An Even Dryer Future?
Will it ever get better? Chen isn't sure. John Liu insists that recovery of some of the grasslands is possible. He has documented how Chinese scientists and agronomists have helped to rehabilitate large expanses of the Loess Plateau, another region of China that he calls the "most eroded place on Earth." Essentially, Chinese authorities put land off limits to development, enabling the ground to support new plant life that produces organic matter that adds to soil nutrition. The authorities also are finding alternative work for subsidence farmers.

"Don't underestimate the Chinese," said Mr. Liu. "They are hard working, They are very clever. The fact is, if they put their mind to it they can do amazing things."

In the meantime, Chen Jiqun's activism and Web site, his tours and contacts have helped foster new knowledge of the law. Chen's work also has helped build cooperation across national borders. Students and environmental activists from South Korea regularly visit the region. Over 100 Korean students and adults visited the Nomad Family during the summer of 2007, working alongside the herders to plant grass and make straw windbreaks for desertified areas. Afterwards, Korean television news crews produced stories that explained why springtime is increasingly being associated with yellow sand rather than cherry blossoms.

This kind of transnational interaction gives Chen hope. "We have to let people outside of China know what is happening on the grasslands," he said. "We have to help the Mongol herders know what is happening internationally."

Chen and his old friend Batar look out over the grasslands, cut by fences, ruined. They recall a horseback adventure from their youth and their serious expressions turn to laughter. While the present is full of sparse grass and yellow sand, they both imagine a future where the grasslands are free of mines and fences. They hope that they will live to see the grasslands of Chen's paintings come to life again. They are aware they probably won't.

With that, the two old friends separated, Batar to tend the sheep, Chen to return to Beijing. A sandstorm kicked up behind the Nomad Family site as Chen closed the car door. The wind blew across the high steppe, and the land fell to silence. There was no mystery to the storm, no disorientation. The grass was disappearing around Nomad Family and the dust was all that was next.

W. Chad Futrell is a Ph.D. candidate in development sociology at Cornell University. He recently completed two years of fieldwork on transnational environmental cooperation to prevent desertification and protect wetlands in Northeast Asia, funded by Fulbright-Hays and Korea Foundation fieldwork fellowships. Reach him at wchadfutrell@gmail.com.

Research and editing assistance for this article was provided by Jennifer L. Turner, the director of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. She can be reached at cef@wilsoncenter.org.

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