Patagonia is a beautiful region in Argentina now under threat. The local wool industry is dying, due to over-grazing and economic decline; and as a result, an entire way of life is threatened.
Nowadays, men like 61-year-old Don Carlos Gelos have been forced to make their living shearing sheep for tourists, rather than working on one of Patagonia?s massive sheep stations, or ?estancias?.
American tycoons and Hollywood stars are buying up vast areas of Patagonia, much to the consternation of locals. But the newcomers are bringing much needed investment and, perhaps most importantly, a valuable ecological outlook.
The American eco-philanthropist, Kris McDivitt, for example, recently spent $1.7 million of privately raised money setting up Monte Leon, Argentina?s first ever coastal national park.
?You can?t wait for governments to protect the bio-diversity and bio-richness of their countries?, she explained to Campbell, ?I think that individuals need to step up to the plate and pay their rent for living on the planet?.
From Foreign Correspondant, ABC Television
Links for you to step up to the plate and pay your rent
Family Tree, 
