Iceland grapples with the prospect of a future with no ice | Hacker News Reader

Iceland grapples with the prospect of a future with no ice

nytimes.com

67 pointsbookofjoe16 comments

I recently encountered the term solastalgia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solastalgia), a name for the pain caused by environmental change. Global heating isn't the only phenomenon that can lead to solastalgia, but it has already affected all people on Earth in ways that are increasingly painful.

Every year the entire Midwest experiences this nostalgia for long-gone weather patterns, probably twice. Once at Halloween where you'll commonly hear people say "when I was a kid we had to design our costumes to fit over winter coats" and once in December where you'll hear "remember when we used to have snow on Christmas day?"

Yes! I'm from Wisconsin, and I feel this so deeply. I especially miss the crisp cold of October nights.

I remember hearing an episode of Minnesota Public Radio's Climate Cast [0], a show/podcast about the climate crisis in MN, where a guest spoke about cultural losses in his state. What happens when cross-country skiing is no longer a viable sport? Elsewhere in Minnesota, academics are researching the solastalgia of indigenous communities [1].

[0]: https://www.mprnews.org/podcasts/climate-cast

[1]: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/climate/solastalgia

Maybe Iceland and Greenland can finally swap names?

I know this is off topic and doesn't add much, I guess I use humor in order to make myself feel better about dire situations (such as climate change tipping point).

Greenland was just viking marketing and branding and never intended to be accurate ;) See Etymology [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland

That is neat! Thank you for the link :)

There won't be much ice in Greenland either in the near/mid future...

>> I know this is off topic and doesn't add much, I guess I use humor in order to make myself feel better about dire situations (such as climate change tipping point).

We all do, its a way to keep your sanity in an insane environment

Greenland has a lot of ice. It and Antarctica will be the last places on earth for the ice to melt, if it comes down to it.

Or rename Iceland to Niceland?

They can change Ísland to simply Island.

One upside (and I'm just completely ignoring the fact that this is all thanks to spiraling climate change for a second)

This may make monetizing their insane amount of geo-thermal energy easier, perhaps?

https://time.com/4844086/geothermal-energy-iceland-deep-dril...

With the Ice melting off, it would be fair more stable to tap the country (ironically enough) for its green energy potential. I know there's a fair amount of energy intensive manufacturing that has been moved here for that alone. If they were able to extend long sea cable this would make for extremely cheap server farms too.

there is a volcano under at least one of the big glaciers

If Iceland or Greenland has no ice, we will have a much bigger problem to fry, to quote Milosh from Seinfeld.

There are some cave tours, a nice glacial lake, a small ski mountain, and some snowmobile tours... that's about it.

Ah, but where would the waterfalls get their water if there is no melting glaciers?

The mountainous areas that get exposed would be extremely cool to explore.

^ been to IS 12+ times in past 2 years

I'd assume fresh water would be in rather short supply ? I guess it would depend on annual snowfall/rainfall in the time after the glaciers have moved on.

Desalination plants should be fairly cheap in Iceland. You can distill seawater using geothermal energy.

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