According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, only 7% of Mongolia is covered with forests. Between 1990 and 2000 Mongolia lost an average of 81,900 hectares or 0.65% of its forest per year. Between 2000 and 2010, Mongolia lost 13.1% of its forest, or about 1,638,000 hectares. (mongabay.com)
Deforestation is one of the biggest problems facing our world today. However, it is not the first time that our world has faced this colossal problem. According to one of the oldest and most extensive myths in the world, the myth of Gesar, it has happened before. The Mongolian version of the Gesar myth teaches that in ancient times there was an epic battle between the tenger or sky gods. At the end of the war, the god Khormasta (Master-Over-Evil) destroyed his enemy, the god Ataa Ulaan (Red-Envy), by cutting him into nine pieces. Red-Envy’s head became the demonic dragon, Araatan Chutgur (Demon Beast), which attempted to devour the sun and moon. Red-Envy’s neck became the demon Gal-Nurma-Khan (King of Fire and Ash). Red-Envy’s right arm became the beast Orgoli (Deforestation). Red-Envy’s right arm, when he fell to earth, landed in Mongolia. It was a gigantic beast that devoured all the trees. That is why Mongolia has so few trees to this day. The myth goes on and on, but we’ll stop there, because this article is about deforestation.
Today, it seems that the deforestation demon has spread throughout the world. Trees are not only disappearing in Mongolia, but in every country in the world. We often hear about the disappearance of the world’s rainforests, either to produce timber or to make way for farmland. However, for the first time in recorded history, we have reports that we are losing trees for reasons not yet fully understood. They are not dying from forest fires. They are not dying to be cut. They are dying on their feet, just dying for no apparent reason.
Jim Robins, in his book, The Man Who Planted Trees, wrote about a man named David Milarch who is cloning the “world’s champion trees” and planting them all over the United States. So far, he and his helpers have planted 20,000 small trees in the US The reason for this project is that millions of trees have died from the Mexican border to Canada. They suspect the causes may include climate change, insects and disease. The weather these days is hotter and drier in the United States. This means that insect populations and bacterial infections are on the rise.
For all the animals on this planet, this presents a colossal problem, because trees use carbon dioxide. When trees disappear, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air increases. This causes atmospheric warming. It’s a vicious cycle, and it’s only getting worse.
Linda Moulton Howe reported in the May 2012 Coast to Coast AM radio broadcast that this phenomenon has reached epidemic proportions. Some trees are on the verge of extinction, like the oldest trees on the planet: bristlecone pines. “Either humans will finally ‘get it’ and move on trying to sustain life on this earth…or we will sink to our own destruction,” said Linda Moulton Howe.
Many countries around the world have an Arbor Day, when people are supposed to go out and plant trees, but in my experience very few people actually participate in such activities.
On the other hand, Mongolia has recently instituted two, not one, national tree-planting days: one on the second Saturday in May and one on the second Saturday in October. Mongolia can be the model for the world with its “A tree for every person” movement. The idea has caught on quickly. Many schoolchildren across the country organize each year to plant trees. For example, this year Orchlon’s 6th and 7th grade students went to Zunkharaa, Mongolia to plant trees. One hundred students planted hundreds of trees over a five-day period in May 2012. Such efforts are laudable. However, is it enough? Will it save the planet? Will it save us?
According to the Myth of Gesar, the gods of heaven held a council to decide what to do about all the problems on Earth caused by the war of the gods. The chief of all the gods, Etsege Malaan (All-Caring Father), told Master-Over-Evil that since he had caused all the problems, he must fix them. He must come down, incarnate in a human body and fix all the problems that he had caused on Earth. At that moment, Master-Over-Evil’s second son, Bukhe Biligte Baatar (Almighty Hero), stood up and begged the gods to send him in his place, because it would be better if his father remain as the leader of his family in heaven. . All the gods agreed, and Caring Father nodded. So, it was that All-Gifted Hero was born to a virgin princess. His earthly name became Gesar, and he became king. To cut a very long story short, King Gesar was a benevolent king, who saved all mankind from the disaster his father had created when he cut Red-Envy into nine pieces.
This time, however, things are different. We humans have created this problem ourselves. Perhaps, therefore, it is no use hoping that the gods will save us from our own problems. Linda Moulton Howe is convinced that the lack of living trees is now a global problem, not just a problem in Mongolia or the Amazon rainforest. People around the world must act before it is too late. We need to plant trees, and lots of them, all over the world. The simple fact is that trees keep our planet from overheating. They prevent erosion. They provide habitats for thousands of endemic species that could become extinct without the trees. They give us oxygen to breathe. Hugging trees is not the answer to the problem. Planting trees is the answer.