Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says • Hacker News Board

Re: Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says

#51

Post by lm28469 » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:01 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #17

ncr100 wrote: post #6

I’m having a hard time contributing anything intellectually interesting. This is emotionally terrifying to me. What can be said?

China is building, domestically deploying, and exporting solar, wind, batteries, and EVs so fast that the world will have no choice but to rapidly move towards net zero simply due to economics. Existing excess atmospheric carbon emissions remain to be sequestered. China deployed 277GW of solar in 2024 and is accelerating, having deployed 212GW in the first half of 2025. 1GW of solar is being deployed globally every 1…

> China is building, domestically deploying, and exporting solar, wind, batteries, and EVs so fast that the world will have no choice but to rapidly move towards net zero simply due to economics.

I can't help but read "we're going to produce and consume more than ever" and I really don't see how it ends in a good way...

Take transportation alone, 1.3 billion ICE vehicles to replace by EVs, there is nothing green about that. Not even talking about the absolutely massive mining operations we'll need to build solar and batteries. What about cement? Steel? Petrol derivate chemistry, medicine, fertilizers,...

And then what? We continue building and consuming more and more shit forever? Who believes this can be "net zero"?

Re: Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says

#52

Post by Hikikomori » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:02 PM UTC

kgwgk wrote: post #36

boston_clone wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you are so emotionally attached to solid water [...] That's an oddly personal remark to be making when global warming is a concern for humanity. That final sentence is not a positive note, either: "we're still experiencing above average ice melt - but this year wasn't as bad and some other years!".

I found that the message I replied to was an oddly personal remark and I couldn’t help it. Anyway, this year was better seems a positive note (to end a negative melody if you will).

It varies a lot by each year, but the trend is clear. Article also say that swiss glaciers lost 40% of ice volume in 25 years.

Re: Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says

#53

Post by kieranmaine » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:02 PM UTC

timeon wrote: post #41

kieranmaine wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to weigh up the negatives with the positives and look at trends. AI can gave you a more exhaustive list of positive developments, but some I've noticed: * "FERC: Solar + wind made up 91% of new US power generating capacity in H1 2025" [1] - The rollback of the IRA will reduce the speed of the US transition. * "Solar and wind growth exceeded global demand growth in the first half of 2025" [2] * Perovskite sol…

How does investing in new forms of energy help when old one is not decreasing? Demand for energy is still rising so those new forms are just covering (part of) new demand... > AI can gave you a more exhaustive list ...so maybe it should not?

> How does investing in new forms of energy help when old one is not decreasing?

In relation to electricity this is not the case for H1 2025, as shown in the article "Solar and wind growth exceeded global demand growth in the first half of 2025" [1]

> ...so maybe it should not?

Fair point.

1. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/global-electricity-...

Re: Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says

#54

Post by toomuchtodo » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:04 PM UTC

lm28469 wrote: post #51

toomuchtodo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is building, domestically deploying, and exporting solar, wind, batteries, and EVs so fast that the world will have no choice but to rapidly move towards net zero simply due to economics. Existing excess atmospheric carbon emissions remain to be sequestered. China deployed 277GW of solar in 2024 and is accelerating, having deployed 212GW in the first half of 2025. 1GW of solar is being deployed globally every 1…

> China is building, domestically deploying, and exporting solar, wind, batteries, and EVs so fast that the world will have no choice but to rapidly move towards net zero simply due to economics. I can't help but read "we're going to produce and consume more than ever" and I really don't see how it ends in a good way... Take transportation alone, 1.3 billion ICE vehicles to replace by EVs, there is nothing green abou…

Well, not forever. Global population will peak end of century (sometime between 2055-2084) and then begin to rapidly decline based on fertility rate curves. Solar PV panels can be recycled 100% today, trivially, as can lithium and sodium batteries (these materials are abundant in the Earth's crust, but only so much will be needed to establish a circular supply lifecycle loop). I suppose we can argue about the scale of mining operations. Certainly, low carbon powered mass transit whenever possible vs light vehicles and aircraft. This is Africa and India's opportunity to "do better" based on what China has accomplished (having had the chance to ride their high speed rail and ride in their autonomous vehicles) with regards to urban planning, civil engineering, and infrastructure investment, being the last parts of the world that will develop.

https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jesusfv/Slides_London.pdf

Re: Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says

#55

Post by lm28469 » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:04 PM UTC

sys32768 wrote: post #12

simmerup wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess we can hope America starts taking climate change seriously again instead of chasing short term stock market returns

And China too with its ~30-31% of world CO2.

Look at cumulative co2 emissions though, the US created 50% of the global cumulated co2 emissions alone

Re: Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says

#56

Post by lm28469 » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:07 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #54

lm28469 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> China is building, domestically deploying, and exporting solar, wind, batteries, and EVs so fast that the world will have no choice but to rapidly move towards net zero simply due to economics. I can't help but read "we're going to produce and consume more than ever" and I really don't see how it ends in a good way... Take transportation alone, 1.3 billion ICE vehicles to replace by EVs, there is nothing green abou…

Well, not forever. Global population will peak end of century (sometime between 2055-2084) and then begin to rapidly decline based on fertility rate curves. Solar PV panels can be recycled 100% today, trivially, as can lithium and sodium batteries (these materials are abundant in the Earth's crust, but only so much will be needed to establish a circular supply lifecycle loop). I suppose we can argue about the scale o…

> Population will peak end of century and then begin to rapidly decline based on fertility rate curves.

If that's truly how it'll go we don't even need EVs and renewable to attain equilibrium. But something tells me we'll manage to fuck it up somehow

Re: Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says

#57

Post by haroldp » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:07 PM UTC

caturopath wrote: post #44

username223 wrote: post #24

I have believed for years that Americans would have a completely different attitude to global warming if the Lower 48 had more glaciers. In the Alps, you can easily walk to places where there are 100m of ladders to reach a hut that used to be at the level of the ice. In Canada, you can drive to places that used to be the toe of a glacier, then drive another half-mile to the parking lot, built at the edge of the glaci…

Whenever I try to read up on it, it seems like glaciers are receding at ~2x their without-climate-change rate. That's a huge increase, but it doesn't seem like there's something that a person can experience at a visceral level here that is based on fact and not just preconception. It's definitely striking, I can't deny that. I crossed the last remnants of an almost-extinct glacier last year that my guide guessed woul…

I grew up in a small town in rural Alaska that would have been completely under glacier ice when Columbus landed in North America. In the time between Captain Cook exploring the area in the 18th century and the next western survey a hundred years later, the coastline had been transformed by glaciers receding and revealing inlets hadn't been there for Cook to map. The glacier that was directly in between my town and the highway to Anchorage when I was a child is all but gone now, and there is a road.

Re: Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says

#58

Post by Hikikomori » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:08 PM UTC

lm28469 wrote: post #51

toomuchtodo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is building, domestically deploying, and exporting solar, wind, batteries, and EVs so fast that the world will have no choice but to rapidly move towards net zero simply due to economics. Existing excess atmospheric carbon emissions remain to be sequestered. China deployed 277GW of solar in 2024 and is accelerating, having deployed 212GW in the first half of 2025. 1GW of solar is being deployed globally every 1…

> China is building, domestically deploying, and exporting solar, wind, batteries, and EVs so fast that the world will have no choice but to rapidly move towards net zero simply due to economics. I can't help but read "we're going to produce and consume more than ever" and I really don't see how it ends in a good way... Take transportation alone, 1.3 billion ICE vehicles to replace by EVs, there is nothing green abou…

It's good that ICE cars are replaced by EV over time. Even better if we have less cars overall and more mass transit.

Re: Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says

#59

Post by carefulfungi » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:13 PM UTC

username223 wrote: post #39

DangitBobby wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of Americans can see and feel the effects of global warming, they just don't think addressing it is worth the effort.

Do they? Wildfires are some percent more likely and larger, but forests have always burned, and there are other factors like a century of fire suppression. Hurricanes are more violent and frequent, but there have always been hurricanes. Eggheads will tell you those things, but your day-to-day experiences of them are easy to dismiss. Watching a glacier die is visceral: https://maevethornberry.ie/wp-content/uploads/201…

Most polls find that a substantial majority of Americans acknowledge climate change is real. However, whether it should be acted on with urgency polls differently by party affliation and by geographical region.

Many climate change deniers I know have moved from "it isn't real" to "so what?" Or, perhaps more charitably, to "addressing climate change is not in the national interest."

I don't think people who want to drill in national parks, privatize and raze old growth preserves, or exhaust fisheries without limits are going to be moved by seeing glaciers melt. They fundamentally have different values and place other interests over preservation and conservation.

Re: Swiss glaciers have shrunk by a quarter since 2015, study says

#60

Post by Hikikomori » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:14 PM UTC

DangitBobby wrote: post #27

username223 wrote: post #24

I have believed for years that Americans would have a completely different attitude to global warming if the Lower 48 had more glaciers. In the Alps, you can easily walk to places where there are 100m of ladders to reach a hut that used to be at the level of the ice. In Canada, you can drive to places that used to be the toe of a glacier, then drive another half-mile to the parking lot, built at the edge of the glaci…

Plenty of Americans can see and feel the effects of global warming, they just don't think addressing it is worth the effort.

Most Americans can see the effect but are unable to correlate it. The don't understand science. Most of them believe in a magical fairy in the sky.