Back in the small village of Ghagria, Rose and I discover a nature photographer. He sadly describes how quickly animal and flower diversity is shrinking, even in these remote regions, that his last encounter with an Indian tiger was 2007. But the most dramatic impact was the Western press article we encounter at the nature center: “Himalayan Glaciers Gone by 2020.”
Ten years, I think incredulously. The Himalayas are not just the province of India but Nepal, Pakistan, China, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam. Its mountains and glaciers feed every the major Asia rivers, including the Ganges, Indus, Mekong, Yellow Yangzi. The research comes from legit sources. It calls the situation devastating across every continent and will impact the world’s most vulnerable one billion people who depend on river basins fed by glacier and snow melt.
Later I encounter these stories in the American press. The world is getting small, and quick.
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1944167,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1929071_1929070_1945667,00.html
What’s most disconcerting is the impact on hydroelectricity, the largest green energy source in the world next to coal. Ironically, the melting glaciers mean that the production of electricity will increase, but the obvious implication is what happens after most of the ice has melted? Laos, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia and Ecuador – the poorest, most dependent are especially vulnerable. In Europe, 20 percent of green energy is hydro; China is the biggest producer in the world. It’s the same dilemma. The situation gets worse exponentially and by the time the situation becomes impossible to reverse in short order.
Behavior and economics must change is the refrain. But consider the challenge as illustrated by a minor observation. Past that small village of Ghagria the trail forks. One path leads to the entrance of the Valley of Flowers, the other continues to the pilgrim site. One can’t help but notice what the swami said about Indians living on another plain, for the trail to the nature reserve is sparsely populated with secular, educated Indians and a few Westerns, whereas the religious trail is pack full of devotes. Religion and faith vs. nature and science. To my mind it’s One World; to that of many Earth inhabitants, devote Christians among them, there are numerous “worlds,” and the one we inhabit may not be the most important.
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