“It is in the mountains that fate is decided”
nomadic saying
Delighted that a piece I’ve done on Tibetan nomadic perspectives on Climate Change is up on UNESCO’s “Ethics and Climate Change in Asia-Pacific” page here. For a link straight to the article this is the link here.
It is not change itself necessarily, but the speed of change that rattles the nomads...and they are people with change and adaptation hard-wired into their very core. Snows are disappearing at unprecedented rates, they say.
The article, titled, ‘Withering Heights’ gives a voice to nomads living over 4 km’s in the sky – on, within – and with the lands of the snows. It is largely in their words, using their perspectives, presenting not my own nor any western clinical view of the world up high, but rather the observations of a people who have long lived in the very face of Mother Nature’s every mood.
A generation of teenagers are growing up in a different landscape than their parents.
As usual, the nomadic expressions are simultaneously tangible, poignant, and incredibly metaphorical. Getting their thoughts on lands they know intimately; lands that their forefathers and mothers knew, is a precious necessity in any discussion about this ‘Third Pole’, the Tibetan Plateau.
For the last the 10 years, I’ve been asking the nomads little questions about their world, and what they see changing. What comes across clearly is that it isn’t necessarily change itself that is a problem, but more so the speed and dramatic nature of the change. Here is a little view of those perspectives.