Over the course of 10,000 years, the China Loess Plateau — the cradle of Chinese civilization — became the most eroded place on earth.

But look at it now!

It’s green. Water flows again. The soil is healthy and supports an abundant amount of agriculture on less land than before. It’s biodiversity. Ahe people are more prosperous.

Others can tell this story of restoration better than me, so check them out:

[Watch] Lessons of the Loess Plateau - The original documentary produced by John Liu.
[Watch] The Age of Nature | The Impact of the Loess Plateau Rehabilitation Project - From PBS.
[Read] Restoring China’s Loess Plateau - From the World Bank, which financed the project.

*On the plateau | Created by Jay W. Austin & DALL•E*

Decades and decades of degradation were reversed within one generation.

The degradation had everything to do with human activity, but the regeneration had little to do with human intervention.

Yes, the Chinese government and the World Bank and outside experts came in and got to work. And yes, it’s true that the locals were/are paid to work the land and to maintain it. But for as much intellectual and physical labor as they contributed, nothing mattered more than the “work” of nature.

Humans are nature.

Restoration projects like the Loess Plateau aren’t examples of humans being good stewards of the land — which is still fundamentally an idea of dominion over something outside of us. Instead, it’s an excellent example of how our flawed mindsets and philosophies and economic systems can still synchronize with the ultimate wills of nature: to stabilize and to heal.

Aye, I’m Jay. You’re on my personal site where I post things I make about interrupting mass incarceration, protecting migration, environmental justice & sustainability, language, communications, storytelling, creativity, and tech.

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