John Liu was a television producer and cameraman in China when he was asked to make a documentary film about the Chinese government’s project to revive the degraded loess plateau – a region that had been the center of a cradle of civilization. A thousand years ago it had become a desert because of the poor animal husbandry, the cutting of the forests, and the practice of farming on slopes without terraces. But in the new China, the local people were paid to hold off their harmful practices and paid to revive the land. Liu’s beautiful film won many awards and fascinated him with learning more about ecology, so he has made that work his second career and deepest passion. For the video, audio podcast, transcript and comment column; https://tosavetheworld.ca/episode-491-ecology-and-chinas-loess-plateau. Guest:

• John Liu