At some undetermined time in the last few months the 18,000 year-old Chacaltaya glacier in the Andes, Bolivia, completely melted away and no longer exists.
It seems to me that this is just the beginning and that we will increasingly hear of ancient glaciers, making their final retreat up the mountain.
This is the sad result of climate change. Environmental features that have played pivotal and meaningful roles in people lives for hundreds if not thousands of years are disappearing because of our careless use of fossil fuels.
A local, who used to play on the glacier as a child, summed it up:
"It's a tragedy," "It's as if someone had died."
Chacaltaya glacier
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1 comment:
Do you know what it means for local people - I guess glaciers must be pretty important for providing drinking water?
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