The past few months have been tumultuous and unprecedented. COVID-19, wildfires, and the associated impacts felt around the world are tragic and profound. In the US, the racist murder of George Floyd has ignited a powerful movement for change. Mountain Sentinels stands in support of Black Lives Matters. We are reading books, such as [...]
By Aubrey Schoff, Western Colorado University, USA & Kuldeep Joshi and Prikyanka Adhikari, G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, India “If we [do] not follow the rule [to] stay at home, COVID-19 [will] affect me, my family, and Majkhali. Prevention is better [than a] cure so stay home…stay healthy” said Shivani Adhikari, a 20-year-old [...]
Sam Hulsey | Huaraz, Ancash, Peru | As COVID-19 grabs the spotlight on all major news outlets around the world and the US becomes the emerging epicenter of a global pandemic, Andean communities are racing to reduce the risk of a major outbreak that would all but overrun an already ill-prepared public health system. The [...]
By Cara Steger -- Our second annual Mountain Day took place on April 5, 2019 at the American Association of Geographer’s Annual Meeting. We had a full day of presentations and small group discussions around “Mountain Futures” that stretched across countries, continents, and academic disciplines, and we continued the conversation over tasty snacks and [...]
We recently experienced the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere. Yet, here in Colorado, the mountains are still blanketed in deep, life-sustaining snow. We also recently witnessed what has been called an “historic-sized avalanche” and a “landscape-changing event” in the Colorado Rockies, with an avalanche occurring just outside of Aspen that was over a mile [...]
In the midst of an early October snowstorm, academics, practitioners, writers and educators made their way to the famous northern town of Banff, nestled in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains. Some people made it to Banff before the snows began. Others, like me, got stuck on the highway for an hour or so as trucks [...]
By Isabella Oleksy -- Many mountainous regions are warming faster than the global average, including the western United States. Ecosystems are changing in response to multiple environmental stressors such as drought, beetle outbreaks, dust deposition, and changing snowpack, some of which are exacerbated by climate anomalies and global change in general. Disentangling the effects of natural [...]
By Dr Aida Cuni-Sanchez -- I was recently in the Cameroon Highlands to collect data on the socio-ecological functioning of mountain ecosystems, for the AFRISKYFOR project, funded by EU. The Cameroon Highlands contain tropical montane forests internationally renowned for their rich flora and high levels of endemism, combined with high degrees of threats (e.g. [...]
By Dr. Jessica Thorn and Cara Steger -- In April 2018, the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) attracted approximately 8,500 researchers, GIS specialists, industry professionals, authors, and other leaders in geography from around the globe. We convened to present and receive feedback on the latest scholarship, learn about current methods [...]
By Kanchan Shrestha -- In December 2017, a few days before International Mountain Day, over 400 experts from around the globe gathered in Kathmandu to call for a resilient Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). The HKH, one of the most fragile regions of the world, holds significant natural and socio-economic resources that are critical for [...]