Global Warming Ravaging Mount Everest
Pastor Dale Morgan
Global Warming Ravaging Mount Everest*
London (AFP) Jul 06, 2007
Global warming is radically changing the face of Mount Everest, the sons
of the men who first reached its summit 54 years ago said in an
interview published Friday. The sons of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing
Norgay told British newspaper The Independent that their fathers would
no longer recognise the world's highest mountain, saying the base camp
is now 40 metres (132 feet) lower than it was 53 years ago. "Climate
change is happening. This is a fact," Hillary's son Peter said.
"Base camp used to sit at 5,320 metres. This year it was at 5,280 metres
because the ice is melting from the top and side. Base camp is sinking
each year," said Peter Hillary, who himself has twice reached Everest's
summit.
"For Sherpas living on Mount Everest this is something they can see
every day but they can't do anything about it on their own," he added.
The glacier where Hillary and Tenzing made their base camp before
ascending the 8,848-metre (29,198-foot) summit on May 29, 1953 has
retreated three miles (five kilometres) in the past 20 years, The
Independent said.
Scientists, it said, predict that all glaciers in the Himalayas, which
range from half a mile to more than three miles long, could end up as
small patches of ice within 50 years if global warming is not checked.
"The glaciers have receded a great deal since my father's time," said
Jamling Tenzing, who climbed Everest with Peter Hillary in 2002.
"There are many things he wouldn't recognise today. The glacier on which
base camp sits has melted to such a degree that it is now at a lower
altitude. I think the whole face of the mountains is changing," he said.
Peter Hillary warned of devastating effects if glaciers continue to
melt, form huge lakes and then burst their banks.
"I've seen the result of glacial lakes bursting their banks and it's
catastrophic," he was quoted as saying.
"It's like an atomic bomb has gone off. Everywhere is rubble. The floods
of the past are nothing compared with the size of what we are threatened
with," he added.
related report
Hugs may have caused scared Kashmir icicle to melt
Srinagar, India (AFP) July 5 - Hindu pilgrims who hugged a sacred ice
form in Indian Kashmir may have caused it to melt, experts said on
Thursday. "Hugging and touching the stalagmite definitely generates heat
and can lead to its melting," said Mohammed Ismail, the head of the
geology department at the University of Kashmir.
Hundreds of thousands of devotees make the gruelling trek to the
Himalayan Kashmir mountains each year to gaze at the ice formation,
which occurs annually and is worshipped as a symbol of Shiva, the god of
destruction.
But by Monday, just the second day of the two-month pilgrimage, devotees
only had a tiny stump of ice to look at compared to the towering form a
few weeks earlier.
Officials had said global warming might be to blame for the
phallic-shaped formation's disappearance, before adding that
irresponsible actions by pilgrims visiting the cave shrine before it
officially opened could be responsible.
"Huge pilgrim gatherings inside the cave also generate lots of heat,
causing the ice to melt," said Ismail.
Television footage aired Wednesday showed pilgrims and security force
members hugging the stalagmite, posing with it for photos and scraping
it to get "holy water." It also showed devotees lighting oil lamps and
incense sticks near the 3.6-metre (12-foot) ice form.
Newspaper reports said up to 50,000 devotees had visited the shrine
before the pilgrimage's official start.
The region's top Hindu cleric, Mahant Deependra Giri, said pilgrims
should worship the ice form from a distance, according to Hindu scriptures.
"It's sheer ignorance... to touch the ice form. They do it to show their
faith. But it has surely resulted in disappointment for thousands of
pilgrims who are proceeding towards the shrine," Giri said.
"We've asked for the video from news channels. We'll look into the
entire issue," said Arun Kumar, the chief executive officer of the
Amarnath shrine board.
Pilgrims were still pressing on with the trek despite the disappearance
of the ice form, bad weather and fears of attack by Islamic militants
battling New Delhi's rule in Kashmir.
"For all devotees, the cave shrine is equally important," state
government official Madan Mantoo said.
Some 20,000 Hindus had already worshipped at the shrine, 3,800 metres
(12,800 feet) above sea level, since Sunday.
In previous years, the ice form remained in place until August, but last
year it failed to form at all and officials controversially put an
artificial one in its place. This year it melted two months early.
Source: Agence France-Presse