News

University students worldwide meet for International Mountain Day

22.11.2019

Students in Colorado are leading a movement on International Mountain Day, 11 December, to bring together youth around the world on the topic of mountains. The students have organized events to gather students from Mountain Partnership members’ international mountain-focused universities to share their actions for mountains.

University students of the Center for Mountain Transitions at Western Colorado University in the U.S., headed by Professor John Hausdoerffer, are coordinating these efforts.

The day’s events focus on mountain research. Students from eight university groups, representing seven countries and five continents, will participate in a video conference to collaborate and share their thoughts and ideas. A student from each participating university will discuss the actions their group is taking to build mountains’ resilience.

Following the presentations, students will engage in open dialogue about what they have in common in their work with mountain communities and environments.

Students are encouraged to take the global conference to the local scale by spending the rest of International Mountain Day celebrating with their local community.

Students from Western Colorado University have planned a day of mountain mindfulness, service and recreation. Directly following the conference, they will spend time focusing on mountains in a present way, in what they call “mountain mindfulness”. Students will then participate with community members in mountain-focused local service projects, followed by community skiing, snowshoeing and other mountain recreation.

The Colorado students will conclude International Mountain Day activities by cohosting a mountain-project fundraiser with the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab. Proceeds will be put towards mountain-focused projects of the Center for Mountain Transitions at Western Colorado University.

The activities of all involved university students will be compiled on a common website so that anyone can see the fruits of their collaborations and festivities. The ultimate goal is to set in motion a long-term network between Mountain Partnership university members.  

News from the Center for Mountain Transitions at Western Colorado University

Photo from Jake Burchmore