Salt Rainbows + Sunshine Llamas
The last part of our work comes as a bittersweet project. For one, it was insanely awesome to hear that ReVerdeSer wanted us to come back to create promotional items for their project sites. They had existing materials, but we translated them to English and documented the progress of the communities they work with. So, who or what is ReVerdeSer? They are a holistic management organization working in the Bolivian Altiplano under Heifer International (via Proyecto Heifer en Bolivia) and The Association for the Strategic Development of the Environment (La Asociación para el Dessarrollo Estrategico del Medio Ambiente or ADEMA). Their mission is to improve the quality of life of rural populations through agroecological practices that mitigate desertification due to intensified quinoa production. That’s all fancy speak for restoring the depleted soils through holistic management. One of the most fascinating things about this organization is how they’ve adapted and adjusted Allan Savory’s holistic management model to cater to the Altiplano. The differences are stark. In traditional holistic management: plains are flat around sea level + one kinds of grazing animal is available. In Bolivia: steep mountain rages + extremely high altitude + assorted grazers. The high altitude creates an extreme climate where water freezes without hydrating the soil, water runs down the mountains, or the climate is far too dry for the soil to retain any moisture. Because they’ve adapted holistic management model, these communities who would be completely vulnerable and unprepared for climate change are actually using global warming to their advantage. Now, they can grow green leafy crops to feed their animals that provide income, whereas they could not do that before and would financially suffer during the dry season. I have never heard of this perspective on climate change and global warming before. I was shook to say the least. This was incredible. Eye-opening. Mind-boggling. Bolivia delivers.
This case does not negate the fact that global warming is causing dangerous weather phenomena elsewhere, but is it so rare to hear a positive outcome. This is promising. Yes, other communities are on the verge of submersion, but some are being given new life. Saying that one has more value than the other is complete bonkers and is not the takeaway from this piece. The major takeaway is that ReVerdeSer has empowered these communities by working with them to develop chemical-free farming practices of their own volition and designing greenhouses with those who actually use them. On top of it all, they engineering a flash-freezing process for milk production so that the local communities can sell their milk to Delizia (a major dairy corporation in Bolivia) to a quality nearly that of US standards — far above average Bolivian production. This high quality milk is now available year-round and has improved in quality and quantity. It’s so cool. I can’t express it enough nor in better terms. It’s just that cool.
After visiting their communities/project sites, we returned to Cochabamba to finish the materials. I made a video with the interviews and footage taken from the visits as well as translated their presentation and part of the informational pamphlet they had given us. All of these materials went to Allan Savory (look him up if you haven’t taken an environmental class). (Note: he used to think desertification in Zimbabwe was because of elephants trampling the soil which lead to culling/killing elephants. He is very educated so there was evidence behind this. He, however, then discovered how wrong he was and now herds cattle to keep them moving which mimics predator-prey migration to an extent that nurtures the soil.) Within the afternoon, he responded to Carlos. ReVerdeSer is on their way to being certified as a Savory Hub. Now, this success is actually huge, and we were overjoyed with the news. Carlos cried. Typical but very appropriate. So, this year, ReVerdeSer’s funding was expiring, but they were putting all their efforts into becoming a Savory Hub — a network of functional agricultural lands all with the goal of combating desertification. This certification requires a $10,000 fee which they simply did not have because they use the funding directly for the communities. They’ve been at work since 2005 and are seeing major results in recent years. Carlos had contacted Allan (and his wife Jodie) about this organization in Bolivia that has great potential.
They had already heard about them and, understandably at the time, did not see the same potential. When we reviewed their website, we saw why. The information was pretty general and didn’t seem too legit. However, when we visited ReVerdeSer, the situation is completely different. The information and immense work was just not being conveyed and not doing it justice. In summary, to have all those problems solved immediately after sending the materials was an incredible success. We didn’t think we’d be in town to hear that news, so it was evermore sweet.
Our last bit of Bolivia involved visiting Salar de Uyuni, or the Uyuni Salt Flats. This destination was amazing. Stunning. Absolutely jaw-dropping. Only pictures can do it any justice but still not the same. The weekend after, we hiking up to a waterfall and basically got lost. All was good, we managed our way. And before we knew, it was time to go home.
