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View of the front of the Grey Glacier where it 'calves' or falls into the glacial lake. The glaciers of Patagonia are some of the fastest retreating glaciers on Earth.
Enlarge ImageNot only does this melting reduce the water supplies of many people, it causes sea levels to rise, which threatens millions with devastating coastal flooding. The Patagonia glaciers and ice fields have lost 42 cubic kms of ice every year for the last seven years. That is the equivalent to the volume of ten thousand large football stadiums. The melting has accelerated in recent years. Currently the Patagonian ice fields contribute to nine percent of the global sea level rise from mountain glaciers.
Our web editor Iréne has swapped the cold and ice of Stockholm in the winter for the, err, cold and wind of Patagonia in summer to bring the dramatic and worrying melting occurring in this remote corner of Chile to the wider public.
The first visit was to the stunning Grey Glacier in the National Park of Torres del Paine. Beautiful views of blue icebergs, condors and lamas contrast with the tales of the glaciers retreat from the local guide and climbers. Listen to Susan, guide and climber in the area.
Even after only one week in the area the impacts of climate change start to hit home for Iréne:
"We've now spent a little more than a week here in both the Chilean and
Argentinean part of Patagonia. Most days we've been up early and come
back late in the evening. We've visited glaciers and talked to people
living and working in the area. This is one of the most beautiful
places I've ever seen, but it has also made me very sad: climate change
is no longer something abstract - the impacts of climate change are
very real. The glaciers are melting at an accelerating speed and
changes can bee seen from year to year."
Not many of us will get the chance to visit a glacier but climate
change means more storms, floods, droughts and rising sea levels that
will affect us all. Iréne sums up the situation: "I remembered how a
teacher in school illustrated the history of our planet by unfurling a
roll of toilet paper and attach it on the classroom walls. He then
marked the different eras on it. At the very end, hardly visible, there
was a very small field, more like a thin line: that was how long
mankind has been around. Changes on our planet normally happen very
slowly. During the last hundred years however, changes have all of a
sudden happened very fast: temperatures and sea levels rising,
droughts, floods and melting icefields - we are actually changing the
climate! Just think about it for a little while."
Do something!
Some governments are slowly realising that they must tackle climate change and are holding a conference on renewable energy in June. Send them a "Postcard from Patagonia" to show them you want them to tackle the problem. We will deliver your card, frozen in a huge block of ice to the conference.
Don't buy products from the world's #1 climate criminal, Exxon/Esso.
More info:
Read Irene's online diary from Patagonia in full.
More about the expedition and glaciers.
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