World Ark Magazine - November/December 2007 - (Page 5)

The Sheep Although sheep often get a bad rap for their docile, even subservient, pack behavior, people have relied on this dependable animal for thousands of years. Shepherds herded sheep as long ago as 6000 B.C. in what is now the Middle East. Today, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, more than a billion sheep are being raised in any given year in countries around the world. Sheep are raised for their wool, a renewable resource that can be collected for use in carpets, clothing, upholstery and mattresses. One sheep can produce as much as 30 pounds of wool annually. Early spinners and knitters of sheep’s wool noticed that their hands became softer after working with the wool. This was because of lanolin, a kind of fat, which can be extracted from the wool and used in soap and other products, including most cosmetics. Sheep are also raised for their meat and milk, rich in protein, which has long been used to make delicious cheeses. Roquefort, feta and ricotta cheeses are all traditionally made from sheep’s milk. Sheep are unfussy grazers, getting up to 90 percent of their food from pastureland and often preferring to eat weeds. Like cows and goats, they are ruminants with a compartmented digestive tract that makes it possible for them to get nutrition from fibrous plants. Because their diet includes plants that cows reject, they make good “companion grazers,” coexisting peacefully with other livestock. Growing Pains India’s food security is closely tied to global climate change. The world’s fourth largest producer of greenhouse gases (after the United States, China and Russia), India has convened its Council on Climate Change to help reduce the country’s role in global warming and to develop strategies for coping with change already occurring. Rapid economic growth in recent years has contributed to increased emissions, which India attributes mainly to its burgeoning energy industry. Global warming has caused the glaciers that feed India’s rivers to recede; these rivers provide water for drinking and the lush farmlands that produce India’s food supply. Among the plans is an effort called “Green India,” which intends to replant 15 million acres of forests. Check out www.planetark.com for more information. PHOTO BY JAMES GROVES PHOTO BY CHRIS HONDROS www.heifer.org November/December 2007 | WORLD ARK 5 http://www.planetark.com http://www.heifer.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - November/December 2007

World Ark - November/December 2007 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked & Answered Pursuing Happiness (PRODUCT) RED: Consumer Power Fights AIDS in Africa Rwanda Reconciles End Hunger Now Protecting the Poor from Climate Change Mixed Media Heifer Bulletin Heifer Spirit Heifer Calendar Reflection

World Ark Magazine - November/December 2007

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