We’re Losing 1,000 Glaciers a Year. How Worried Should We Be?

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1. You’ve heard about the ice sheets melting in the Arctic—you know, the ones that are drowning polar bears, [raising sea levels](https://slate.com/technology/2015/08/global-warming-sea-levels-are-rising-rapidly.html), and [interfering with global current systems](https://slate.com/technology/2024/02/amoc-ocean-current-collapsing-day-after-tomorrow-climate-change.html). You might not be familiar with Switzerland’s now-melted Pizol glacier. Its disappearance didn’t contribute significantly to sea level rise or the global climate, but it did affect the locals as if they had experienced the death of a loved one. In 2019 hundreds of mourners, many wearing black, [attended a funeral](https://www.npr.org/2019/09/22/763229087/hundreds-attend-funeral-for-pizol-a-disappearing-glacier) for the glacier led by a priest and glaciologists.

   Scientists who study glaciers tend to focus on ice volume loss rather than individual glaciers, says glaciologist Lander Van Tricht, because that metric has the more dire global consequences. But individual glaciers, even small ones, carry [cultural, spiritual, and economic](https://www.un-glaciers.org/en/key-messages) importance for locals. They’re the bedrock of many a ski resort, propping up winter tourism; the [abode of gods](https://rps.org/news/journal/2025/april/klaus-thymann-god-is-about-to-become-homeless/) for many Indigenous tribes; and the sites of rituals around the world, such as the [Snow Star Festival pilgrimage](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/andean-glaciers-melting-reshaping-centuries-old-indigenous-rituals) in the Andes.

   Now, for the first time, scientists [have quantified the number of glaciers we’re losing](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02513-9)—and it’s staggering. They’ve discovered that we’re already losing 1,000 glaciers a year. That rate is likely to climb. To learn more, Slate’s Anna Gibbs talked with Van Tricht, who worked on the new study. 

   [https://slate.com/technology/2025/12/climate-change-glacier-melting-study.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=glacier_study&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social–glacier_study](https://slate.com/technology/2025/12/climate-change-glacier-melting-study.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=glacier_study&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social–glacier_study)

2. completely unrelated, but how would one claim land in an un-occupied country like antarctica? are there treaties about that already?

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