Message from Bridge To Bhutan – Vote Earth!

Vote Earth! Switch Off Your Lights For Earth Hour

Earth Hour Logo by Earth Hour Global. 

Dear Friends of Bridge To Bhutan:

Here in Bhutan, we are exactly one hour away from observing the Earth Hour 2009.

From melting glaciers to increasingly intense weather patterns, we know that climate change is already impacting life on our planet.

On Saturday, March 28, 2009, at 8:30 pm, Bridge To Bhutan will take part in Earth Hour – the world’s largest global climate change event. By simply turning out all non-essential lighting for one hour at our company buildings and in our own homes, we will join tens of millions of concerned citizens throughout the world in calling for action to save our planet for future generations.

We’d like to encourage you, one of our valued visitors, to join us in this important and inspiring effort.   

Led by the World Wildlife Fund, more than 50 million people in 370 cities around the world took part in Earth Hour last year. The lights went out at Sydney’s Opera House, Rome’s Coliseum, the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge. Even the Google homepage went dark for the day.

This year, Earth Hour will be even bigger. It’s true that the effort may not seem significant in the developing countries, including Bhutan, where the luxury of having lights is a rarity; people can still make a difference.

It’s the gesture that matters! Let’s do what we can in support of this timely effort. Spread the awareness!

Around the world, cities large and small have said they’ll participate with more signing up daily. They will join international cities such as Beijing, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, New York, Paris, Rome, and Toronto. So far 2,140 cities, towns and municipalities in 82 countries have already committed to VOTE EARTH as part of the world’s first global election between Earth and global warming. So if you’re traveling or flying and all of sudden, all the lights go out for an hour (the Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge and Sydney’s Opera House are a few of the participating landmarks around the world) – don’t be alarmed. It’s just Earth Hour.

To get a better sense of the magnitude and inspiring nature of the event, take a moment to watch WWF’s video about Earth Hour 2009:

Participating in Earth Hour is easy, fun and absolutely free. To get more information and to sign up to for Earth Hour 2009, just visit www.earthhour.org (choose your country) and agree to turn out your lights from 8:30-9:30 pm on March 28, 2009. If you are in Bhutan or any other developing countries not listed on the site, you can still make a difference by turning off your lights for an hour at the same time.

Energy efficiency isn’t just good for the bottom line. As citizens of the world, we all have a stake in the future of our planet and must seek to operate in ways that don’t deplete our world’s limited natural resources.

In the weeks and months following the Earth Hour, we will continue to look at ways we can operate more efficiently, waste less and reduce our environmental footprint – not only in our own operations, but throughout our supply chain (partners and visitors). That’s because all of us here at Bridge To Bhutan care about the future of our world and want to do what we can to make a positive difference. 

We want the world to do more than just turn out lights during this historic event; we hope you’ll join us, and encourage people you know in the community to also take part and learn about global warming. Don’t forget – tonight at 8:30 pm, switch off. 

Let’s not stop here; we can do more. Let’s be conscious!

Sincerely,

Team Bridge To Bhutan

Bhutan ranked High at the Wanderlust Travel Awards 2009

Bhutan soars high at the Wanderlust Travel Awards 2009 in two categories: Top Country/Destination and Top Worldwide Airport.
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Bhutan ranked in Top 10 tourist destinations in the world
Bhutan has been ranked the fourth top tourist destination in the world by Wanderlust, an internationally recognized travel magazine based in the United Kingdom.
The Tourism Council of Bhutan has received a certificate from Wanderlust.

Bhutan also won the silver award from Wanderlust Travel Magazine in 2005 for making into the top ten tourist destinations in the world. Continue reading Bhutan ranked High at the Wanderlust Travel Awards 2009

‘Three Cups of Tea’ author finds new mountains to climb

WASHINGTON — Globe-trotting humanitarian Greg Mortenson, co-author of the best-selling memoir Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time, keeps a reminder pasted to his bathroom mirror back home in Bozeman, Mont.: “When your heart speaks, take good notes.”

Mortenson’s own heart started hollering 15 years ago, when the exhausted mountaineer lost his way in northeastern Pakistan’s untrammeled Karakoram Range. After stumbling nearly 60 miles down a glacier to the Muslim hamlet of Korphe — where he was welcomed as the first foreigner the 400 villagers had encountered — he watched local children substitute mud-coated sticks for pencils in an apricot orchard that served as their only classroom.

Inspired by his parents’ work to start a hospital and school on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, and by fellow climber Edmund Hillary’s charitable work in the Nepalese Himalayas, Mortenson promised he would return to Korphe to build a school.

But unlike most well-meaning tourists touched by encounters with Third World poverty, Mortenson delivered on his pledge. Continue reading ‘Three Cups of Tea’ author finds new mountains to climb

WHERE HAVE THE WHITE FLAKES GONE?

 

ImageMarch 01, 2009-Thimphu: The damp Thimphu weather has got into Deki, 23. For the past few days, the first thing she has been doing when she gets up in the morning is to part her window curtains and look outside. She has been disappointed all these days. 

Like Deki, many Thimphu residents are still waiting for the first snowfall of the year. Though the prime time for the snow has already passed, the damp weather of late has resurrected the hope for a snowfall.  

 

“It’s the fifth day since it started raining every afternoon but the rain is not bringing the white flakes,” Deki said.

Continue reading WHERE HAVE THE WHITE FLAKES GONE?

Buddhist answers to common questions

20 February, 2009 – Lam Shenphen Zangpo answers basic questions that every Bhutanese man, woman, and child on the street wants to know.

The recent lifting of the ban of meat sales during auspicious months raises questions about vegetarianism. Some people claim that Buddhists should not eat meat. Yet, even our lams take meat. What actually is Buddhism’s position on meat eating?
When discussing meat consumption, it is important to consider the debate in context. Buddhism is not a moral, but wisdom based path. When the Buddha rose from his seat of kusha grass under the bodhi tree, he did not intend to establish a religion called Buddhism, but instead point the way for all beings to awake to their rich, innate heritage of basic goodness. 

When we consider any Buddhist practice, we should bear this in mind. Rules of conduct are subordinate to this ultimate goal. Continue reading Buddhist answers to common questions

Nabji-Korphu’s cardamom glory days

A blight once decimated their only cash crop, now hope springs anew 

The cardamom disease left Nabji-Korphu high and dry

20 February, 2009 – A sweet fragrance of cardamom fills the air in Nabji Korphu as the evening breeze blows over the quiet village. But the cardamom story is not as sweet as its fragrance when villagers recall how their main cash crop was wiped out a decade ago.

Located at the foothills of the rugged Black Mountain range between Trongsa and Zhemgang dzongkhags, Nabji Korphu was once famous for its abundance of cardamom, claim villagers. Not anymore.

Today, acres of cardamom plantation lie overgrown with bushes and farmers, who’d grown rich on the spice, blame a disease, which dried their source of cash.

It all started in the early 1990s, say farmers. “The plant’s leaves turned yellow, wilted and died; the fruit became hard and the juice white,” said a farmer. “It was all over.”

The blight (a plant disease), which affected many cardamom growing regions, did not spare Nabji- Korphu. “Within years, villagers started working as daily wage earners for cash,” said a farmer.

Villagers said that, a decade ago, people of Nabji Korphu were fairly rich. With cardamom as their staple cash crop, almost all of the 221 households earned about Nu 20,000 to Nu 150,000 a year. Continue reading Nabji-Korphu’s cardamom glory days

10 million hazelnut to be planted in Bhutan

January 30: Over the next five years, 10 million hazelnut trees will be grown across Bhutan. This project will be undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture and Sage Private Limited, a private enterprise based in the US. The project aims to improve the livelihood of the farmers, generate employment and promote environment conservation.

A memorandum of understating for the project was signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and Sage Private Limited today. It was signed by the Agriculture Minister Lyonpo Dr. Pema Gyamtsho and Managing Partner of Sage Partners Limited, Daniel Spitzer.

Hazelnut cultivation is new in Bhutan. Except for some research trial plots in Yesepang and Khangma, currently there is no hazelnut plantation in the country. More than 20,000 acres of degraded, barren and agriculturally unproductive land all across the country will be used to cultivate hazelnut.

The Agriculture Minister Lyonpo Dr. Pema Gyamtsho said it will be a private-public partnership project. He said the project will bring in multiple benefits. Continue reading 10 million hazelnut to be planted in Bhutan

A More Humane Way to Measure Progress

How can you tell if your life is getting better? One answer is to ask a statistician. The problem, however, is that you might not like, understand or remotely identify with the answer you receive.

For much of the postwar period, statisticians have concentrated on dry, macro-economic measures to document the changes going on in societies around the world – changes in gross domestic product and international trade flows, for example. That was fine for policymakers, for whom economic growth and advances in globalisation were evidence of a job well done. But for ordinary people, measures like these were too detached from their everyday life to have real meaning, and worse, sometimes contradicted their own experience. Relentless economic growth often seemed to pass many people by; many felt life was not improving, and that globalisation was bringing notable downsides. Continue reading A More Humane Way to Measure Progress

Phobjikha’s eco-friendly electrification

19 January, 2009 – As the winter roosting ground to one of the most endangered bird species in the world, for the people of Phobjikha valley in Wangduephodrang the black-necked cranes meant living without electricity. 

Not anymore. By 2011 end, the valley of 800 households, who use solar electricity, will finally get electricity by both underground and overhead cables. The solar panels had been provided by the royal society for the protection of nature (RSPN).

The total project area covers 165 sq km and work on the 33/11 kV main sub station at Tabadin, above the Druk Seed office, will begin by March this year, said senior manager of the urban electrification division, Bhutan power corporation (BPC), Pradeep M Pradhan.

“Initially, it was totally underground but, since the cost was coming very high, we made some changes,” said Pradeep M Pradhan. “Now it’s underground only in the main valley, the crane area.” Continue reading Phobjikha’s eco-friendly electrification

The 44 Places to Go in 2009

NY Times 11th January 2009: From the Aegean Sea to Zambia, this year’s most compelling destinations are awash in sublime landscapes, cutting-edge art, gala music festivals, and stylish new resorts.

…Reaching Nirvana gets increasingly Chic. Luxurious eco-aware resorts continue to shoot up all over the tiny Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan, ensuring that well-heeled travelers never have to suffer monkish privations….Explore temples of indulgence…

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/11/travel/20090111_DESTINATIONS.html

Bridge To Bhutan specializes in customizing Boutique Travel itineraries with accomodations in the boutique resorts (‘temples of indulgence’).

Happy Travels in 2009!