The people of Engelberg, Switzerland are trying to save
their glacier. Losing 1 to 2 meters of ice thickness per year, the
tourist-attracting Titlis glacier will be gone within the next century, taking
with it a major source of the area’s income. The locals are unwilling to simply
accept this fate, and are taking a couple of steps to slow down the melting while
considering another measure as well.
Already in place are special reflecting blankets at
strategic points on the ice, and another course of action, to start this year,
involves cooling the glacier artificially from inside the ice grotto. A half-million
francs outlay at the start, plus energy and yearly adjustments. Under
consideration is a plan to cover parts of the glacier with artificial snow
created from its melt water.
The Engelberger are not alone in considering such expensive
technical measures to counteract global warming. Wrapping all of Greenland’s
glaciers in blankets has been floated, and this quickly becomes hilarious.
White blankets of course; embroidered? with satin binding? Or how about this
other Greenland-related idea: shooting mirrors the size of that island into
space to block some – about 2% - of the sun’s light? One pictures one such
mirror covering 11 times the area of Florida while it awaits its trip into
space, powered by let’s see – several hundred? thousand? rockets. Not to
mention the vulnerability of such mirrors to space junk collisions and the
enormous task of getting them down safely at the end of their useful life. And
then there is my favorite of all the - shall we say unusual - ideas: add garlic
to cows’ feed to kill the methane-producing bacteria in their stomachs. This
would be cheap and no doubt effective, but it would add a new dimension to
halitosis.
Such measures seem to me the climate control equivalent of
locking the barn door after the horse has run away. The people of Engelberg
realize that their glacier meltdown will only be slowed, and presumably have
done a cost-effectiveness analysis of the proposed measures vs. lost tourist income
if nothing is done. Most of the other ideas, however, would cost a large fortune;
money far better spent on such technical solutions as changing over to
renewable energy and continuing to increase energy efficiency. They fail
disastrously to get down to the foundations of global warming and real measures
to reduce it. Gold-plated bandaids over huge gaping wounds come to mind. And
speaking of mind, they reinforce a couple of the mind-sets that have gotten us
into the present climate crisis. One is the preference for the equally
expensive shallow fix over serious action, the other the complete failure to even
think about the side effects of our actions. Need we be reminded, yet once
again, that the first law of ecology is that everything depends on everything
else?
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