A New Cashmere Sweater to Help Climate Change?

       Global warming can't be something that we just put on the back burner. Some people think how is this little recycling bin going to help the whole world from melting? Every little bit counts! The Economist reported that carbon dioxide concentrations have reached their highest level in four million years! What are we doing wrong?  Carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase from the burning of fossil fuels, using cars, cutting down trees, etc. Researchers at the Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, measured the carbon concentration at 400.03 ppm. In the early 1960s, carbon concentration in the atmosphere increased about 0.7ppm/year. Now, the rate increases nearly three times that at 2.1ppm/year!
         Many are aware of this change and more people need to step up to do something about it. I found a great example of how two guys are working to help. The project is called Naadam Cashmere and it gives back to Mongolia's nomadic herders who are severely threatened by climate change. While in Mongolia for a semester abroad, the founders "fell in love with the people but also learned their struggles." They learned that "the last real nomadic culture in the world is on the verge of being destroyed by the demands of the cashmere industry coupled with the drastic weather shifts that are affecting Mongolia worse than anywhere else on the planet." Unusual weather patterns and demand for more cashmere has caused a great drop in the goat populations. The herders then have no money, leading to no food, and, ultimately, they have to move into cities and abandon their nomadic life, the only life they know. Their solution: designing a line of cashmere sweaters and accessories and working directly with the herdsmen to save the goat population. By working with both local and international banks to create structures that benefit the herders and their life-styles, a percentage of  profits goes directly back to the very bottom of the chain, the nomadic herders. Supporters of Naadam Cashmere have already pledged over 4.5 times the initial goal on Kickstarter.com. There is only one more day to pledge; you can get a cashmere sweater; you can help a herder in Mongolia; and you can fight climate change by keeping the herders on their land and out of the cities.