Fabric helps to protect shrinking glaciers in Sweden
“This sheet actually protected 3.5-4 meters from melting”
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A cloth used to protect part of Helagsglaciären in northern Sweden during the summer saved at least 3.5 meters in height from melting, according to the organizers of the private initiative, the first of its kind in Scandinavia.
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Huss, a communications consultant with a degree in glaciology who had the idea together with the Swedish adventurer Oskar Kihlborg, said that glaciers were the best measure of climate change.
“They show exactly how the climate is changing, and also what you can do to protect the environment,” he told Reuters.
Huss and his friends hope to be able to reproduce their test on a larger scale than the 40 square meters covered by Helags, and to involve glaciology researchers for a more scientific approach.
They are also in talks with the fabric manufacturer about trying to make the material thinner, and so less heavy.
That is the key to scaling up, said Huss, because as part of the efforts to minimize carbon dioxide emissions from the project, the biodegradable fabric sheet is pulled up the mountain by hand.
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‘IT’S ABOUT DOING SOMETHING’
Through the project, the initiators hope to increase awareness of the dangers many communities will face if the glaciers disappear.
“Then there would be no access to water for agriculture, industry, for billions of people. Where are they going? Where do they get their water from?
“There are billions around the world living along mountain ranges like the Rocky Mountains, the Andes, the Alps and the Himalayas … which rely on glaciers for water supply.”
Another goal is to show that practical measures to mitigate the effects of global warming can yield results. “It’s also about doing something,” Huss said.
Glacier coverage to save them from further shrinkage has been tested elsewhere, for example in Italy’s Presena, but never before in a Nordic country.