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The Abbot of Tengboche monastery, Ngawang Tenzing Jangpo, is
the most revered monk in Khumbu, Nepal. He has lived there for more
than 30 years and witnessed floods from lakes bursting with glacial
meltwater. This is his firsthand account of the effects of climate
change.
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The Abbot
of Tengboche monastery, Ngawang Tenzing Jangpo
photo: WWF |
The temperature of the earth is rising. It
is not natural.
People are becoming materialistic and don't care.
Climbing Everest has become a fashion. All people want to do is
reach the top. And you can see for yourself that climbing Everest
has become so easy today. I hear they can do it in eight hours!
This is because there is less snow. The glaciers are shrinking
rapidly.
The Sherpas of Khumbu may not know everything, but they are
suffering the consequences of the people's greed. We mountain people
should be careful and take precautions.
"The glaciers are shrinking
rapidly."
- Abbot Ngawang Tenzing Jangpo
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It is high time that Nepalese started
to depend less on foreigners. Why do we need foreigners to come here
and tell us that our glaciers are melting?
The solution for the people in the Himalayas is not to move down
to the cities. They will have more problems there. Kathmandu already
has a water shortage problem. If we don't save Khumbu today our
fresh water will dry up and the problem will be impossible to solve
in the future.
We cannot remain indifferent to each other's problems. |