Glaciers around the world are endangered — but no two are alike

ملخص مفصل

Globally, glaciers are often lumped into one narrative of loss. These three stories show how they can still surprise us.

Part of my work as a geographer and glacier scientist involves traveling around the world. Literally. Several times a year, I join expeditions, traversing continents and oceans, sometimes half the planet, in mere days. I’ve visited glaciers in some startling places — like Uganda’s Stanley Glacier, where ice retreat influences human health and malaria outbreaks.

My job is to translate the landscape: how oceans move nutrients pole to pole; why one mountain might support snow but another does not; how glaciers shape societies.

From 30,000 feet, borders fall away. Trees become forests become systems become a living planet. I see connections everywhere. But that view from 30,000 feet, while striking, can miss much of what’s unfolding below at the individual level — the people, the lives, the histories.

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