John Muir wrote: “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is like going home; that wildness is a necessity.”

For most of my life, the mountains have been my sanctuary, my solace, my grounding realm that keeps my head physically in the clouds, but my psyche on the ground, humbled by the vast immensity and majestic power the high country.

But the power of the mountains is not infinite: their jagged heights belie a fragile interior that provides in abundance, but also needs protection.

More than ever, the mountains are under threat. Climate change is shrinking glaciers, parching forests, choking rivers, and stunting the ability for mountains, mountain ecosystems, and mountain peoples to thrive.

And their demise is all of ours, for the reality of the high country ultimately becomes the reality of the low country – everything flows downhill.

It’s time to push the world community to recognize the role mountains play in all our lives, and their frailty to the ravages of climate change.

Please, if you haven’t yet, sign the petition to urge the United Nations to include mountains in the new UNFCCC COP21 climate deal.

If you have already signed, thank you, and please share this or your own post with your friends.