MOUNTAIN GLACIERS: For residents of the Himalayas, there's no question that glaciers are disappearing
Image: NASA
NAMCHE BAZAAR, Nepal -- By this time next month, Kancha Sherpa will, once again, become a busy man.
At 79, he is the last man living among the 103 guides who accompanied the famous mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary on the first successful 1953 expedition to Everest. Come peak tourist season in this ancient village of Internet cafes, Nepali crafts and gear shops that serves as the gateway to Mount Everest Base Camp, Kancha Sherpa will be besieged by journalists and climbers alike eager to hear his memories of the ascent.
For a token gift -- an energy drink that his great-niece, Kami Sherpa, says he enjoys -- Kancha Sherpa will oblige. But nowadays, part of his story is not about his adventures, but of the majestic mountain itself and how much its character has changed. In his climbing days, Kancha Sherpa recalls, the trek from Gorka Shep to Everest Base Camp was an uphill climb on the pristine ice. Now the ice has gone. In its place is a rough pathway of rocks and packed dirt.
Experts worry that climate change is at work here and could, eventually, reduce freshwater supplies for billions of people who use the Ganges, the Yangtze, the Indus and other rivers fed by the glaciers. Idly spinning a Buddhist prayer wheel in his family room as his wife serves sweet milk tea to guests, the veteran guide offers his own reasons for what he sees happening to his mountain.
"The reason the ice melts is that many people go up there, they throw the garbage and make the environment dirty," he says. He has seen the glaciers recede before his eyes.
Kancha Sherpa has heard of global warming. Most in this town have, thanks to workshops sponsored by the government and various nonprofit groups. But his Buddhist beliefs are strong, so he's skeptical of any emission-caused event that might create such a dramatic change. He explains that the melting is more likely caused by the gods angered at the large number of yaks killed for food in the mountains and the number of people trampling the sacred ground.
'God is not happy'
"People talk about the glaciers and the ice melting, but he doesn't think it's the climate change," Kami Sherpa translates. "It's the god," she says. "If we step on the god, god is not happy."
His great-niece takes a moment to explain her great-uncle's views, saying this way of thinking is common among the older generation. But then the 26-year-old English teacher explains that Everest is considered the god of all females, and says she, too, accepts that there is divine intervention in the changes her people have seen in the Himalayan Mountains.
"Even I believe," she says. "These lands are sacred lands."
The old guide seems more comfortable talking about the the past and the years when the ice was part of a life of scrounging for work in Namche that ultimately led him to the top of the world.
"At the time, there were no tourists in this area," Kancha Sherpa says. As his great-niece explains: "They only did cutting wood and carrying the wood, looking out for animals. There was nothing to earn."
But Kancha Sherpa saw people from other villages who said they found good work in Darjeeling, India. They had money and good clothes. Kancha Sherpa says he wanted the same. Before that time, he says, he never considered trekking the mountain. "Until then, I don't think [local] people didn't have any idea of Everest," he says. But off he went to India in search of a job.
For 8 rupees a day, Kancha Sherpa signed onto Hillary's expedition. From base camp, he carried 30 kilos on his back, taking over for the porters who traditionally do the heavy lifting on expeditions, as he scouted out the trail. It was big money at the time and, Kancha Sherpa says, better than getting paid 1,000 rupees a day today because money went further.
A price Namche must pay
They braved the ice and stiff winds as they climbed into unknown terrain. The poor-quality army boots he and other guides wore hurt their feet. The canned Western food they carried clashed so much with traditional Nepalese food that they could scarcely eat more than porridge and juice.
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6 Comments
Add CommentI'm not quite so old, but since you're collecting anecdotal evidence I'd be more than happy to share my recollections of summers in Texas and Oklahoma, especially before the general availability of air conditioning.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBoy, it sure was hot at night, let me tell ya!
I think the Sherpa’s view that the "Himalayan god" is causing the glaciers to melt explains some of the climate change denial in the English Speaking World. Several people I've talked to that deny climate change tell me they hold that belief because only god can change the climate. They repeatedly say that it's arrogant to think that mankind can change the climate.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've always been bewildered by this belief. It reminds me of how a lot of people in the Middle East don't wear safety belts or other safety devices because they believe that they can be killed only if it's their fate to die that particular day. Regardless, I still wear my seat belt because I don't consider myself that lucky.
Trying to dislodge this belief is almost as hard as bringing these people around on the validity of the Theory of Evolution or the Principle of Natural Selection. Trying to bring scientific facts to a nominally theological debate is like trying to fight with one arm tied behind your back. ANY scientific facts that don't agree with their theology are either suspect or ignored altogether. That a lot of these people maintain that Man-made climate change is also a Socialist plot to redistribute wealth to the 3rd World or something does WONDERS in having a constructive debate! There is a lot of overlap, so their political ideology interferes even MORE with what should be a scientific debate. This is just a small sampling, but with around 50% of the U.S. population expressing doubt or outright denial of Evolution on religious grounds, the theological objection to man-made climate change could account for a substantial (probably > 10%) portion of the people that doubt humans are jacking with the climate. That their opponents in the climate change debate are basically the same opponents in MANY of their other political debates (lefties, hippies, people with funny-sounding names, etc.), their dogma tends to increase their opposition to even the basic science of climate change.
If this is indeed the End Times and we are near the end of the world, don't you think that God would be particularly angry at those who allowed the planet to fry into oblivion?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEven the Bible says in Revelation that God is not too happy about those ruining Earth, and I think we underestimate how the entire ecosystem comprises a living "organism" where global warming is a symptom of a greater problem... so there is some basis in fact to these so-called superstitious beliefs of these people.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGee, can't someone help that poor man? There's got to be a few billionaires somewhere that we can skin for the necessary funds to rebuild their glaciers. And maybe we could throw in a Burger King as well.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't know how anyone can look at those poor naked mountains and still be satisfied with their selfish, self centered lives!!!
@sault: there are religious extremists everywhere and whatever be the reason for the climate change in today's world, i would like to point out that not all middle eastern countries are backward and superstitious.Having personally experienced living in the UAE and OMAN along with a well established community of Americans, Britishers and citizens of other nations, let me tell you that not wearing your seat belt gets you a $200 fine in many of those countries. Their people are not all that different, they study the same course that we do. You can teach evolution in the classroom and yet have mom and dad take you to church which declares that eve was made from adam's rib.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat im trying to say at the end of the day is that let us not distort facts to justify our points