Speaking of Everest, here's an interesting story from Grough.com, who are reporting that the Nepali governmental cabinet will meet at Everest Base Camp next month in an effort to draw attention to the impact of climate change on the mountain.
Madhav Kumar, the Prime Minister of Nepal, will be joined by his cabinet members who are deemed physically fit enough for the journey. The group will fly to Lukla, located at 9,383 feet, where they will board a helicopter that will ferry them up to EBC, located at 17,585 feet. The high altitude cabinet meeting is scheduled to begin later this week on December 4th, and is timed to precede a major climate conference to be held in Copenhagen soon.
For Nepal, the climate changes on Everest are quite an important matter. Not only is the mountain a valuable source of income for the country, the melting snows there help to feed the rivers and springs that deliver water to the villages in the Khumbu Valley below. As those streams dry up, villagers are having to hike several hours a day just to find water they need for day to day life. But those glaciers are retreating rapidly thanks to global climate change, and as they disappear, the amount of water provided to the valley below is going away too.
Just another way that the planet is changing around us, and an example of how it is having a direct impact on the lives of many.
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