The polar ice caps are in serious decline. More images surfaced recently showing how, in just 10 years, global ice sheets have receded rapidly. It’s not just the Arctic and Antarctic ice shelves. Glaciers in Switzerland, Montana, Canada, Alaska, and other parts of the world are melting quicker than ever. While global warming is almost entirely to blame, there is hope, as many scientists will say there is still time to save them. But how?
The Business Download connected with Glory Hammes, CEO of IQAir North America.
IQAir is a Swiss air quality monitoring company with a strong international presence. It specializes in deploying low-cost air quality sensors to population-dense areas.
The company has sensors in countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bahrain, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Peru. The sensors track real-time air quality data that can be used to make more informed environmental protection decisions. Hammes said IQAir’s technology makes it easier to reduce pollution through data-driven decisions.
Photo Courtesy LinkedIn
“What we do is we’re a data provider. We provide the largest data platform globally. We’re also a partner of the United Nations Environmental Program, so we provide 90% of the world’s population air quality data,” she explained in an interview.
“If people are aware that the air that they’re breathing is 10 times higher than their standards, then they will choose to say, ‘I’m going to continue on this cycle, or I’m going to do something different.’”
Individuals in the United States, Europe, and Asia can make positive environmental impacts with specific choices in their daily lives. For example, an American family can switch to electric cars over gas-powered ones, use more renewable energy, recycle better, and install a heat pump in their home. While it may not seem like much, a collective effort to lower greenhouse gas emissions can slow global warming.
Screengrab Courtesy IQAir
IQAir combats “data deserts” in highly populated areas with limited or no air quality data. The company works with several groups in these countries to set up low-cost sensors.
“When you have low-cost sensors, you have the ability, with a less expensive device, to be able to set up a data network that is done by essential individuals, data scientists, citizen scientists, so it lowers the barrier of entry to establish an air quality data network,” Hammes said.
More accessible data for civilians will help them make environmentally positive decisions to slow the planet’s warming rate. Curbing emissions from developing countries is critical to stopping the melting of the polar ice caps and the rising sea levels. Rising oceans have significant impacts on global food supply, Arctic and Antarctic wildlife, shipping lanes, and permafrost.
“We’re definitely at the point where it can be reversed,” Hammes said.
“And I believe the consensus is that what we do within the next 24 months is highly critical and will determine if we’re going to be on the track to reverse the impact there and what we’ve done in the past just with regards to global warming.”
There are some innovative solutions to stopping the meltdown. A University of Cambridge research group is developing a massive metal curtain to block warm ocean currents from hitting the Antarctic shelf. A Dutch startup called Arctic Reflections is testing to see if ice layering can restore sea ice. However, these plans need more funding to replace hundreds of miles of lost ice shelves.
Hammes believes curbing fossil fuel emissions will be the starting point in saving the polar ice caps. “It comes down to reducing our dependency on fossil fuels. And we do have a lot of policies. There’s a national policy taking place to slow down these effects, and it’s critical,” she said. “We have the technology, and we know what needs to be done, and we just need to see it through.”
Photo Courtesy NASA
The national policy is a four-pillar plan laid out by the federal government to improve the lives of those living in Arctic communities. That’s mainly Alaska Natives, and the government said it will work with these communities and the Alaskan state government to build resilience to climate change through scientific and political decisions.
A large section of the Alaskan Arctic was barred from oil drilling, and more Alaska Native communities are switching to renewable energy. These are vital steps in securing their livelihoods. Many villagers use the ice as a fishing spot, hunting grounds, and for spiritual reasons.
Hammes said IQAir has no air sensors in the polar areas due to the low population density.
“Since there’s not a tremendous amount of human population within Antarctica, that’s not necessarily a priority in terms of air quality,” she said. “But it is a priority in terms of other types of data we’re looking at. We’re in the process of doing what’s called a real-time carbon dioxide [CO2] mineral system.”
This step involves carbon capture and storage, where the storage site and rocks above are monitored for escaped CO2.
Even with more polar conservation policies being enacted, there are ongoing geopolitical issues to contend with. Recently, Russia found massive oil reserves in part of British-controlled Antarctica. This discovery is worth noting as it is a direct challenge to the Antarctic Treaty System, an international agreement that 57 countries have signed since it was enacted in 1959. It explicitly outlaws any exploitation of the continent.
Scientists and Hammes hope the treaty will continue to be enforced. It has also been theorized extracting oil here wouldn’t make economic sense. Even during its melting period, the ice is too thick for most drills to dig through, and it’s evident the world is focusing on reducing the oil standard. Not to mention, there is only a small window for this kind of work. The summer is only three months long. After that, the winter plunges the continent into temperatures as low as -60 degrees Fahrenheit with no sunlight.
“There are so many other sources of oil other than really this extremely critical part of the world that needs to be preserved,” Hammes stressed. “It’s not necessary, globally, we add on this very critical localized area as a source of oil.”
