climate change is accelerating the melting of glaciers all over the world. In the final stretch of the Summit of the Climate of Poland, which ends today, we are witnessing the collapse of the snow-capped Mountain of the Jade Dragon, in the heart of the melting of continental ice in Asia
The heir of I Shixiu remember how small he could make out the snow that covered the “holy mountain” from the door of the small cabin which occupies in the village of Baisha. For years, this is not the case, account.
The popular Doctor Ho -so I knew I Shixiu, who served as interpreter to Joseph Rock, explorer for the National Geographic, and became a mythical character for the adventurers who came to what was then a remote area of the Yunnan province of china, passed away in August.
I Shu Long porta the turban red and carried by the members of the ethnic Naxi people when they lose one of their family members. The tradition obliges them to maintain this touched for 100 days, nor will you shave the beard.
as Bruce Chatwin, a writer of The New York Times, called it “the Kingdom of Rock” -the territory inhabited by the minority Naxi in and around the city of Lijiang – the customs rooted in its history yet have a decisive role in the daily life. The same Baisha has not lost the aura that give the streets carpeted with stone and wooden buildings, despite the endless stream of tourists.
however, precisely because of its emphasis on a collection that mixes their roots in tibetan with the chinese taoism and shamanistic beliefs, for the characters as I have Shu Long a progressive disappearance of the glaciers of the call Dragon snow Mountain Jade is a “revenge” of that summit. The naxi people believe that Wulu -so call the branch in your language – is an entity that is sacrosanct to dedicate gifts and poems, the residence of his main protector, the God To Pu San Duo, and a symbol of eternal love. “It was the mountain where they used to kill herself, the lovers who could not marry,” recalls Shang Hua Shen, a femininity of this community.
I Shu Long believed that the decline of the ice is the response of Wulu to the avalanche of visitors that you have to endure. “Every action has a reaction,” said the healer of 60 years, while dispatches to any of the medicinal herbs collected in the mountain chain. “Before you know when it was winter and summer. Now all the stations are jumbled together. Have gone many plants that we used to manufacture our medicines. For example, one that allowed us to make an invigorating tonic treats”, explains the expert in traditional medicine in her small clinic in Baisha, crowded with bags of herbs, ointments, banner red with inscriptions of philosophical and an entire collection of the multiple characters westerners who visited his father, Dr. Ho.
The belief of I Shu Long is shared by the inhabitants of this small town which in its day was the main reference point for religious and political of the Naxi people. Touched with a hat adorned with feathers of birds, Yang Shun Cui, 73 years old, is expressed adjacent to a clique of old locals specialized in the music feature of this locality.
“The last big snowfall was in 1983. After began to disappear. The fault is from the cable car and of all the people that climbs the mountain. The problem is that every time we have less drinking water,” says leaning on his lute.
The impressions of the villagers of Baisha coincide with the findings of the Research Observatory Glacier and Environmental located in Lijiang, which again to reiterate recently, the accelerated retreat of glaciers such as the Baishu # 1, located on the Mountain of Jade Dragon (also known as Yulong).
The huge snow field has lost 60% of its mass and receded by up to 250 metres since 1982, following a process each time more quickly. Since 1957 it has been melted a quarter of the ice and four of the 19 glaciers that piled up in the mountains of the Yulong, and they used to cover about 12 square kilometers.
The phenomenon is not exclusive to Yulong. Last November, Greenpeace reiterated the alarm on the uncertain future facing what is called the Third Pole, the greater agglomeration of ice on the planet outside of the polar ice caps, located in the foothills asian surrounding the tibetan plateau.
In a report entitled The glaciers of China and the impact of climate change, the NGO estimated that it has already disappeared a fifth part of the masses frost located in this asian nation, which will exacerbate the shortage of traditional drinking water that suffers from China.
According to Liu Junyan, of Greenpeace East Asia, the melting of the glaciers chinese will reach its climax between 2040 and 2070, and that “will affect the water supply of 1,800 million people in Asia.” Greepeace had warned in August that in some regions in the west of China mean annual temperatures have increased by 3 ° C or more since the beginning of the 50s, which has caused a significant decline in the ice that atesoraban 82% of the local glaciers.
“unless you take drastic measures, it is expected that by the end of the century will disappear about two-thirds of the glaciers in the high mountains of Asia,” noted the document of the NGO. China is the country that generates more carbon dioxide in the world, although it has promised to halt the rise of their emissions around 2030.
however, the promises of the local government are difficult to reconcile with his economic policy, engaged in a huge development, and the large number of private companies that ignore any type of notice in this regard. For example, a statement of the Agency of Environmental Research, discovered this year that the asian country is behind the resurgence in the fumes of the industrial gas CFC-11 -especially harmful to the ozone layer-which had been banned by the Montreal Protocol of 2010.
the climb to The snow Mountain of Jade Dragon is a reflection of the difficulties faced by Beijing to combat climate change while promoting the progress of its population. The massive influx of visitors is the main economic engine of this region, but the simple human mass that moves along the staircase that leads almost up to the highest peak of the mountain range, located to 5.596 meters high, to simply take off a selfie, there is a cost obviously to the environment.
There are an uncountable number of bottles of oxygen spin in the snow. The same route of the funicular, which leads up to the middle road is lined with trees barren, reduced to a skeleton without leaves, which appear to have been affected by some extraña plague that nobody manages to explain.
Since 1957 has melted a quarter of the ice and four of the 19 glaciers that piled up in the mountains of the Yulong
Installed from a decade ago in the course of wood that rises up to 4.680 meters of altitude, I Wei, a seller naxi of 40 years, match with Shang Hua Shen and many other members of their ethnicity have an impact on the image of the 13 snow capped peaks that used to cover the whole massif is now only a memory. “The recoil is increased with the cable car,” he said.
No one seems to have questioned the relevance, not only for the glacier, but for the visitors themselves build a staircase which leads to a height which is close to the base camp of mount Everest-a journey that usually takes almost two weeks – and that tourists can travel in less than half an hour.
“For your safety and to avoid any reaction to the altitude, please come back if you feel any kind of discomfort”, it is read from several posters on the route, admitting de facto the possible harmful effects of this hike that many perform aided by the small oxygen bottles, which then end up being garbage.
authorities have tried to reduce the impact of tourism, limited to 10,000 the number of visits per day to the mountain and have banned the walks on the ice. However, these measures did not prevent last year’s 2.6 million people would come to this same place.
The droves of visitors that go to Yulong contrasts with the empty space, almost all that presents the museum installed in the base of the lift, dedicated in large part to illustrate on climate change and the regression of the glaciers.The panels recognize that the ice is “shrinking” and “if this trend continues, will one day in the future”.
“There is an opinion alarmist”, sentenced.
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