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Chimborazo, Ecuador, Ecuadors Melting Snow Caps, Global Warming, Melting Glaciers, Volcano Cayambe, Volcano Chimborazo, World Wetland Day, WP Daily Prompt Think Global Act Local
The WordPress Daily Prompt states this: “Think global, act local.” Write a post connecting a global issue to a personal one.”
Words failed us. We were no longer comfortably numb!
(Above photo and quote from: Mystical Andes, published here on November 16, 2012.)
Several pages on my screen reflected an environmental issue as I pondered today’s WordPress Daily Prompt. This post grants me an easy way to share those global concerns with you.
Ecuador’s amazing diversity of climate affects me on many levels; we have several mini climates along the Pacific coast, from arid almost desert-like conditions to lush tropical areas near the Colombian border with dry rain forests in between. We have pockets and stretches of cloud forests, the Amazon basin, and those captivating snow-capped peaks of the Andes. People either believe that global warming is a serious issue, or they claim that it’s an ongoing cyclic pattern, and that man has little influence on what happens.
How can one have a bad day when views like this soothe the senses? (over 15,000 feet, Volcano Cayambe is the highest point on our world’s equator!)
Several WordPress friends have addressed this issue lately; Read “Musings of an old Fart’s” Here Comes The Sun and Hugh Curlter’s Scientific Ignorance and Whole Foods. Hugh often manages to trigger a chuckle as he injects his personality into his writings about serious matters.
These global-warming issues hit home here in Ecuador, where an avalanche of recent reports states the alarming details of our vanishing Andean snowcaps.
This article from 2006 features Ecuador’s melting snowcaps. Early Signs: Melting Ice Caps in Ecuador
First-of-the-year 2013 reports came from NBC, Aol, and many other respected sites that report sobering statistics:
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50552654/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.UQ1R-6XoRRE
http://weather.aol.com/2013/01/22/andes-glaciers-vanishing-rapidly-study-finds/
http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0122-hance-andes-glaciers.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&
When I ponder these reports, an inner struggle wars inside of me; there’s that alarm bell dinging loudly that says ‘HELP STOP THIS!” answered by a smaller voice that says, ‘But how?“
We all have suggestions of what to do, how to stop it, but those suggestions point to other areas out of our control. What can we do to help pull our planet out of a straight-down auger into global destruction?
“When the American poet poet Gary Snyder was once asked to discuss at length how individuals could best help resolve the environmental crisis, he responded with two words: “Stay put.” ‘ (Wade Davis/Shadows in the Sun)
(Volcano Chimborazo through binoculars) Will this classic icon lose its classic life-giving crown of snow?
(Commercial Break: De Wets Wild reminds us that today is World Wetlands Day, another global topic dear to my heart!) Now back to our story:
I’ll leave with you this amazing video that my friend Michael Godfrey shared with me. Open it in the large window, turn up the volume and sit back and be ready to be dumbfounded. The stats at the end are hard to challenge. Here’s the video:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/hC3VTgIPoGU?rel=0
z
Thought provoking, to say the least – I want to go back and spend some more time thinking and studying what you’ve included in the post. This is a great post ~
Thank you, Mary. The news articles are sobering, and the Andean snow caps have been in the news a lot lately.
Eye opening ~ the video was pure magic. The stats were the horror. Thanks Z. Wonderful post.
Thank you so much! I watch the video several times each day.. I might be cooking, and I turn up the volume and watch from across the room!
The video is breathtaking, literally! The farmers in this area like to say the peculiar weather is just part of the regular cycles, but they aren’t cycles, they are a spiral — and humans are in large measure responsible. When will we ever learn? Great blog, Z.
thank you. to witness the vanishing ice caps and to imagine that one day they will be gone is heartbreaking. whether cyclic or not, we are helping to accelerate the process.
Your story reminds me of the hydrology of my native Pacific Northwest. The irony of a region with a reputation for plentiful rain is that the life-giving water that supports agriculture, hydroelectric dams, salmon runs, recreation, and drinking water depends on snowmelt, not rain. When the snowcaps vanish, so will the millions of people it supports. Not a fine legacy for my grandchildren.
Thank you for a provocative and timely message. – Mike
thank you for this comment; so many andean towns depend on the water from the paramo, which of course depends on the water from the snowcaps… many are rightfully concerned, just like you are, for future generations.
very worrisome, to say the least. Thank you for posting it, z.
you’re so welcome. thanks for caring! z
Global warming? That’s really quite an issue! But can we stay put, as the poet recommended? I truly wonder! I equally responded to the prompt: http://teeceecounsel.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/prompt-unemployment-and-resourcefulness/
most anyone that i know with a higher education would have trouble with that ‘stay put’ advice. the ones will low income, especially here in ecuador, are experts at saying put or using public transportation. they are basically quite happy as well.
since i’ve moved to ecuador, i have more of a ‘stay put’ lifestyle, but it is not for most! http://playamart.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/the-rain-stopped-get-outside-now/
z
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Scary. I am not sure what we can do, except cherish what we have and encourage others to cherish their little corners too.
thanks, amiga. you are right, it’s scary and it’s also sobering. z
The video is mind boggling as well as the stats. Heartbreaking.
the video certainly makes me want to see the movie…
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Z, thanks for referencing my post. You have pulled together some great information in one place. Many thanks. This is the greatest threat facing our planet and Hugh and I both are concerned by the naysaying going on in the US by one of our political parties heavily financed and influenced by the oil/ gas industry. Keep making people aware of these issues. It is important. All the best, BTG
thank you; sometimes we are aware of issues, yet other issues take a higher priority. who knows where that turning point is when one more little bit of info is enough to make them take note. little by little/ poco a poco…
z
I’ll need to come back and check all of these out, but, it is becoming so evident that something needs to be done. But what? My 90 year old mom says they need to stop spending money on sending things into space. She is very serious and adamant about this. I don’t discourage the conversation or deny her her opinion. Who knows? As The Terminator said: “I’ll be bock.”
hey amiga! i’ve been to town and back today, did a bit of transplanting and am now back and settled in for the day. your comment made me laugh, ‘i’ll be bock’!!!!
enjoy your sunday!
z
It’s Super Bowl Sunday. What’s not to enjoy?!
Chips, salsa, and cervesa. “fist pump”
HA HA HA! Have fun! i’ve been away from that since the year 2000, so for me it’s, “Super bowl?”
z
Wow! I don’t know what else to say about the video. It’s terrifying–and truly puts an event like 9/11 into perspective when you compare the event to the crumbling of Manhattan. Indeed, is this the truer terrorism? What we are doing to the planet? Jeez!
Hugs,
Kathy
so true; i’m not surprised that this caught your attention. it’s a sobering video, and i hope to be able to see the movie.
Well done Z. What can be done? We need to realize that everything is based on balance, and plan accordingly. If a building isn’t balanced with nature, it shouldn’t be built. Everything we do must be balanced, and I don’t think that is as hard as it sounds. I try to stay put as much as possible, too. Living in a large city with public transporation helps, but we have such a long ways to go. I’m not sure we can do what needs to be done in time. It may already be too, late, but pessimism never accomplishes anything, so we have to get to work.
very nice comment! thank you for adding your feedback on this subject; even if most people ‘stayed put,’ it seems that there needs to be some emergency first aid, though what could that be?
i fear that mother earth is going to start one heck of a rodeo – bucking and kicking to get some of us off her back! z
Great writing Z!
“People either believe that global warming is a serious issue, or they claim that it’s an ongoing cyclic pattern, and that man has little influence on what happens.”
I wonder how many of those who has experienced regular, freakish and extraordinarily catastrophic weather events recently still fall in the latter category…
Best wishes
Dries
you are so right; when it hits home/in one’s back yard, it becomes a bit more real. how IS the weather over there this week? we continue to receive a lot of rain here. it’s the rainy season, yes, but wow, it jumped out the gate and has been a strong beginning here on the pacific coast of ecuador.
We’re not getting the heavy rains of a week or two ago and mop-up operations and rebuilding (infrastructure and livelihoods) is in full swing, but now we have very high temperatures again sparking very destructive wild fires in especially the south-west of the country.
We hope that the wet start to your rainy season is not another bad omen Z.
thanks,amiga. the thought of the wildfires makes my heart a bit sad for all who are affected. my friends in colorado were out of their home for eighteen days last june and did not know if they had a home to return to or not during that time.
we received more heavy rain last night, but it’s extremely calm and quiet this morning. the muddy river tells me that the rains were strong upriver as well. i’ve yet to see clumps of bamboo and plantains washing downstream. when that happens, i’ll know that the river’s reaching ‘flood stage’ upriver.
Very sobering and what an impressive and provocative video. I was able to witness glacial calving a number of years ago in Glacier Bay, Alaska. It was impressive, but nothing like that video. Once again thanks for sharing!
what a great experience that must have been! if you see the movie, please let me know what you thought of it! thanks!
z
Amazing video, and the statistics made me do some research. Powerful, informative, thought-provoking post!
thanks, amiga. yes, the video is amazing, and i hope to see the movie. z
Hmm. I wrote a long comment, but it wouldn’t go through. So I’ll try again and just summarize that this is an excellent post that really got me thinking, and the video was wonderful. Thank you.
i have had problems getting comments to go through, but thought it was the slow connection…. i hit ‘reply’ and it just swirls for a while — always, so then i thought it was my little burro laptop…..
it’s frustrating when a comment won’t go through and gets lost. we often don’t have the same magic to reconstruct it a second time!
thanks
z
Another very thought provoking post and that video really underlined it. Just where is the world going to. I fear for my grand children and their children, they are going to have to really deal with all this.
that recent ugly storm and flooding has probably gotten everyone’s attention in your country. i need to check the weather and see what’s happening over there this week.
z
Back to almost normal summer weather again, hot but not as humid as usual for summer. occasional showers but giving those poor people time to assess the damage. Many houses cannot be repaired and just being demolished. So sad
that is sad, amiga.
around noon today i left for the port city of manta and arrived at sunset. tomorrow i’ll be in transit to guayaquil ad then back again that night.. the next day full of ‘stuff’ and then home at the end of the day/night.
will be basically offline til thursday…
will miss your posts!
z
Those names sound so exotic, I am going to google them and follow you in cyberspace
I hope you will be showing us photos of your journeys when you arrive back home.I look forward to that. Safe journey, take care…
Great response to the challenge Lisa.The glacier activity of the last decade is terrifying. Agree with Pauline,we leave behind a terrible legacy.
thank you for your feedback, madhu! yes, it’s terrifying. i’ve been riding via bus between provinces today, and i pondered how special ecuador’s paramor is, and i realized that i have not posted anything about that clima…
soon.
thanks again! z
This was so well done Lisa. I don’t understand how so many can still deny global warming. I read a book recently where the author noted that we are the only species who messes in their nests. How tragic that we can’t see what we are doing to our home.
Thoughtful post, Lisa! And that video is amazing!
you are so right about that video. it’s sobering! thanks, amiga, for spending so much time on the blog; it’s obvious that you’re a true reader, and not one who flits through and goes like/like/like/like then dashes away!!!!
you’re the genuine good gal! hey- GGG!
Thanks, Lisa. I do love to spend time reading my favorite bloggers, but in January, with my sons and husband visiting and then traveling to Nepal, I got soooo far behind. Slowly, slowly, I hope to catch up. Now that I’m back in a routine and into simplifying, hopefully I can stay on top of the game!
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