As climate change continues to be a substantial threat to Earth, it is obvious that more awareness is required. Some governments, corporations, activist groups and individuals are attempting to make a difference. However, the warming of the planet is still increasing at an incredible rate.
Global warming is slowly, and steadily, destroying the planet and its inhabitants. The extinction of some animal species, the demise of habitats and the diminishing of the polar icecaps are all evidence of the dangers of climate change.
Just recently, global warming was named the culprit in an incident that has essentially prompted a funeral service.
More than 100 years ago, Iceland was home to a 38 square kilometer glacier, the Okjökull. The demise of this massive glacier was not sluggish. From 1901 to 1945 the glacier had diminished to a mere five square kilometers, and by the turn of the century, the Okjökull glacier, was no more.
Sadly, Okjökull lost its glacier status in 2014 and is now referred to as simply, "Ok", as -jökull literally translates to "glacier".
Researchers and documentary makers have teamed up to bring awareness to this tragedy and to future "deaths" of this nature by holding a "funeral" service to acknowledge the passing of the glacier.
The ceremony was held on Sunday, August 18. The service was attended by Iceland's Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.
"I hope this ceremony will be an inspiration not only to us here in Iceland but also for the rest of the world, because what we are seeing here is just one face of the climate crisis," Jakobsdottir told AFP.
Aside from the ceremony, the deceased glacier was also presented with a headstone-like plaque and was even issued a death certificate.
Andri Snaer Magnason, the author of the memorial, inscribed this on the plaque:
A letter to the future
"Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier.
In the next 200 years all 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."
Also inscribed on the plaque is the world's highest recorded level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere-415ppm CO2-the record was set in May of this year.
"This will be the first monument to a glacier lost to climate change anywhere in the world," says anthropologist Cymene Howe of Rice University.
"By marking Ok's passing, we hope to draw attention to what is being lost as Earth's glaciers expire."
