Artificial Glaciers

摘要

High in Ladakh, India, in a stretch of the Himalayas bordering Pakistan and China, subsistence farmers and tourists experience something akin to an alpine desert. Less than 4 inches of rain fall in an average year, making it tough for farmers to irrigate their barley and potatoes. Yet, thanks to Sonam Wangchuk's novel system of pipes, glaciers are growing there. Each of Wangchuk's 90-foot-high ice stupas, named for the moundlike Tibetan structures that dot the region, slowly provides the area with 2.6 million gallons of freshwater runoff, drawn from moisture in the air. He's setting up more across the Himalayas and in the Swiss Alps.