Glacier blanketing: Two approaches in the European Alps

Abstract As a response to climate change, the use of glacier blanketing in the European Alps helps to slow the melting of snow and ice, and in turn, allays the impacts of global warming on recreational landscapes. The practice of laying geotextiles across glaciers and snow fields reveals important information about the capacity for human engagement and, ultimately, the role of design interventions in addressing the climate crisis. Blanketing efforts have been prominent in large-scale environmental art works and might be seen as acts of care for a broken planet. In this study, interviews with stakeholders and associated fieldwork underscored the significance of human values and agency in two adaptive management projects. The comparative study of an individual ski resort and an ice grotto demonstrate the ways in which glacier blanketing is used to slow the rate of ablation, the benefits and limitations of such interventions and the values that underpin this work. These decisions carry implications for design practice beyond the Alps, and make a case for foregrounding the role of human agency, values and decision making in global climate-adaptive design efforts.