Transcript Nov 16 Boje Slides - NMSU College of Business

How to Green the
Desert?
David M. Boje
Nov 16, 2015 Mgt 375v & BA 550
Boje Leading Sustainability
Council at NMSU
Congratulations
I live in Permanent Desert that is dying!
 It was once upon a time GRASSLAND, short grass prairies,
now is mesquite and creosol bush land
 Now Rio Grande River so dry we call it RIO SAND
http://www.latimes.com/videogallery/76892670/News/New-Mexico-drought
THE DROUGHT IN NEW MEXICO, 2013 LA TIMES Video
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-me-parched-20130806-dto-htmlstory.html article
Desert Changes in New
Mexico
 “Carpeting the landscape in lush waves, Black Grama
grass had long been the signature of the 140,000-squaremile Chihuahuan Desert. But overgrazing and persistent
drought have hit hard here, reducing the grass to small,
stiff tufts, sparsely spaced.” LA TIMES & NMSU ACES
 From Grama Grass to the Mesquite & Creosol Bushes
As vegetation dies off and the process of
desertification accelerates,
 Biodiversity continues to decline
 The Watershed at risk
 Crops failing
 Animal stock dying
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWphWBmApA
1:32 Allan Savory Discussing Desertification and Climate Change, in New
Mexico as MICRO CLIMATE dies MACRO CLIMATE CHANGES
Allan Savory Discussing Desertification and Climate Change. Shot in New
Mexico on the banks of the Rio Grande near ...
HD
How to fight Desertification?
22:20 – BEST 20 minutes you could spend in 375 550!
TED Talk: Allan Savory How to fight desertification
and reverse climate change
Desertification Allan Savory points
 We have New Mexico environment with months of rain, followed by months of
no rain
 2/3rds of world is desertifying
 The water falls on our New Mexico Desert, runs off, and evaporates
 Look at soil in grass land, it is covered with bareness, and water runs off,
leaves soil bare
 Everyone knows over-grazing leads to desertification  We were wrong 
shot 40,000 elephants to sustain land  Why are national parks desertifying
 Cattle grazing creates grass changes  So what causes desertification 
Make soil bare, and its cooler at night and hotter in day – Why is
desertification getting worse? The grazing animals develop herds to be safe
from predators, keep dung-ing & moving, trampling, - cover soil, mulch,
permaculture – while controlling herd size reverse the desertification in BLM
desert areas NOWplanned grazing  holistic planning to increase crop
yeilds  work with nature at low cost to REVERSE the desertification &
climate change take us back to pre-industrial levels by caring for
grasslands!
Try this test
 “… kick a toe into loamy soil or drag a boot heel across
the desert's crust, leaning down to squint at the tiny
excavation.
 Try that maneuver in New Mexico these days and it
yields nothing but bad news in a puff of dust.” (LA
TIMES)
NM Drought
 “All of New Mexico is officially in a drought, and threequarters of it is categorized as severe or exceptional.
 Reservoir storage statewide is 17% of normal, lowest in
the West.
 Residents of some towns subsist on trucked-in water,
and others are drilling deep wells costing $100,000 or
more to sink and still more to operate.”
New Mexico Desert’s
DOWNWARD SPIRAL
 Low crop yields are NORM in New Mexico
 Live stock levels 1/5th of NORMAL
 Recent MONSOON rains won’t make a dent in the
long-cycle of drought in New Mexico
 ARE THESE CHANGES A PERMANENT RESULT OF
CLIMATE CHANGE?
 OR IS IT JUST POOR ECO-HABITS of RUN AWAY
OVER CONSUMPTION CULTURE?
Hauling Water
 “Wildlife managers are hauling water to elk herds in the
mountains and blaming the drought for the unusually
high number of deer and antelope killed on New
Mexico's highways, surmising that the animals are
taking greater risks to find water.”
 Many of trees in Albuquerque are dead, and water
restrictions are effect, so cannot water them
The Agro Rebel Permaculture in Salzburg Alps
 WATCHED
 6:39
 by DenkmalFilm
 6 years ago
 15,040 views
 Website: http://www.denkmalfilm.tv/index.php?page=agrarrebell2&am...DVD: http://shop.denkmalfilm.tv/main_bigware_34.php?
Permaculture Greening the
Desert - YouTube
 ▶ 37:09
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1rKDXuZ8C0
 Jun 17, 2013 - Uploaded by Mat stiddard
 DISCLAIMER - All credits go to Geoff Lawton and his
Permaculture team
High Desert Permaculture: 15
Years Later - YouTube▶ 7:03
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvje_5IVjmo
 Sep 18, 2013 - Uploaded by Andrew Millison
 Join Andrew Millison in 2013 as he travels back to
Arizona and revisits several Permaculture projects
installed
Becoming Sustainable 101Sonoran Desert Permaculture 1 …
 ▶ 2:00
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDRpyN9XgGE
 Jul 7, 2008 - Uploaded by Quynn RedMountain
 Meet Dan Dorsey of www.sonoranpermaculture.org
talks about his 'ahaa moment' that set him on
Squash in the desert Permaculture style rainwater …
 ▶ 3:15
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CS0qeBl3zQ
 Sep 20, 2013 - Uploaded by homesteadonomics
 Here is part two of the rainwater corn project detailing
the addition of native squash to our corn growing area
Greening the New Mexican desert
using permaculture end …
 ▶ 8:28
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sNtl9Bew3o
 Sep 11, 2013 - Uploaded by daimyo5
 Second part of the greening the desert experiment
using the principles of Permaculture.