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Daniel C. Taylor (born June 26, 1945) is an American scholar and practitioner of social change, with notable achievements in community-led conservation and global education. He also recognized as giving a definitive explanation for the century-old Yeti (or Abominable Snowman) mysteries. [1]
In the words of Wade Davis, Taylor's method was shown around Mount Everest in “the creation of a nature preserve, not administered by distant bureaucrats but protected by the people who dwelt within its boundaries. It was a bold idea, so novel that at every meeting Daniel was able to increase the size” [2] until trans-border protection resulted for the entire Mount Everest and central Himalayan region.
Taylor is President of Future Generations University which he founded. He has established twelve nonprofit organizations, ten still thrive, five are in the US. From 1993 to 2002, he was also a Senior Associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
He was knighted Suprabala-Gorkha-Dakshina-Bahu in Nepal in 1990, [3] made the first Honorary Professor of Quantitative Ecology by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1995, and decorated with the Order of the Golden Ark by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 2004. [4]
Bill McKibben encapsulates his work, “The most interesting development expert I’ve ever met is a West Virginian named Daniel Taylor …. His mantra, based on a series of principles called SEED-SCALE, goes like this: Forget big plans. Development is not a product, not a target, not some happy future state … it’s a process, measured not in budgets but in how we invest our human energy.” [5]
His theoretical work on social change, SEED-SCALE, mentioned above by McKibben, was launched by then UNICEF Executive Director James P. Grant, resulted in a first major publication in 1995, [6] a second in 2002, [7] a third in 2012. [8] ), and a fourth in 2016 [9] The basic concept is that ‘seeds’ of human success exist in every community, even those considered destitute, and from these seeds fitted to local culture, resources, and ecology can be ‘scaled up’ grown both a rising quality of life and also extension out toward equitable improvement for all. [10]
In education, Taylor explored experiential education during his twenty years leading The Mountain Institute. With Future Generations University an accredited master's degree was started now extending to 40 countries. [11]
In conservation, Taylor pioneered a method for community-based conservation that protects areas first by using political boundaries then within these environmental criteria to create management zones, a less costly, less confrontational approach within the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. [12] In the US, his efforts integrated private land with public lands near Spruce Knob the summit of West Virginia. With the Green Long March in China, an environmental educational consortium was created with 50 Chinese universities. [13]
In the Himalaya, his conservation initiatives include trans-border conservation between China and Nepal with a seven million acre initiative around Mount Everest in Nepal the (Makalu-Barun National Park and adjoining in Tibet/China Qomolangma national nature preserve. In eastern Tibet Autonomous Region, he and co-worker Chun-Wuei Su Chien led in establishing the Lalu Wetlands National Nature Preserve in Lhasa, at 1,600 acres, now a region completely surrounded by the city of Lhasa. [14] Additionally, he led in setting up a range of community conservation initiatives in Arunachal Pradesh, India. [15]
For the enigmatic maker of mysterious tracks in Himalayan snows, the yeti, after three decades of field research he was able to show ‘the abominable snowman’ to be the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) which in its early life years spends time in trees and develops a “thumb-like” digit on its paw that then can make an overprint of hind paw onto front creating a human-looking, bipedal-like snowprint. [16] [17]
In 2016, Taylor published an analysis of all Yeti literature, giving added evidence to the (Ursusthibetanus) explanation of Yeti legends. Importantly, this book from Oxford University gave a meticulous explanation for the iconic Yeti footprint photographed by Eric Shipton in 1950. To complete this explanation, Taylor also located a never-before published photograph of that print that included bear nail marks. [18]
Additionally, Taylor has an interest in building innovative physical structures—a diversity of structures modifying the Mongolian yurt, two homebuilt airplanes (Varieze and Defiant), super-insulated homes and offices, electrical wind generators, and restoration of historic structures from an 1845 gristmill in West Virginia to three monasteries in Tibet.
Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā and Khangchendzonga, is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at 8,586 m (28,169 ft) in a section of the Himalayas, the Kangchenjunga Himal, which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and in the east by the Teesta River. It lies in the border region between Koshi Province of Nepal and Sikkim state of India, with the two peaks West and Kangbachen in Nepal's Taplejung District and the other three peaks Main, Central and South directly on the border.
The Himalayas, or Himalaya is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 peaks exceeding elevations of 7,200 m (23,600 ft) above sea level lie in the Himalayas.
The Yeti is an ape-like creature purported to inhabit the Himalayan mountain range in Asia. In Western popular culture, the creature is commonly referred to as the Abominable Snowman. Many dubious articles have been offered in an attempt to prove the existence of the Yeti, including anecdotal visual sightings, disputed video recordings, photographs, and plaster casts of large footprints. Some of these are speculated or known to be hoaxes.
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt. From 1985 to 1988 he served as New Zealand's High Commissioner to India and Bangladesh and concurrently as Ambassador to Nepal.
The Sherpas are one of the Tibetan ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal and Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. The term sherpa derives from the Tibetan-language words shar and pa, which refer to their geographical origin in eastern Tibet (Kham).
The Himalayan black bear is a subspecies of the Asian black bear. It is distinguished from U. t. thibetanus by its longer, thicker fur and smaller, whiter chest mark. The species is considered an ecological indicator and a keystone species of the environment. The species plays a vital role as a primary seed disperser in maintaining the stability of the ecosystem. On average, they measure from 56 to 65 inches nose to tail and weigh from 200 to 265 pounds, though they may weigh as much as 400 pounds in the fall, when they are fattening up for hibernation.
Helena Norberg-Hodge is founder and director of Local Futures, previously known as the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC). Local Futures is a non-profit organization "dedicated to the revitalization of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide."
Makalu Barun National Park is a national park in the Himalayas of Nepal that was established in 1992 as the eastern extension of Sagarmatha National Park. It is the world's only protected area with an elevation gain of more than 8,000 m (26,000 ft) enclosing tropical forest as well as snow-capped peaks. It covers an area of 1,500 km2 (580 sq mi) in the Solukhumbu and Sankhuwasabha districts, and is surrounded by a bufferzone to the south and southeast with an area of 830 km2 (320 sq mi).
The Himalayan brown bear, also known as the Himalayan red bear or isabelline bear, is a subspecies of the brown bear occurring in the western Himalayas. It is the largest mammal in the region, males reaching up to 2.2 m long, while females are a little smaller. It is omnivorous and hibernates in dens during the winter.
The Mountain Institute (TMI) is an international non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., and operates regional field offices in the Andes, Appalachians, and Himalayas. Respectively, these are the longest, the oldest, and the tallest mountain ranges in the world. TMI is the sole organization dedicated to conservation and development in mountain regions.
The Himalayan pika is a species of small mammal in the pika family (Ochotonidae). It is found at high altitudes in remote areas of Ladakh, Uttarakhand and possibly also in Nepal &Tibet. The IUCN has listed this species as being of "least concern".
The Alpine musk deer is a musk deer species native to the eastern Himalayas in Nepal, Bhutan and India to the highlands of Tibet.
Carl Ernest Taylor, MD, DrPH founder of the academic discipline of international health who dedicated his life to the well-being of the world's marginalized people. He was the founding chair of the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He was a key contributor to the Alma Ata Declaration. At the age of 88, this energetic man assumed the challenging position as Country Director for the nonprofit organization Future Generations Afghanistan where he led innovative field-based activities until age 90. He worked in over 70 countries and had students from more than 100 countries. He was actively leading his class at Johns Hopkins up until a week before his death.
The Sunkoshi, also spelt Sunkosi, is a river that is part of the Koshi or Saptkoshi River system in Nepal. Sunkoshi has two source streams, one that arises within Nepal in Choukati, and the other more significant stream that flows in from Nyalam County in the Tibet region of China. The latter is called Bhote Koshi in Nepal and Matsang Tsangpo in Tibet. Due to the significant flows from Bhote Koshi, the Sun Koshi river basin is often regarded as a trans-border river basin.
Future Generations University is a private online graduate school headquartered in Franklin, West Virginia. It offers one degree program, a Master of Arts in Applied Community Development. Future Generations grew out of Future Generations, a non-governmental organization that began in the early 1990s in response to a UNICEF sponsored review of community-based initiatives worldwide.
The Qomolangma National Nature Preserve (QNNP), also known as the Chomolungma Nature Reserve (QNP), is a protected area 3.381 million hectares in size in the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. Located on the Roof of the World, the QNNP was one of the first nature preserves in the world to be administered and protected entirely by local volunteers. Through their continued efforts, significant achievements have been made in halting rampant deforestation, unregulated tourism and illegal hunting of rare wildlife in the Qomolangma region. Active reforestation and garbage collection programs have also been undertaken to restore the environment.
SEED-SCALE describes a comprehensive theory of social change sometimes also categorized as social development theory. SEED-SCALE can be used both to tell how to implement change and/or it can be used to analyze social change. SEED-SCALE focuses on human energy as the primary currency that causes people to change their behaviors.
The 1951 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition ran between 27 August 1951 and 21 November 1951 with Eric Shipton as leader.
The Mount Everest climbing season of 2017 began in spring with the first climbers reaching the top on May 11, from the north side. The first team on the south side reached the top on May 15. By early June, reports from Nepal indicated that 445 people had made it to the summit from the Nepali side. Reports indicate 160–200 summits on the north side, with 600–660 summiters overall for early 2017. This year had a roughly 50% success rate on that side for visiting climbers, which was down from other years. By 2018, the figure for the number of summiters of Everest was refined to 648. This includes 449 which summited via Nepal and 120 from Chinese Tibet.
Bioresilience refers to the ability of a whole species or an individual of a species to adapt to change. Initially the term applied to changes in the natural environment, but increasingly it is also used for adaptation to anthropogenically induced change.