Peru is in need of adaptation strategies in order to be prepared for the day when the country can no longer depend on the glaciers as a source of water for agriculture, the ecosystem and for human consumption.  Some of the researchers were studying the water systems to better understand how much water comes from the glaciers, how it travels through the landscape, how much of it becomes ground water and how long it is available in the landscape.  Other researchers were studying the availability of groundwater because Peru has not historically made use of groundwater resources, and this is an area for development in order to adapt to climate change.  Another part of the research group studied lake sediments by taking cores of the mud and silt at the bottom of the lakes that form under the retreating glaciers.  This sediment can be analyzed in order to understand the climate conditions 3,000 – 15,000 years ago.  Understanding the climates of the past can aid in creating more accurate predictions of future climate.   There were two researchers whose focus was community interviews to learn from the rural Andean people the impacts of climate change that they perceive upon their agriculture and livelihoods.  I also learned that these kinds of impacts will not just occur in Peru, but will be repeated in a much larger scale in the river deltas on either side of the Himalayan Mountains.  The water from these glaciers feeds the Ganges river delta into India and the on the other side feeds rivers in Southern China.  These are some of the most populous countries in the world.  Dual pronged action is needed: Developed and developing countries need to drastically cut emissions of greenhouse gasses and the countries who will be facing the impacts that are already here need to find strategies to adapt. 

During the journey, I made photographs of the landscapes, the research activities, and I staged photographs using props that I brought along.  For example, I brought a bag of foam letters and used these to put the questions being posed by the research into the landscape and photographed these.  I also used the letters to spell out in the landscape the uncertainties that Peru will face as less and less water originates from glacier melt in the future.  I also used a glass bowl full of water, through which I photographed the Cordillera Blanca, individual glaciers, and water resources like streams and glacial melt water lakes. To view two of my staged photographs, visit my Facebook fan page, which is newly created, and while you are there, I invite you to become a fan.  I will be posting work in progress on my fan page and there is a discussion forum there where I invite you to post feedback, comments and questions.   (link to Ivana Damien George on Facebook)  I encourage you to share my fan page with your friends on Facebook as well. I am looking forward to a one-semester sabbatical starting January 2010, and during the sabbatical, I will create a body of photomontages from the images that I made in Peru.  I plan to seek exhibition venues in both the USA and in Peru, in both art and science venues.  If any of you have suggestions for appropriate venues, please contact me.