A Personal Perspective on Climate Change by Christine Olsenius

Every day I read articles about climate change and the dire consequences of not addressing it. I worry that the articles are lost on a public that wants easy answers to complex problems and refuses to believe the work of serious scientists. Perhaps people cannot relate to the topic due to the distractions of their busy lives. Maybe there is just something too distant about those Greenland ice sheets.

While we are starting to see the impacts of climate change in regional weather patterns throughout the country, it is the dramatic change in one particular landscape that has made climate change hit home to me. Glacier National Park is a place that has touched and inspired me over many decades and it is the predicted melting of many of the largest glaciers in the Park by 2030 that has both shocked and saddened me.

The retreat of glaciers is tied to temperatures rising by 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit as greenhouse gases have accumulated in the atmosphere. The glaciers have been around for 7,000 years and they will be gone in a few decades, not due to a natural cycle but to a manmade one. Of the 150 glaciers that existed in the area in the 1850’s, only 25 remain today. *

I used to think that most climatic changes would not occur within my lifetime. I was 39 years old the first time I saw Glacier park. I have visited it several times since in pursuit of its wildness and scenic grandeur. I will be 82 in 2030 when many of the glaciers are gone or dramatically receded. There is majesty in Glacier that reminds me there are bigger natural forces at work beyond man’s control. But I am wrong. In spite of the stunning beauty; the overlooks at Logan Pass, Jackson Glacier or St. Mary’s Lake – man has been changing this place all along.

As I walk the hallway of Many Glacier Lodge I see the park photos from past decades. The ice sheets from the 1950’s or even 1970’s are more substantial than from current decades where they are receding and visibly smaller. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to project where it all ends, but in case you miss the point, the Park Service notes that many glaciers will be gone by 2030.** Fewer glaciers means less cold water flowing to streams to maintain the habitat of insects and fish that rely on cooler temperatures. Less water means drier landscapes more susceptible to fire and pests like the mountain pine beetle. Declining alpine meadows means reduced habitat for lynx, elk, bighorn sheep and mountain goats.

Glacier National Park is called the Crown of the Continent; from the park you move north to Banff and Jasper in the Canadian Rockies, or south to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in the American Rockies. It is one, long amazing swath of vaulted mountains and broad-shouldered valleys. It is a massive stretch of protected wilderness in North America, home to elk and wolves and grizzlies. And it will all change in a few decades including temperature, habitat and glaciers.

Glacier National Park without glaciers is like Napa Valley without wine. It will still be a beautiful place but in the absence of its namesake, it will lack the special magic and wonder that goes with it. As we watch the continued recession of ice from the rugged mountain peaks over the coming decades, Glacier National Park should be a reminder to all of us that climate change is indeed real, that it can touch us personally and that it has the power to change great landscapes.