Desert. Right now in the Arctic Circle, there is about three times the amount of natural gas and other fuels as the United States’ current oil reserves. There are also over forty Indigenous people groups living in the Arctic. If we take lessons from historical land degradation seriously, and refuse to let the wolf devour the lamb, we may yet keep the advancing desert from swallowing us.
Though she employs cloying sayings like “we’re all in this together” and urges readers to drop their cynicism (important yet difficult), Schwartz effectively makes the case for an urgent yet patient activism, and the need for strong investment in eco-restoration careers. She challenges us to not only name our greatest climate change fears, but to act according to the conviction that those fears are preventable—because Schwartz claims they are.
Sources:
https://hir.harvard.edu/the-arctic-ci...
https://www.un.org/development/desa/e...
https://www.arcticcentre.org/EN/arcti...
Bookshelf
Rain in the Desert, Boots on the Ground
By Katie Geraci
Right now, countries are competing for trade routes and natural gas extraction in the melting polar ice caps in what the “Harvard International Review” is calling a “modern gold rush.” Instead of individuals with wagons and mules, each country is boasting its brigade of icebreakers. This scramble for resource extraction is a tale as old as our push for progress. But these resources aren’t limitless, and progress, in our global economic system, often leaves oppressed people groups in its wake.
What if, instead of forcing people to degrade their own landscapes by pulling the last trees to create a sellable product, we determine that a healthy, intact ecosystem is the product? What if we had a quadruple bottom line that integrates financial capital with ecologically regenerative ventures that enhance local well-being and offer a sense of purpose, rather than relegating emissions or landscape degradation to an externalities box? What if we saw natural disasters as cultural ones? This is exactly what Judith Schwartz proposes in The Reindeer Chronicles: And Other Inspiring Stories of Working with Nature to Heal the Earth (Chelsea Green, 2020). Schwartz’s compilation is both an overhaul of our economics-equals-profit thinking and a start-where-you-are restorative effort.
This book is jam-packed with organizations and individuals working to heal the earth, as well as a growing number of women interested in regenerative agriculture. Schwartz masterfully spotlights Allan Savory’s Holistic Management practices and Bob Chadwick’s consensus model for guiding management level decision-making and community conflict resolution—methodologies taught in MSU’s Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Department.
Schwartz also highlights the astronomic damages of colonialism. Particularly striking is the use of Aesop’s fable of the wolf and the lamb, as told through Ánde Somby, a Sámi from Norway, in which the wolf blames the lamb for arbitrary offenses in order to eat it. Schwartz writes, “[a] tyrant will try to rationalize the harm they do to those they prey upon.” The lamb is too dangerous, traditional, or different. She follows with examples of the Norwegian government approving construction of a copper mine in 2019, touting it as “the route to a prosperous future,” and Sámi children being sent to boarding schools where the schools tried to strip children of their cultural heritage, a familiar history for Indigenous peoples in the U.S.
One gap in this book may be that Schwartz never quite explains how to partake in these restoration efforts in solidly urban settings. She employs a short section on Natalie Topa, an employee with the Danish Refugee Council, who composts and houses chickens on her apartment balcony. And though Topa explains the need for dignified employment, affordable housing, and food accessibility in low-income areas, this falls short in light of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ prediction that 68 percent of the global population will be living in urban areas by 2050.
In 800s Algeria, at the originally wooded outpost of Timgad, “Romans cut down the forests to heat their baths and build up the city.” That city was eventually swallowed by the expanding Sahara Desert. Right now in the Arctic Circle, there is about three times the amount of natural gas and other fuels as the United States’ current oil reserves. There are also over forty Indigenous people groups living in the Arctic. If we take lessons from historical land degradation seriously, and refuse to let the wolf devour the lamb, we may yet keep the advancing desert from swallowing us.
Though she employs cloying sayings like “we’re all in this together” and urges readers to drop their cynicism (important yet difficult), Schwartz effectively makes the case for an urgent yet patient activism, and the need for strong investment in eco-restoration careers. She challenges us to not only name our greatest climate change fears, but to act according to the conviction that those fears are preventable—because Schwartz claims they are.
Sources:
https://hir.harvard.edu/the-arctic-ci...
https://www.un.org/development/desa/e...
https://www.arcticcentre.org/EN/arcti...
September 25, 2021
This wasn't nearly as well written as Schwartz's previous books (something I blame on carbon dioxide poisoning, as with so many favorite authors now delivering much fuzzier thinking in their work than they did years ago), but Schwartz describes several projects that are so inspiring, important, and imagination-firing that they made the whole book worth owning and passing on to everyone you know: the Spanish almond/sheep/essential oil plantations, the scientific work on albedo and large herbivores and the demonstration of the concept in Siberia's Pleistocene Park, the relationship of forests to wind direction and speed and the greening of the Sinai.
Here follows a little rant about why you need to read all of Schwartz's books right now and give them to EVERY HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET:
The solution is not going to come from some billionaire techbro whoprivatizes world peace (Thanks, Ironman!) magically solves our problem without us having to change for the better, or even think about it; it is already quite literally under our feet, in the quietly working nonillion little microbes and mycorrhiza and microfauna who've been perfecting the job for literally billions of years, in concert with the plants who remove the carbon, the animals who encourage the plants to plan for the future by eating them, and the pack-hunting carnivores who keep those herbivores from sitting too long in one place so the plants can do their thing. It's not magic, but human beings threw out their understanding of this system when they threw out their belief in its magic. We don't have to live as paleolithic people did in order to be close enough to nature to recognize its power and importance. The good life and the good of all life are not in opposition.
Don't believe me? Read this book. Read Schwartz's sources. Read the scientific literature. Talk to someone who's doing it. Your life depends on it.
Here follows a little rant about why you need to read all of Schwartz's books right now and give them to EVERY HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET:
The solution is not going to come from some billionaire techbro who
Don't believe me? Read this book. Read Schwartz's sources. Read the scientific literature. Talk to someone who's doing it. Your life depends on it.
January 6, 2024
3.0-3.5
“Reindeer Chronicles” was recommended to me after I finished “Braiding Sweetgrass” a few months ago. Having liked Braiding Sweetgrass, I checked out Reindeer Chronicles and Judith D. Schwartz’s compilation of various case studies from around the world of different people using nature-based solutions to address local environmental and climate problems.
Schwartz indeed has a good mix of stories to provide hope in addressing the Climate Crisis on a local level. The best chapter was by far about the Loess Plateau in north central China which chronicles a massive undertaking that has reversed environmental degradation via nature based crop raising and terracing to restore the landscape and ecosystems. While there is still more to do, this does feel like a success story to be emulated elsewhere. Some of the other stories are interesting as well, like the Saami reindeer herder challenging his government’s conservation programs. There are good lessons here about how restoring local soils, water cycles, and plant ecosystems will affect local weather patterns and mitigate regional climate change impacts.
As hopeful and engaged as I was though I will say Reindeer Chronicles didn’t hold my attention like I wanted. This I’d say comes down to the other chapters which unlike the Loess Plateau case study didn’t have a clear narrative or resolution. Each of these chapters would introduce the situation and proposed/practiced solution to the land but with some exceptions Schwartz’s focus will meander and it became hard to follow and my interest would come and go. As for a narrative, while I know that some of these projects are still ongoing and haven’t ended yet (nor would they) there never seemed to be a clear conclusion to these chapters. The book itself seemed to end kind of abruptly.
In general I’m torn about the book because there were parts that were excellent and did leave me with hope for these solutions and landscapes. Yet for a good chunk of the book I just couldn’t focus and felt like these stories weren’t as told as well as they could have been. Ultimately “Reindeer Games” is a fine enough book about instilling hope in the face of climate despair but it doesn’t reach the level I was hoping for.
“Reindeer Chronicles” was recommended to me after I finished “Braiding Sweetgrass” a few months ago. Having liked Braiding Sweetgrass, I checked out Reindeer Chronicles and Judith D. Schwartz’s compilation of various case studies from around the world of different people using nature-based solutions to address local environmental and climate problems.
Schwartz indeed has a good mix of stories to provide hope in addressing the Climate Crisis on a local level. The best chapter was by far about the Loess Plateau in north central China which chronicles a massive undertaking that has reversed environmental degradation via nature based crop raising and terracing to restore the landscape and ecosystems. While there is still more to do, this does feel like a success story to be emulated elsewhere. Some of the other stories are interesting as well, like the Saami reindeer herder challenging his government’s conservation programs. There are good lessons here about how restoring local soils, water cycles, and plant ecosystems will affect local weather patterns and mitigate regional climate change impacts.
As hopeful and engaged as I was though I will say Reindeer Chronicles didn’t hold my attention like I wanted. This I’d say comes down to the other chapters which unlike the Loess Plateau case study didn’t have a clear narrative or resolution. Each of these chapters would introduce the situation and proposed/practiced solution to the land but with some exceptions Schwartz’s focus will meander and it became hard to follow and my interest would come and go. As for a narrative, while I know that some of these projects are still ongoing and haven’t ended yet (nor would they) there never seemed to be a clear conclusion to these chapters. The book itself seemed to end kind of abruptly.
In general I’m torn about the book because there were parts that were excellent and did leave me with hope for these solutions and landscapes. Yet for a good chunk of the book I just couldn’t focus and felt like these stories weren’t as told as well as they could have been. Ultimately “Reindeer Games” is a fine enough book about instilling hope in the face of climate despair but it doesn’t reach the level I was hoping for.
May 8, 2022
Having read this as a follow up to Water in Plain Sight (WIPS), my 4-star rating is merely comparative. If I had read this book first, I probably would have given it 5*.
But in general, read my review for WIPS.... just more of the same, though a little looser, sometimes disappears on tangents to other stories and you wonder if we are still in the same place and time that the chronicle began....
But otherwise, yes. reinforces the most significant idea that Hey people, our Environmental crisis is not only due to fossil fuel consumption and increased carbon in the atmosphere. I have felt for a long time - the last 20 years perhaps, that this shift in media focus to "Climate Change" rather than the former, "Global warming", and the focus on fossil fuels and carbon in the atmosphere, while valid and worthy, obscures and subdues the other ways we are destroying the planet, independent of the favorite pet problem. And yes, sure, they are all related... Ecosystems are SYSTEMs... lots of inter-related systems that can be modeled as, sadly, independent systems.
We need to be aware of, considerate and working to address all of these problems - Carbon cycle, water cycle, soils, deforestation, de-vegetation, desertification, ocean acidification, marine, land and air species extermination etc.- and the highlight of this book reveals that there ARE pockets of people around the world working to understand and rebuild, revitalize, restore, and repair the ecological environments that we have been collectively destroying over time.
There is hope - some people are working on making it a reality. Will enough people get on board to drive us in the same direction?
One new line of thought introduced in this work is the idea of a new economics mindset - economics as if people and the planet's wellbeing matter. Going beyond our notions of economic capital, and including Social and Natural capital in the goals and outcomes of our projects. (New line of thought being the ideas of social and natural capital.... more to think about here)... so off I go.
But in general, read my review for WIPS.... just more of the same, though a little looser, sometimes disappears on tangents to other stories and you wonder if we are still in the same place and time that the chronicle began....
But otherwise, yes. reinforces the most significant idea that Hey people, our Environmental crisis is not only due to fossil fuel consumption and increased carbon in the atmosphere. I have felt for a long time - the last 20 years perhaps, that this shift in media focus to "Climate Change" rather than the former, "Global warming", and the focus on fossil fuels and carbon in the atmosphere, while valid and worthy, obscures and subdues the other ways we are destroying the planet, independent of the favorite pet problem. And yes, sure, they are all related... Ecosystems are SYSTEMs... lots of inter-related systems that can be modeled as, sadly, independent systems.
We need to be aware of, considerate and working to address all of these problems - Carbon cycle, water cycle, soils, deforestation, de-vegetation, desertification, ocean acidification, marine, land and air species extermination etc.- and the highlight of this book reveals that there ARE pockets of people around the world working to understand and rebuild, revitalize, restore, and repair the ecological environments that we have been collectively destroying over time.
There is hope - some people are working on making it a reality. Will enough people get on board to drive us in the same direction?
One new line of thought introduced in this work is the idea of a new economics mindset - economics as if people and the planet's wellbeing matter. Going beyond our notions of economic capital, and including Social and Natural capital in the goals and outcomes of our projects. (New line of thought being the ideas of social and natural capital.... more to think about here)... so off I go.
April 26, 2022
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. As a student of biology and wildlife, it was an interesting and informative read about some of the world’s most notable restoration ecology projects, past and present. I appreciated that Schwartz used examples from all around the globe, and that she found multiple opportunities to trace connections between the different stories/projects.
I found the topic of desertification and regional climates really interesting, and especially enjoyed the last chapter about the Ecology Restoration Camp in Spain. I think it’s important in the world we currently live in, where the intrinsic value of living things isn’t appreciated to the extent it should be by most individuals, to tie the appeal of land restoration to economic and social benefits that are practically a given when we make regenerative agriculture a priority. Schwartz does just this in every chapter.
I had a lot of moments where the practices shared in this book (e.g. water budgeting in the Sinai, replanting native flora, Jeff Goebel’s The Community Consensus Institute implemented in New Mexico, involving local community members) made me go “Well, duh, that makes sense”, but to have it spelled out by Schwartz as things that have actually been put in to practice and work was important and shows the validity in these things. It was cool and honestly super inspiring to hear stories of people from all sorts of backgrounds and careers “wake up” and do something about our current global crisis.
Two downfalls to the book for me were:
1. Sometimes there were so many names/places/projects tied in I would get confused and a little lost on what their relevancy to the theme of the book was.
2. Within the chapters Schwartz sometimes bounced around so much between talking about different groups/people/conferences/time periods that it was a little hard to follow at times. I think the flow could have been improved and perhaps sectioned out better.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be/is inspired to make a difference in the wellbeing of our planet!
I found the topic of desertification and regional climates really interesting, and especially enjoyed the last chapter about the Ecology Restoration Camp in Spain. I think it’s important in the world we currently live in, where the intrinsic value of living things isn’t appreciated to the extent it should be by most individuals, to tie the appeal of land restoration to economic and social benefits that are practically a given when we make regenerative agriculture a priority. Schwartz does just this in every chapter.
I had a lot of moments where the practices shared in this book (e.g. water budgeting in the Sinai, replanting native flora, Jeff Goebel’s The Community Consensus Institute implemented in New Mexico, involving local community members) made me go “Well, duh, that makes sense”, but to have it spelled out by Schwartz as things that have actually been put in to practice and work was important and shows the validity in these things. It was cool and honestly super inspiring to hear stories of people from all sorts of backgrounds and careers “wake up” and do something about our current global crisis.
Two downfalls to the book for me were:
1. Sometimes there were so many names/places/projects tied in I would get confused and a little lost on what their relevancy to the theme of the book was.
2. Within the chapters Schwartz sometimes bounced around so much between talking about different groups/people/conferences/time periods that it was a little hard to follow at times. I think the flow could have been improved and perhaps sectioned out better.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be/is inspired to make a difference in the wellbeing of our planet!
December 17, 2024
I made a video review: https://sunbeam.city/system/media_att...
This book looks at the work that goes into ecosystem restoration, exploring case studies from across north-central china, the Sinai, Yemen, New Mexico, Spain, and many others. What's striking is that the work is not simply planting trees or protecting animal species. Each story is deeply focused on the humans who need to come together, collaborate, resolve conflicts or plan for a complex future.
This reflects the reality that humans are not "outside" of nature, or separate from it. We are deeply enmeshed in our ecosystems, and the damage we see to the world stems from our failure to recognize that fact. In many places, our conflicts over water (see the story about New Mexico) as much result from our own land management policies as the broader trends of climate change. I really appreciated book's focus on the humans involved in ecosystem restoration, looking at the movements to preserve reindeer herds in Norway and regenerative agriculture in Hawaii as culural, justice-oriented campaigns.
On a personal note, it was a pleasant surprise to see my organization's partners Commonland in The Netherlands and AlVelAl in Spain featured in the final chapter. A principle character featured is Dietmar Roth, a very kind German man who was an adopted son of his community in Vélez Blanco Spain. Dietmar generously spent several hours with me early on when I started working in my conservation-oriented job. He passed away in July 2021, and it was pleasant to see the work he loved held up as an example in the story.
Read the book!
This book looks at the work that goes into ecosystem restoration, exploring case studies from across north-central china, the Sinai, Yemen, New Mexico, Spain, and many others. What's striking is that the work is not simply planting trees or protecting animal species. Each story is deeply focused on the humans who need to come together, collaborate, resolve conflicts or plan for a complex future.
This reflects the reality that humans are not "outside" of nature, or separate from it. We are deeply enmeshed in our ecosystems, and the damage we see to the world stems from our failure to recognize that fact. In many places, our conflicts over water (see the story about New Mexico) as much result from our own land management policies as the broader trends of climate change. I really appreciated book's focus on the humans involved in ecosystem restoration, looking at the movements to preserve reindeer herds in Norway and regenerative agriculture in Hawaii as culural, justice-oriented campaigns.
On a personal note, it was a pleasant surprise to see my organization's partners Commonland in The Netherlands and AlVelAl in Spain featured in the final chapter. A principle character featured is Dietmar Roth, a very kind German man who was an adopted son of his community in Vélez Blanco Spain. Dietmar generously spent several hours with me early on when I started working in my conservation-oriented job. He passed away in July 2021, and it was pleasant to see the work he loved held up as an example in the story.
Read the book!
July 3, 2023
I really enjoy books about science, that tell a story. One of my favorites is Braiding Sweetgrass because it infuses culture, nature and memoire. That is what I was hoping out of this book and I got it most of the time. I really like the chapter called Beyond the Impossible because it had those 3 things. It told a good story. The book overall was good and very informative, almost too much in that I felt like I was reading a college textbook and the writing got super dry, boring. The author also jumped around a lot in chapters. I lost the storyline, a lot. I was also disappointed in the lack of animal stories or stories involving wildlife. I was also hoping for less "what ifs" and more "these are the changes that happened" aka success stories.
October 4, 2020
I found this book very inspiring! Hearing these stories of restorative agriculture projects all over the world brightened my outlook. There are things people can do to correct abuses to the land, and some people are doing them. Our situation is still dire, yet it is worthwhile to do this work. Many of the projects involve water. Several include animals in soil restoration projects--I have become convinced through my 2020 reading project that animals raised for wool and meat have a part in a healthy ecology. But humans must be thoughtful about how they pasture their stock. it seems that movement is essential.
October 19, 2022
A fascinating look at the impacts of climate change on communities around the world and the varied approaches that people are taking to offer solutions. Schwartz speaks with experts from a variety of fields, and the insights that result are, in many cases, delightfully unexpected and awe-inspiring.
She ultimately settles into the acknowledgement that the presentation of facts alone isn't enough to change behavior, and leaves space for the humanness that conversations around earth stewardship necessitate. Overall a beautiful and intriguing read!
She ultimately settles into the acknowledgement that the presentation of facts alone isn't enough to change behavior, and leaves space for the humanness that conversations around earth stewardship necessitate. Overall a beautiful and intriguing read!
November 24, 2022
Are you are among the fifty per cent of humans who live near the coast? If so, you inhabit a zone, that constantly channels water from the sea to land and back. Have you considered how much you are part of that process? The Reindeer Chronicles by Judith Schwartz describes the most vital of Earth’s life support: water. Schwartz builds hope by describing astonishing feats of landscape restoration. In doing so, the reader will uncover the connection between land and sea, people, water, soil and nature.
May 23, 2021
This book is a series of snapshots of efforts to regenerate the planet and human communities. From Restoration Ecology in China to Regenerative Agriculture in Spain. From community healing in New Mexico to the fight for native rights in Lapland in Norway. Restoring traditional agriculture in Hawaii to restoring the desert in the Middle East.
Judith Schwartz takes us along on her journeys as we meet people acting in the face of uncertainty, striving to find meaning in their lives.
Judith Schwartz takes us along on her journeys as we meet people acting in the face of uncertainty, striving to find meaning in their lives.
July 8, 2021
I listened to this book while driving across country. I know I would have put it down if I had it physically in hand because there is a ton of obscure information in it. But it is uplifting to know that that I preach for small suburban gardeners- that you DO have the power to change the tide- is also true on a larger scale. I had never heard the term regenerative ecology but now I will refer to it!
May 5, 2020
This is a study in human ingenuity and smarts -- too help correct human ignorance and stupidity -- and it is very well written. The author does a nice job of providing background and context for each project, and gives a sense of the personalities involved to help keep it interesting. If it had photos, it would be even better. Recommended.
Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!
Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!
July 22, 2020
This was a really cool look into what humans could do to help, and save the environment, to correct much of the damage that has already been created. It looked at a few case studies that serve as examples for methods that could be implemented all over the world, with likely amazing results. Very interesting read.
January 13, 2021
I’m working in this field and it is nice to have some concrete, inspirational examples to go off of. I’ve had enough of hearing about all the gloom and doom in the world and I want answers to positive change. This is that book. Humans created the mess we are in, but we have the tools we need to fix it too, and that starts with nature.
September 17, 2022
I don’t know how far I ultimately got into the book but it became increasingly shame-y and ableist; (eg, paraphrasing) ‘you don’t want to be the person talking about their medication all the time’.
It’s going on my abandoned/DNF list. There are way better books out there about how to cope with chronic illness and finding community.
It’s going on my abandoned/DNF list. There are way better books out there about how to cope with chronic illness and finding community.
January 15, 2023
I loved this book! Such and inspiring read and so we’ll written. Each chapter serves as a new story and a new slice of hope. We gotta love the earth that we’re on, and this book gives so much hope that we can love her well.
January 6, 2025
I'd find myself reading along but not remembering a thing I read. One of the other reviews mentioned it was tedious and I'd have to agree. The pieces that were good were really good, but quite a bit felt like a chore to read.
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