Guardians of the Ice

March 22, 2021: World Water Day

Posted on March 21, 2021March 24, 2021 by GOTI-admin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 22, 2021: CELEBRATING World Water Day

By Anthony Walsh

 

 

March 22 is World Water Day, a 28-year-old event that aims to raise awareness about the global water crisis. Canadians are largely unaware of water scarcity as we live in one of the countries with the most freshwater on the planet. However, Canada’s water supply is acutely dependent on the health of our rivers and glaciers in the western provinces — and one water expert is sounding the alarm.

  Bob Sandford is known as the “Winston Churchill of Water.” He holds the Chair in Water and Climate Security at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health and has co-authored or edited over 35 books, including Our Vanishing Glaciers: The Snows of Yesteryear and the Future Climate of the Mountain West. Needless to say, when Sandford talks about water, it’s best to take note.

  Sandford is taking the opportunity of this year’s World Water Day to highlight its central theme: the valuing of our planet’s most precious resource. “The global water crisis shouldn’t be taken for granted [by Canadians] because our hydrology is changing very rapidly,” he says. “What’s missing here in Canada is a broader sense of urgency.”

  Indeed, Canada’s water health depends primarily on its three largest rivers, which all stem from mountain terrain: the Mackenzie, Saskatchewan and Columbia rivers. Melting glaciers and changing snowfall patterns fundamentally affect our country’s hydrology, altering everything from the ratio of snow and rain, to the seasonal flow of mountain rivers. Nowadays, there are places in the Columbia River that do not generate their own stream flow — there is simply not enough precipitation. Sandford says the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers are particularly vulnerable as they provide so much of the important agricultural water for irrigation on the prairies.  As mountain water supplies dwindle in the coming decades, these agricultural locales will be under great pressure to adapt, even survive. “By 2050, and certainly by 2100, the Canadian west is going to be a very different place. And these kinds of changes, if we don’t get on top of them, will change the Canadian prairies as much as [European] settlement did,” he says.

  As Sandford noted in 2020’s World Water Day address, which can be found at the bottom of this page, “[The Columbia Icefield] is one of the last places in Canada where the weather and water interact in exactly the same way they did during the last Ice Age.” That said, the Columbia Icefield is certainly melting at a rapid pace and the loss of glacial ice is a symptom of a much larger problem.

  Thankfully, Sandford is not without hope. “Our society is living a truly transformational moment right now,” he says. “The last time a renaissance happened was after a plague, so maybe it’s time we have another.” In order to succeed, Sandford says the younger generations must hold an absolutely pivotal role in this movement. By investing in their clear sightedness, their enthusiasm and their courage, he believes they will be the ones to make the real transition towards a water-conscious future.

  Sandford ends his 2020 address with a question, “Why is it that every disaster movie begins with a scientist being ignored? We need to dispel the myth of limitless water in Canada and we need to do it now.”

March 22, 2021: CELEBRATING World Water Day

By Anthony Walsh

 

 

March 22 is World Water Day, a 28-year-old event that aims to raise awareness about the global water crisis. Canadians are largely unaware of water scarcity as we live in one of the countries with the most freshwater on the planet. However, Canada’s water supply is acutely dependent on the health of our rivers and glaciers in the western provinces — and one water expert is sounding the alarm.

  Bob Sandford is known as the “Winston Churchill of Water.” He holds the Chair in Water and Climate Security at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health and has co-authored or edited over 35 books, including Our Vanishing Glaciers: The Snows of Yesteryear and the Future Climate of the Mountain West. Needless to say, when Sandford talks about water, it’s best to take note.

  Sandford is taking the opportunity of this year’s World Water Day to highlight its central theme: the valuing of our planet’s most precious resource. “The global water crisis shouldn’t be taken for granted [by Canadians] because our hydrology is changing very rapidly,” he says. “What’s missing here in Canada is a broader sense of urgency.”

  Indeed, Canada’s water health depends primarily on its three largest rivers, which all stem from mountain terrain: the Mackenzie, Saskatchewan and Columbia rivers. Melting glaciers and changing snowfall patterns fundamentally affect our country’s hydrology, altering everything from the ratio of snow and rain, to the seasonal flow of mountain rivers. Nowadays, there are places in the Columbia River that do not generate their own stream flow — there is simply not enough precipitation. Sandford says the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers are particularly vulnerable as they provide so much of the important agricultural water for irrigation on the prairies.  As mountain water supplies dwindle in the coming decades, these agricultural locales will be under great pressure to adapt, even survive. “By 2050, and certainly by 2100, the Canadian west is going to be a very different place. And these kinds of changes, if we don’t get on top of them, will change the Canadian prairies as much as [European] settlement did,” he says.

  As Sandford noted in 2020’s World Water Day address, which can be found at the bottom of this page, “[The Columbia Icefield] is one of the last places in Canada where the weather and water interact in exactly the same way they did during the last Ice Age.” That said, the Columbia Icefield is certainly melting at a rapid pace and the loss of glacial ice is a symptom of a much larger problem.

  Thankfully, Sandford is not without hope. “Our society is living a truly transformational moment right now,” he says. “The last time a renaissance happened was after a plague, so maybe it’s time we have another.” In order to succeed, Sandford says the younger generations must hold an absolutely pivotal role in this movement. By investing in their clear sightedness, their enthusiasm and their courage, he believes they will be the ones to make the real transition towards a water-conscious future.

  Sandford ends his 2020 address with a question, “Why is it that every disaster movie begins with a scientist being ignored? We need to dispel the myth of limitless water in Canada and we need to do it now.”

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Your generous gift will help us keep moving forward on our purpose: to build broad support for a low carbon future

 

With any gift of $100 or more, we will send you one of our Guardians of the Ice tee shirts ($45 retail)

 

They are made with a beautifully soft bamboo material by Jerico, a Socially Conscious Canadian Company

 

Guardians of the Ice is incorporated under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act

 

          OVERVIEW        

COLUMBIA ICEFIELD 

    FOUR OUTCOMES   

           THE TEAM         

           THE LOGO         

       TAKE ACTION: DONATE TODAY!     

      TAKE ACTION: JOIN THE GUARD!     

Your generous gift will help us keep moving forward on our purpose: to build broad support for a low carbon future

 

With any gift of $100 or more, we will send you one of our Guardians of the Ice tee shirts ($45 retail)

 

They are made with a beautifully soft bamboo material by Jerico, a Socially Conscious Canadian Company

 

Guardians of the Ice is incorporated under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act

 

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    Guardians of the Ice/Banded Peak Brewing Speaker Series: Mount Castleguard EVENT September 29, 2023 at 6:30 pm!

    We are stoked to announce the sixth event of the Guardians of the Ice/Banded Peak Brewing Speaker Series: Mount Castleguard.

                                       

    Join us for another exciting evening of candid conversation, laughs and learning, beer tasting, and Q&A in support of the Columbia Icefield. #CraftedForAdventure

    September 29, 2023 at 6:30 pm
    Ticket price of $20 includes a donation to Guardians of the Ice
    cSPACE Studio Theatre (@cspace.mardaloop) 1721 – 29th Avenue SW, Calgary AB

    Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/banded-peak-x-guardians-of-the-ice-speaker-series-mount-castleguard-tickets-703666343977?aff=oddtdtcreator

    Our Host will be our own @jim_elzinga, legendary Alpinist and @guardiansoftheice Founder.

     

    Featured Keynote Speakers:

    IAN WELSTED is one of Canada’s leading alpine climbers, with experience in many of the world’s Great Ranges. Based in Canada’s mountains, he’s repeated and established some of the most remote and esthetic climbs on the Columbia Icefield. He has pushed the limits above glaciers on North America’s highest mountains. And established a route on a Himalayan peak, K6 West at a grade of WI5 M6 over 1,800 metres with Raphael Slawinski. The ascent earned them both the prestigious climbing award known as the Piolets d’Or.
    Closer to home, he completed the first complete traverse of the north ridge of North Twin, which is a four-kilometre 5.7 with 1,300 metres of elevation gain. He also soloed the Emperor Ridge on Mount Robson and still holds the speed record. On Mount Waddington north of Vancouver, he made the first ascent of Epaulette Ridge, a 1,600-metre 12-kilometre 5.7.
    While he’s most comfortable on long and complicated climbs in the alpine, he’s also a highly experienced steep ice climber and technical rock climber. His knowledge of mountains far and wide makes him a valuable member of the Canadian climbing community. When not chasing remote climbs, he can be found guiding and instructing as an alpine guide with the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides.
    He will present photos and videos from K2, The Charakusa Valley, The Emperor Ridge, The North Twin, and many other mind-numbing and hand-freezing venues.

    DR. ALISON CRISCITIELLO is an ice-core scientist and high-altitude mountaineer. National Geographic Explorer, Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the University of Alberta. In addition to her academic work, she is a co-founder of Girls on Ice Canada and an avid adventurer and mountain climber.
    Canadian Geographic Magazine: “Alison Criscitiello is redefining the term explorer.”
    To National Geographic Explorer Alison Criscitiello, there is nothing more thrilling than cold, high-altitude places. As a glaciologist and ice core scientist, her work has taken her from the High Arctic to the Antarctic in search of secrets about the Earth’s climate that remain hidden deep within the ice. As a professional high-altitude mountaineer, she also seeks out chilly weather and big peaks for fun.
    With support from NatGeo, Alison tackled perhaps her most daring feat yet: Canada’s highest point, Mount Logan. Located in the Yukon Territory, Mount Logan is thought to house some of the oldest ice on Earth. Glaciers and ice sheets there contain a wealth of data about the history of the region and its climate—valuable information that Criscitiello has dedicated years to uncovering and interpreting.
    Alison will be sharing more about her Mount Logan experience along with her most recent adventures: exploring for drill sites on the Muller Icecap on Axel Heiberg Island in the high arctic, along with drilling on the Greenland Ice Sheet with a Danish team.