For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche.–Hermann Hesse. …
Arley Titzler Recent advances in remote sensing and computational power have allowed scientists to overcome a stubborn obstacle, which limited their ability to calculate the total volume of glacier ice in the world. Since satellites look down on the world’s glaciers, total area is simpler to measure. But to estimate volume, it is necessary to know how thick glaciers are. As climate …
Shisper Glacier surge in western Karakoram range creates fear among people of Hunza Sitara Parveen As the people of Hunza are reeling from the 2010 Attabad disaster, another potential disaster is looming large in the valley. This time at Hassanabad Nullah, about 22km of Attabad. Reports in mainstream and social media about the surging of Shisper Glacier in the western …
Trophy hunting has introduced a market ethic whereby the animal is seen in purely utilitarian terms. Shafqat Hussain The recent news about trophy hunting of markhor and ibex in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has sparked intriguing public debates. Many have questioned the ethics of this practice, while others have asked about its social, ecological and economic impact. The question of ethics in …
By Peter Deneen This week’s video digests the sobering findings of the Hindu Kush Himalaya assessment. The montage was published by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), one of the institutions responsible for compiling the report. As GlacierHub reported last week, the assessment is likely the most comprehensive climate assessment of the area: It includes input from over 300 experts, researchers, …
Do we want recognition or should we focus on ending our growing social marginalization and economic inequality? Sultan Abbas Outsiders perceive Hunzukutz (people of Hunza) as a closely-knit community, rarely mingling with others, mostly self-absorbed and largely boasting of their marginal achievements. This self-delusional culture has allowed the evolution of an internal competition on flimsy and superficial pretexts. We appear …
Actor attacked Trump and other leaders at World Government Summit for denying science to justify not facing the ‘moral crisis’ Ed Pilkington Harrison Ford has launched a scorching attack on Donald Trump and other world leaders, for denying science in order to justify doing nothing to face the “moral crisis” of climate change. The actor best known for fighting …
By Pamela Constable An American trophy hunter has sparked outrage after reportedly paying $110,000 for a permit to kill a rare mountain goat in Pakistan, before posing with the dead animal after the hunt. A video posted to social media shows Bryan Kinsel Harlan climbing through mountains in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit region, before shooting at the goat, high-fiving with guides …
By Shogulkhon Shahboz Heavy snowfall on Tuesday blocked again a main highway that connects Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital city, with Sughd province. The highway was reopened to traffic on Sunday but the fresh spell of snowfall triggered a series of avalanches that blocked the highway connecting Dushanbe and Khujand, the capital city of the northern Sughd province. Avalanches also blocked the …
Runyu Liang Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson placed twenty-four blocks of glacier ice outside of the Tate Modern in London. He placed another six blocks outside the European headquarters of Bloomberg, also in London. The installations, unveiled in December, are part of a series called Ice Watch, which Eliasson began in Copenhagen in 2014 at the release of IPCC’s fifth comprehensive report on …
