Green Options

Bolivia’s Chacaltaya Glacier, once known as the world’s highest ski run at 17,388 feet, has completely melted away, serving as a vivid example of the effects of climate change on the glaciers around the globe.

“Chacaltaya has disappeared. It no longer exists.” - Dr. Edson Ramirez, Institute of Hydraulics and Hydrology at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres

A new grass mouse was discovered in the high altitude mountain forests of Peru.

A Peruvian company that makes beer from coca leaves now has plans to export its product to countries like China, Venezuela, and South Africa.

The company making the beer is a supporter of the National Confederation of Coca Farmers, a group that advocates for more organized production of coca plants. The beer is named Apu, and is already sold in southeastern cities of Peru like Cusco, the well-known gateway city to legendary Machu Picchu.

But wait… don’t draw any conclusions yet. According to the source of this information, the online news source Living in Peru, spokespeople for the group say “The goal is to demonstrate that coca leaves are not cocaine…the plant should be industrialized to avoid the production of cocaine.”

While Peru’s long strip of coastal desert is not as well-known by foreigners as are Peru’s mountain highlands and lush tropical rainforests, it has enticed the interest of climate change researchers who are investigating why this part of Peru is strangely getting colder, while the rest of the world is heating up.

Climate change effects such as this one aren’t unique to the coastal area of Peru– in fact they are now becoming the norm across the country’s ecologically diverse regions.

To better understand why Peru’s coast has become colder, an international team of researchers commenced work this week on a research project in the Pacific Ocean off of Peru’s coast.  They are using a variety of equipment, such as a satellite-controlled submarine, to collect data from the atmosphere and ocean. During the research, they also hope to learn more about the infamous and periodic El Nino and La Nina climate occurrences.