logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2019
14m 12s

The world's "Third Pole" is melting away...

TED
About this episode

The Hindu Kush Himalaya region is the world's third-largest repository of ice, after the North and South Poles -- and if current melting rates continue, one-third of its glaciers could be gone by the end of this century. What will happen if we let them melt away? Environmentalist and former Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay shares the latest from the "water towers of Asia," making an urgent call to create an intergovernmental agency to protect the glaciers -- and save the nearly two billion people downstream from catastrophic flooding that would destroy land and livelihoods.**

Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Yesterday
In defense of hip-hop | Roland Fryer
Hip-hop often gets blamed for its controversial lyrics. What if there was a way to actually measure its impact on people's lives? Analyzing 40 years' worth of radio station data and lyrics from rappers like Tupac, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar, economist Roland Fryer puts one ... Show More
13m 49s
Feb 1
Sunday Pick: How to think critically about history — and why it matters (w/ David Ikard)
Have you ever recalled a story only to have someone point out "that's not how it went"? Well, what happens when what we misrepresent are our historical narratives? David Ikard is a Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies at Vanderbilt University. In this episode, he ta ... Show More
30m 20s
Jan 31
The language you're fluent in — but forgot how to hear | Louis VI
What if the calm you feel when you hear birdsong isn't a coincidence, but ancient evolutionary wiring ... a signal that once meant safety? Musical ecologist and rapper Louis VI says humans are hardwired to nature's sonic language, but modern life has drowned it out. He explores h ... Show More
18m 54s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2023
The Race To Protect Millions Of People From Melting Glaciers
Melting glaciers are leaving behind large, unstable lakes that can cause dangerous flash floods. Millions of people downstream are threatened. In today's episode, NPR Climate Desk reporter Rebecca Hersher and producer Ryan Kellman take Short Wave co-host Emily Kwong to a communit ... Show More
14m 33s
Jun 2022
The climate tipping points
The melting of polar ice sheets, the collapse of the Amazon rainforest, the seizing up of ocean circulation - these are just some of the calamities we risk bringing about through our unabated carbon emissions. Each of these tipping points on its own could have dire consequences f ... Show More
50m 19s
Oct 2022
Svalbard’s climate change fight
Svalbard is the fastest warming place on earth. Deep inside the Arctic Circle, it is home to the world’s northernmost settlement, Longyearbyen, which is estimated to be heating at six times the global average. People living here have a front row seat for the climate crisis - melt ... Show More
26m 28s
Aug 2023
The famine at the edge of the ocean
Madagascar is experiencing its worst famine for over 30 years. With successive years of drought, this began in the country’s deep south but as successive cyclones hit Madagascar in 2022 and 2023, people in the south-east are now also suffering from food insecurity. The United Nat ... Show More
50m 11s
Jan 2022
Wednesday 1/5/22 - Antartica's 'Doomsday Glacier' Part II
<p>Today is Part II on the Thwaites "Doomsday Glacier" in Antartica. We get into Baba Vanga's predictions for 2022, the role fossil fuels have in melting the glacier, comparing it to the Yellowstone Supervolcano, and more.</p><br /><p>You can find every episode of this show on Ap ... Show More
20m 57s
Nov 2021
Geoengineering The Planet
Geoengineering is already underway from Australia to the Arctic as scientists try to save places threatened by global heating. It’s time for a global conversation about how we research these powerful techniques, with agreements on how and where to deploy them. Global temperature ... Show More
27m 29s
May 2024
Assignment: The Caspian crisis
The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world. Bordered by Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan it spans 371,000 square kilometres and bridges Europe and Central Asia. It’s fed mainly by Russia’s Volga and Ural rivers and the sea is not only ri ... Show More
28m 20s