Nomadic Peoples Brave the Most Extreme Weather Conditions

They Follow A Lifestyle Thousands of Years Old

by Ali Khan, age 15


With more than seven billion people living on Earth, things can get pretty crowded.

Much of the developed world is situated in temperate climates where life is easy to sustain. This kind of weather is neither too hot nor too cold; rainfall assures adequate crop growth. But this luxurious climate is not a reality for everybody in the world.

Life is considerably more difficult for those who live in deserts where the temperatures are extreme and precipitation is rare. Desert climates are often so harsh that there isn’t enough food for humans. To survive conditions, some people, called nomads move around and scavenge for food, water and fertile land.

Most of the world’s deserts are considered hot deserts, where less than 10 inches of rain falls each year. Consequently, these deserts cannot support complex vegetation. People and wildlife have to adapt and endure to this scorching environment. Hot deserts can be found on every continent except Antarctica. For example, the Kurds are nomads that live in the desert of Kurdistan, Iraq. They herd cattle and live in tents.

Cold deserts, like hot deserts, are very arid, but have a bitter, frigid atmosphere. The Arctic and Antarctic regions are both considered cold deserts. The main form of precipitation in a cold desert is snow or fog. Cold deserts are covered in snow and are frozen for most of the year. In areas where the snow melts for a brief summer season, mosses and short grasses grow, providing nourishment for the desert’s inhabitants. Nomads of a cold desert collect food by hunting wildlife on the frosty shore and ice surface. The Saami people live in northern Scandinavia and train reindeer to pull their sleds across the land.

Nomads are forced to deal with hardships like the blazing sun or the frigid ice of a desert environment. They have to scrounge for bare necessities, but they survive, by following a way of life that is thousands of years old.

[Source: How People Live: On The Move]
















Very nice pix! Watch for what I call the magenta eefcft, which one sees rarely anywhere except in the west. When the sun is low, especially behind mountains, you will see a magenta highlight along the top of the horizon, which is stunning (almost neon like) for a short time from a few seconds to a few minutes. I've seen once in VA in the morning. It seems to require a certain sun angle and precise amount of particulate in the sky. The only thing I can compare it to is the greening of the water, which folks watch for on the FL Gulf Coast, especially in Key West. That causes the tops of the waves to turn chartreuse with the foam gold! It never lasts more than a few seconds, almost like a flash, and is spectacular! – Mohamed , Very nice pix! Watch for what I call the magenta eefcft, which one sees rarely anywhere except in the west. When the sun is low, especially behind mountains, you will see a magenta highlight along the top of the horizon, which is stunning (almost neon like) for a short time from a few seconds to a few minutes. I've seen once in VA in the morning. It seems to require a certain sun angle and precise amount of particulate in the sky. The only thing I can compare it to is the greening of the water, which folks watch for on the FL Gulf Coast, especially in Key West. That causes the tops of the waves to turn chartreuse with the foam gold! It never lasts more than a few seconds, almost like a flash, and is spectacular! (2014-12-06 17:26)
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