Hello Friends!
It's been a while since my last post and for once, it has nothing to do with my negligent blogging skills and everything to do with my complete and blissful lack of internet for the past 7 days. We are just returned from a trip to northern Uttarakhand, where we stayed in a small village called Raithal with stops in Chamba, Uttarakashi and Dehradun along the way. How far north in India you may ask? Very North, 30 minutes from China ( Tibet) as the crow flies as we were explained. Oh, and just for bragging sake, I do believe I experienced the first snowfall of the year, in India, on top of a Himalayan alpine meadow no less.
Unlike the other excursions where we traveled in our large and rambunctious group of 18 students and 6 very daring teachers and coordinators, we broke into four smaller groups of 4-5. Our group had four students ( including myself), and two teachers/ advisers/ friends and well, was still rather rambunctious.
Just as with previous entries, I'm going to rely on the power of illustration to break this trip down. Basically though, our goal was to look at eco-tourism and development alternatives in the small subsistence village of Raithal. Formerly a community who depended on animal husbandry, they now rely on cash crops, largely potatoes, as their main economy. Fascinatingly enough, the growth of cash crops in villages has a powerful impact on the gender power dynamic. While many rural agricultural communities are female dominated due to male migration to cities, a cash crop often acts as a glue, binding men to the community and lowering migration rates. However, this is where climate change strikes. All too often in my experience climate change is relegated to the discussion of too little water with little question of what happens when there is too much water. Well I can answer that, bad things. Crop yields decrease, profit goes down, and communities, such as Raithal, are left with the decision of what's next? Often turning to unsustainable and ecologically harmful alternatives. One thing which was made very apparent to all of us through this trip is how incredibly complex any development discussion is. We visited this Himalayan community and saw the stunning peaks, the beautiful glaciers and forests, and the beauty in the "simplicty" of agricultural work, however, susbsitence farming is hard work and small rural villages lack access to high quality education and health facilities. Communitiy members want alternatives and have the right to seek them.
The question than is how to do so which works with the environment and the socio-economic needs of the community, and here begins the discussion on eco-tourism and the excellent work by RACHNA to develop a grass-roots, community led, "green constituency". Community advocates for the environment and parallel development strategies. The answers to development very often lies within the community itself, sometimes, a mediator is needed, and that is where RACHNA comes in, definitely check out their website: http://www.rachnaonline.org/
And now, the pictures begin:
It's been a while since my last post and for once, it has nothing to do with my negligent blogging skills and everything to do with my complete and blissful lack of internet for the past 7 days. We are just returned from a trip to northern Uttarakhand, where we stayed in a small village called Raithal with stops in Chamba, Uttarakashi and Dehradun along the way. How far north in India you may ask? Very North, 30 minutes from China ( Tibet) as the crow flies as we were explained. Oh, and just for bragging sake, I do believe I experienced the first snowfall of the year, in India, on top of a Himalayan alpine meadow no less.
Unlike the other excursions where we traveled in our large and rambunctious group of 18 students and 6 very daring teachers and coordinators, we broke into four smaller groups of 4-5. Our group had four students ( including myself), and two teachers/ advisers/ friends and well, was still rather rambunctious.
Just as with previous entries, I'm going to rely on the power of illustration to break this trip down. Basically though, our goal was to look at eco-tourism and development alternatives in the small subsistence village of Raithal. Formerly a community who depended on animal husbandry, they now rely on cash crops, largely potatoes, as their main economy. Fascinatingly enough, the growth of cash crops in villages has a powerful impact on the gender power dynamic. While many rural agricultural communities are female dominated due to male migration to cities, a cash crop often acts as a glue, binding men to the community and lowering migration rates. However, this is where climate change strikes. All too often in my experience climate change is relegated to the discussion of too little water with little question of what happens when there is too much water. Well I can answer that, bad things. Crop yields decrease, profit goes down, and communities, such as Raithal, are left with the decision of what's next? Often turning to unsustainable and ecologically harmful alternatives. One thing which was made very apparent to all of us through this trip is how incredibly complex any development discussion is. We visited this Himalayan community and saw the stunning peaks, the beautiful glaciers and forests, and the beauty in the "simplicty" of agricultural work, however, susbsitence farming is hard work and small rural villages lack access to high quality education and health facilities. Communitiy members want alternatives and have the right to seek them.
The question than is how to do so which works with the environment and the socio-economic needs of the community, and here begins the discussion on eco-tourism and the excellent work by RACHNA to develop a grass-roots, community led, "green constituency". Community advocates for the environment and parallel development strategies. The answers to development very often lies within the community itself, sometimes, a mediator is needed, and that is where RACHNA comes in, definitely check out their website: http://www.rachnaonline.org/
And now, the pictures begin:
If these two are the future of the world, we are in great shape.
Big Boss Captain Sir + Suzzy Moose Who + Mel warmie party.
The Tehri Dam, kicking people off their land , decreasing water access to local people and helping to make landslides since 2006. Though not to over simplify, also a primary water and energy source for Delhi.
and a landslide....
star gazing and warmies.
see all those kidney bean sticks? bet ya they weren't there when we were finished
got fodder? we do
Raithal at sunset
village blacksmith, slowly being replaced for mass produced, impersonal products. Anyone else think we need some alternate development models yet?
and here begins the 16 km hike, 8 of which is uphill 1300 m to Dayara, the alpine meadows where Butter Holi is played every year.
Not actually our dog friend Anjay who followed us up the mountain with three legs ( yes three legs).
G.L.A.C.I.E.R.S.
It was a long hike, and attention spans can be short. So why not be Beethoven with the random sheep horn found lying on the ground?
and here comes the snow.
What a lovely group of people to hideaway in the Mountains with!
Due to the extensive amount of time spent traveling for this trip, we had alot of time to enjoy some great music including Calgary by Bon Iver, Stolen Houses by Iron and Wine, Fake Empire by the National and Always Like This by Bombay Bicycle Club.
Oh and one final thing! It is about time I start thinking about internships for the spring semester. If anyone has any suggestions on great organizations working with environment, food security, public spaces or just practical solutions to reducing our impact on the planet let me know! Current research projects being ran near my university dealing with the environment and the socio-cultural relation to it would be pretty wonderful as well.
Cheers!
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