Mongolian spirituality (in the countryside at least) is strongly connected to the idea of living in harmony with nature and protecting the environment - anything that might harm an animal or corrupt a water supply, for example, is taboo. On the other hand, Mongolia is still a developing country with significant poverty but valuable natural resources which foreign countries are naturally keen to invest in, and as we drive around the country there is regularly evidence of new mining and quarrying (and quite a lot of litter everywhere). Our guide told me that Mongolians believe that when mining development disturbs the environment, nature becomes angry and the result will be drought, floods or other natural disasters. Of course these tensions between development and environmentalism exist in all countries, but in Mongolia they are starkly observable. Today
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