Himalayas science of the minds Note: Video hosted on Google.com Buddhism asks the fundamental question: What is life and what is the point of existence? Wade Davis goes on an anthropological and spiritual journey into the Himalayas of Nepal to learn the deepest lesson of Buddhist practice. Parts of this documentary feature H.H.Trulshik Rinpoche and Matthieu Ricard. A journey to the ancient Inca's sacred Andean peaks, wayfinders in Polynesia, a spiritual odyssey in the Himalayas of Nepal and vanishing ice's impact on Inuit life in the Arctic are all explored by Canada's only National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis in the four-part documentary series "Light at The Edge of The World" airing weekly, beginning February 7, 2007 on the National Geographic Channel.
"You know, the year that I was born, there were six thousand languages spoken on earth," says anthropologist and ethnobotanist Wade Davis, at the beginning of the 90th Parallel's four part series Light at the Edge of the World.
"And of the six thousand languages spoken on earth, fully half aren't being taught to children, which means, that effectively, unless something changes, they're dead."
"Half of humanity's repertoire will be lost in a generation or twoâ¦an unprecedented pace of change.
I don't think this has to happen."- Wade Davis
Of immovable objects I am the Himalayas....
 Map Himalaya The population, settlement, and economic patterns within the Himalayas have been greatly influenced by the variations in topography and climate, which impose harsh living conditions and tend to restrict movement and communication. People living in remote, isolated valleys have generally preserved their cultural identities. However, improvements in transportation and communication, particularly satellite television programs from Europe and the United States, are bringing access from the outside world to remote valleys. These outside influences are affecting traditional social and cultural structure.
Nearly 40 million people inhabit the Himalayas. Generally, Hindus of Indian heritage are dominant in the Sub-Himalayas and the Middle Himalayan valleys from eastern Kashmīr to Nepal. To the north Tibetan Buddhists inhabit the Great Himalayas from Ladakh to northeast India. In central Nepal, in an area between about 1,830 and 2,440 m (between about 6,000 and 8,000 ft), the Indian and Tibetan cultures have  Mount Everest The economy of the Himalayas as a whole is poor with low per capita income. Much of the Himalayas area is characterized by a very low economic growth rate combined with a high rate of population growth, which contributes to stagnation in the already low level of per capita gross national product. Most of the population is dependent on agriculture, primarily subsistence agriculture; modern industries are lacking. Mineral resources are limited. The Himalayas has major hydroelectric potential, but the development of hydroelectric resources requires outside capital investment. The skilled labor needed to organize and manage development of natural resources is also limited due to low literacy rates. Most of the Himalayan communities face malnutrition, a shortage of safe drinking water, and poor health services and education systems.
Agricultural land is concentrated in the TarÄi plain and in the valleys of the Middle Himalayas. Patches of agricultural land have also been carved out in the mountainous forested areas. Rice is the principal crop in eastern TarÄi and the well-watered valleys. Corn is also an important rain-fed crop on the hillsides. Other cereal crops are wheat, millet, barley, and buckwheat. Sugarcane, tea, oilseeds, and potatoes are other major crops. Food production in the Himalayas has not kept up with the population growth.
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