The United States is one of the most geologically diverse nations in the world. From the tropics of Hawaii and the swamps of Louisiana, to the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado and the untamed tundras of Alaska, the United States is made up of every type of biome.
Among every national park, every mountain range, and every forest, one region in particular stands out from the rest: the Pacific Northwest. Here, you find a different kind of natural beauty; one where jagged mountain peaks, rainforests, and flower meadows reign supreme. The Pacific Northwest is the last truly untouched wilderness in the continental U.S.; otherwise known as the “American Alps.”
Imagine this: you step outside of your log cabin to drink a cup of coffee hot off the stove on a cool spring morning. The morning is slightly foggy, but you’re still able to see the tall pine trees dance in the air as the light breeze hits you; cool mist from the fog gently touches your face. Coming from the city, you’re not used to seeing grass so green, trees so thick, and air so clean that the cool moistness is better than any spa in the world. The purplish-blue rays of sunlight grace the sky above, making it look as if you are in a fantasy novel, but this is the average morning in the North Cascades.
Mountains and Glaciers
The North Cascades are a section of the greater Cascade Range, which extends from Northern California all the way to British Columbia. The North Cascades, in particular, hold some of the most well-known and photographed mountain peaks in the U.S., the tallest being Mount Rainier, which towers 14,400 feet in the air. Mount Rainier is considered the Mount Fuji of America, with its striking prominence and snow-topped peak. Within North Cascades National Park, over 300 glaciers exist, feeding local river systems with vital minerals and freshwater. They are the reason for the thriving forests and wildlife, and for the region’s immense natural beauty.
A glacier is defined as a free-flowing body of ice that is the result of snow being compacted into ice over a period of time. As winter comes in, thick layers of snow cover the exposed ice and, in theory, should stick long enough to protect the glacier from the summer heat. However, due to rising global temperatures, there is not enough snowfall to cover glaciers and protect the ice from the sun.
This is what leads to receding glaciers, which in itself is a natural process. What is not natural is that more glaciers around the world are disappearing at accelerating rates; there is very little glacial growth, and the polar ice caps are melting.
There are six terms used to classify different types of glaciers which help form the Earth’s cryosphere. From the smallest to the biggest, their terms are: rock glaciers, freshwater/tidewater glaciers, valley glaciers, alpine glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets, the most important of which are ice sheets, ice caps, alpine glaciers, and freshwater glaciers.
Ice sheets are the largest types of glaciers; they are continental in scale and helped to form much of North America’s mountain peaks and geography. In New York, much of the state’s geography was caused by the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last ice age, 25,000 years ago.
The resource-rich soil of the Midwest is also due in part because of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, which deposited thousands of minerals into the region. The only ice sheets that exist today are the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Greenland Ice Sheet. These ice sheets are invaluable in protecting the Earth from the Sun’s rays, as the compact ice reflects 90% of the sun’s rays back into space. This allows more heat to easily escape the atmosphere and contributes to regulating the global temperature.
Urgency and Effects of Melting Glaciers
Alpine glaciers and freshwater glaciers are the most common and most at risk of disappearing. Alpine glaciers are defined by where they start, in the mountains at high elevations. Freshwater glaciers begin on land and spill over into nearby bodies of freshwater, hence their name. Together, glaciers, sea ice, permafrost, and icebergs make up the cryosphere to keep the Earth’s climate in check. The loss of glaciers, however, will prove disastrous. The glaciers of the North Cascades are essential to protecting the local wildlife and maintaining biodiversity. The threat that accelerated melting poses to this vital portion of the U.S. is too great to go ignored.
Initially, there would be a surge in the amount of usable freshwater for local communities; however, that water source would quickly run out. On the world stage, over 2 billion people, 25% of the world population, depend on glacial meltwater and melting snow for clean freshwater. Should the climate continue to warm, hundreds of thousands of communities would be at risk of facing agricultural collapse.
In Cordillera Blanca, Peru, local farmers are having to adapt to the unprecedented levels of glacial retreat by growing different types of crops that are more reliable to sell. These farmers are relying on the surge of meltwater, but big businesses are also noticing the surplus; irrigation projects and power companies like Ardian are also competing for the meltwater, creating tension in the community.
Meltwater from the glaciers would seep into oceans, causing rising sea levels and permanently changing ocean circulation. Ocean circulation is how ocean currents travel around the world, transporting heat, carbon, and nutrients. This leads to an almost inescapable domino effect.
If this delicate balance in the ocean is disrupted, warmer air will be released into the atmosphere, causing frequent and more powerful storms. In the worst-case scenario, meaning global temperatures keep rising at double the current rate, water levels around New York City could increase by 13 inches by 2030. This has a 5% chance of occurring, but the fact that a 13-inch water-level surge is possible at all is enough to worry urban developers. So much so that there is a push by Dr. Jason Barr of Rutgers University to expand Manhattan Island with the same technology used to create artificial islands. As unplausable as this sounds, it is actually very feasible and realistic project that has more benefits than consequences in an effort to protect New York City from rising sea levels and worsening storms.
Regardless of what is done, however, according to the United Kingdom’s National Oceanographic Centre, the economic cost of rising seas will be punishing; by 2100, the cost would be $14 trillion dollars a year, with a large section of the affected areas being within the East Coast of the US.
According to a study done by Cornell University, by 2060, 35 years from the time this article gets published, there will be an estimated 1.4 billion refugees as a result of rising sea levels from melting glaciers and a total of 2 billion displaced by 2100. By 2050, a third of all UNESCO World Heritage site glaciers are set to disappear.
The consequences of allowing glaciers to rapidly melt due to a warming planet are not just an issue about conserving the beauty of our planet, but also about protecting the livelihoods of billions.
Receding glaciers are a major contributor to the worsening weather patterns, furthering the emotional impact caused by a warming Earth. In the U.S., the effects of glacial melting would not only be felt by worsening weather patterns, but also ecological collapse. Beyond the climate, glaciers provide essential nutrients, moisture, and water to feed ecosystems and people.
In Olympic National Park, the Hoh River gets its freshwater from the Blue Glacier; a glacier that runs through Mount Olympus. The Hoh River is what allows the surrounding Hoh Rainforest to thrive. This rainforest is one of the only coastal temperate rainforests in the world and it depends on the continuous stream of freshwater from the Hoh River.
The Blue Glacier however, is melting at an alarming rate in recent years. Despite being the largest glacier in Olympic National Park, the Blue Glacier has lost over 20% of its total mass in the past 30 years despite the region getting 50-70 feet of snow per year. The massive 2.6-mile-long glacier will disappear completely by 2070, if climate change continues to worsen.
The effects on the Hoh Rainforest would be devastating. The ecosystem already suffered drought from extended heat periods despite being a rainforest, which, in 2015, led to the Paradise Fire at Olympic National Park, not to be confused with the Paradise Fire in California.
In 2023, the Hoh River suffered severe drought, where nearly all of the river was dried up, killing thousands of salmon and steelhead fish, along with many other species. Meltwater from the Blue Glacier was not enough to provide for the entire river as there was not as much water available as there was in previous years due to accelerating melting. This led to mass dying of the local salmon and lamprey population, which are an essential food source for the bears of the park.
Sparks of Hope
Luckily, many have recognized the on-going crisis of mass glacial melting. The United Nations has declared 2025 the International Year of the Glaciers’ Preservation, aiming to increase awareness over the issue of melting glaciers and create a call-to-action around the world. March 20th to the 21st, 2025 at the UN Headquarters in New York City, was the first ever World Glacier Day, marking the first steps to making governments pay attention to our Earth’s cryosphere.
We all need to take steps to help preserve our planet’s glaciers; whether it’s using less energy to curb your carbon footprint, or spreading awareness about the importance of the cryosphere, every little contribution helps. If we don’t, then we will lose vital ecosystems and future generations will not be able to truly appreciate the beauty of the Earth: instead of waking up to misty, cool mornings in the mountains, people will wake up in dry and dying habitats, and people around the world will lose their way of life.
In the past, we have stood-up for the ozone layer and governments listened; the Montreal Protocol was signed to protect the Ozone Layer from harmful chemicals, and it is projected to recover completely by the middle of the century. Now is the time to step-up for glaciers.
We all need to take steps to help preserve our planet’s glaciers; whether it’s using less energy to curb your carbon footprint, or spreading awareness about the importance of the cryosphere, every little contribution helps.