Vermont Environmental Consortium

May 22, 2007
Vermont Values at Work in Mongolia
by
Edward Delhagen

As we awaken to environmental challenges and grow more aware of Vermont’s potential as a sustainability leader, citizens from our small state are taking some surprising roles in the world outside our borders. This week’s guest column is by Randolph resident Ed Delhagen, whose work in developing sustainable communities has taken him from Vermont to Mongolia.

-Daniel Hecht

About a year ago, I journeyed to Mongolia to work with an emerging people's movement focusing on responsible mining. For over ten years, I have applied the principles of sustainable development to Vermont's green business sector, helping to develop successful initiatives in certified forest products, biodiesel, local foods and watershed protection. When my wife and I got the chance to serve in Mongolia, we made the leap from the security of our home to the rigors of the Asian steppe. It is a place where ecological systems and human communities are truly endangered, and we felt our skills could make a major difference.

Mongolia's grassy steppes stretch for a thousand miles, from the sweeping eastern plains to the towering mountains of the Western Altai. In summer, the region’s snow-fed rivers water livestock tended by nomadic herders; in the bitter Siberian winter, they form frozen highways. To the south, savage winds scour dust from the Gobi desert to darken China and melt snow packs as far away as Colorado.

The rich grasslands that for millennia have supported grazing have also nourished the tribes once united under Genghis Khan. Today, these rural communities struggle to meet daily needs in the economic aftermath of communism. Mongolia’s nomadic herders are now challenged directly by a global economy that pays little heed to their needs or the ecosystems required for their survival.

While most Vermonters drive cars made in Detroit or Japan, traditional Mongolians ride horses native to Central Asia. The food on Vermont dinner tables may come from the other side of the world, while the mutton stewing in a Mongolian home comes from just over the hill. A typical Vermont wood-frame house consists of a variety of rooms, but Mongolians share a round, felt-covered dwelling called a ger, a single space that’s smaller than many living rooms. Most Vermonters enjoy running water and electricity, while Mongolian herding families carry water by hand and heat the ger with dung or lump coal.

Yet the two cultures share some commonalities. Livestock constitute a key element of both; both are smaller geographic and economic units sandwiched between larger entities. Both also cherish their land: traditional Mongolians show their respect for the Earth by wearing pointed-toe boots that tip upward — an elfin shape believed to reduce damage to the ground.

And, most significantly, both believe fiercely in democracy.

When the Soviet system collapsed, Mongolia experienced a rapid, rocky transition to a free market economy. Regular people often found themselves without jobs. During the next decade, the country made progress building democratic institutions, but its meager economy did not meet the needs of growing urban populations.

In the late 1990s, legal reform opened the door for a mining boom in which companies rushed to exploit the nation's mineral wealth and lax regulations. Increased international demand and access to natural resources, coupled with untested governmental institutions and entrenched corruption, sparked a land grab by the wealthy and connected.

Then, during the last five years, a series of winter storms called dzud killed millions of livestock, forcing former herders to join the ranks of people seeking employment to meet basic needs. Traditional and modern worlds clashed.

Large-scale gold mining is notoriously inefficient, leaving as much as 30 percent of the gold behind. Many unemployed engineers, poorly-compensated professionals, and former herding families hurried to pursue the residual spoils, creating a desperate gold rush of approximately 100,000 prospectors. The impact on watersheds and human health has been devastating; many communities witnessed their rivers literally run dry as the miners came to town. The traditional lifestyle of the remaining herders has been jeopardized.

Enter Mr. Tsetsegee Munkbayar, a charismatic organizer I met during my first Mongolian sojourn. A former herder, Munkbayar organized his community to rescind illegal mining licenses along the Onggi River. He and his fellow herders forced 35 mines to stop their destructive practices and spurred other communities to assess mining damage.

Using the precious tool of democracy, Munkbayar is now organizing citizens across the country, pressuring the government to uphold laws and establish mining standards. Last month, he received the Goldman Prize for the Environment in recognition of his efforts.

Though geographically far from Vermont, Mongolia is close in other ways. Both need healthy ecosystems, clean water and access to the land. Both need affordable housing, health care and schools. After decades under a totalitarian regime, Mongolia now enjoys the democracy and opportunity that we cherish in Vermont.

What strikes me from my experience in Mongolia is just how important America is in today’s world. Many Mongolians look to the United States for inspiration about how to build democratic institutions, create fair markets, meet human needs, and hold business and government accountable. Individuals like Mr. Munkbayar model the principles of democracy upon which Vermont was founded, and demonstrate the power of personal commitment to a cause greater than oneself.

On returning to Vermont, I thought about the many Vermonters who dedicate themselves to this same vision of integrity, fairness, opportunity and accountability. These are characteristics we still have in spades, and places like Mongolia desperately need leaders with these qualities. As we consider shipping technological know-how abroad, let's remember that there are other Vermont qualities worth exporting as well. When we acknowledge this and act on it, we live up to what the Munkbayars of the world ask of us.

Edward Delhagen is a sustainable development educator, consultant and organizer, and principal of Verdana Ventures LLC.

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Daniel Hecht is a novelist and executive director of Vermont Environmental Consortium. For more information on any Green Grapevine topic, contact vec@norwich.edu.

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