Photos of beautiful people who are losing so much of what makes them beautiful
Photojournalist Sean Gallagher visited the Tibetan Plateau to take pictures of the natural and cultural beauty of the region. And it seems he got there just in time. Catch a glimpse of what Gallagher saw below.
For a little context, the Tibetan Plateau is like a climate controller for basically the entire Asian continent. But climate change is throwing off the whole system and making it harder to live for Tibetans like those of this nomadic herding community.
And to make matters worse, the Chinese government — which forcefully invaded Tibet in 1950 (but that's a whole other story) — is forcing tens of thousands of these people off the land they've roamed and inhabited for 5,000 years and into stagnant prefab towns where earning a living and preserving their culture are growing challenges. They say it's to restore the ecology of the region by giving it a break from livestock grazing, but they don't have science to back it up.
What we do know is that China's rapid industrial growth has pushed them to the top of the list on global carbon emissions (the U.S. is #2), and they don't show any real signs of slowing down. We also know that Tibet is a very resource-rich land.
This is a lot to process, but the point here is ... come on, really?