tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34802782.post533034322521014818..comments2024-02-28T15:44:36.641-07:00Comments on Lao Bumpkin: Slash and Burn Baby Burnsomsaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04909697873563962415noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34802782.post-31922570512483977342010-03-22T21:07:15.233-07:002010-03-22T21:07:15.233-07:00Very informative blog. We have just returned from ...Very informative blog. We have just returned from a first visit to Laos and were surprised by the thick pall of smoke as it is not something that is mentioned much in travel writings. As I suffer from respiratory problems I found it difficult to cope with despite loving Laos. As we want to return and spend more time there, I decided to do some more intensive research before planning the next trip. Your article has given great information about not only when but why. JudiJudi Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17345948901541199246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34802782.post-68291924492298862612009-10-28T19:05:32.116-07:002009-10-28T19:05:32.116-07:00I'm usually in Laos as a tourist, not working ...I'm usually in Laos as a tourist, not working on any project other than my curiosity. I used to live in Yunnan and Isaan a long time ago, and I ended up marrying a Lao schoolgirl.<br /><br />I have a semester each of tree pathology, propagation, botany, identification, so I'm interested in plants and trees.<br /><br />Since the time I wrote this blog post I've been reading a lot on the subject and it seems as if slash and burn or more accurately swidden agriculture (as the upland peoples have been doing for centuries is widely accepted now the most sustainable non destructive way to grow crops on the hills. Lowland Lao are harder to convince having been so successful at wet rice paddy agriculture. Lowlanders look upon swidden mountain folks as being backwards and not modern.somsaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909697873563962415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34802782.post-47392899500496981482009-10-24T12:04:16.410-07:002009-10-24T12:04:16.410-07:00I've had very much the same puzzlement, withou...I've had very much the same puzzlement, without having spent enough time in country to be at all sure. It just seems that the people I met and the work I saw in the fields looked long term, so how could their method be as destructive as normally put forward? I've only passed through on the way from Cambodia to Viet Nam, with only a few weeks in Laos, but I traveled a lot through the northern part of the country. . .what sort of project were you working on?? Ken from SeattleKen Prestonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04404421394839768255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34802782.post-90781032406873892172007-03-31T21:37:00.000-07:002007-03-31T21:37:00.000-07:00I really enjoyed reading your blog, particularly t...I really enjoyed reading your blog, particularly the slash and burn post. Insightful. <BR/><BR/>Thanks very much. <BR/><BR/>-Tim Patterson<BR/><BR/>www.rucksackwanderer.comTimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12346069501972114790noreply@blogger.com