Switzerland’s glacier blanket highlights differences in global response to climate change
Ice cave facilities and ski resorts in Switzerland are covering glaciers with blankets (called geotextiles) to slow the melting in a warming world.Although geotextiles have been shown to be partially effective in slowing down glacier melting, they have been criticized as expensive, Unscalable and unfairly demonstrate the various ways communities have responded to climate change.
A researcher is standing in front of the Rhone Glacier, covered with geotextile to prevent it from melting faster.Source: Matthias Hus
The geotextile is made of synthetic material and covers a part of the glacier. In the warm summer, it reflects the energy of the sun to isolate the thick winter snow.According to a learn Published in the journal Cold Technology Earlier this year, this technology could slow the melting of ice by 50%, which would allow for a longer travel season and delay the eventual demise of the glaciers on which tourism relies. As this effectiveness is widely recognized, the area of the Swiss Alps covered by geotextiles has doubled in the past seven years. The use of geotextiles is also quite simple. Compared with other methods of reducing melting, less infrastructure, energy and water are required, especially for artificial snowmaking.
However, in an interview with GlacierHub, the co-author of the study and Glaciologist Matthias Hus of the University of Zurich admitted that geotextiles have their limitations. When it decomposes, plastic can pollute waterways and accumulate downstream, harming flora and fauna. Studies have found that if the use of geotextiles is expanded to a large area, these effects may be harmful to the local ecosystem. Geotextiles are not cheap either. According to this study, covering the 1,000 largest glaciers in Switzerland will cost approximately US$1.5 billion per year.
Although geotextiles have proven to be an effective local technology in parts of Switzerland, they have always faced criticism. Currently, geotextiles cover several square kilometers of the Rhône Glacier, which is home to a popular ice cave in Switzerland. In the most recent one named “shroud,” Two photographers Simon Norfolk and Klaus Thymann lit up the geotextiles on the glacier and took a series of photos to explore the futility of covering these natural phenomena with blankets. This effect is unforgettable and disturbingly displayed. This is an attempt by humans to rescue the glacier from the seemingly inevitable situation. In one photo, the geotextile is shaped into a sharp layer of ice, creating the illusion of a looming villain wearing a hood— —The person of the same name in the exhibition.
The practice of covering glaciers with geotextiles also highlights the financial gap, which allows one country to mitigate the impact of climate change but not another country. For example, in the Himalayas, the use of geotextiles is impractical because the glaciers are located at much higher altitudes than the European Alps. Miriam Jackson, project coordinator of the Cryosphere Initiative International Mountain Comprehensive Development Center, Told GlacierHub in an interview. She added that covering the glacier with geotextiles will be a daunting task, requiring a lot of human and financial resources, which are already limited in these communities.
Gomukh is the end of the Gangotri Glacier, one of the largest glaciers in the Himalayas. It takes a long journey to reach it. It is 13,200 feet above sea level. Source: Pranab basak/Wikimedia Commons
Geotextiles are an example of adaptation-trying to mitigate the effects of climate change. Jackson explained that although the promise of reducing emissions continues to fail, adaptation and adaptation to the effects of climate change will become more and more necessary for countries with insufficient resources. “In the future, we will see more adaptation than relief. People will have to adapt.”
Despite the limitations of geotextiles, Huss understands why they are becoming more and more popular. “The local community fully understands the benefits of this technology. They just want to save their business, save the little piece of ice they have left. Geotextiles are never meant to save all the glaciers in the world,” he said. He added that communicating the difference between small-scale and large-scale solutions for glacier retreat is a challenge for distant audiences and often confused in the media. “People will read an article about the glacier blanket and think that this is all you need to do to protect the glacier. But this is not the case. The glacier blanket is not scalable. A scalable solution is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Huss concluded that geotextile symbolizes that climate change is a battle too big to fight alone. “It will be more economical to use all the funds invested in geotextiles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which will have a wider impact on the world. It is clear that climate change can only be solved as a global community.”
