Dozens of people yesterday took part in “funeral march” up a steep Swiss mountainside to mark the disappearance of an Alpine glacier amid growing global alarm over climate change.
The Pizol “has lost so much substance that from a scientific perspective it is no longer a glacier,” said Alessandra Degiacomi, of the Swiss Association for Climate Protection.
The organization said about 100 people made the two-hour “funeral march” up the side of Pizol mountian in northeastern Switzerland to the foot of the steep and rapidly melting ice formation, situated at about 2,700m near the Liechtenstein and Austrian borders.
Photo: Reuters
A chaplain and several scientists gave speeches in remembrance of the glacier, accompanied by the mournful tones of alphorns — a 3.6m pipe-shaped wooden instrument.
A wreath was laid for the Pizol glacier, which has been one of the most studied glaciers in the Alps.
The move comes after Iceland made global headlines last month with a large ceremony and the laying of a bronze plaque to commemorate Okjokull, the nation’s first glacier lost to climate change.
However, unlike Iceland, yesterday’s ceremony did not mark the first disappearance of a glacier from the Swiss Alps.
“Since 1850, we estimate that more than 500 Swiss glaciers have completely disappeared, including 50 that were named,” said Matthias Huss, a glaciologist at the ETH Zurich university.
Pizol might not be the first glacier to vanish in Switzerland, but “you could say it is the first to disappear that has been very thoroughly studied,” Huss said.
The logs kept since scientists began tracking the glacier in 1893 paint a bleak picture of recent rapid changes to the climate.
Pizol has lost 80 to 90 percent of its volume just since 2006, leaving behind just 26,000m2 of ice, or “less than four football fields,” Huss said.
Pizol, which sits at a relatively low altitude, was never very big.
According to Glacier Monitoring Switzerland, it, like nearly 80 percent of Swiss glaciers, has been considered a so-called glacieret.
It has figured among about 4,000 glaciers dotted throughout the Alps, providing seasonal water to millions and forming some of Europe’s most stunning landscapes.
Huss and other ETH scientists recently cautioned that more than 90 percent of the Alpine glaciers could disappear by the end of this century if greenhouse gas emissions are not reined in.
Regardless of what actions humans take now, the Alps will lose at least half of their ice mass by 2100, according to their study, published in April.
In a subsequent study published earlier this month, the researchers said that the Alps’ largest glacier, the Aletsch, could completely disappear over the next eight decades.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
RSS