The Highs and Lows of Climate Activism

The government of Nepal is going to new heights — literally — in its quest to alert the world that climate change is causing alarming glacial melt in the Himalayas. The country's cabinet announced plans to hold a meeting on Mount Everest to make its point, according to the Associated Press.

The members of the cabinet will meet at the 17,400-foot (5,300-meter) high Everest base camp, though you may be disappointed to learn they will travel there by plane instead of climbing. The meeting will occur just before world leaders meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December to discuss solutions to global warming.

The AP reports that glaciers are melting rapidly, forming lakes that threaten to flood villages. Himalayan regions like Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal are particularly at risk, but the worse the situation gets, the wider the area of concern.

This isn't the first such stunt government officials have pulled. Last month, members of the government of the Maldives had a meeting underwater to point out that the world's lowest-lying nation faces complete destruction if nothing is done to reverse climate change. Maldive President Mohamed Nasheed and colleagues sat on the ocean floor 20 feet deep in a lagoon to make their point.

Photo of vice president of the Maldives at the underwater cabinet meeting on October 17, 2009, by 350.org, via Flickr