… how does it affect Portugal?

We were explaining the receding of the glaciers of Kilimanjaro ... The journalist asked: “and how does it affect Portugal?”. Well, the lack of water coming down the mountain may turn dry the Mara river and erase the big migration of the wild beast … and so much for the tourism … This would be just a minor collateral damage to the portuguese travel agencies. We talked about the Theory of Caos (a butterfly in Japan …): as an integrated system, a problem on one area of the planet can have consequencies on the rest of the world. At this moment, the effects of global warming are permanently visible in high latitudes (near the poles) and altitudes (say, above 2.500 meters). In lower latitudes (closer to the tropics) those effects are seen as casual and violent phenomena, but their frequency and intensity is increasing at a scary rate! I am talking about hurricanes, snow and sand storms, floods, droughts … In the past, China registered winds of 130km/h, once every 5 years. Nowadays, the same windstorms devastate Beijing 2 or 3 times a year. ‘Climate refugies’ is the new expression to designate people deslocated from their usual habitat due to its destruction by ‘natural’ causes. The number will reach 50 million refugies in 2011 (200M in 2080, according to the a Environment Defense Fund). The European Union already estimated the loss of millions of euros (65?) per year, due to direct effects of the global warming. Portugal could be one of the most affected countries (in domains such as water shortage, impact on coast lines, agriculture, forests …), as well as other coastal cities. A hurricane level 4 over New York could represent a 1 billion dolars loss to the city …

Ice Care 2, the start ...

On the 7th Dec. starts the Copenhagen Summit and the Ice Care team will be on its way to the Mount Kilimanjaro. On the 11th Dec. the International Mountain Day will be highlighted (www.fao.org/mnts/intl_mountain_day_en.asp) and, with some luck, precisely on that day we will reach the top of Africa (5.896m) and its glaciers, adding even more symbolism to the second Ice Care expedition.
The departure of the team takes place on the 4th of Dec. We will be 7 members, including the anthropologist Joana RP, who will guide us through the visit to the Maasai people to understand their problems resulting from the climate changes, the HPP Health doctor Cristina Pereira, and 3 participants on our ‘social program’, that will help us to register the receding of the Kili glaciers.
Meanwhile, China was promising to lead the reduction on the greenhouse gases effects through the next decade. India wanted to play game, and the USA could not stay behind …
After the impact of the movie presented by Al Gore, now was the time for the photographer James Balog, whose video (19 min.) is worthwhile to watch. Balog shares new image sequences from the Extreme Ice Survey, a network of time-lapse cameras recording glaciers receding at an alarming rate, some of the most vivid evidence yet of climate change: http://www.ted.com/talks/james_balog_time_lapse_proof_of_extreme_ice_loss.html

human consequences of climate change

At a recent conference, someone asked me about the goals of our work. ‘If we stop our disruptive behavior right now, could we still save the Kilimanjaro glaciers?’
I believe what we’ll do with the Maasai community goes beyond that kind of controversy now…regardless of who’s to blame, there is certainly lots of help we provide to the people suffering the consequences of climate change…
That’s what we aim to do with the Maasai, starting in December the 4th

Kilimanjaro news ...

The program for the Ice Care Kilimanjaro 2009 Expedition is set: it will take place from the 4th to the 15th of December and it includes 3 days with a Maasai tribe in the Amboseli reserve (Kenia), to interact with those people, learn from them and explain them what is going on, plus a 6 days ascent to the mount Kilimanjaro summit (Tanzania), to measure the glacier.

You are welcome to join our team on this trip, by choosing one of two options: Maasai + jeep safari trip; or Maasai + Kilimanjaro trip (if you have some mountain experience and are medium/well fit). If you are interested, please contact our partner agency, Papa-Léguas – see more at: http://www.papa-leguas.com/index.cfm?sec=0101000000&ViagemID=136 (for details see: http://www.papa-leguas.com/print.cfm?ViagemID=136)

Meanwhile, as for the physical training, the participation on a 900 km adventure race – 7 days non stop (including 50 km kayak or a mountain bike stage of 160 km with 8.000 meters accumulated ascent !!!) – should be more than enough (if it doesn’t kill me) ! It’s the Portugal XPD 2009, the toughest and final race of the 'Adventure Race World Championship', and it will take place between Cascais and Serra da Estrela, from the 8th to the 14th of November (more at http://www.arwc2009.com/). The best teams of the World will be present. My team is ADADesnivel, and we just want to to arrive at the finish line and be able to feel it …

Climate changes and energy efficiency

The UN brought together in Geneva 2500 experts from all over the world for the World Meteo Organization conference to discuss the future of the Quioto agreement. Meanwhile, in Tripoli (Líbia), the countries of the African Union took a comum position to the Copenhagen summit, in December: “the poor countries need to get financial aid, to get ajusted” (DN, 02.09.09). A UN report estimates on 600 billion dolars (1% of the world’s GDP and 30 times more than what has been spended with the problem), the ammount needed annualy, for poor countries to adopt the technologies that allow to reduce the gases that provoce the greenhouse effect, “responsible for the climate disturbance on the planet”. The authors defend a “massiv support”, with world wide investments, to achieve a sustainable and cleaner growth.
At the same time, in Nepal, the countries of the himalayan range were discussing the riscs of climate changes to the mountain glaciers. This is also the alert that the Ice Care project aims to achieve. Our next expedition, to the Kilimanjaro glaciers in África, is planned to start precisely at the same time as the Copenhagen summit.
The Dirigir magazine (2nd trimester 09) puts the focus on several ‘green ideas’ and ‘tendencies’ that will contribute to soften the paradigma of century – “improve the quality of life without destroying the environment in the attempt” (NG 2008, ‘El pulso de la Tierra’): an airport in Liverpool wants to try a revolutionary technology, by recycling the air exaled by passengers and convert it in biofuel to use on diesel vehicles; a company developed the concept of ‘solar road panels’, to pave roads in a way to store solar energy to supply commercial and residential units (www.greencarcongress.com/2009/02/solarroadways.html); investigators found a way to produce hidrogen with normal temperatures using aluminium aglomerate (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SiteinovacaoTecnologica/~3/AVwrWUDdlGo/noticia.php). The USA developed energy efficient programs that, if applied, would lead to reductions of 22% on the use of energy growth rate, in 2030; in 2005 the swedish government ordered a study aiming its independence from the use of oil (http://www.leonardo-energy.org/). Recently, also “Eslovenia announced that 2/3 of its territory are protected areas, and the Maldive islands decided to totally abandon the use of fossil energies” (from my new book ‘The new explorers and the adventures of senses’ - http://aventuraaomáximo.blogspot.com/).

HPP medical technology supports Ice Care’s project.

After the first Ice Care expedition – Paris-Switzerland and Aletsch glacier – we are still recovering our physical shape, but already looking forward to the next trip scheduled: climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, in Africa. Slowly, under the ‘chirurgical’ eye of HPP doctors, we are getting back to the trainings, to prepare for a very special expedition. The Kilimanjaro glacier with its ‘eternal snow’ was the reason that launched this project, in an attempt to make a wake up call of consciences for a phenomenon that won’t leave this planet as we know it. This next trip (planned for December) will also be special for the fact that we will open the possibility to a limited number of people, which are not part of the team, to join us on our training sessions, on the climbing itself or on the fieldwork with the local populations. More information soon available.

On the Aletsch glacier, we were supported by www.grindelwaldsports.ch

Special thanks

I would like to thank some entities, who are not partners of the ICE CARE project, but contributed to the success of this expedition:
. ASUS – gave us one Eee PC, that allow us to work at high altitude and extreme conditions, and weighted a little more than 1kg – this was a great advantage, as you can imagine. Plus, its huge autonomy (9h), helped a lot! Kept trying to find plugs beneath the snow and ice…in vain! ;-)
. GARMIN – gave us 2 GPS to measure the whole trip, measure the glacier’s height and to guide us during the bike trip – since highways were not very recommended for a couple of maniacs with backpacks, in bicycles. ;-)
. GRINDELWALD SPORTS – who offered us the trip, even after we had bagged to take another person with us!
. HERB – our Crocodile Dundee of the ice! For all his help and vital information and his charisma that set a wild tone to the expedition!

WWF's work in Switzerland

Meeting with WWF

Gone!

What’s really frightening in the issue of climate change is the irreversibility of some of its effects….

Maerjelen Lake

Needless to say more….

Annual photografs

Climbing up, we came across the perfect spot, which offered a good perspective over the glacier.
After taking several picture, we marked it with a ‘green dot’ (biological ink! Don’t worry).
Thus, in the coming years, other climbers can photograph the glacier from the exact same spot, in order to make the comparison of glacier’s retreat year upon year.
In this way, we hope to involve the mountaineering community, asking the Aletsch crossers for their own contribution.

See more pictures at:
http://fotos.sapo.pt/search.html?word=jungfrau
http://www.icecare.org/Fotos.ice