Reasons

Reasons

MGSG officers and members were asked, "Why study mountains?" This is what they said:

"I study mountains as a military geographer because the key/critical terrain that orogenesis creates allows ethnoreligious minorities to defend themselves against far larger groups of people. Understanding these processes gives us a better understanding of ethnic conflict and how to resolve them." Logan Bolan, Master of Science in Geospatial Intelligence Student, University of Maryland (posted 11/2023).  

"My fascination with mountains began in childhood. I was born in 1944 in the Midwest, but my family’s summer trips to Colorado introduced me to the mountain world.  My father, who grew up in Manitou Springs, took me on mountain treks and recounted his own alpine adventures as a Boy Scout. I reveled in those mountain summers and poured over relevant topo sheets and geologic folios.  As an undergraduate geography major in Omaha, I was thrilled to discover Peattie’s Mountain Geography, Karan’s Nepal, etc. Phenomenologically, I became “at home” in the mountains — and that feeling has never lessened throughout subsequent wanderings in urban geography and library studies in dusty archives.  It is fundamental for me, still living in the Midwest, to know viscerally that mountains exist, and to know that there are geographers who take mountains seriously and whose writings nurture my continuing interest in alpine realms." Michael R. Hill, Associate Director, Jane Addams Research Center, St. Joseph, MI (posted 12/2022).  

"Mountains are the womb for learning birth of rivers, plains, and even oceans. They are the abode of unique landscape and ecology and provides an environment to build a peculiar society. These societies are sparse and secluded, making them closely associated with mountain flora and fauna. Moreover, as the terrain changes, the societies' knowledge also changes. It provides diverse information for a resilient, sustainable life in the mountains. But due to the recent climate changes, mountain societies have become vulnerable. Issues like migration have developed ghost villages, one of the many problems in the Himalayan regions of India. Likewise, several other societal and nature-based problems of exploitation and mismanagement need solutions-based research. Thus, we must study mountains and recognize their unique topographical and societal structures for sustainable development." - Lavanya Gupta, Research Scholar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India (posted 12/2022).

"It is difficult to conceive of landscapes where opportunities for geographic understanding are as great, and as urgently needed, as in mountains of the world. Mountains of diverse origin, climate, and cultures cover approximately 24 percent of the land surface on Earth. Twenty percent of the population in the world resides in mountains or at the edge of mountains. Many mountain landscapes are unstable because of biophysical and socioeconomic factors, experiencing change that defies understanding and prediction. Complex feedbacks affect mountains. For instance, uplift drives climate change, and highlands are also especially susceptible to the consequences of climate change (e.g., melting glaciers, degradation of alpine permafrost, shifting ecosystems, soil erosion, etc.). The physical and human environment changes rapidly over short distances; horizontal and vertical boundaries are the first to be affected by environmental changes." - Richard A. Marston, University Distinguished Professor of Geography, Kansas State University (posted 11/2022).

"Mountains brighten my spirit and stir my sense of adventure. As an academic, mountains’ meteorological, climatological, geological, geomorphological, ecological, and philosophical complexities feed my curiosity and inspire endless research questions. I am drawn to Colorado's San Juan Mountains, which are particularly sensitive to climate change, interact with the North American Monsoon, are teleconnected to anthropogenic disturbances on the Colorado Plateau, and store ice remnants in hundreds of rock glaciers. I study how warm season precipitation interacts with the complex Colorado mountainscape. In my teaching, I follow the experiential learning ethos of geographer Dr. Mel Marcus’ (1929 - 1997): For over 20 years, I have led groups of students to Silverton, Colorado to study snow and ice and to arm-wave all-things-mountain." - Brandon Vogt, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Colorado Springs (posted 7/2022).