Greedy Kashmir Goats
An article in the The Times published in the The Daily Yomiuri put the onus of a potential setback to the world fashion industry and dust storms blowing into Beijing every spring, on the greedy Kashmir goats. LoL. Although the Kashmir goats(goats producing Cashmere wool, once found abundantly in Kashmir. Cashmere actually comes from Kashmir) are indeed guilty as charged, but 'greedy' is what caught my attention. Looks like the good folks of The Daily Yomiuri don't try to mince their words. :)
Well, so here's the dope. Cashmere goats are a hardy lot, found not as many in Kashmir these days, but abound in the semi arid grasslands on the edge of the Gobi desert, in the Mongolian steppes and China's north western regions. They proliferate abundantly and have a voracious apetite and can graze on just about anything. Even roots.
These goats also provide the finest wool to make the worlds finest fibre, the Cashmere(known as soft gold). The growing fashion industry in the West is increasingly dependent on China for the import of Cashmere wool. Now every year around spring, there are massive dust storms blowing into Beijing , which cover the roads, cars, houses, just about everything with inches thick layers of dust. These dust storms are caused by Siberian winds blowing over Mongolian grasslands towards the East. China believes that these grasslands have been overgrazed by the Cashmere goats which has exposed the top soil to winds from Siberia. China has taken several steps to prevent erosion of top soil, like planting trees in this region(hey, why not impose sanctions on Siberia and Mongolia!). But the goats devour the young saplings too. So now China has asked all the herdsmen of this region to reduce the herd size, keep goats in pens and rotate the grazing areas. These efforts might help protect tree plantations and tame the dust storms(helter-skelter before 2008 Beijing Olympics!), but it would also result in a drop in soft gold exports by a whopping 20%!
Oh, the greedy goats. :)
Well, so here's the dope. Cashmere goats are a hardy lot, found not as many in Kashmir these days, but abound in the semi arid grasslands on the edge of the Gobi desert, in the Mongolian steppes and China's north western regions. They proliferate abundantly and have a voracious apetite and can graze on just about anything. Even roots.
These goats also provide the finest wool to make the worlds finest fibre, the Cashmere(known as soft gold). The growing fashion industry in the West is increasingly dependent on China for the import of Cashmere wool. Now every year around spring, there are massive dust storms blowing into Beijing , which cover the roads, cars, houses, just about everything with inches thick layers of dust. These dust storms are caused by Siberian winds blowing over Mongolian grasslands towards the East. China believes that these grasslands have been overgrazed by the Cashmere goats which has exposed the top soil to winds from Siberia. China has taken several steps to prevent erosion of top soil, like planting trees in this region(hey, why not impose sanctions on Siberia and Mongolia!). But the goats devour the young saplings too. So now China has asked all the herdsmen of this region to reduce the herd size, keep goats in pens and rotate the grazing areas. These efforts might help protect tree plantations and tame the dust storms(helter-skelter before 2008 Beijing Olympics!), but it would also result in a drop in soft gold exports by a whopping 20%!
Oh, the greedy goats. :)
posted by Pallavi at 2:28 PM
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