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More than 27 per cent of the identified glacial lakes in the Himalayas have notably expanded since 1984 and 130 of those are in India, <keyword id="6358064" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="isro" source="Orion">ISRO</keyword> said on Monday. In a statement, the space agency said long-term <keyword id="20423869" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="satellite-imagery" source="keywords">satellite imagery</keyword> covering the catchments of Indian Himalayan river basins from 1984 to 2023 indicates significant changes in glacial lakes. <br /><br />"Of the 2,431 lakes larger than 10 hectares identified during 2016-17, 676 glacial lakes have notably expanded since 1984," it said. <br /><br />Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said 601 of the 676 lakes have expanded more than twice while 10 lakes have grown between 1.5 to two times and 65 lakes 1.5 times. <br /><br />It said 130 of the 676 lakes are situated within India, with 65, seven, and 58 located in the Indus, Ganga and the Brahmaputra river basins, respectively. <br /><br />An elevation-based analysis revealed that 314 lakes are located in the 4,000-5,000-metre range and 296 above 5,000 metres. <br /><br />The glacial lakes are categorised based on their formation process into four broad categories -- moraine-dammed (water dammed by moraine), ice-dammed (water dammed by ice), erosion (water dammed in depressions formed by erosion), and other glacial lakes. <br /><br />Among the 676 expanding lakes, the majority are moraine-dammed (307), followed by erosion (265), other (96), and ice-dammed (eight) glacial lakes. <br /><br />ISRO highlighted long-term changes in the Ghepang Ghat glacial lake (in the Indus basin) at an elevation of 4,068 metre in <keyword id="19905191" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="himachal-pradesh" source="keywords">Himachal Pradesh</keyword>, showing a 178 per cent increase in size from 36.49 hectares to 101.30 hectares between 1989 and 2022. The rate of increase is about 1.96 hectares per year. <br /><br />In October, at least 40 people were killed and 76 went missing in Sikkim after the South Lhonak Lake -- a glacial lake situated in the state's northwest at 17,000 feet -- burst due to incessant rains. <br /><br />The Himalayas, often referred to as the Third Pole because of the extensive glaciers and snow cover, are highly sensitive to changes in the global climate -- both in terms of their physical characteristics and their societal impacts. <br /><br />Research conducted worldwide has consistently shown that glaciers across the globe have been experiencing unprecedented rates of retreat and thinning due to human-caused climate change. <br /><br />This retreat leads to the formation of new lakes and the enlargement of existing ones in the <keyword id="20128077" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Himalayan-region" source="keywords">Himalayan region</keyword>. These bodies of water, created by the melting of glaciers, are known as glacial lakes and play a crucial role as freshwater sources for rivers in the Himalayan region. <br /><br />However, these also pose significant risks such as Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs), which can have devastating consequences for communities downstream. <br /><br />GLOFs occur when glacial lakes release large volumes of meltwater due to the failure of natural dams, such as those made of moraine or ice, resulting in sudden and severe flooding downstream. These dam failures can be triggered by various factors, including avalanches of ice or rock, extreme weather events, and other environmental factors. <br /><br />Monitoring and studying the occurrence and expansion of glacial lakes in the Himalayan region is challenging due to inaccessible and rugged terrain. <br /><br />Satellite remote sensing technology proves to be an excellent tool for inventory and monitoring due to its wide coverage and revisit capability. Assessing long-term changes in glacial lakes is crucial for understanding glacier retreat rates, assessing GLOF risks, and gaining insights into climate change impacts, ISRO said.

Satellite monitoring shows large expansion in 27% identified glacial lakes in Himalayas: ISRO

Islamabad [Pakistan], November 25 (ANI): The vulnerable villages in Pakistan's mountainous north are facing a threat to their future due to melting glaciers caused by global warming, Reuters reported.<br /><br />On the steep slope of a glacier jutting through the <keyword id="3704636" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hunza-valley" source="Orion">Hunza Valley</keyword>, Tariq Jamil measures the ice's movement and snaps photos. Later, he creates a report that includes data from sensors and another camera installed near the Shisper glacier to update his village an hour's hike downstream.<br /><br />The 51-year-old's mission: mobilise his community of 200 families in Hassanabad, in the Karakoram mountains, to fight for a future for their village and way of life, increasingly under threat from unstable lakes formed by melting glacier ice.<br /><br />When glacial lakes overfill or their banks become unsound, they burst, sparking deadly floods that wash out bridges and buildings and wipe out fertile land throughout the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalayan mountain ranges that intersect in <keyword id="414508" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="northern-pakistan" source="Orion">northern Pakistan</keyword>.<br /><br />Himalayan glaciers are on track to lose up to 75 per cent of their ice by the century's end due to global warming, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).<br /><br />After all the sensors are installed, village representatives will be able to monitor data through their mobiles, Jamil said. "Local wisdom is very important: we are the main observers. We have witnessed many things."<br /><br />Hassanabad is part of the UN-backed Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) II project to help communities downstream of melting glaciers adapt, according to Reuters.<br /><br />Amid a shortfall in funding for those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, village residents say they urgently need increased support to adapt to threats of glacial lake floods.<br /><br />"The needs are enormous," said Karma Lodey Rapten, Regional Technical Specialist for Climate Change Adaptation at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).<br /><br />Pakistan is the only country to receive adaptation funding from the Green Climate Fund - the Paris Agreement's key financing pot - to ease the risk of such floods.<br /><br />While countries like Bhutan have worked with other funders to minimize the threat from glacial lake floods, the USD 36.96 million GLOF II scheme - which ends in early 2025 - is a global benchmark for other regions grappling with this threat, including the Peruvian Andes and China.<br /><br />Since 2017, weather stations as well as sensors measuring rainfall, water discharge, and river and lake water levels have been installed under the administration of Islamabad and UNDP. GLOF II has deployed speakers in villages to communicate warnings, and infrastructure like stone-and-wire barriers that slow floodwater.<br /><br />In Hassanabad, a villager regularly monitors the feed from a camera installed high up the valley for water levels in the river by the glacier's base during risky periods such as summer, when a lake dammed by ice from Shisper glacier often forms.<br /><br />Notably, Pakistan is among the countries which are at the highest risk from glacial lake floods, with 8,00,000 people living within 15 km (9.3 miles) of a glacier. Many residents of the Karakorams built their homes on lush land along rivers running off glaciers, according to Reuters.<br /><br />Over 15 million people worldwide are at risk of glacial lake flooding, with 2 million of them in Pakistan, according to a February study published in scientific journal Nature Communications.<br /><br />From 2018 to 2021, about 14 GLOFs occurred in Pakistan, but that spiked to 75 in 2022, according to UNDP.<br /><br />According to residents and officials, Jamil's village had close calls from floods. Over the past three years, residents repeatedly evacuated just in time to avoid loss of life, and many fear a flood while they sleep. Others struggle financially as their land and homes were destroyed, most recently in 2022.<br /><br />In Chalt village, a few hours away, a torrent of black water rushed down the valley last year. Zahra Ramzan's eleven-year-old son, Ali Mohammad was swept away.<br /><br />"I'm in very deep grief. I could not see my son again, even a body," said the 40-year-old.<br /><br />The village has had little information about the risks, residents said. Ramzan gets nervous whenever there is heavy rain or flooding, refusing to allow her surviving children out of sight.<br /><br />In Hassanabad, Jamil is trying to manage these risks. He and 23 other volunteers have trained in first aid and evacuation planning. They monitor the glacier and consult with outside experts and officials each summer, Reuters reported.<br /><br />They are hoping to receive international financing for 20 times the length of barrier wall than is currently funded. They also want interest-free loans to rebuild destroyed homes and adapt their housing with stronger materials, as well as better mobile reception to access the monitoring feed.<br /><br />With the UN's COP28 climate summit scheduled to begin on November 30, pressure is ramping up on wealthy countries to fulfil promises to help developing nations.<br /><br />The Green Climate Fund said in October it had raised USD 9.3 billion, short of its USD 10 billion target.<br /><br />Wealthy nations are set to meet a broader USD 100-billion climate finance pledge to developing countries this year, three years late and short of the actual needs, estimated by the UN at over USD 200 billion annually by 2030.<br /><br />ICIMOD said changes driven by global warming to glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region are "largely irreversible." The region has over 200 glacial lakes considered dangerous.<br /><br />Darkut village, also part of GLOF II, sits surrounded by mountains and glaciers above verdant plains where yaks graze. At the bottom of nearby Darkut Glacier lies a deep turquoise lake.<br /><br />"Until 1978...this whole place was a glacier, the pool of water came later," Reuters quoted 75-year-old Musafir Khan, pointing at the lake that formed as the glacier receded.<br /><br />Unlike the ice-dammed lake at Shisper, Darkut is formed in the soil and rock landscape left by a receding glacier.<br /><br />In northern Pakistan, such moraine-dammed lakes are linked to comparatively few GLOFs, according to ICIMOD researcher Sher Muhammad, but in other parts of mountainous Asia, they have been associated with higher casualty rates than ice-dammed lakes.<br /><br />The risks of both types of lakes may increase, Muhammad said.<br /><br />Muhammad Yasin, an environmental sciences graduate researcher at Karakorum International University, is studying the extent to which the Darkut glacier is melting.<br /><br />"We have (told) the community that risk factors exist in this lake, you should be aware of this," he said.<br /><br />Many families have left over the years after previous flash floods, said Khan, who was born in the remote village, but hundreds rebuilt nearby.<br /><br />In Hassanabad, the prospect of moving also fills many with disbelief. Their families have lived off orchard fields surrounded by soaring mountains for 400 years, growing produce and grazing livestock high in the plains. Many say they have no resources to move from the village, where their ancestors are buried.<br /><br />"If the flood will cut us off, we will miss the nature of this village, our neighbours and relatives," said Tehzeeb, Jamil's 15-year-old daughter.<br /><br />"Like a bird in a cage," Jamil said of moving to a city. He was open to exploring the option but said he would focus on keeping the village alive.<br /><br />"It's my responsibility to prevent the community from (facing) any disaster," Reuters quoted him as saying. (ANI)<br /><br />

Melting glaciers endanger mountain villages in Pakistan

<br /><ul><li><strong>Two-thirds of the Himalayan glaciers — that constitute Mount Everest— will melt by the year 2100 if the rise in temperature continues at the same pace. <br /></strong></li><li><strong>Even if governments try to control the rising temperature, it would still lead to the melting of at least one-third of Himalayan glaciers. <br /></strong></li><li><strong>The Himalayan region has witnessed a surge in temperature by two degrees Fahrenheit since the 20th century. <br /></strong></li><li><strong>The life of approximately two billion people is dependent on the future of these mountains. </strong></li></ul>Global warming has put the Hindu Kush mountain range of the Himalayas — home to <keyword id="14834" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mount-Everest">Mount Everest</keyword> — at utmost risk with most of its glacier cover expected to melt in less than eight decades, a recent report by the Nepal-based inter-governmental research organisation, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has warned. <br /><br />According to the report, <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-92288-1">the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment</a>, two-thirds of the glaciers in the region will melt by the year 2100 if the temperature continues to increase at the current pace. <br /><br />In fact, one-third of the Himalayan glacier will melt by 2100 even if the global efforts are undertaken to meet the 2015 Paris agreement targets of limiting global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius.<br /><br />The Hindu Kush Himalayan region, which includes Mount Everest and K2, stretches over 2,000 miles across Asia, from Afghanistan to Myanmar. It has witnessed a surge in temperature by two degrees fahrenheit since the 20th century, noted the report.<br /><br />The melting of glaciers will have a direct impact on the flow of Asian rivers including the Ganges and the Indus. It could lead to increased water levels in the major rivers that could result in floods, affecting agricultural resources of billions of people in India, China, and six other countries.<br /><br />The life of approximately two billion people is dependent on the future of these mountains, estimates the report.<br /><br /><strong>A water crisis awaits </strong><br /><br />Access to water is already a great concern for people living in mountains in India, the changes in global warming could also result in a water crisis. Presently, the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region is a water resource for around a third of the world’s population, according to the report.<br /><br />Last year, some of the residents of the Indian city of Shimla, the capital of <keyword id="6358126" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Himachal-Pradesh">Himachal Pradesh</keyword> and a famous tourist destination<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/world/asia/shimla-india-drought-water.html?module=inline"> asked visitors to not to visit the hill station</a> because the water supply in the city dropped to dangerously low<br /><br />“<a href="http://www.niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/document_publication/2018-05-18-Water-index-Report_vS6B.pdf">India is suffering from the worst water crisis</a> in its history and millions of lives and livelihoods are under threat”, said a government report released in 2018. Presently, 600 million people are facing <keyword id="68552" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="water-scarcity">water scarcity</keyword> and over 200,000 people are dying every year due to inadequate water resources. <br /><br /><br /><strong>See also: </strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/North-India-is-as-cold-as-Southern-Europe-now-because-of-Arctic-winds/articleshow/67755060.cms">North India is as cold as Southern Europe now because of Arctic winds</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-us-is-suffering-through-a-polar-vortex-paradoxically-we-may-have-global-warming-to-thank-for-that-/articleshow/67782406.cms">The US is suffering through a polar vortex. Paradoxically, we may have global warming to thank for that.</a><br />

Most of the glaciers of the Himalayan mountain range surrounding Mount Everest will melt by the end of the 21st century: Report

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Nine times roasted <keyword id="6472582" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bamboo-salt">bamboo salt</keyword> can cost almost $100 for an 8.5-ounce jar.</li><li>It's made by roasting sea <keyword id="6355506" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Salt">salt</keyword> inside of bamboo at over 800 degrees Celcius.</li><li>That labor-intensive process makes bamboo salt the most expensive salt in the world.</li></ul><p><em>Following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>.</em></p><p><strong>Narrator:</strong> This is standard sea salt. But after 30 days, it'll become this. High-quality bamboo salt costs almost $100 for an 8.5-ounce jar, making it the most expensive salt in the world. So, what is bamboo salt used for? And why is it so expensive?</p><p>For hundreds of years, Koreans have used bamboo salt for cooking and as a form of traditional medicine. It's made by placing sea salt inside of bamboo and roasting it at a high temperature. The goal is to infuse the salt with minerals from the bamboo and to remove any impurities. But the premium compared to other types of salt is steep. Nine-times-roasted bamboo salt, sometimes referred to as "purple bamboo salt," can cost over 10 times the price of pink Himalayan salt. Most of that cost comes from the labor-intensive process. Every single step is done by hand.</p><p><strong>Shin Min-kyun: </strong>It takes about one month to 45 or 50 days from putting the salt in a bamboo barrel and melting it nine times until it is finished.</p><p><strong>Narrator:</strong> The process starts by cutting 3-year-old bamboo into uniform trunks, leaving one side closed as a container for the salt. Sea salt from the west coast of <keyword id="43918" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Korea">Korea</keyword> is densely packed by hand into the bamboo. Workers load filled bamboo onto a cart and push it into a kiln. Traditionally, only pine logs are used. This process takes around 12 to 14 hours. Baking everything at over 800 degrees Celsius burns away the bamboo, leaving a column of salt. But the process has only just begun.</p><p><strong>Shin Tae-joong: </strong>Then we grind the salt column and fill the bamboo again. This process is repeated eight times.</p><p><strong>Narrator:</strong> The ninth and final roast is the hottest, at over 1,000 degrees Celsius. It's fired in a special kiln and operated by an expert. Shin Tae-joong has been making bamboo salt for over 20 years. That experience is extremely important, because any error at this stage could result in wasting a month of work. At this temperature, the salt and bamboo completely melt and drain into a mold. After a few days of cooling, a blackened rocklike structure remains. This is nine-times-roasted bamboo salt. Workers carefully break this down by hand, trying not to waste any material. After a month of work, it's ready to be packaged and sold.</p><p><strong>Shin Min-kyun: </strong>If you bake the salt in a bamboo barrel, the bad things inside, such as microplastics, will be filtered out during this process. Then, as the bamboo burns, bamboo oil comes out. The bamboo oil is absorbed into the salt, and the good ingredients in the bamboo are then concentrated in the salt.</p><p><strong>Narrator:</strong> The final price varies depending on where you buy it and what form it's in. But nine-times-roasted bamboo salt doesn't come cheap.</p><p><strong>Shin Min-kyun: </strong>Based on the bamboo salt that was baked nine times, the price ranges from 200,000 to 250,000 won [~$179-$224] per kilogram. Koreans recognize the high price of bamboo salt. In spite of the high cost, I think people buy because they know the value of it.</p><p><strong>Narrator:</strong> The health benefits of food have always played an important role in Korean culture. For centuries, bamboo salt baked two to three times has been used in traditional Korean medicine. But in the 20th century, the nine-times-roasting process was developed. Manufacturers say this process has the lowest toxicity and highest mineral content. Today, it's used for cooking, toothpaste, soap, and various remedies.</p><p><strong>Shin Min-kyun: </strong>First of all, being a salt, bamboo salt has salty flavor. Then there's bamboo salt's unique flavor. As the salt absorbs good ingredients from the bamboo, an egg-yolk-like flavor of bamboo salt gets deeper as it is baked. Then there's no bitter flavor.</p><p><strong>Narrator:</strong> Proponents of bamboo salt say that it can help with everything from digestion to oral health, skin care, and inflammation and that it even has anticancer effects. The proposed medical benefits have likely helped it maintain its high price. But there hasn't been enough scientific study to fully back up all of these claims. Studies have shown that bamboo salt contains higher levels of iron, potassium, and calcium compared to regular sea salt and that it could improve your immune system. But these beneficial minerals constitute only a small percentage -- the majority of bamboo salt is sodium chloride. Even with lower toxicity, it's unclear how potent the health benefits are. In 2016, the WHO wrote in a report that "the composition of specialty salts poses no toxicological risks but does not offer any relevant nutritional benefits either." The full benefits of bamboo salt compared to sea salt have yet to be extensively researched. But despite that, bamboo salt continues to be popular. Insanga, a popular bamboo-salt maker, earned around $24 million in sales in 2017. And the traditional labor-intense process isn't likely to change anytime soon.</p>

Why nine times roasted bamboo salt costs so much more than sea salt

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Cassandra De Pecol went to every country in the world and shared her top 10 favorites.</li><li>She based her favorite countries on their landscapes, diverse cultures, and cuisines.</li></ul><p>At 27 years old, I completed my wanderlust dream of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/travel-tips-from-woman-who-traveled-to-every-country-2022-12">traveling to every country in the world</a> as a solo female traveler. To be exact, I've visited all 193 sovereign nations — plus Taiwan, Kosovo, and Palestine. Then, by the age of 30, I achieved my athletic dream of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-train-for-a-race-like-ironman-2016-6">becoming an Ironman</a>. I find great fulfillment in inspiring and educating young women to get out and pursue their passions — or whatever gets them excited in life.  </p><p>I'm originally from Connecticut, and due to financial reasons, I never really had the chance to travel growing up. The only country I'd been to before the age of 18 was Canada — where my mom's from. I had this innate feeling to explore uncharted territory and travel the world. Specifically, I wanted to explore places that people felt were unsafe and wouldn't usually travel to. I wanted to use my privilege and able-bodiedness to give back and enhance the world we live in whilst debunking myths about some of these precarious nations and promoting peace. </p><p>When I think about some of my favorite countries, my mind usually gravitates toward both human interactions and natural landscapes that bring me the most joy — I love nature. All of my favorite countries boast some of the most incredible landscapes, diverse cultures, and unique cuisines. </p><p>My top favorite countries change often as each season, I tend to reminisce about my favorite places from that time of year. Here are my current top 10 favorite countries.</p><h2>1. Argentina </h2><div type="image" title="Argentina" height="835" width="1114" msid="105067332" hostid="261"></div><p>I've spent a lot of time over the years in <a href="https://www.insider.com/differences-between-argentina-and-us-partners-couple-2022-11">Argentina</a> and have met some wonderful people from there. I'm drawn to their seasons and flora, which attracted me to racing a half Ironman on the Argentinean side of Patagonia.<strong> </strong></p><p>Spring in Bariloche — a city in Argentina's Patagonia region — is like an amplified spring in Connecticut because of the vast mountain ranges and glacier lakes that reflect the vibrant leaves and make everything more intense.  </p><p>From the incredible beauty of Salta to Córdoba, it's just one of my favorite countries. I also enjoy the scenery in Ushuaia, which is known as the gateway to Antarctica, and the fantastic cuisine. When I visit Argentina, I take full advantage of their empanadas, Asado, and amazing sweets.</p><h2>2. Austria</h2><div type="image" title="Austria" height="1089" width="1452" msid="105067333" hostid="261"></div><p>Being a sucker for mountains and nature, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/austria-innsbruck-alps-expat-moving-work-life-balance-2023-8"> Austria has always been able to deliver</a> — the country is breathtaking. Learning about its history and visiting castles and palaces makes for such an enriching trip. It's crisp, clean, fresh, authentic, and a place I've always enjoyed revisiting time and time again.<br style="font-weight: 400;" /><br style="font-weight: 400;" /></p><h2>3. Bhutan </h2><div type="image" title="Bhutan" height="918" width="1225" msid="105067334" hostid="261"></div><p>I always encourage culture and nature lovers to experience Bhutan at least once, if possible — it's a really enchanting place. When I was there in July 2016, I found it to be a very peaceful country and a very humbling experience. <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/charity/2015/6/bhutan-guinness-world-records-title-most-trees-planted-in-one-hour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">They've broken records for the number of trees planted</a>, something I participated in while I was there. The people are peaceful and happy, and the environment reflects that.</p><h2>4. Pakistan</h2><div type="image" title="Pakistan" height="939" width="1252" msid="105067335" hostid="261"></div><p>Having traveled all throughout <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moved-from-us-pakistan-digital-nomad-pros-cons-2023-4">Pakistan</a>, including cities such as Karachi, Lahore, and the capital, Islamabad, I can honestly say this country is worth the visit. The cuisine is heavy but so aromatic and flavorful. Similar to India, some of the common spices they use are cumin, turmeric, coriander, cardamom, and cinnamon, and I find those aromas really shine throughout their common dishes. The landscapes are also stunning, as varied as beaches, cloud forests, and Himalayan mountain ranges. Lastly, the people were so hospitable and welcoming — it was unreal.</p><h2>5. Vanuatu</h2><div type="image" title="Vanuatu" height="672" width="896" msid="105067336" hostid="261"></div><p>Throughout my time in Vanuatu, I took it upon myself to really immerse myself in the local traditions. Vanuatu is a tiny island nation in the Pacific Oceania. I roamed around the villages, where I was welcomed into the homes of strangers who taught me valuable lessons and showed me how they made some of their traditional drinks, such as kava —  a non-fermented drink made from the root of a medicinal plant and always served cold. Vanuatu is a beautiful place, and the students I spoke to were some of the most engaging and beautiful.</p><h2>6. Iceland </h2><div type="image" title="Iceland" height="967" width="1290" msid="105067338" hostid="261"></div><p><br /><a href="https://www.insider.com/iceland-us-travel-surprising-differences-2023-7">Iceland</a> is another country that I've visited a good handful of times because I just can't get enough of its natural splendor. It's the perfect place to escape to for solace and reflection. The cities aren't overwhelming, the people are very welcoming, the food is delicious, and the landscapes are out of this world. I was fascinated by the fertile lowlands and geothermal environments. Iceland has more than 600 species of moss that make the land look unique to any other country I've experienced.</p><h2>7. Oman</h2><div type="image" title="Oman" height="844" width="1125" msid="105067339" hostid="261"></div><p>The Middle East holds a special place in my heart, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-that-show-you-should-visit-oman-2017-3?_gl=1*5nvwzp*_ga*Mjg2NTE5NzU5LjE2OTkzNzAyNTc.*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTY5OTM4NTU4NC40LjEuMTY5OTM4NTU5Ny40Ny4wLjA.">Oman</a> is just the perfect place to dive into traditional Arab culture. The kindness of the people of Oman is paramount, and their cuisine is out of this world. Their coffee and honey, among other things, are just incredible. The desert landscapes and sea are honestly a refreshing break and naturally create space for an open mind to experience all that Oman has to offer.</p><h2>8. USA</h2><div type="image" title="California" height="654" width="872" msid="105067340" hostid="261"></div><p>There's a reason<a href="https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/most-visited-countries-in-the-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> many people flock to the US</a>, and I have to include it in my top 10 countries. It's a melting pot of cultures, cuisines, landscapes, and traditions. It really is a great place to experience a taste of the world and meet people from everywhere.<br /><br />If I wanted to, I could visit a rainforest in Puerto Rico one day and have a Cuban café con leche and pan tostado for breakfast in Miami the next day. I could also hike in the Mojave Desert in California one morning, have dinner at an Eritrean restaurant in San Francisco late that afternoon, and be asleep among the spruce trees overlooking the Pacific Ocean with the ground covered in snow in Oregon by the evening. In the US, different environments are so close to each other by flight.</p><h2>9. Mauritius </h2><div type="image" title="Mauritius" height="967" width="1290" msid="105067342" hostid="261"></div><p>Mauritius is so underrated as it's an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-most-overlooked-islands/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">uncommon place to travel,</a> but it's such a wonderful place to visit. I love their commitment to responsible tourism, and I admired how pristine and naturally beautiful the country was when I visited. I also found the cultural diversity to be fascinating, with shared values and traditions between Indian, Chinese, African, and European communities. </p><p>The people were very hospitable to me. I was welcomed in Mauritius with open arms and would go back in a heartbeat.</p><h2><strong>10. Tunisia</strong></h2><p><strong></strong></p><div type="image" title="Tunisia" height="967" width="1290" msid="105067343" hostid="261"></div><p>Given all of the conflict and turmoil <a href="https://www.insider.com/surprising-things-usa-american-expat-africa-arab-culture-guide-2023-10">Tunisia</a> has experienced over the years, I was pleasantly surprised with my experience in this country. It's beautiful. I traveled to Tunisia in December 2015, roughly a week after<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tunisia-attack-shares-fall-tui-thomson-first-choice-easyjet-iag-2015-6"> the 2015 Tunisia bombing</a>, almost two weeks after the Radisson Blu shootings, and just six months after the Sousse attacks that killed 38 tourists. There was a lot of turmoil going on in Tunisia at the time, which, rightfully so, turned tourists away from wanting to visit. </p><p>I took an overnight ferry, about 10 hours, from Palermo, Italy, to Tunis and slept on a piece of cardboard on the floor, with no cell reception or wifi and surrounded by locals from both Italy and Tunisia — but mostly Tunisians. It was kind of nerve-racking, but once I arrived, there was beauty everywhere. I stayed in Sidi Bou Said — in northern Tunisia — and made my way to the ruins of Carthage nearby, among other places. There's so much to see and also so much history. I found the people to be very kind and felt more than safe as a woman traveling solo.</p><h2><strong>I didn't have the best experience in countries where the men treated me poorly</strong> </h2><div type="image" title="Italy" height="768" width="1024" msid="105067344" hostid="261"></div><p>I've been to <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/italy">Italy</a> many times over the past 15 years, and my great, great, grandpa was Italian — so I have a bit of heritage there. But no matter how many times I visit, I am incessantly harassed in public by the men. </p><p>It's a real shame because the women have always been really nice to me, and I grew up learning a lot from them, working in restaurants in both Italy and the States. I love the cuisine, culture, landscapes, and pretty much everything about the country, but whenever I go, the men don't seem to respect me. But their actions don't necessarily reflect the values of the country as a whole — which I'd say are kindness, generosity, and hospitality.</p><h2>Another country that disappointed me was North Korea</h2><div type="image" title="North Korea" height="1350" width="1800" msid="105067346" hostid="261"></div><p>When I visited in August 2016, it was a humbling experience. My North Korean tour guide was the sweetest and most helpful person — and all of the local people I came across were really kind. But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/north-korea">I visited North Korea</a> understanding the grave necessity to follow their rules —  and also knowing that the people who live there had to live by those rules every single breathing moment.</p><p>I had to ask permission whenever I took photos and was not allowed to leave the hotel without permission. I had to leave my DSLR camera, phone, GPS tracking device (which I used for my safety so my family knew where I was), and laptop in a locker in Shenyang airport because officials had the right to confiscate them if they wanted to. I did bring my GoPro, which I was willing to lose, so that's how I was able to capture all my photos and videos there. </p><p>While I was in North Korea, I also was not allowed to talk to North Korean citizens. I had a cup of coffee in the hotel lobby and left it on the table when I was finished, but I was told I couldn't do that, either. There were lots of little rules that made it feel like I was walking on eggshells.</p>

I've visited all 193 countries on my own. Here are my top 10 favorites and why places like Italy don't make the cut.

<br /><ul><li><strong><keyword id="6354416" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Army">Indian Army</keyword>, on Monday tweeted ‘mysterious footprints of a <keyword id="402037" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yeti">yeti</keyword>’ — a snowman known for living in the Himalayas.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>An Indian Army mountaineering expedition team chanced upon the <keyword id="7582565" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="footprints-of-yeti">footprints of Yeti</keyword>, in the Himalayas near Makalu Base Camp, according to Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADGPI) official twitter post.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>Such a claim was reportedly made before in 2017 also.<br /></strong></li></ul>Remember the fascinating folklore of Yeti in Nepal? The taller-than-human snowman that has been known for residing in the Himalayas was just spotted by the Indian Army.<br /><br />As unusual as it may sound, the Indian Army, on Monday tweeted ‘mysterious footprints of a yeti’ — and they even backed the claim with pictures of footprints.<br /><br />
  
  
  
  
  
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<br />An Indian Army mountaineering expedition team chanced upon the footprints of Yeti, sized 32x15 inches in the Himalayas near Makalu Base Camp, according to Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADGPI) official twitter post. However, the Army noted that the footprints were recognized a week ago, on 9 April.<br /><br />“This elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past,” the ADGPI highlighted.<br /><br />While the pictures have got everyone baffled, this is not really the first time that such a claim has questioned the existence of this snowman. In November 2017, a report in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B cited the sighting of a ‘<a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/yeti-legend-for-real-indian-army-captures-giant-footprints-in-himalayas-119043000146_1.html">Half man half snowman</a>,’ which is perhaps a bear. <br /><br />Amused with the presence of the snowman, the Nepalese government, in fact, reportedly had plans to capture the ‘beast’ — and issued a <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/mysterious-footprints-of-mythical-beast-yeti-sighted-claims-indian-army/articleshow/69107428.cms">hunting license</a> for Yeti in 1950s.<br /><br />Moving back to the history of this ape-like beast, a genetic research on purported specimen speculated that the Yeti came from Asian black bears, Himalayan brown bears or Tibetan brown bears.<br /><br />“This strongly suggests that the Yeti legend has a root in biological facts and that it has to do with bears that are living in the region today,” the <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/yeti-footprint-sighted-claims-army-twitter-is-amused/story-lkdvNVpmhWiEjLdmeZO0WI.html">study</a> reportedly mentioned.<br /><br /><strong>See also:</strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/most-of-the-himalayan-glaciers-will-melt-by-the-year-2100/articleshow/67849339.cms">Most of the glaciers of the Himalayan mountain range surrounding Mount Everest will melt by the end of the 21st century: Report</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/why-bathing-may-no-longer-be-a-luxury-for-indian-soldiers-deployed-at-the-siachen-glacier-the-worlds-highest-battlefield/articleshow/67360223.cms">Why bathing may no longer be a ‘luxury’ for Indian soldiers deployed at the Siachen glacier - the world’s highest battlefield</a><br />

The Indian Army just claimed to have seen proof of the mythical snowman beast Yeti — taking a walk

AP Photo/Manish Swarup<br /><br />Indian Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> with Chinese President <keyword id="191809" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Xi-Jinping">Xi Jinping</keyword> in Goa, <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, October 16, 2016.<br /><br /><br /><br /><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>A year after a showdown along their disputed border, India and <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> have improved their relationship.</strong></li><li><strong>Despite that renewed cooperation, the strategic issues driving the tension between them are unresolved.</strong></li><li><strong>Persistent issues, along with other moves both sides are making, increase the chances of a future clash.</strong></li></ul>At the end of August 2017, India and China backed away from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tensions-between-china-and-india-continue-year-after-doklam-standoff-2018-8" target="_blank">a 73-day standoff</a> on the Doklam Plateau, high in the eastern Himalayas.<br /><br />In the year since, both sides have sought to mend ties, especially after a summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in the eastern Chinese city of Wuhan in April.<br /><br />The two countries are engaged in a kind of "recalibration" of their relationship, even though deeper-rooted issues that divide them persist, according to Faisel Pervaiz, a South Asia analyst at geopolitical-intelligence firm Stratfor.<br /><br />REUTERS/Desmond Boylan<br /><br />Chinese and Indian border guards at the Nathu La mountain pass, between Tibet and the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim, July 6, 2006.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The appointment of Vijay Gokhale, who was ambassador to China during the Doklam crisis and helped resolve the dispute, to foreign secretary was "an indication that India wants to take ... a less confrontational posture," Pervaiz said.<br /><br />China, too, has come to believe it needs "a bit more calm" with its neighbors, including India, in part because of contentious relations with the US, Pervaiz added, though he stressed that Beijing's change in thinking was likely temporary. China has also made overtures to India about a potential partnership in trade disputes with the US.<br /><br />This week, <keyword id="6358777" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="New-Delhi">New Delhi</keyword> and Beijing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-india-china-launch-joint-training-for-afghanistan-plan-more-projects-2018-10" target="_blank">launched</a> a joint program to train Afghan diplomats, and China's ambassador to the country <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-india-china-launch-joint-training-for-afghanistan-plan-more-projects-2018-10" target="_blank">predicted</a> more cooperation there in the future. Next week, they are to sign a <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/indias-participation-in-global-counterterror-front-high-on-rajnath-singhs-china-visit/article7895845.ece" target="_blank">long-discussed</a> internal-security agreement <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/in-a-first-india-china-to-sign-internal-security-agreement-next-week-1933038" target="_blank">expected to cover</a> cooperation on intelligence sharing, disaster mitigation, and other issues.<br /><br />Despite the apparent rapprochement, the two countries are keeping a close eye on each other.<br /><br /><br /><br />Reuters<br /><br />Map locating Donglang, or Doklam, a disputed area between China, India, and Bhutan.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While India has largely pulled back from positions it took during the Doklam standoff, imagery reviewed by Stratfor in January showed that in late 2017 and early 2018, Delhi <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tensions-between-china-and-india-continue-year-after-doklam-standoff-2018-8" target="_blank">increased its deployments</a> of combat aircraft to bases near the disputed area.<br /><br />Those images showed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tensions-between-china-and-india-continue-year-after-doklam-standoff-2018-8" target="_blank">even more activity</a> around Chinese bases in Tibet, north of the disputed area, including airfield upgrades and a large aircraft presence. (China puts more assets at those bases because it does not have bases closer to the border area.)<br /><br />This month, officials <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/chinese-bunkers-at-lhasa-airport-worry-india/story-B85jNuqEH72jiPk7sPKbcM.html" target="_blank">told Hindustan Times</a> that Delhi was concerned about construction at the Chinese air base in <keyword id="69031" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="lhasa">Lhasa</keyword>, which included bomb-proof bunkers for aircraft and expanded <keyword id="839167" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="surface-to-air-missile">surface-to-air missile</keyword> batteries.<br /><br />"You need blast- or bomb-proof hangars for fighters only if there is a possibility of hostilities," one official said.<br /><br />Any activity with military hardware or other assets that could have military applications around the eastern end of India and China's shared border was likely to attract scrutiny, Pervaiz said.<br /><br /><br /><br />REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri<br /><br />A snow-covered Indian army camp at the India-China trade route at Nathu-La, 34 miles north of Gangtok, capital of India's northeastern state of Sikkim and near the Doklam Plateau, January 17, 2009.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"If you are India or China and you are seeing any sort of moves that either military is making, you view that almost through the lens of paranoia - that if you're making that move, how can that be used against us in a potential conflict?" he told Business Insider.<br /><br />The Doklam Plateau sits at the southern edge of the Himalayan mountain range, where the elevation is on average close to 15,000 feet. High altitudes and rough terrain put considerable limitations on military operations.<br /><br />While the higher elevation gives China an <a href="https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/sizing-competition-doklam-plateau" target="_blank">advantage</a> in surveillance and physiological acclimatization, lower air density hinders jet aircraft engines and limits the weaponry and fuel that aircraft can carry. China's air force is larger than India's, but it only has five air bases in Tibet - though upgrades at the Lhasa base described by <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/chinese-bunkers-at-lhasa-airport-worry-india/story-B85jNuqEH72jiPk7sPKbcM.html" target="_blank">Hindustan Times</a> include special helicopter bases that allow them to take off and land with full payloads.<br /><br />India's air power in the region would offer it some advantages. Indian air bases, including those that received more aircraft earlier this year, are closer to the area in question than China's bases. India <a href="https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/sizing-competition-doklam-plateau" target="_blank">counts 20 air bases</a> within range of the Line of Actual Control, which separates Indian- and Chinese-claimed territory.<br /><br />India has also also practiced with transport planes at forward landing areas in the region.<br /><br /><br /><br />REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/Files<br /><br />An Indian army officer, left, talks with a Chinese soldier at the 14,140-foot high Nathu-la pass on the country's northeastern border with China, April 9, 2005.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But China's air defenses are more <a href="https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/sizing-competition-doklam-plateau" target="_blank">effective and reliable</a> than India's. And China has more artillery that can fire farther and is more mobile.<br /><br />Thin air at higher elevations hinders traditional rocket propulsion, but Chinese officials claimed in August they were progressing on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-says-making-progress-with-electromagnetically-launched-rockets-2018-8" target="_blank">a type of electromagnetic propulsion</a> that would give rocket artillery longer range and more accuracy.<br /><br />Both countries can be expected to use land-attack cruise missiles - the Indian Su-30MKI jets deployed to the area are capable of firing India's Brahmos missile. But China has a larger inventory of them, and the paucity of Chinese targets in the area north of the border would likely mean Beijing would have the edge.<br /><br />Much of the fighting in a conflict around Doklam would likely be done on the ground, even though the terrain would limit quick strikes and mass movement of troops.<br /><br /><br /><br />REUTERS/Frank Jack Daniel<br /><br />Monpa tribeswomen employed by the Indian army work on India's Tezpur-Tawang highway, which runs to the Chinese border in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, May 28, 2012.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Both countries are among <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/most-powerful-militaries-in-the-world-ranked-2018-2" target="_blank">the most largest militaries</a> in the world. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/militaries-most-active-duty-soldiers-troops-2018-5#2-india-1362500-active-personnel-14" target="_blank">China's 2.1 million active-duty troops</a> are far more than India's 1.3 million, though Indian troops may bring more experience to bear.<br /><br />Indian fought its last war, with Pakistan, in 1999 and has been involved in sporatic clashes with Pakistan, as well as counterterror and counter-insurgency operations for years. (Delhi was developing a special Mountain Strike Corps for the northern border, but it <a href="https://www.janes.com/article/81837/indian-army-shelves-plans-for-new-fighting-corps" target="_blank">was shelved</a> this summer.)<br /><br />China fought its last war in 1979 - a three-week incursion into Vietnam that ended with China's withdrawal, though both sides claimed victory. Xi has <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2153579/chinas-army-infiltrated-peace-disease-after-years" target="_blank">ordered</a> China's military to increase readiness and launched reforms to the force.<br /><br />Along the Line of Actual Control, however, China may gain an edge through <a href="https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/sizing-competition-doklam-plateau" target="_blank">superior</a> command, control, and communications and through its unified command structure in the region, whereas India divides the region among three combatant commands.<br /><br /><br /><br />REUTERS/Frank Jack Daniel<br /><br />An Indian army truck drives along India's Tezpur-Tawang highway, which runs to the Chinese border, in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, May 28, 2012.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />India is aware that it would likely lose a military confrontation with China, Pervaiz said, as it did in 1962. (Mao later said China invaded essentially <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-how-it-could-go-down-if-china-and-india-went-to-war-2017-8" target="_blank">to teach India a lesson</a>.)<br /><br />A conflict now is not in the interest of either country, he added, but "they both are going to continue to sharpen their capabilities in the event that there ever is a conflict [in order] to be able to fight and execute on that conflict, no doubt about it."<br /><br />Since the end of the Doklam standoff, China has kept the assets it deployed there - tents, bunkers, and vehicles, Pervaiz said - in place, even as Indian forces withdrew.<br /><br />Questioned about that change in parliament earlier this year, the Indian <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="defense">Defense</keyword> Ministry tacitly admitted "China has actually altered those facts on the ground" and India had to accept the change, Pervaiz said.<br /><br /><br /><br />REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri<br /><br />Indian soldiers play a friendly volleyball match with Chinese soldiers at the Indo-China border at Nathula in Sikkim state, about 109 miles from the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri, September 15, 2005.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />India too has pursued a longer-term shift in its strategy toward the disputed border.<br /><br />Delhi tried to minimize the number of roads in the border area after the 1962 war in order to deprive future enemies of transportation routes.<br /><br />Since the 1990s, however, India has switched to what Pervaiz called "an offensive-defense posture, meaning that we're not just going to deny the Chinese access to roads in our region. We're actually going to start building more roads and infrastructure so that our military can be better positioned."<br /><br /><br /><br />REUTERS/Adnan Abidi<br /><br />A signboard on the Indian side of the Indo-China border at Bumla, in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, November 11, 2009.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Amid the recalibration, the broader strategic issues driving tensions between India and China - the border dispute or China's partnership with India's rival, Pakistan - have not dissipated, suggesting the current period is one in which both sides are trying to manage their disputes, which Pervaiz analogized to treating a chronic illness.<br /><br />"It may be that the physician says that you're not going to get rid of this," he said. "This is something you're going to have to live with for the rest of your life, but we can manage it ... and then the symptoms can stay under control."<br /><br />Even though neither side sees conflict as in their interest, deep-seated disputes that persist raise the chances one may occur.<br /><br />"In the long run, because the strategic drivers are still there, and they're building up their assets, the roads, the bunkers," Pervaiz said, "that that does mean in the future, there's actually a heightened probability there's going to be some sort of confrontation, even if it's a small one."<br /><br />            <br /><br /><h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asia-earth-ice-melted-rising-ocean-coastline-china-india-2015-3">Animated map shows what would happen to Asia if all the Earth's ice melted</a></h3>        <pre style="display: none;">function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</pre>        <br />

The world's 2 biggest countries are playing nice a year after a showdown, but a future clash may be unavoidable

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<p>By midcentury, an emerging public health problem will alter the way we eat, the way we travel, and the places we live. It will also make us more susceptible to mental illnesses like anxiety and depression while exacerbating allergies and increasing the reaches of the world's most infectious diseases.</p>
<p>It's climate change, and it's happening so fast it's prompted the BMJ to write a letter to the World Health Organization <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5945">urging them to declare</a> the phenomenon a public health emergency.</p>
<p>"Deaths from Ebola infection, tragic and frightening though they are, will pale into insignificance when compared with the mayhem we we can expect for our children and grandchildren if the world does nothing to check its carbon emissions," <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5945">wrote BMJ editor Fiona Godlee</a> in the editorial.</p>
<p>Here's a look at some of the conditions that will plague the next generation in a warmer world.</p>
<h2>1. Anxiety and PTSD</h2>
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<p>In 2006, a team of psychologists <a href="http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=482512">visited</a> thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina - six months after the original event. They diagnosed nearly half of the residents they visited with a serious anxiety disorder. One in six, the doctors said, had PTSD, and many suffered from both illnesses. Over time, these disorders can lead to suicidal thoughts and, in some cases, suicidal behaviors.</p>
<p>In 2008, mental health workers returned to New Orleans. To their surprise, the number of people regularly contemplating suicide hadn't fallen (as is usually the case after a natural disaster). On the contrary, the number of suicidal residents <a href="http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v13/n4/full/4002119a.html">had risen significantly</a>, along with the number of people with serious mental illness. Even in 2009, the number of suicides in New Orleans Parish <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129482180">remained double</a> its pre-Katrina levels.</p>
<p>Because cases of mental illness and suicidal behavior increased in general in the years after the recession, which happened to coincide with the occurrence of Hurricane Katrina, it's impossible to pinpoint Katrina as the sole driving force behind the huge uptick in mental illness here.</p>
<p>However, the pattern of increases in depression and anxiety after any severe natural disaster is well documented: The mental health infrastructure in Haiti <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335115/">nearly collapsed</a> in the wake of the 2012 earthquake there; Typhoon Haiyan, the <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140122-noaa-extreme-weather-2013-climate-change-drought/">strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded</a> to hit land, <a href="http://wfpusa.org/blog/post-typhoon-trauma-and-recovery-one-psychologists-experience-philippines">led to a spike</a> in incidences of post-traumatic stress disorder among victims in the Philippines; and the 2011 East African drought in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia <a href="http://www.who.int/diseasecontrol_emergencies/publications/who_hse_gar_dce_2011_3.pdf">caused existing psychosocial support networks in the region to crumble</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Heat Stroke - but not for the reason you'd think</h2>
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<p>Having a psychiatric illness like depression can more than <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/11339/">triple</a> your risk of dying during a heat wave.</p>
<p>First, depression can make it harder to take the necessary steps to protect oneself from changes in the environment. People with depression already experience difficulties with <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08964289.2012.708682#.VCxzsyldVg8">self-care</a>, such as staying hydrated, maintaining personal hygiene, and taking their medications consistently. High temperatures can make these activities especially taxing.</p>
<p>Worse still, people who take medications to treat mental illness are especially susceptible to heat stroke, a serious condition that results when the body overheats, because many mental health medications <a href="http://dwb.unl.edu/teacher/nsf/c01/c01links/www.science.mcmaster.ca/biology/4s03/thermoregulation.html:">interfere with our body's natural ability to regulate its temperature</a>. Antipsychotics like Abilify and Risperdone, for example, block brain cells from communicating with the body's thermostat, the hypothalamus. Anticholinergics, such as Cogentin and Enablex, inhibit sweating and make it easier to overheat.</p>
<h2>3. Respiratory Disorders</h2>
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<p>Ever wonder why smog always seems so much worse on a hot, sunny day? Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. The chemical reactions that form <a href="http://www.epa.gov/groundlevelozone/health.html">ozone</a> - one of smog's main components - happen faster at higher temperatures.</p>
<p>The warmer it is outside, the more ozone gums up the air. Ozone doesn't just dirty the horizon, though. The toxin also exacerbates a host of respiratory conditions (from asthma to bronchitis and emphysema) by irritating the delicate tissue lining the lungs.</p>
<p>In recent years in some parts of the US, ground-level ozone has reached <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/7/2866">dangerous levels</a>. Overall, though, the US is a partial success story for the pollutant: Ozone levels <a href="http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/ozone.html">started to decline</a> for the first time here in the 1980s.</p>
<p>Ozone levels are still on the rise in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL060930/abstract">other parts of the world</a>, however, leading to more complications and even deaths from respiratory conditions that could have previously been treated. In India, levels of the pollutant were so high in 2014 that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL060930/abstract">scientists estimated it killed enough crops</a> to feed close to 100 million people in poverty.</p>
<h2>4. Infectious Diseases</h2>
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<p>Increased heat will expand the range of pests carrying deadly disease. In the past few years, mosquitoes carrying malaria (which <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/">killed</a> 630,000 people last year) <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/06/us-malaria-climate-idUSBREA251V620140306">have already begun</a> creeping up mountains to recently-warmed, higher-altitude elevations, where they spread malaria to areas never previously exposed to the disease.</p>
<p>Since they've never been exposed before, people living in these areas will have zero protective immunity from the disease. The result? Malaria will be deadlier than ever.</p>
<p>Mosquitoes, which thrive in warmer climates, also carry diseases like <a href="http://www.oxitec.com/oxitec-video/dengue-fever-a-growing-problem/">dengue</a> and <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs100/en/">yellow fever</a>, which collectively kill more than 50,000 people each year. As temperatures rise, <a href="http://agadapt.ucdavis.edu/pestsdiseases/">more and more areas around the globe</a> will become increasingly hospitable to the pests.</p>
<p>Bacteria, too, will take advantage of their newly-welcoming habitats.</p>
<p>Vibrio cholerae, the comma-shaped bacteria responsible for cholera, prefers to nest in warm, coastal seawaters. As recently as last year, however, the bacteria were <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3863721/">discovered</a> floating in usually cooler Baltic Sea that separates Central and Northern Europe. Cholera now <a href="http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/en/">kills between 100,000 and 130,000 people</a> worldwide each year, almost entirely in <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs107/en/">areas where there is a lack of clean water</a>. Warming waters means that the bacteria can live longer and spread to more locations. At one site in Bangladesh, cholera risk rose <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/news/speeches/colwell/rc040214aaascholera.htm">two to four fold in the six weeks after a 9-degree Fahrenheit spike</a> in water temperature?.</p>
<h2>5. Starvation</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="WFP" title_caption="Climate change will make it harder for everyone to grow and access food." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542d5ce46da811eb36701309-960/screen shot 2014-10-02 at 10.09.22 am.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp229182.pdf">WFP</a></span></p><p class="caption">Climate change will make it harder for everyone to grow and access food.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Climate change is projected to drive down global food production by <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/report/">2% every ten years</a>, even as the demand for food increases by 14%. Across Africa and South Asia - regions where much of the world's food is produced - yields of wheat, corn, and millet will fall nearly 10% by mid-century. As a result of this rocky imbalance, the price of rice and corn will skyrocket, likely <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1909928">doubling by 2050</a>.</p>
<p>With the <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/4/044003/article">exception of a few</a>, the majority of the world's crops will be ravaged by the new pests and diseases that take advantage of warmer temperatures.</p>
<h2>6. Dehydration</h2>
<p>Water scarcity is another emerging threat. Severe droughts have already begun plaguing the west coast of the US. In Tulare County, south of Sacramento, Calif., the board of supervisors has <a href="http://tularecounty.ca.gov/county/index.cfm/county-news/county-proclaims-local-emergency-due-to-drought/">declared a state of emergency</a>. People can't flush toilets, wash clothes, fill cups, or bathe <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/us/california-drought-tulare-county.html">without buckets of bottled water that are driven in</a> from elsewhere.</p>
<p>In other parts of the world, where crops that feed the rest of the globe depend on a steady stream of slowly-melting glacier water, water scarcity is an even more serious problem. The Himalayan glacier, for example, presently supplies 25% of the world's cereal crop. If it melts too quickly, however - as some estimates <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/climate-change-melting-glaciers-bring-energy-uncertainty-1.14031">suggest</a> it has already begun doing - it will become nearly <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3059.2010.02411.x/abstract">impossible</a> to meet the needs of a growing, hungrier planet.</p>

There's A 'Public Health Emergency' That Is Way More Threatening Than Ebola, And No One's Addressing It

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>A warmer world will change how we eat, how we travel, and where we live. What far fewer of us have considered is how dramatically climate change will alter the way we die.</p>
<p>Even after we adjust our lifestyles to accommodate a less hospitable planet, harsher conditions mean that far more of us can expect to develop mental illnesses, suffer from severe allergies, and contract infectious diseases. Many of us - our children or grandchildren - won't survive.</p>
<p>The BMJ <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5945">urged the World Health Organization</a> this week to declare climate change a public health emergency. "Deaths from Ebola infection, tragic and frightening though they are, will pale into insignificance when compared with the mayhem we we can expect for our children and grandchildren if the world does nothing to check its carbon emissions," <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5945">wrote BMJ editor Fiona Godlee in the editorial</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier this week, the BMJ <a href="http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/october/climateanalysis.pdf">published a paper</a> intended to educate doctors on the basic <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> of climate change, in an effort to prepare them to treat the worsening conflagration of conditions and diseases that will become far more common in a warmer world. The new dilemmas that don't kill us will still, in many cases, make daily life more uncomfortable, whether we are contending with <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1480488/">a longer</a> <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17195993">allergy season</a>, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/28/climate-change-bad-expensive-coffee-ipcc">foods that are suddenly</a> <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/08/climate-change-ruining-your-breakfast">out of reach</a>, or a host of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/effects-of-climate-change-2014-6">environmental catastrophes</a>.</p>
<p>But some of the most memorable effects of climate change will be the most personal, those that change not only how we live but how we die. These are some of the most surprising health challenges we'll face.</p>
<h2><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">1. Anxiety and PTSD</strong></h2>
<p>In the days and weeks after a wildfire consumes your home or a flood destroys your neighborhood, it's common to experience temporary periods of anxiety, depression, and stress. Depending on the nature and severity of the disaster, however, those feelings can linger for years. In the past five decades, <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX/images/uploads/IPCC_SREX_fact_sheet.pdf">human-induced climate change has fueled</a> increases in the number of heavy rains, prolonged periods of excessively high temperatures, and in some regions, severe flooding and droughts. In the US, those changes <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX/images/uploads/IPCC_SREX_fact_sheet.pdf">have been felt</a> as heat waves, hurricanes, and heavy winter storms.</p>
<p>In 2006, a team of psychologists <a href="http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=482512">visited</a> thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina - six months after the original event. They diagnosed nearly half of the residents they visited with a serious anxiety disorder. One in six, the doctors said, had post-traumatic stress disorder, and many suffered from both illnesses. Over time, these disorders can lead to suicidal thoughts and, in some cases, suicidal behaviors.</p>
<p>In the years after Hurricane Katrina, scientists assumed people would gradually recover and their symptoms would disappear (as is usually the case for natural disasters). But something strange happened. As time passed, more and more people showed signs of mental illness. More troubling still, more began to contemplate or attempt suicide.</p>
<p>In 2008, mental health workers returned to New Orleans. To their surprise, the number of people regularly contemplating suicide <a href="http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v13/n4/full/4002119a.html">had risen significantly</a>, as had the number of people with diagnosable serious mental illness. Even in 2009, the number of suicides in New Orleans Parish <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129482180">remained double</a> its pre-Katrina levels.</p>
<p>Because cases of mental illness and suicidal behavior increased in general in the years after the recession, which happened to coincide with the occurrence of Hurricane Katrina, it's impossible to pinpoint Katrina as the sole driving force behind the huge uptick in mental illness here. However, the pattern of increases in depression and anxiety after any severe natural disaster is well documented: The mental health infrastructure in Haiti <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335115/">nearly collapsed</a> in the wake of the 2012 earthquake there; Typhoon Haiyan, the <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140122-noaa-extreme-weather-2013-climate-change-drought/">strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded</a> to hit land, <a href="http://wfpusa.org/blog/post-typhoon-trauma-and-recovery-one-psychologists-experience-philippines">led to a spike</a> in incidences of post-traumatic stress disorder among victims in the Philippines; and the 2011 East African drought in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia <a href="http://www.who.int/diseasecontrol_emergencies/publications/who_hse_gar_dce_2011_3.pdf">caused existing psychosocial support networks in the region to crumble</a>.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h2>2. <strong>Heat Stroke - but not for the reason you'd think</strong></h2>
<p>Having a psychiatric illness like depression can more than <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/11339/">triple</a> your risk of dying during a heat wave.</p>
<p class="p2">First, depression can make it harder to take the necessary steps to protect oneself from changes in the environment. People with depression already experience difficulties with <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08964289.2012.708682#.VCxzsyldVg8">self-care</a>, such as staying hydrated, maintaining personal hygiene, and taking their medications consistently. High temperatures can make these activities especially taxing.</p>
<p class="p2">Worse still, people who take medications to treat mental illness are especially susceptible to heat stroke, a serious condition that results when the body overheats, because many mental health medications <a href="http://dwb.unl.edu/teacher/nsf/c01/c01links/www.science.mcmaster.ca/biology/4s03/thermoregulation.html:">interfere with our body's natural ability to regulate its temperature</a>. Antipsychotics like Abilify and Risperdone, for example, block brain cells from communicating with the body's thermostat, the hypothalamus. Anticholinergics, such as Cogentin and Enablex, inhibit sweating and make it easier to overheat.</p>
<p class="p2"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h2 class="p2">3.<strong style="font-size: 1.17em;"> Infectious Diseases</strong></h2>
<p>Increased heat will expand the range of pests carrying deadly disease. In the past few years, mosquitoes carrying malaria <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/06/us-malaria-climate-idUSBREA251V620140306">have already begun</a> creeping up mountains to recently-warmed, higher-altitude elevations, where they spread malaria to areas never previously exposed to the disease.</p>
<p>Since they've never been exposed before, people living in these areas will have zero protective immunity from the disease. As a result, malaria will be deadlier than ever.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/">2013</a>, malaria infected more than 200 million people, killing about 630,000 (mostly in sub-Saharan Africa). Those numbers will likely rise quickly as areas close to the equator bear the brunt of the rise in heat.</p>
<p>Mosquitoes, which thrive in warmer climates, also carry diseases like <a href="http://www.oxitec.com/oxitec-video/dengue-fever-a-growing-problem/">dengue</a> and <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs100/en/">yellow fever</a>, which collectively kill more than 50,000 people each year. As temperatures rise, <a href="http://agadapt.ucdavis.edu/pestsdiseases/">more and more areas around the globe</a> will become increasingly hospitable to the pests.</p>
<p>Bacteria, too, will take advantage of their newly-welcoming habitats.</p>
<p><em>Vibrio cholerae</em>, the comma-shaped bacteria responsible for cholera, prefers to nest in warm, coastal seawaters. As recently as last year, however, the bacteria were <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3863721/">discovered</a> floating in usually cooler Baltic Sea that separates Central and Northern Europe. Cholera now <a href="http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/en/">kills between 100,000 and 130,000 people</a> worldwide each year, almost entirely in <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs107/en/">areas where there is a lack of clean water</a>. Warming waters means that the bacteria can live longer and spread to more locations. At one site in Bangladesh, cholera risk rose <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/news/speeches/colwell/rc040214aaascholera.htm" target="_blank" title="">two to four fold in the six weeks after a 9-degree Fahrenheit spike</a> in water temperature?.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h2>4. <strong>Starvation</strong></h2>
<p>Climate change is projected to drive down global food production by <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/report/">2% every ten years</a>, even as the demand for food increases by 14%. Across Africa and South Asia - regions where much of the world's food is produced - yields of wheat, corn, and millet will fall nearly 10% by mid-century. As a result of this rocky imbalance, the price of rice and corn will skyrocket, likely <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1909928">doubling by 2050</a>.</p>
<p>With the <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/4/044003/article">exception of a few</a>, the majority of the world's crops will be ravaged by the new pests and diseases that take advantage of warmer temperatures.</p>
<p>Water scarcity is another emerging threat. Severe droughts have already begun plaguing the west coast of the US. In Tulare County, just north of Sacramento, Calif., the board of supervisors has <a href="http://tularecounty.ca.gov/county/index.cfm/county-news/county-proclaims-local-emergency-due-to-drought/">declared a state of emergency</a>. People can't flush toilets, wash clothes, fill cups, or bathe <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/us/california-drought-tulare-county.html">without buckets of bottled water that are driven in</a> from elsewhere.</p>
<p>In other parts of the world, where crops that feed the rest of the globe depend on a steady stream of slowly-melting glacier water, water scarcity is an even more serious problem. The Himalayan glacier, for example, presently supplies 25% of the world's cereal crop. If it melts too quickly, however - as some estimates <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/climate-change-melting-glaciers-bring-energy-uncertainty-1.14031">suggest</a> it has already begun doing - it will become nearly <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3059.2010.02411.x/abstract">impossible</a> to meet the needs of a growing, hungrier planet.</p>
<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="WFP" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542d5ce46da811eb36701309-960/screen shot 2014-10-02 at 10.09.22 am.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp229182.pdf">WFP</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></h3>
<h2>5. <strong>Respiratory Disorders</strong></h2>
<p>Ever wonder why smog always seems so much worse on a hot, sunny day? Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. The chemical reactions that form <a href="http://www.epa.gov/groundlevelozone/health.html">ozone</a> - one of smog's main components - happen faster at higher temperatures.</p>
<p>The warmer it is outside, the more ozone gums up the air. Ozone doesn't just dirty the horizon, though. The toxin also exacerbates a host of respiratory conditions (from asthma to bronchitis and emphysema) by irritating the delicate tissue lining the lungs.</p>
<p>In recent years in some parts of the US, ground-level ozone has reached <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/7/2866">dangerous levels</a>. Overall, though, the US is a partial success story for the pollutant: Ozone levels <a href="http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/ozone.html">started to decline</a> for the first time here in the 1980s.</p>
<p>Ozone levels are still on the rise in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL060930/abstract">other parts of the world</a>, however, leading to more complications and even deaths from respiratory conditions that could have previously been treated. In India, levels of the pollutant were so high in 2014 that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL060930/abstract">scientists estimated it killed enough crops</a> to feed close to 100 million people in poverty.</p>
<p>Already, 43 million Americans live in <a href="http://www.epa.gov/airquality/greenbook/popexp.html">counties that exceed the EPA's health standards</a> for a certain type of pollution produced by burning fossil fuels called particulate matter.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.epa.gov/pm/">Particulate matter</a> consists of tiny particles so small that <a href="http://www.epa.gov/pm/graphics/pm2_5_graphic.jpg">several thousand could fit</a> on the period at the end of this sentence. The particles travel deep into the lungs, where they make breathing difficult, and irritate the eyes, nose, and throat. Particulates also damage blood vessels, <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/121-a282/">worsening heart disease</a>. Even short-term exposure to particulate matter has been <a href="http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Planning-and-Research/Particulate-Matter.aspx">linked</a> with heart attack, decreased lung function, and premature death.</p>
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