I never thought I'd live to see the day when countries had to redraw their borders as a result of climate change. But there you have it; Switzerland and Italy are adjusting their Alpine boundary because the glaciers which used to define those borders have melted.
It's a timely reminder: our actions are actually redrawing the world around us.
Mountains are kind of my thing. I grew up in an isolated Australian valley that was surrounded by them, and I went on to climb some of the highest, most desolate, and inaccessible peaks on Earth. I've stood at the foot of glaciers, amazed by their scale. But even to a guy who grew up with those small hills north of my window - let's not get carried away, Australia - the pace at which they are disappearing is both shocking and frightening.
Between 2018 and 2019, the Swiss glaciers lost 2% of their volume. In total, they've lost 10% of their volume in the last five years, and 50% over the last century. Those aren't just numbers: they're the sands of time slipping through our fingers.
Changes like this affect ecosystems, our water supply, and even the tourism industry. What will happen to the ski resorts around the Matterhorn if they suddenly find themselves hosting both the Swiss and the Italians? And every so often, the remains of long-lost climbers emerge from the melting ice, just as the climate change debate resumes and fades in the background music of our lives.
What really gets me, though, as a climber, is that we've known for a long time what the possible outcomes would be, but we've acted with very little urgency, and frankly, very little intellect. Even if we manage to stem the tide and hit our climate targets, half of Switzerland's glaciers are already beyond saving. It's deeply frustrating that we know so much forensically and so little collectively.
To anyone who cares about the future, that border redraw is a genuinely sobering moment. We can't always fix what's broken, and sometimes we have to live with the consequences of our inaction, perhaps even fight over them. It's not about crystalline peaks or champagne powder; it's an acknowledgment that we need to take far more decisive action right now. If not, at this rate we won't just be redrawing lines in the snow.
