20% of Swiss Glaciers Lost In Five Years
- Reference: 0185923348
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/10/02/0220226/20-of-swiss-glaciers-lost-in-five-years
- Source link:
> Matthias Huss, a glaciologist at ETH Zurich and lead author of [2]the report , said many people do not realize how fast glaciers are retreating, or that just one generation ago some now-barren sites used to sit beneath hundreds of meters of ice. The scientists have not yet compiled a formal tally of lost glaciers this year but said they had witnessed the death of a number of small ones. "I visited one last week and it's so impressive to stand in this moonlike landscape where there was a big layer of ice -- an extensive glacier -- just a few years ago," said Huss. "And now it's a rock desert where there's some scattered blocks of old ice still lying around and melting on the hot rocks."
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> The report, a collaboration between the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation, found the mean thickness of individual glaciers fell by between 2.5 metres and 4 metres in 2026. Huss said scientists were increasingly seeing glaciers collapse from the inside -- the result of internal streams beneath the ice that excavate caverns -- rather than simply retreating from surface heat. [...] Analysis published by MeteoSwiss on Tuesday found the summer half-year from April to September was the hottest and driest it had been since records began in 1864. In that time, humanity has filled the atmosphere with 1.8tn tons of carbon dioxide and heated the planet by about 1.4C.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/01/switzerland-glacier-loss-fossil-fuel-pollution-europe
[2] https://www.glamos.ch/en/#/A10g-05
Since this is all a hoax... (Score:2)
... it was probably American tourists stealing all that ice.
If we want to stop this, billionaires must go (Score:2)
Billionaires have decided, either explicitly or implicitly, that they can survive a dying planet and therefore all the rest of us are expendable. They're building climate-proof riot-proof bunkers, they're funding life extension research, they're funding cloning research, they're doing everything they can to ensure their survival (in one form or another) while also doing everything they can to accelerate the end of everyone else.
It's sad that it's come to this, but: either they all go or we all go. I don
Re: (Score:2)
I think a lot of them are freaking out about how to keep their servants and security loyal in the bunkers. Your bunker seems like a great idea until your head of security starts cutting off your fingers and won't stop until you give him all the codes and combinations to the safe.
Nope. (Score:2)
> If we want to stop this, billionaires must go
No, it's far too late for that. If you want to stop this then you actually have to clean up the atmosphere. Also, billionaires are merely part of of the problem.
Here's the core problem: human psychology.
You see, every fucking one of you idiots points at big corporations and billionaires as being whole the problem and completely disown your own actions. Nearly everyone makes some excuse to avoid getting an EV and not a single damn person is willing to make any sacrifice.
The natural defensive response is "w
Re: Nope. (Score:2)
Couldn't agree more. I got rid of my car 4 years ago. Cycle everywhere now and use a car club when I actually need a car. Last holiday was 2 years ago. I'm realistic about it though and realise it's futile. I see my colleagues at work getting new cars every three years, SUVs of course, and one each for them and the spouse, multiple holidays a year, plus weekends away. I get labelled as a nutter for the way I talk about it. They all seem to think it's an SEP and think personal responsibility lies with
20% of Swiss Glaciers Lost - Thats a bit careless (Score:2)
have they looked down the back of the sofa?
we should be more worried.... (Score:2)
...of the fact that global warming. will also melt swiss chocolate!
Swiss glaciers now have holes? (Score:3)
It will match their cheese.
Time for land speculation (Score:2)
Maybe it's time to start real estate speculation. That's gotta be opening up large amounts of new land for use in Switzerland.
Amazon rainforest (Score:2)
If Bolsonaro2 gets elected you can kiss the Amazon rainforest goodbye as he'll finish the job Bolsonaro1 started. Once the rainforest rain cycle goes it does not come back. And who really wants him elected? Trump who is meddling in Brazil elections (in fact meddling in all South America elections): Brazil attorney general says meddling ‘cannot be tolerated’ after Trump funding plans revealed [1]https://www.theguardian.com/wo... [theguardian.com]
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/01/brazil-attorney-general-election-meddling-trump-funding-plans
What about regular glaciers? (Score:2)
All the extra holes increase surface area and air-flow exposure, so of course you'd expect a higher rate of dissolution
And people wonder (Score:4, Insightful)
And people wonder why the birth rate is so low. The planet is buggered and everyone with two brain cells to rub together knows it.
Re: And people wonder (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously. My kids have decided not to have kids for this reason.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
An entire understandable decision. Sadly, the religious fuckups have no such inhibitions.
Re: And people wonder (Score:2)
Idiocracy.
Re: And people wonder (Score:2)
America has elected a president who couldn't be doing much more to n start WWIII. More important on their minds is the fact that they both have degrees in science but no obvious ways to live much above the poverty line. If they feel like they are struggling already there isn't much enthusiasm about kids.
Re: (Score:2)
Fortunately, societal expectations have changed radically over the past few decades. In the 1950s virtually nobody was voluntarily child-free. In the '70s that rose for the first time to roughly 10%. By 2010 it was 20%. Today (well, in 2023) it's 29% and still appears to be rising rapidly.
It's one thing to have a vague sense of despair for the future of humanity; it's another matter entirely to act on that feeling if it means your family and most friends will disown you. When I chose not to have kids 30is
Re: (Score:2)
I've asked my one grand-daughter specifically not to have kids. It would mean the end of my line, but the thought of my progeny suffering in a Mad-Max post-apocalyptic hellscape brought on by the billionaires for their enjoyment and profit terrifies me. I don't wish that on anyone, let alone my future generations.
Re: And people wonder (Score:2)
A far more rational decision would be to have a single child. If you think this is some existential crisis, that's just anti-science. This is an economic and demographic issue. Cutting the population rapidly would have a far greater negative impact than climate migration.
Re: And people wonder (Score:2)
They can't afford a single child.
Re: And people wonder (Score:3)
Also, let's be honest. As long as 1% have 99%, very few can afford kids.
Re:And people wonder (Score:4, Insightful)
> Doesn't Uncle Elon have like 15 children by 7 different women?
Yes, but he has to hire in the brain cells.
Re: And people wonder (Score:2)
Why, aren't these kids the most brilliant people ever?
Re: (Score:2)
Most of his kids don't even like him.
Re:And people wonder (Score:4, Insightful)
> Most of his kids don't even like him.
I have to think he's at the point where at least some of his kids don't even know him well enough to know whether they like him or not. Once you start pulling shotgun blast duty with your seed, you start running out of hours to be a parent. I'm sure he can throw money at them, but money without support doesn't create a relationship.
Re: (Score:2)
Loved and supported by the party of "Preserve the nuclear family at all costs" of course!
Re: (Score:2)
The one he was grooming to be his protege turned out to be transgender, and thus started Musk's descent into transphobia. It's not clear if he was always quietly transphobic, or if he just can't stand the thought of his designated successor being a woman.
Re: (Score:2)
Nah, most people forget about it when they turn off the news. People are just not convinced the juice is worth the squeeze any more, marriage and kids are too much bother. Both birth rates and global warming are examples of human intelligence not being aligned with long term survival of human civilization.
Maybe AI can manage better ... as long as we don't manage to align it to our preferences, because as apparent those are fucked.
Re: And people wonder (Score:3)
The Matrix was correct, the 90s were the peak of western civilization. Glad I got to experience it.
Re: (Score:2)
I indeed hear this more and more. No kids because no future. Sad, but there is some truth in that.