The results of the dzud are awful. This is not the totality of Mongolia which also has successful traditionalist and modernist. I will always cherish my three weeks with the herders of Mongolia. For a trip to the 11th century look up "Ger to Ger".

Let me just say that I am appalled by the writing in this piece. Batgargal is not a Mongolian name; Batjargal is but I suppose that slipped by the editors. Furthermore, the family mentioned is most likely NOT illiterate, since Mongolia has had nearly universal literacy due to its 70 year period under Socialism. Yes, Mongolian winters are harsh, and the Dzud is a problem which is making herding increasingly difficult-but it's degrading and insulting to slap up a bunch of pictures that look foreign to us (oh no, a sheep in the ger [which is the correct spelling, btw]!) and decry how these people live terrible, awful, primitive lives. As a matter of fact, the World Bank is projected to move Mongolian into its second tier category for development, from the bottom, in the next two to three years. It's a wonderful country, and I highly recommend anyone curious about it to visit, including, perhaps, the creator of this photo essay, who clearly never spent enough time on the ground. Having said that, global warming causes Dzud, which does make herding unpredictable, and herder's lives harder, so be conscious of your carbon footprint!

These people seem to be fairly nomadic, living a subsistence life in semi-temporary huts, depending on grass to feed their sheep. Note the lack of shelter on the range, a vulnerable situation – weather does vary in short and longer term, cold decades and warm ones (such as the central plains of North America in the 1930s). Why don’t they have large gers for the animals? (Apparently the majority of herders do spend winter in a valley that provides some shelter from winds, and they do have some options to build shelters including walls of dung bricks to shelter animals from the wind. They seem to lack cutting grass and storing it for winter feeding – these people are trying to help: http://www.spana.org/projects/animals/mongolia/.)
However there are oddities in the photos and descriptions:
- why are they taking the dead sheep to a cemetery instead of salvaging the wool and hide, if not the meat as well?
- the picture of people awakening seems staged (the very young child has bare skin and the lamb is held quite uniformly)
And if you did a simple Internet search you’d find that a similar spate of bad weather occurred in 1944, due to the same cause – the Arctic Oscillation pushed deep into Asia. (1944 was of course before the claimed large increase in atmospheric CO2.)
I think you are also seeing the effect of lack of ability in Mongolia – if an area of the US had such a bout of weather hay would be purchased and transported to the animals. Instead of blaming weather on humans you should support establishment of a better society which, as is the case here, is better able to feed people.

Scratching out a living in the snows and slums of Mongolia. The results of the dzud are awful. This is not the totality of Mongolia which also has successful traditionalist and modernist. I will always cherish my three weeks with the herders of Mongolia. For a trip to the 11th century look up "Ger to Ger". endermologie Let me just say that I am appalled by the writing in this piece. Batgargal is not a Mongolian name; Batjargal is but I suppose that slipped by the editors. Furthermore, the family mentioned is most likely NOT illiterate, since Mongolia has had nearly universal literacy due to its 70 year period under Socialism. Yes, Mongolian winters are harsh, and the Dzud is a problem which is making herding inc.