Warmer temperatures, variable monsoons, and other signs of
climate change are a hot topic of conversation among many
Himalayan villagers, according to scientific sampling of climate
change perception among local peoples. “This area is cold and
it’s often raining. Even during the non-monsoon times there is
mist and fog so inevitably conversations here turn to weather,”
said Kamal Bawa, biologist at the University of Massachusetts,
Boston (UMB), and president of Ashoka Trust for Research in
Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in Bangalore, India. “When
you stop and have a cup of tea in someone’s kitchen, the
conversation invariably turns to the weather. But then they soon
start talking about how the weather has been changing.” Bawa is
also a member of the National Geographic Committee for Research
and Exploration. Bawa didn’t set out to study Himalayan
perceptions of climate change. But after hearing the same themes
repeated again and again during household conversations he
decided to investigate. With UMB grad