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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Ashland's ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum to double classroom space New Southern Oregon University board votes to bump tuition nearly 5 percent in the fall Police Reports Schneider Art Museum installation re-imagines Rivera UPDATED: Two lanes open after I-5 truck crash near Siskiyou Summit Education New Southern Oregon University board votes to bump tuition nearly 5 percent in the fall Why OLLI matters: A personal perspective Southern Oregon University names director of marketing Dianne Williamson: College admissions mania ill-advised Rotary Club of Ashland names Riley O'Sullivan as Student of the Month Environment Mt. Ashland Ski Area to host party March 28 Mt. Ashland hopes coming storm will reopen ski area Wild Side: Selfish and other reasons for saving endangered species Mt. Ashland Ski Area: Low snow closes 'bunny hill' chairlift for beginning skiers With pre-season conditions worst in 25 years, catastrophic wildfires expected in region this summer Business Ride & Drive: 2015 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Snow hopes dashed, Mt. Ashland Ski Area hosts season-ending party Saturday Iconic Ashland bookstore to celebrate 35th anniversary on April 19 Test Drive: 2015 Honda Accord Cars We Remember: The original Candymatic Ramchargers Politics and elections Jackson County Commissioners plan no tax on marijuana for first year Grassroots group campaigns for Plaza paver do-over Arthur I. Cyr: Iran – a crisis without end Short-term rental restrictions kept in some areas, loosened in others Arthur I. Cyr: South Korea represents long-term triumph – for them and for US State News Oregon's governor appoints new secretary of state Nation - World Obituaries Death Notices Alicia Applegate Hardy Death Notices Rosalind Dee Death Notices Shareable Sports Latest Stories Grizz baseball team caps Arizona trip with another win Ashland Rowing Club hires highly touted coach and national-award winning team director to lead expansion Antionette Kerr: Tourney fever gets superstitious Blazers fight back, edge Jazz Grizzlies rally past Colorado school for Greenway Festival victory High school Grizz baseball team caps Arizona trip with another win Grizzlies rally past Colorado school for Greenway Festival victory Ashland softball team splits pair in second day of Bend tournament Grizzlies rally past GP, to 2-0 start Ashland boys capture another Sato Cup snowboard title at Mt. Bachelor Southern Oregon University Grizz baseball team caps Arizona trip with another win Grizzlies rally past Colorado school for Greenway Festival victory Ashland softball team splits pair in second day of Bend tournament Ducks enjoy the challenge Oregon bows out Voices Latest Stories Guest Opinion: Ashland council vote on travelers accommodations was less than transparent Herb Rothschild Jr: Failing at charity Philip Maddocks: GOP plan offers hope for poor once they become rich Matthew T. Mangino: A clearer picture of police shootings begins to emerge Letters to the Editor, March 27 Editorial Our View: Build it; they will play Our View: How it should work Our View: Ashland High principal is the head of her class Our View: Tuition trauma Our View: SOU's economic clout Letters Letters to the Editor, March 27 Letters to the Editor, March 25 Letters to the Editor, March 23 Letters to the Editor, March 20 Letters to the Editor, March 19 Guest opinions Guest Opinion: Ashland council vote on travelers accommodations was less than transparent Guest Opinion: Hannah Thomas-Garner's father thanks the Ashland community Guest Opinion: Ashland is asking for trouble with new room rental rules Guest Opinion: More reasons to oppose Jordan Cove Guest Opinion: It's Groundwater Awareness Week; test your well Columns Guest Opinion: Ashland council vote on travelers accommodations was less than transparent Herb Rothschild Jr: Failing at charity Philip Maddocks: GOP plan offers hope for poor once they become rich Matthew T. Mangino: A clearer picture of police shootings begins to emerge Jeffrey Gillespie: Pax Americana? At what price? Chris Honore Council Corner Editor's Notes Jeffrey Gillespie Herb Rothschild Revels Latest Stories Top 5 things to do this week Laurie Lewis and Kathy Kallick pay tribute to Arkansas bluegrass duo Vern Williams and Ray Park The Oregon Shakespeare Festival presents Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical 'Long Day's Journey into Night' Community blog: Words, wine and Craig Wright 4 Things To Do This Week Theater Review: From past into present in OSF's 'Long Day's Journey' Ticket availability Ticket Availability Ashland Contemporary Theatre seeks new artistic director Ticket Availability Music Futureshock: Kendrick Lamar release points to road ahead Laurie Lewis and Kathy Kallick pay tribute to Arkansas bluegrass duo Vern Williams and Ray Park Album reviews: Recent and recommended for March The Farr Side: New format for ‘American Idol’ as show continues a strong run Improv rock and folk band hosts a dance party at the Ashland Community Center Visual Art Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhiits by regional artists Movies Movie review: In ‘Danny Collins,’ Pacino helps us imagine a Lennon story Noah Baumbach talks Ben Stiller, adult comedies and more In 'Timbuktu,' lust for power disturbs peace Movie review: ‘The Gunman’ misses the target Movie listings: March 20-26 Food and Drink Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories Review: From past into present in OSF's 'Long Day's Journey' Community Blog: What is Peace? Ride & Drive: 2015 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque App Finder: Best barbecue apps Health Watch: It’s OK to have a cheat day Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Rogues: Tales from the Valley Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs Business Business Services NEWS NOW Ashland Calendar: Saturday, March 28 ... Guest Opinion: Ashland council vote on travelers accommodations was less than transparent ... Herb Rothschild Jr: Failing at charity ... Ashland Calendar: Saturday, March 28 ... Guest Opinion: Ashland council vote on travelers accommodations was less than transparent ... Herb Rothschild Jr: Failing at charity ... COMMENTARY Chris Honoré: The Lewis Glacier on Mount Kenya — an elegy Comment By Chris Honoré DailyTidings.com By Chris Honoré Posted Jan. 19, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Chris Honoré Posted Jan. 19, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second highest mountain in all of Africa. It’s a craggy, imposing spire that reaches some 17,000 feet skyward, its summit stone and ice. There are 11 glaciers that encircle the mountain like a cascading string of pearls. For thousands of years Mount Kenya’s equatorial peak was an icecap, not unlike that of Mount Fuji in Japan. But no longer. In a recent New York Times Magazine article, photographed by Simon Norfolk with text written by Jon Mooallem, the journalists chronicled their journey to Mount Kenya. Their purpose was to view one of the mountain’s glaciers, named Lewis. According to Mooallem, it is one of the “most thoroughly surveyed tropical glaciers in the world, its ice mass having been mapped periodically since 1934.” In 1979, scientists discovered, after an aerial survey, dramatic loss since a mapping four years earlier. Mooallem goes on to describe that in 1995 there was similar bad news and a decade later Lewis showed accelerating shrinkage. In 2010, scientists and surveyors discovered that Lewis had shrunk “by 23 percent in just the previous six years,” and a neighboring glacier, Gregory, once a vast stretch of snow and ice, no longer existed. But there is an embedded truth in the loss of Gregory and the incremental decline of Lewis: what has taken place (and is still continuing) occurred over multiple generations, hence the transformations are barely noticeable. In other words, the changes are all but invisible to those who have no other frame of reference than now. We are told that Lewis is retreating, but how can it seem like anything more significant than the fingers of fog so common in winter at sunrise, mist soon swept away in a swirl and lost among the trees. In order to dramatically demonstrate what has been lost over the decades, photographer Norfolk, using time-lapse photography and historical geologic maps of Lewis, and carrying a burning broom handle, walked the original parameters of the glacier. What he created with his camera was a contiguous stream of fire up the mountain (this was at an elevation of 16,000 feet) that demonstrated the distance between the original borders of the glacier and its now diminishing outline. The image is graphic and startling. “Standing next to the ice field,” Norfolk said, “was like standing next to the exhausted remains of something that was once glorious.” “Most of us,” writes Mooallem “have probably never felt so indicted, so directly, by melting ice. Glaciers can feel like far away, abstract things — even in places like my home, San Francisco, that rely on them for water. Our glaciers, we’re told, are disappearing freakishly fast, but fast for a glacier can still be too slow for the human imagination to seize on. They’re a lot like the environmental problems that way ... The challenge, right now, is to find a way to make the slow deterioration of the world’s beauty feel ... urgent and overpowering from afar.” And therein is the problem. We can know intellectually that the world is being exhausted, depleted — our overfished oceans are filling with plastic and cast-off effluents; species, small and large, to include botanicals, are lost to us forever; our rapacious use of the earth’s resources remains unchanged. But it is all happening so gradually that we cannot summon the urgency of now. It is a bridge too far. As an aside, it is estimated that within 30 years the glaciers of Mount Kenya will be gone. The reality is that these melting glaciers are the source of water for more than 2é million Kenyans. Ultimately, that water, emptying into two major rivers, accounts for 80 percent of Kenya’s electricity. Chris Honoré lives in Ashland. By Chris Honoré DailyTidings.com By Chris Honoré Posted Jan. 19, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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