It’s probably not the first thing
on YOUR to-do list, but to some folks in Deqen, a Tibetan village in the Eastern Himalayas, a campaign has started to
save the blossom of the snow lotus. The cottony, white flower is used in Tibetan medicine and snapped up by the burlap
bagloads by airy-minded tourists coming to seek enlightenment. And as a result, the pressures on this poor, wee flower
are such that they are growing less and less common, and perhaps on the brink of extinction.
In this
satisfying little story on NPR, the
expeditions crew takes us to the far reaches of the earth to learn a little more about a flower you probably
didn’t even know existed. These NPR segments in far-off places are always enjoyable. Not a bad way to start the
week.