Tibet Archives - Sky's Blog

The Buddha gets ready for ski season

sky — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:00:48 +0000

Wow — I was flying down some intermediate (meaning “easy”) alpine ski run at Squaw Valley early this year when I noticed a pair of colorful skis flashing in front of me. At the top of the lift I stopped the guy who was wearing them and inquired because I noticed they were branded Lhasa skis and had a drawing of the Potola Palace on their tail.

Hmm… Tibet, mountains, snow… very cool, and this looked like fun. These are fat (also phat^[1]) skis in two senses — first, they are wide and work well in deep snow and conditions where there’s piles of snow all over the runs — and second, phat in the sense that they’d let you ski with great exhiliration and joy all over the slopes in varying conditions.

Pat Keane^[2], CEO of PMGear (he is also known as Splat), who manufactures the ski, said (in a comment he made on backcountry.com): “I feel sustainability is a symptom of bigger issues and that the non-biodegradability of skis is as a big a problem, if not bigger.” … “Certainly, all the micrososmic contributions add up but, personally, for me, an old hippie, I’d rather make a ski that might actually raise consciousness so the token efforts to appear to be mitigating the world’s problems and appeasing those who would settle for such small contributions become more widely held views. The Lhasa Pow is such a ski. We wanted to raise awareness of Chinese oppression in Tibet and at the same time protest Chinese-made skis, the carbon footprints of which are far greater than US made skis.” … “Skis are exceptionally non-biodegradable. They are wood (and metal) surrounded by fiberglass, resin and plastic sidewalls, bases and topsheets. But in the whole circle of how skis and boards impact our world, there is much to be done, starting with perceptions and impressions.” … “I think it is important that consumers look at the big picture of perceptions and awareness. Such large scale big-picture trends could prove every bit as valuable, if not more, than making entire skis and boards out of recycled household garbage.”

What’s it say on his helmet in that photo? Die Living! W00h00, that’s the extreme skier’s mantra, isn’t it? Pat and I met the day of the public memorial for extreme skier Shane McConkey (at Squaw).

[1] phat: Great, awesome, the best, super-duper. (from slangsite)

[2] PMGear video on YouTube – the ski I saw on the slope was the Lhasa Pow – BRO 186

Disclosure: I have not skied these skis, and have no connection to PMGear in any way – this was just an interesting encounter.

The post The Buddha gets ready for ski season appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Silence is…

sky — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:52:16 +0000

Silence is… well, it’s just amazing that a modern industrialized, developing and supposedly participatory country could jail hundreds (or thousands) of dissidents in order to keep them from speaking in public. And in contravention of principles of religious freedom (which, incidentally, is not guaranteed in China).

Tibetan monasteries empty as China jails monks to silence Olympic protests in TimesOnline UK

“Chinese authorities tightened security around Tibet’s main monasteries and banned visits to a sacred site on the edge of the capital, Lhasa, for fear of a fresh outburst of unrest on the Dalai Lama’s birthday.

“Few monks remain, however, in the province’s three most important monasteries. Many have disappeared, their whereabouts a mystery. Chinese officials have deployed troops and paramilitary police around the ancient religious institutions, suspecting these sprawling hillside communities are at the heart of the unrest that has swept the region since early March.”

Seems to me that the theory must be that silencing protest during the Olympic Games is intended to remove it from the world’s stage (Shakespeare “All the world’s a stage…”) at a time when China is receiving increased attention – but it certainly will backfire because it is happening at a time when China is center-stage, and even after the restraints are removed, it will keep China center-stage in the human rights spotlight for a longer time.

This report has naught to do with electronic media, networks or technology. It’s just unfortunate to see how governments deal with the things that embarrass those in power by muzzling the mouths (and sometimes the bodies) of those who disagree with the powerful.

The post Silence is… appeared first on Sky's Blog.

George Patterson – rode across the Himalayas in 1949

sky — Wed, 28 May 2008 08:27:10 +0000

In an article on MountEverest.net (“by climbers”), you can read about George Patterson, who rode in the Himalayas in 1949, and met the Dalai Lama, and continues at age 90 to be a prominent Tibet supporter.

Rather than try to excerpt here, I will simply direct you to the original article. He rode across the Himalayas in the winter of 1949: George Patterson’s final contribution to the people of Tibet. This is an extensive and interesting article. Read it!

The post George Patterson – rode across the Himalayas in 1949 appeared first on Sky's Blog.

A Story About Life, Death, and Rebirth – Jane Bay

sky — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:20:31 +0000

No time is more apt than right now for me to post an audio interview I conducted a few months ago. The time is apt because of what’s happening in Tibet over the past two weeks (best reports are at the BBC – search for Tibet). During most of its human history, Tibet was an isolated and difficult-to-reach high plateau, which only remotely came under the influence or control of the Mongols or the Chinese from time to time. The Dalai Lamas were in fact assigned their name and governmental role by Mongol overlords around 1578.

Tibet only “opened up” to the non-Asian world in mid-twentieth century. My introduction was via Lowell Thomas Jr.’s book Out of this World (published in 1950 – I will have more to say about the book elsewhere). And I read this book when I was a teenager in middle America, some time after Tibet was occupied by the Chinese army and just before the 14th Dalai Lama went into exile in India. The Chinese government claims that Tibet has always been a part of China. Those of us who have come into contact with Tibetan people know them as hard-working and dedicated, open and welcoming, and will never forget our encounters.

Last year I met Jane Bay. Jane has worked within the film industry for some time, and Jane came to know Tibet thru some interesting events – but most directly because she sponsored and adopted a Tibetan refugee daughter. Initially her daughter, Namgyal, lived at the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala, India, but due to circumstances and political pressure she moved back to Tibet. And Jane lost touch with her. This story is told in Jane’s first book, Precious Jewels of Tibet.

But that wasn’t the only loss in their relationship. Jane regained contact with Namgyal, in Tibet, where her daughter was studying traditional Tibetan medicine. And they began to plan a life-long relationship in which Namgyal would be able to move back and forth between Tibet and the US, observing the traditional and the modern in all its variation.

But it was not to be. In 2003, Namgyal suddenly died. Arising out of Jane’s shock and grief, and based on exchanges of email that she had with friends, she wrote a book Love & Loss: A Story About Life, Death, and Rebirth. In this book she chronicles the email exchanges she had following the death of her adopted Tibetan daughter in 2003. Far from being impersonal, the email exchange turned deeply touching and intimate. Technology ended up being the enabler that allowed Jane to move thru a time of crisis. And to share that story with others.

I interview Jane Bay.