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Emily Kirkland | August 27th, 2011
Sorry for the long gap between posts! I have returned to the US and am currently making preparations for a semester abroad in Brazil – something I’ll be sure to write about here on the Global Conversation! In the meantime, I’ve been thinking a lot... -
Emily Kirkland | August 10th, 2011
Valentin Antesana, age 83, from the town of Andamarca, Apurimac, Peru, talks about the changes to his community that he's seen over his lifetime. This video is a valuable reminder that climate change is one of many forces re-shaping life in the... -
Emily Kirkland | August 5th, 2011
Last week I decided, more or less on a whim, to take a quick trip to Peru’s San Martin region. San Martin is on the eastern side of the Andes, at the edge of the Amazon. There were some downsides to this decision—many, many hours on... -
Emily Kirkland | August 5th, 2011
This is a brief clip of a traditional dance known as the Dance of the Scissors being performed in a tiny town called Andamarca. I've been travelling quite a lot recently (four of the past seven nights spent on overnight buses!) in the Apurimac and... -
Emily Kirkland | July 27th, 2011
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Emily Kirkland | July 20th, 2011
The word “paramo” comes from the Spanish word for "desolate territory", and in some ways it is appropriate. These high-altitude wetlands, found only in the northern Andes, are certainly not easy to get to. In Peru, you begin by taking a bus 15... -
Emily Kirkland | July 20th, 2011
There are all sorts of things I've wanted to share that are too small for a blog post of their own. Well, here they are. For instance: these pictures of Trujillo, a beautiful colonial city on Peru's coast, where I spent three days hanging out and... -
Emily Kirkland | July 12th, 2011
In this video, Alejando Martin Usorio Cochachin, a farmer from the town of Matacoto, talks about recent efforts to recover native potato varieties. Compared to white potatoes, native potatoes are are more resistant to pests, including new pests... -
Emily Kirkland | July 12th, 2011
In Huaraz, climate change stares you right in the face. The towering mountain peaks that surround the city are among Peru’s highest. Most are topped by glaciers, making for some insanely beautiful views. Unfortunately, the glaciers are... -
Emily Kirkland | July 11th, 2011
In this short video, Raul Ramos Garcia, who lives in the small farming town of Huachao, talks about the impact that climate change is having on his community.Ramos Garcia recently participated in a program called “The School for Campesino... -
Emily Kirkland | July 4th, 2011
So here’s the thing about potatoes: there are a lot of them in Peru. There are gnarled potatoes and smooth potatoes. There are red potatoes and blue potatoes. There are certain potatoes that are eaten only at lunch and others that are eaten... -
Emily Kirkland | June 29th, 2011
I started noticing the buses about a week ago. Usually packed to the brim with people, they all had colorful signs displayed in their windows: “Vamos a la Feria Huancaro! “ Given that I´d already attended five festivals over the... -
Emily Kirkland | June 26th, 2011
“Hail, more rain, greater heat and cold, a greater quantity of crop pests”. “The peaches are flowering now, instead of in August. [It used to be] that winter lasted until September. Now you don’t know…Where there isn’t supposed to be rain,... -
Emily Kirkland | June 26th, 2011
What follows are a few brief snippets (edited for length) from a much longer conversation with Marina Apgar of the Asociacion ANDES. I´ll be writing more about native potatoes, indigenous peoples and adaptation next week after a visit to the... -
Emily Kirkland | June 26th, 2011
On Thursday morning, I sat down for a conversation with Willem van Immerzeel, who runs an NGO in Cuzco called “Pachamama Raymi”. Pachamama Raymi—the name means something like “Mother Earth Festival” in Quechua—uses contests, prizes, and peer-to-peer... -
Emily Kirkland | June 22nd, 2011
Well, I’m certainly sorry that I didn’t bring my camera with me today. [Revised: I just went back. Now complete with pictures!] June is festival month in Cuzco, and over the past five days there’s been a constant stream of parades and marches... -
Emily Kirkland | June 17th, 2011
Before we can adapt to a warmer world, we have to know what kinds of changes to expect. Large-scale models help us to predict the climate 20, 50 or a hundred years from now. Although climate modeling is extremely complex (and often contentious!)... -
Emily Kirkland | June 12th, 2011
After dozens of emails and plenty of long nights with Lonely Planet Peru, I’ve finally settled on an itinerary for the summer. (I’m tempted to call this my final itinerary, but of course nothing is ever really final on a trip like this.) I’ll... -
Emily Kirkland | June 3rd, 2011
I’ll be writing some longer posts in the next couple of days (including details on my final itinerary!) For now, though, I just wanted to share an amazing link. This is a blog kept by David Kroodsma, a climate scientist, during a two year bike trip... -
Emily Kirkland | June 3rd, 2011
Last spring, members of the South Dakota legislature introduced a resolution stating that “a variety of climatological, meteorological, astrological, thermological, cosmological, and ecological dynamics can effect world weather phenomena.” They...
Melting Glaciers and Shifting Landscapes: Adaptation to Climate Change in Peru
This summer, I'll be traveling through Peru, interviewing local community members and representatives from NGOs and government agencies about efforts to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Although my plans are constantly changing, my current itinerary will take me through Andean villages, coastal towns, deserts, and bustling cities. In some of these places, vanished glaciers and shifting seasons mean that climate change is already a daily reality. In others, increased droughts and stronger storms form a looming threat.
The international community continues to drag its feet on emissions reductions. Peruvians, meanwhile, are beginning to plan for life in a changed world. They are mapping the impacts of climate change in their own communities, educating farmers and families, and trying to devise new agricultural techniques.
Climate change will wreak havoc on many places in the developing world. But with planning and foresight, it may be possible to avoid some of the worst consequences. Can Peruvian communities learn to live with absent glaciers and painful frosts? And what does it say about the current state of the world that they have to?
Location
Peru
