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Fastest Growing Job 2019 - Goat Herder?

Fastest Growing Job 2019 - Goat Herder?

I know that some people think we have a tendency to be a bit flippant here at ekko.world and you might even be thinking that this headline is a fine example of your point. But in a world where everyone thinks the jobs that haven't been invented yet are all about tech, we predict that there is a new front line of emerging jobs. The untech.

The adaption strategies that we will have to employ to deal with climate change aren't all tech solutions. In fact many will take us back to skills of the past.  Soaring temperatures, more severe widespread fires and limited water mean that undergrowth has to be cleared from bush land. The extent of undergrowth in some bush land, particularly in dense or inaccessible areas, rules out planned burning as a management option. And undergrowth is a tinderbox so as this option is ruled out, the fire risk increases.

If you have ever seen a goat eat Lantana or balanced precariously on a rock, you will know why this is where goats come in. Hundreds of them. This climate adaption management solution is goats. And that makes a Goat Herder an excellent example of a new age job.  

Spain and Portugal have been reporting on Goat Firefighters for the past few years. (Of course the goats are more pre-fire fighters or un-fire fighters if we are to be tech-nically correct.)

According to Thomson Reuters Foundation News, one such new age job holder is 44-year-old farmer, Nadal, who four years ago began rearing sheep and goats specifically to tackle wildfires. 

Under the guidance of Spain's Pau Costa Foundation, an independent wildfire prevention group, Nadal and others like him send their animals to munch on overgrown areas with a high fire risk and thereby reduce the severity of wildfires.

THE GOATS MOVE IN HERDS OF AROUND 200, SUPPORTED BY A GOAT HERDER AND ESSENTIALLY MUNCH THEIR WAY THROUGH UNDERGROWTH. APART FROM REDUCING FIRE RISK, THEY ARE ALSO CONTRIBUTING TO THE HEALTH OF THE FORESTS, BY CLEANING THEM. AND THE BONUS IS THAT AS WELL AS BEING A MORE SUSTAINABLE FIRE WARDING SOLUTION, THE FARMERS CAN ALSO SELL THE GOAT'S MILK, MAKE CHEESE AND MEAT. (MAYBE NOT SO MUCH MEAT, GIVEN THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS JOB.)

In summary, if you are thinking about a business you might set up for the changing world, I'd get myself some goat herding lessons and find some goats because you are going to be very very busy. And who wouldn't want to come home to these smiling faces? 

If you just want a goat, maybe a mini one, you can find goat breeders on ekko.world.

(And just a word to the nay sayers. Bookmark this page. And stand by.) 





Images: Unsplash | Caleb Woods - JC Gellidon - Janine Joles
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