Innsbruck, Austria
Several Austrian ski resorts have covered their mountains with enormous white fleece blankets this summer to protect the ice from the sun. Because of global warming, the glaciers have been melting since the 1980s, and the melt rate has increased rapidly in the last five years. Resort owners hope that they can halt the decline in skiable areas. But the Innsbruck University researchers directing the project warned that wrapping the mountains will not be a practical solution to global warming. “Only 0.1 percent of the overall glacier area in Austria is being covered,” researcher Andrea Fischer told MSNBC. “We are not able to save the glaciers.”
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