Field Notes: Ice Vs Water
How Glaciers are important to the entire world
As we delve into understanding glacier ice, the context for our dicussion and treatment of glacier protection takes on a very different path. Glaciers exist in places different from those where we generally come into contact with water. These places are generally not very hospitable to human life. […] It is different from our relationship with water, which we can easily interact with in our home, our garden, at our place of wor, or practically anywhere we carry out our daily lives. Water is everywhere around us. Glaciers are not.
Some of these differences, inclusing the alienated natural perrennial ice, have conditioned the way in which we have organised ourselves in terms of water conservation, which is very particular to the location of our water reserves. Conversely, this has also resulted in our disregard for the need to protect natural ice reserves, which are generally at different locations and in different form.”
This quote is from Glaciers: The Politics of Ice by Jorge Daniel Taillant. It is a book about glaciers (duh!) but more specifically Chilean Glaciers ( I didn’t know Chile had glaciers!) and the first law ever made on a national level to protect glaciers.
I do want to look up other laws on glacier protection at some point but I have been wondering how is it I am going to relate what I learnt about the Arctic to people at home. The above quote gives me a clue.
Taillant reminds readers, in the last chapter, that glaciers are part of the world’s freshwater supply and that 75% of the world’s freshwater supply is locked away in ice form, i.e. glaciers. Our relationships to water and ice differ greatly, partly because of ice’s (glaciers’) inaccessibility. He also argues that just as people have a right to freshwater, surely they have a right to glaciers.
The argument he makes is new and refreshing and it has me thinking about the work I want to produce. I am also thinking about international policies, and what it means for people to have the right to potable drinking water and how that right might impact glacier protection, the need to stop climate change and so on.
I also enjoy how this approach is very practical to our survival and holds more to it than the idea that glaciers hold the story of ancient times and the need to protect this untapped knowledge base. It makes things tangible and in some ways has demystified glaciers for me.
This week’s curiosity:
Venezuela uses hair to clean oil out of one of its largest lakes. I will happily get a haircut if Singapore needs the material for our oil spill efforts.
This Time article by Paige Machalahan about travel writing and travel influencers perpetuating certain stereotypes of a location is very fascinating. I’m reflecting on my polar art now and also my role as a tour guide. I’m also quite interested to read her book and the scientific article she quotes.
A bit of a long read but I still appreciated this substack about researching for leisure.
Oil Spill Updates:
I appreciate Ria Tan for reporting on the impacts the Oil Spill had on East Coast Park.