Ukuku, Qolqepunku Glacier; photo by Jorge Vera 2009

Back in December, msnbc.com published a photo story on Qoyllur Rit’i and global warming, with photos by El Fotógrafo and captions by yours truly.

I neglected to provide the link to that slide show, which includes some of EF’s strongest images of the dangerous (and endangered) glacier pilgrimage, so here it is, belatedly: “Peru’s Disappearing Holy Glacier.”

This photo, above, of a veteran ukuku is one of my favorites. The guy must be about 40 years old, but exposure to the harsh Andean elements has made his face a craggy moraine field.

Most of the ukukus at QR are in their late teens and early 20s; you don’t see a lot of old-timers like this guy. He lived through the crises in the 1990s when the glacier started melting and breaking up, and ukukus began falling into crevasses and dying.

Back then, the religious group that organizes the pilgrimage didn’t know about global warming and its effects on glaciers. They didn’t realize that their seemingly sturdy glacier was becoming a major hazard and couldn’t support the weight of hundreds of ukukus at a time. So they would ascend to the glacier at midnight to perform their rituals, as they had always done, and then the accidents started happening.

One veteran ukuku we interviewed in 2008 told us that he saw nine of his fellow ukukus die on the glacier in 1995. He was about the same age as this ukuku. Both were survivors of and witnesses to the hazards of extreme climate change.

BTW: I swiped the title of this blog post from an entry in the Cabinet of Wonders. COW’s entry provides an excellent introduction to the rituals of Qoyllur Rit’i and to the surreal atmosphere that surrounds this ancient event rooted in pre-Hispanic traditions.

 The title reminds me of these lines about glacier worship from “The Threshold,” by Rudyard Kipling. The speaker starts by recalling the days of early cave-dwelling humans, who lived in the shadow of receding glaciers and were starting to make sense of their place in the world:

The close years packed behind them,

As the glaciers bite and grind,

Filling the new-gouged valleys

With Gods of every kind.

Gods of all-reaching power–

Gods of all-searching eyes–

But each to be wooed by worship

And won by sacrifice.

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Lara helped me coordinate the NBC Nightly News team’s coverage of water scarcity in the shantytowns. The NBC crew followed an aguacero (water truck) driven by her neighbor as it traveled on its early-morning route through neighborhoods in Ate-Vitarte. The expensive water sold from the truck comes directly from the contaminated River Rimac and is supposed to be treated for heavy minerals, bacteria and contaminants but is not.

SEDAPAL, the agency charged with overseeing water quality for metropolitan Lima, turns a blind eye to the aguaceros.

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Here’s the video of the report that aired on NBC Nightly News on December 8.

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NBC Nightly News Chief Environmental News Correspondent Anne Thompson interviews glaciologist Marco Zapata at Pastoruri Glacier, Oct. 2009 (photo c. Barbara Drake)

Tune in to see footage of dying Pastoruri Glacier and to hear correspondent Anne Thompson talk with experts on how Peru is struggling to adapt to a world without glaciers, a scenario that may be realized within the next quarter century.

Kudos to the NBC environmental news team for bringing this important story to the attention of U.S. viewers during Copenhagen 15. What happening in Peru is dramatic evidence of the catastrophic effects of global warming and rapid climate change. And although people in North America may not be experiencing such drastic climate effects yet, experts point to dire consequences if no action is taken on climate shifts.

(See “Manhattan floods, Chicago heatwaves and withering Californian vines: how scientists see the US in 75 years.” Guardian, June 16, 2009.)

Click here for my recent blog post on the report and additional video footage to be featured on MSNBC.

I was fortunate to work with the NBC team as a fixer while they did their investigations in Peru. Anne Thompson was fast-thinking and insightful in the field, as well as an excellent listener. She took in the stories of campesinos struggling to water their crops with the same degree of attention that she gave to Antonio Brack when the environmental minister told her that it was “very hard” to regulate environmental abuses in Peru.

“Yes, but that’s your job,” she pointed out to him several times. The reporter’s message was clear: Stop passing the buck.

That message applies equally to the United States, I’d add. It’s time for America to commit to reducing emissions. For those flat-earthers who still deny that global warming is bad for humanity, take a look at tonight’s broadcast and hear what the campesinos in Ancash have to say. Their struggles show that adaptation to climate change is part of our future as well.

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NBC Nightly News crew films Anne Thompson’s interview with community leaders near Huaraz who are fighting to retain water rights (Oct. 2009)

Environmental news correspondent Anne Thompson explores the accelerating retreat of tropical glaciers in Peru and the downstream effects of dwindling melt-water on agriculture, hydroelectricity and drinking water supplies for highlanders and coastal dwellers. Peru is among the three countries in the world most vulnerable to the effects of climate change (IPCC), and its dependence on glacier melt-water for most of its water needs could spell disaster for this Andean nation within 20 to 30 years.

 Thompson and a team led by environmental news producer Mario Garcia traveled throughout Peru for ten days of investigations in early October. The team spent time at Pastoruri Glacier, Huascaran National Park, Lago Parón and Cañon del Pato, in the department of Ancash, where Thompson interviewed glaciologists, community leaders and environmentalists.

Back in Lima, the team explored the hardships suffered by inhabitants of Ate-Vitarte and other shantytowns without running water service. Minister of the Environment Antonio Brack spoke to Thompson about Peru’s environmental policy, mineral rights and proposed solutions to the country’s pending water crisis.

In addition to the news report airing next week, MSNBC will feature extended video coverage about Peru on its online site. The report coincides with the Copenhagen 15 summit.

Apart from being deeply concerned about what will happen when Peru’s glaciers disappear, I have an additional interest in seeing the report: I worked as a ‘fixer’ for the NBC Nightly News team while they were in Peru, obtaining permits, arranging transportation and lining up interviews with experts. It was hard work and a lot of fun to help these news professionals get up to the glacier and back. Along the way, we managed to survive a freak electrical storm on Pastoruri that could have fried the team’s expensive cameras but thankfully just left a few people with very static-y hair. As Peruvians know, it’s always a risk when you climb to the realm of the apus.

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 Once upon a time, the easiest way for a visitor to touch ice  in Peru was to climb the tourist trail to Pastoruri Glacier, a flat-topped glacier 70 km south of Huaraz. Roads from the highway made the glacier easily accessible to daytrippers, and even though its peak is a staggering 5,200 meters above sea level, the trek upward is relatively gentle, as far as glaciers go. If things got really rough, you could always rent a burro or a horse in the parking lot and haul yourself up that way.

Not now. No longer.

There are no burros for hire at Pastoruri because the glacier is officially off-limits to tourists and nearly everyone else, except for glaciologists and the lone film crew or two. The glacier has receded so dramatically over the last 25 years, it’s on a death watch. Glaciologists like Marco Zapata (below) won’t say exactly when Pastoruri will bite the dust, but the glacier’s demise is around the corner. 

The numbers tell the story. Between 1980 and 1990, Pastoruri was receding at a rate of 12.7 meters per year, says Zapata. The following decade, that rate almost doubled to 22 to 23 meters per year.  The glacier has dwindled so much, it thinned into two tiny ice masses in 2007 and has been formally downgraded to an “ice cap.”  It’s a sad fate for what was formerly once of the most visited sites in the Cordillera Blanca mountain chain.  Within our lifetime, we will probably see Pastoruri become a puddle.

I took these photos last week while assisting a production team from NBC Nightly News, including environmental correspondent Anne Thompson, who were in Peru to report on Peru’s melting glaciers and the downstream effects. My role was to scout out locations and interviewees and to help the team get from point A to point B efficiently and safely.

Visiting Pastoruri was at the top of Thompson’s list, and once we got the permission to film from Huascaran National Park (where Pastoruri is located), I was looking forward to seeing the glacier for myself. Once there, however, the barrenness of the dying glacier overwhelmed me. The ice is fleeing up the mountain, leaving behind churned-up moraine of small black shards and messy, melting ice chunks. Stand next to the glacier, and you can see the water dripping nonstop, like the ice in a freezer whose door has been left open in July.

Around noon we were hit by hail and an electric storm, neither of which stopped the crew from filming. (They’d paid a lot for their one-day permit and weren’t about to leave the mountaintop empty-handed.) Anne Thompson interviewed Zapata and glaciologist Thomas Condom and the Mountain Institute’s Jorge Recharte there on the shifting ice, with hard hail pellets whipping everyone in the face.  The show must go on.

There was something sad and compelling about the abandoned buildings (above) where vendors used to sell snacks and rent donkeys to out-of-shape tourists.

And it reminded me of things to come, not just in Peru but in the rest of the world.

Once the ice is gone from most of the world’s tropical glaciers, the communities around them will have to change as well. Without ice, without water, who will want to visit a black mountain? Who will want to live there?

Who will be able to?

–Barbara Drake

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These two kids live near Upis in southern Peru, purchase Zopiclone online no prescription, Buy Zopiclone from canada, where children are dying of extreme cold brought on by climate change. More deaths are predicted for August, typically the coldest month of the year in the high Andes (photo c, order Zopiclone online c.o.d. Buy Zopiclone from mexico, Barbara Drake 2008)

A state of emergency declared by the Peruvian government in July has been extended two additional months in 21 Andean regions, where can i buy cheapest Zopiclone online, Zopiclone samples, reported Isabel Guerra yesterday in Living in Peru: 

The Peruvian government extended today for another 60 days the state of emergency in 21 regions, due to the extreme cold temperatures, buy Zopiclone without prescription, Order Zopiclone no prescription, according to the Decree 052-2009-PCM.

The extension is intended to allow more time for the help sent by the different Peruvian Ministries to arrive to the most affected areas, order Zopiclone.

The regions (called “departments” in Peru) currently declared in state of emergency are: Amazonas, Ancash, Apurímac, Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Cusco, Huancavelica, Huánuco, Junín, La Libertad, Lambayeque, Lima, Loreto, Madre de Dios, Moquegua, Pasco, Piura, Puno, Tacna y Ucayali.

As of August 5, Zopiclone from canadian pharmacy, Online buying Zopiclone, 34 people had died of H1N1 in Peru, compared to more than 433 cold deaths in the highlands, Zopiclone samples. Buy Zopiclone Without Prescription, Cold-induced deaths are more than 12 times those of swine flu cases. Purchase Zopiclone online no prescription, If that isn't a medical emergency, I don't know what is, order Zopiclone online c.o.d. Buy Zopiclone no prescription, Time to bring in medical personnel and set up emergency medical centers in the highlands, like this religious aid group did in Puno in July. 

Virginia-based charity Operation Blessings established first-aid posts in four districts of Puno and brought in donated nebulizers, where can i order Zopiclone without prescription, Australia, uk, us, usa, canada, mexico, india, craiglist, ebay, oxygen tanks and other equipment to treat 6,000 people for acute respiratory infections and other illnesses in July, rx free Zopiclone. Buy Zopiclone online no prescription, The effort lasted only one week, sadly, where can i buy Zopiclone online. Zopiclone pharmacy, Time for other emergency aid groups to get on board and get doctors and equipment up to the highlands now.

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Ohio State glaciologist Lonnie Thompson gives two good reasons why loss of Peru's glaciers is "alarming"; July 7 Adapting to a World without Glaciers, Lima (photo by Jorge Vera 2009)

By Barbara R. Drake

LIMA, Order Lunesta, PERU: Peru’s Minister of the Environment Antonio Brack Egg told international glacier experts and other climate specialists last week that Peru cannot be expected to avert the country’s pending water shortage on its own and that regional and local administrations must bear responsibility.

Peruvian Minster of the Environment Antonio Brack Egg at Adapting to a World without Glaciers conference, July 7, Lunesta for sale, 2009, Buy cheap Lunesta, Lima Peru (photo Jorge Vera 2009)

Brack criticized the 14-page preliminary report presented by the scientists, Where can i find Lunesta online, saying its main recommendations are too ambitious in scope and too costly to implement.

“We must aim at two or three things that there are to do, because we often dream that we need larger and larger budgets,” he said, speaking to some of the 100-plus global glacier experts, environmental policy makers and others who had formulated strategies to help Peru cope with the immanent disappearance of its high-altitude glaciers, Buy Lunesta Without Prescription.

“Unfortunately, with this world (financial) crisis and the recent loss of Peru’s exports by 12 percent, order Lunesta no prescription, we have to put our feet on the ground, Buy Lunesta online no prescription, ” Brack said. “We must agree and prioritize….The theme of climate change is very complex.”

Qolqepunku Glacier in the Cordillera Vilcanota range has lost 60 percent of its area in 3 years, online buying Lunesta. Experts predict most of Peru's glaciers will be gone by 2040, Buy Lunesta without prescription, putting 30 million Peruvians at risk of extreme water shortages. (photo Jorge Vera 2009)

The 12 main recommendations made by conference leaders include determining how much water Peru consumes and has left (both unknown quantities); involving all stakeholders in decision-making about water use; educating local people about climate change; conserving biodiversity; paying indigenous communities for preserving rainforest; and recovering traditional knowledge about coping with rapid climate shifts, buy Lunesta online cod. Buy Lunesta Without Prescription, The group’s recommendation to inventory all of Peru’s 2,000 glaciers and to estimate their mass, not just their surface area, struck a raw nerve with the Minister of the Environment:

“It costs US$40 per hectare a day to monitor these sites via satellite,” he said, apparently misinformed. “There are limitations to what we can do.”

Audience members pointed out that this information is freely available from European entities that help monitor Peru’s glaciers. Order Lunesta from mexican pharmacy,

Ignoring these comments, Brack turned to Marco Zapata, head of the glaciology unit at Peru’s Natural Resources Institute (INRENA), buy cheap Lunesta no rx, a government agency. Buy Lunesta without a prescription, “How long has there been a glaciology unit in Peru?” he challenged the Peruvian glaciologist.

“Seventy years,” said Zapata.

“And in that time you have not managed to catalog all the glaciers?” retorted Brack, online buy Lunesta without a prescription.

A similar combative tone was sounded on the first day of the conference, July 7, at a press conference with Zapata, Ohio State glaciologist Lonnie Thompson and Eduardo Durand, the Ministry’s head of climate change affairs, Buy Lunesta Without Prescription.

Discussing the rapid retreat of Peru’s glaciers, Lunesta pharmacy, which supply about 80 percent of the country’s water for drinking, agriculture and power generation, Durand insisted that the situation was “not cause for alarm.”

“Yes, purchase Lunesta online, we must be on the alert, Lunesta pharmacy, but it is not an alarm situation,” said Durand. “It is time to act.”

"Not an alarm situation!" Eduardo Durand, buy Lunesta no prescription, head of climate change, Rx free Lunesta, Peru Ministry of the Environment (photo c. Jorge Vera 2009)

 “I think we should be alarmed,” disagreed Thompson, where can i find Lunesta online. “As a glaciologist watching how fast these glaciers are responding to climate change and having worked for 35 years on Quelccaya ice cap – the situation is very alarming.”

Thompson noted the discrepancy between Peru’s promises to protect the environment and its decision to permit the construction of the TransOceanic Highway, Lunesta over the counter, a 3,400-mile-long road through virgin Amazon rainforest that will link the coasts of Brazil and Peru.

“You know what will happen if it succeeds, where can i order Lunesta without prescription,” he said, Lunesta samples, referring to environmental impacts such as deforestation, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity.

There is a disconnect between “what I see happening here (in Peru) and the discussion, online buying Lunesta,” Thompson said. “That disturbs me.”.

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Mt. Caullaraju; photo c, Buy Difenoxin Without Prescription. Jorge Vera 2009

7 p.m, buy no prescription Difenoxin online. Buy Difenoxin without a prescription, update: Alton just emailed me this: The mountain is Caullaraju, the first one we saw when the bus came over the pass at Conococha; the plain in front is the Pampa de Lampa, australia, uk, us, usa, canada, mexico, india, craiglist, ebay. Buy Difenoxin from canada, These should be on the C. Blanca map, Difenoxin for sale. Order Difenoxin from mexican pharmacy, The river is the Rio Santa, that starts at Laguna Conococha, buy cheap Difenoxin, Online buy Difenoxin without a prescription, still quite small at this stage.

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