Iceland Is Placing A Memorial To A Lost Glacier

Iceland’s first glacier lost to climate change will be remembered with a memorial plaque.
Credit: Rice University
Okjökull, the first of Iceland's glaciers to be lost due to climate change, is going to be remembered in the form of a memorial plaque, scheduled to be unveiled in August.

“This will be the first monument to a glacier lost to climate change anywhere in the world,” said anthropologist Cymene Howe of Rice University in Houston. “By marking Ok’s passing, we hope to draw attention to what is being lost as Earth’s glaciers expire. These bodies of ice are the largest freshwater reserves on the planet and frozen within them are histories of the atmosphere. They are also often important cultural forms that are full of significance.”

As it is written on the monument, the memorial serves as a letter to the future. It reads;

A letter to the future
Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier.
In the next 200 years all of our glaciers are expected to follow the same path.
This monument is to acknowledge that we know
what is happening and what needs to be done.
Only you know if we did it.

This is written both in English and the national language of Iceland. At the bottom is the month and year that the monument will be erected and "415ppm CO2", which refers to a record-breaking 415 parts per million of carbon dioxide that was recorded in May of 2019.  

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