Most of us have never seen a glacier up close. From our home in Europe, North America or the Middle East, these ancient ice giants might seem like distant, irrelevant formations. Yet every morning from the moment you brush our teeth, you're benefiting from glaciers' silent work. This World Water Day, let's explore how these massive ice formations, though thousands of miles away, are actually the invisible guardians of our daily life.
Protecting glaciers isn’t just about nature — this is obvious. Less clear is their role as our planet’s critical life-support system and how this sustains our world so let’s discuss how these massive ice formations impact you personally.
First and foremost, their presence is at the centre of our planet’s climate stability as they regulate the Earth's temperature by reflecting sunlight back into space, known as the albedo effect.
This means any glacial loss directly contributes to an acceleration in global warming as they not only stop reflecting sunlight but also release greenhouse gases which are trapped in the permafrost underneath. This creates a so-called positive feedback loop (despite it being negative), as it accelerates a spiral of less reflection and more heat absorption, causing more melting.
In turn, this results in more extreme weather events across the globe as temperatures rise and the water cycle is altered such as disruption of the Gulf Stream. From drought to flooding, the knock on effect of unpredictable temperatures and weather patterns is seen in increases to your food prices, business operations, and home insurance rates, as well as disrupted trade routes and daily comfort… if you’re one of the lucky ones. 
Next, our water security depends more on glaciers than you might realize.
Glaciers store about 69% of the world's freshwater. As our population continues to grow, so will the demand for water — the International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) estimates approximately 700 million people could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030.
Already, two billion people rely on mountain glaciers and snowpack as their main source of drinking water as well as water for agriculture and hydropower. As glaciers shrink, our global water sources become less reliable, once again leading to water cycle disruption that will impact your access to safe, clean drinking water and to water for manufacturing processes that support the global economy, meaning prices will increase.
Moreover, when nations share river systems or aquifers, tensions can arise if they’re forced to compete for water to support their people and businesses, which can tempt geopolitical conflicts.
In short: when glaciers destabilize, so does the climate and water security, triggering a domino effect that will impact us on multiple fronts, including economic security, unless we act.
Decarbonisation is not just the sustainability word of the moment. It’s a concrete means to turn down Earth's thermostat. We all know burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions into our atmosphere, trapping heat in the atmosphere and causing global temperatures to rise.
Therefore by decarbonising our lives and business operations we reduce the CO₂ and GHGs, and directly fight the main cause of glacier melt.
There is a two-pronged approach to decarbonisation.
There is an overhaul needed to align with ecological transformation which requires a fundamental shift in how we think and then how we operate. We must swiftly step away from fossil fuels and rapidly scale up renewable energy infrastructure, from biomass to solar and wind, and we must redesign industrial processes to drastically reduce emissions and resource consumption.
Then, for what we must use, optimisation, optimisation, optimisation… and this one is a no-brainer. By efficiently managing our energy and water resources, and minimising waste through the optimisation of every single process we not only reduce business costs but also emissions. This is the epitome of working smarter, not harder. AI-driven algorithms can identify the most cost-effective pathways to do business while achieving carbon reduction goals. In today’s world there is no need to compromise between business performance and sustainability.
World Water Day’s message is a clear warning that we are stalling. The bottom line is every ton of CO₂ we cut helps slow glacier loss, and this needs to be a priority.
The process is then a positive chain reaction: less carbon means less trapped heat, which means slower glacier melt. Slower melting helps preserve glaciers' natural ability to reflect sunlight back into space which further helps keep Earth cool, reduce climate change and improve weather conditions. It’s a win-win, win-win.
Transitioning to renewable energy, improving energy efficiency and adopting sustainable lifestyles are key actions to ensure glaciers are protected. And in turn our silent guardian will continue to protect us.
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1 U.S. Geological Survey
2 The Conversation/CC-BY-ND Source: Millan et al. 2022
