Totally degraded and the size of Belgium
\nThey
\nLooked at the Loess Plateau,
\nAnd must have been blown away
\nExistence was deplorable
\nThe environment was bare
\nThe ignorance of human beings
\nWho didn’t seem to care<\/p>\n
But that was not the answer
\nNot the reasoning not to try
\nThey didn’t have the answers
\nNor the motivation, why
\nChange direction really
\nWhen there was no place to go
\nLife was very daunting
\nAnd they didn’t want to know<\/p>\n
Nature couldn’t cope
\nWith human intervention
\nLife had become so degraded down
\nIt was nobody’s intention
\nTo look at the restoration
\nOf so huge a place
\nThere was no one really helping
\nAnd it was something they couldn’t face<\/p>\n
The arrogance of man himself
\nCoupled with the fear
\nThe element of struggle
\nThe consciousness of here
\nWithout knowledge for the environment
\nWe can ruin what we do
\nTotally imbalance what Nature
\nIs trying to
\nPut right put back in balance
\nSustainably restore
\nThe people of the villages
\nWere also very poor<\/p>\n
There had to be commitment
\nAnd a cooperative approach
\nThere had to be much planning
\nSomething hard to broach
\nFrom years of inconsistency
\nAnd subsistence farming where
\nIts was people losing touch alas
\nAnd feeling much despair<\/p>\n
With the countryside dead or dying
\nAnd invention apparently
\nWanting more than anyone
\nActually could see
\nWith this wanton destruction
\nOf trees and grasses too
\nA great vapour of mindlessness
\nOf not knowing what to do<\/p>\n
It just appeared beyond them
\nWith no intellect in play
\nAnd no motivation
\nLife went on from day to day
\nAnd the whole ecological system
\nWas clearly under strain
\nIt needed restoration
\nA cerebration chain<\/p>\n
A policy driven ecological
\nAnd restoration plan
\nBased on sustainability
\nAnd, so it began
\nIn 1995 a wretched state of affairs
\nWhere Forests had been denuded
\nAnd their dreams were all nightmares<\/p>\n
Great rivers pulled the silt and mud
\nAnd took it on its way
\nSpreading what was Loess a kind of sandy clay
\nCreating open gulleys and soil erosion fast
\nDown from the Himalaya
\nSoil was moving fast<\/p>\n
Mans impact though was devastating
\nThe poor were poorer still
\nFlooding drought and famine
\nThough was a bitter pill
\nAnd imagining the outcome
\nOf what was to be
\nA watershed
\nOf rehabilitation and constancy<\/p>\n
almost four years of planning
\nA regulatory side
\nGetting the people motivated
\nAnd sharing in the pride
\nOf structure and an undertaking
\nTo own and profit by
\nThe fertility and cooperation
\nAnd the reasons why<\/p>\n
They had to work together
\nThe lands contracted to
\nFamilies and communities
\nSustainable and strong
\nRights and responsibilities
\nSo nothing would go wrong
\nAnd they worked and worked
\nTo achieve it
\nAnd achieve it they did
\nThe whole area has been greened up
\nEach family p,aced their bid
\nTheir strength and resolution
\nInto this vital land
\nAnd looking back to how it was
\nOf course they understand<\/p>\n
Hard work and excellent planning
\nCooperation too
\nEveryone helps everyone
\nAnd they all learn what to do
\nEcology and economy
\nThose dual objectives won
\nnature is the system
\nUnderneath the sun<\/p>\n
Forests soon come back to bloom
\nThe terraces worked well
\nAnd they followed sustainability
\nA system that did sell
\nItself well in this rural land
\nWhere they could see that they,
\nWere part and parcel to it all
\nEarning every day<\/p>\n
The destructive human behaviour
\nWas supplemented by
\nThe challenge and the hard work
\nIt took courage and it was high
\nIn the peoples estimations
\nTo be successful and be strong
\nEnsure the ecology mattered
\nAnd nothing did go wrong<\/p>\n
The hard work has paid off of course
\nAnd now the plateau’s green
\nThey all share in the future
\nAnd what is a lovely scene
\nThey understand the environment
\nAnd their impact on it all
\nAnd have turned it around completely
\nWhich is really rather cool<\/p>\n
Growing apples successfully
\nOn organic land
\nPeas and Corn
\nAnd lots besides
\nAnd all can understand
\nThe sense of doing things naturally
\nIts a positive display
\nOf hard work and and incentives
\nAll along the way<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Totally degraded and the size of Belgium They Looked at the Loess Plateau, And must have been blown away Existence was deplorable The environment was bare The ignorance of human beings Who didn’t seem to care But that was not … Continue reading