this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2024

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‘It made me cry’: photos taken 15 years apart show melting Swiss glaciers (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

71 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A tourist has posted “staggering” photos of himself and his wife at the same spot in the Swiss Alps almost exactly 15 years apart, in a pair of photos that highlight the speed with which global heating is melting glaciers.

Duncan Porter, a software developer from Bristol, posted photos that were taken in the same spot at the Rhone glacier in August 2009 and August 2024. The white ice that filled the background has shrunk to reveal grey rock. A once-small pool at the bottom, out of sight in the original, has turned into a vast green lake.

“Not gonna lie, it made me cry,” Porter said in a viral post on social media platform X on Sunday night.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

the post also attracted a steady stream of comments from climate denying-accounts subscribed to X’s premium service, many of which were abusive and misrepresented established climate science

My god

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

to the surprise of noone

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I always thought the Mer de Glace at the Mont Blanc illustrates this really well. You arrive and there's a sign "the glacier was here in 1910" and that's where tourists back then.

To get to the actual glacier, you have to eall down many flights of metal stairs for about half an hour and there's several signs for different years, 1950, 1990, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, something like this, with the years between each sign getting shorter but the distance staying roughly the same. And from the top it's really far away.

Of course, once you actually reach the glacier, you get to the main attraction, a 3m diameter tunnel they bored 100m deep into it as a tourist attraction with ice sculptures inside. Above the tunnel you can see the remains of the tunnel from the previous year, half melted...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

I first went in 2013, you had to climb down quite a long flight of steps to get to it.

Went this summer, and there's an actual gondola 🚡 to take you down to it, then 400 steps down after that

Actually horrifying

[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"It won't happen in our lifetimes"

guess what mfers

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I believe climate change deniers changed their tune from "it's not happening" to "it happened before, so what's the problem?" Most people believe in man-made climate change, but deniers want people to feel powerless and hopeless, and succumb to the system of continuous consumption of finite resources under capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Maybe we need analogies for what is happening that they can understand e.g. "sure, houses have burned down before...and some rooms in the house didn't burn, so you can still live in them...but usually you get off your butt and fire-proof your curtains and paint and help your upstairs and downstairs neighbour, because if you don't maybe their irresponsibility will make your insurance premium rise..."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Yeah, we'll deal with it when it affects us personally! Not like nature will just brush us away..right?

[+] [email protected] -17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Everyone in this sub agrees that climate change is a disastrous event, and that we're not doing enough. But as soon as you suggest changing to a system that actually may do something against it, you guys drop the t-word like there's no tomorrow.

Edit: to all of you fellas downvoting me, I have a message. Don't worry, we will surely defeat climate change by reforming capitalism against the interests of those controlling the media and our politicians through their vast wealth, as we've been achieving for the past 20 years in which the CO2 emissions have been reducing exponentially!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What’s the T word?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Starts with "t", rhymes with the Sumerian god of water and patron God of the city of Eridu "Enki".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Gotcha

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

While capitalism is a big accelerator of climate change, socialism could do the same. Whether you exploit the environment for capitalist profit or the perceived profit of human society, the end result can be the same.

All animals want to exploit nature for their benefit, even if it is a short term benefit but a long term loss. Humans, and arguebly capitalism, are just more efficient. But here is an infamous example of socialism fucking the environment

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

PS People's issue isnt with socialism, it's with supporting authoritative regimes, that dont even claim to be socialist(Russia for example)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

While capitalism is a big accelerator of climate change, socialism could do the same

The difference is that capitalism by its nature requires the degradation of the environment. Capitalism, by definition, needs to increase profits year after year. Unlimited growth is impossible in a finite planet with limited technology without degrading the environment, so capitalism simply ignores the climate in its quest for higher profits. After all, you can't risk getting outcompeted by another company which will be less afraid of abusing nature.

Socialism, on the other hand, doesn't need perpetual growth. The objective isn't infinite profit, the objective is higher living quality for people, which doesn't necessarily rely on increased material wealth, especially not in a context of degrading climate which negatively affects the quality of life of people. It doesn't mean socialism doesn't have to work hard to prevent degrading nature, it just means that it's not a necessary logical consequence of socialism whereas it is of capitalism.

You talk about historical proof. The reality is that historically, the groups concerned by climate change have consistently been to the left of the political spectrum, whereas the right wing (capitalism's most loyal defenders) doesn't seem to care. For 36 years we've had an International Panel on Climate Change (though ExxonMobil had reports of Climate Change being manmade since the early 70s and hid them), and for 36 years scientists have been saying the same: we're not doing enough. What's been the response of capitalist governments everywhere? "We shall continue not doing enough". How many years of capitalism in all countries failing to step up to the problem do you need to realize that capitalism simply has no incentives to solve this problem because it's fundamentally an antidemocratic system, in which the interests of a few in the owning class are held above those of the working class?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

You could argue that what we have isnt true capitalism, since our current system doesnt include the environmental cost. If we could do that, then the cost of doing things would greatly increase, thus forcing capitalism to be more environmentally friendly.

I dont want to defend capitalism, but there is a potential version of capitalism that could work. Kinda how we use the replicative aggressive function of viruses for healing.

The fact that in the West, right wings are often insane, doesnt mean much. 95% of new coal power plants are built in China. Are they right wing? I think they are but tankies think China is socialist.

Obviously China has immense demand for power and it is in many ways a developing country. They took some measures to reduce the negative environmental effect. Their cities were covered in smog till recently, they had to do something.

But despite that, they still value the growth/wealth of cheap electric power.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago

You could argue that what we have isnt true capitalism

No, I couldn't. Capitalism doesn't need to account for every externality to be capitalism.

If we could do that

We've been trying for 36 years with no result. That's exactly my point. The people who benefit from the lack of account of externalities are the ones in control of the system.

but there is a potential version of capitalism that could work

That version of capitalism is "let's make the public opinion guided by the scientific research make the environmental decisions". At that point, why stop with accounting for externalities and planning the economy as a whole in a democratic fashion? Why this obsession with maintaining capitalism?

Obviously China has immense demand for power and it is in many ways a developing country

You got it. You can't expect a developing county to rely on new and expensive tech instead of cheap and reliable one during the process of industrialization. But currently, China is by far the country installing most renewables. I personally don't consider China to be very socialist, but saying they're right wing is far from the truth as well.

The problem with capitalism as well, is the competition not only between companies, but between geopolitical blocks. You can't expect China or the US to degrow when they're geopolitical enemies that are in theory threated by each other. In reality, the US is the main threatener, followed by Russia, since they're both heavily capitalist and imperialist countries with opposing interests and different capitalists who fight each other for supremacy. Unless we eliminate these capitalist threats of geopolitical fights by transcending to worldwide socialism, degrowth simply will not occur, and climate deals that harm the economy of countries won't be agreed on.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

What's the t-word?

Is it titties? It's titties, isn't it?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I wish it was tiddies, m8

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I genuinely don't know what the t-word is, though. I'm not feeling extra smart right now. Please feel free to help me out here.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I explained in a funny way to another fella: it starts with "t", and rhymes with the Sumerian god of water and patron of the city or Eridu, "Enki".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

No, it's Testosterone

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Tendies

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