"Meltdown Flags" Climate Data Project Visualizes Devastating Glacier Retreat and Stages Digital Protest

Nov. 09, 2020

Environmental science specialists from METER partner with global communications  agency Serviceplan and design studio Moby Digg expressed their oppinion on ''Meltdown Flags'' digital protest to  highlight climate change and recognise postponed United Nations Conference of the  Parties (COP26).

After almost a year of protests, which began in December  2019 when handsewn Meltdown Flags were carried through the streets of Madrid during the  COP25 climate change conference, and continued with an ongoing educational mission and  an exhibition of the flags in the alpine museum of legendary Italian mountaineer Reinhold  Messner, ''Meltdown Flags'' will stage a digital protest during the cancelled COP26 between  9-19 November 2020.  

Today, on what would have marked the first day of the most important international climate  meeting of the year - silence. The COP26 was due to begin in Glasgow this week and was  postponed to November 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This new date may be too late  for the planet’s ice, for Scientists have reported Greenland's ice sheet has passed a "point of  no return". Therefore the mission of ‘Meltdown Flags’ is to bring the urgent topic of glacier  meltdown back to the table in these unsettling times of the pandemic and political turmoil, in  the form of a digital protest between 9-19 November, the original dates of the now postponed United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP26).  

The climate initiative "Meltdown Flags" combines data and design to show the serious  consequences of glacier extinction. Flags are seen as symbols of the highest national  representation and emotional value - especially among politicians. The concept behind ''Meltdown Flags'' is simple: the effects of global warming and consequent glacier retreat is  visualized in the flags through reducing the proportion of the color white in the national flags  of countries with glaciers, according to historical data and glacier projections. 

The data utilized in the ''Meltdown Flags'' project has been obtained from databases and  projection models from METER, UNESCO, NASA, and the universities of Zurich and  Innsbruck, among others. Key dates are the years 1995, 2020, and 2050 referring to the year  of the first UN Climate Change Conference in Berlin, the present-day status, and the goal  year set within the Paris Agreement to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C,  respectively. 

''Meltdown Flags’' was launched in December 2019 during the 2019 COP25 in Madrid, and  the hand-sewn ‘Meltdown Flags ‘are currently on display in the alpine museum of legendary  Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner in Bolzano, until 2021. 

The flags of Argentina, Austria, Canada, Chile, France, Greenland, Iceland, India, Iran, Italy,  Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, USA and Uzbekistan, all countries with glaciers,  have been converted into ‘Meltdown Flags’, with the white areas in each flag reduced  according to the historical data. Glacier projects for each country were collected from  METER, UNESCO, NASA and the Universities of Zurich and Innsbruck.

Despite the dominant presence of Covid-19, the ''Meltdown Flags'' project has gained wide  support in 2020. From world-renowned Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner and French  glaciologist Dr. Heidi Sevestre, to UN environmental ambassador Malcolm Wood. From  global climate organizations such as Protect Our Winters to national climate legislation  groups like Fundación Glaciares Chilenos, who use the Chilean Meltdown Flag to  advocate for glacier protection in the country’s legislation. 

Reinhold Messner commented:

“I’ve been to all these countries. In many places where we  climbed over glaciers in the past, there is [no more] ice. I’ve seen the dying glaciers  visualized in these “Meltdown Flags” with my own eyes.” 

 

Dr. Sevestre explained:

“Projects like Meltdown Flags are so important because as  scientists we often underestimate how little people know about glaciers. We need these  initiatives to make science accessible, to make it exciting, but above all to put this knowledge  into practice."

 

Christian Hertel, VP Marketing, METER Group added:

"We have documented and  researched global climate change for decades. With Meltdown Flags, we want to make that  knowledge accessible, to educate about the importance of environmental science, especially  of glaciers, and encourage people to act." 

 

Matthias Harbeck, CCO Serviceplan Germany said:

"Serviceplan Group is aware of its  responsibility and has recently launched a worldwide climate-neutral plan, starting in  Germany. We all love our home – and we all love the world we inhabit. With ‘Meltdown  Flags’, we want to appeal to decision-makers worldwide to protect the world we all call home  from the climate crisis."  

 

The eradication of the world’s glaciers would have dire consequences on nature, biodiversity  and ultimately on the fate of humanity, warn the world’s leading scientists and Sir David  Attenborough in his new documentary ‘A Life On Our Planet’ and accompanying book.  Greenland’s ice is melting faster than at any time during the past 12,000 years, and  increased loss of ice could trigger sea level rise of up to 10cm by the end of the century.

For every centimeter of sea-level rise 1 million people would lose their homes. The planet’s  most vital resource is also at stake: Glaciers are a vital life source, storing 69% of the world's  freshwater. If they were to melt completely, humanity would lose access to drinking water, a  source of energy, and irrigation. Complete meltdown would bring sea level rise to a record  high.

UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, attests to a "lack of political will" of governments to  meet their contractually-agreed climate targets. Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the  U.N. Climate Change agency, has urged governments to restart their post-pandemic  economies with climate goals in mind.