How unstable are glaciers in the Swiss Alps?

We take you now to the Swiss Alps where one person is missing after a glacier collapsed burying the village of Blatten. Experts had been monitoring the situation for weeks as chunks broke off the side of the mountain piling up on a glacier below. Nine million tons of debris was too much. A massive body of dust and debris tears through the idyllic mountain scenery. It's not from a movie about the end of the world but real footage of a glacier crashing into a valley. And a catastrophe for the inhabitants of this Swiss village. Dear residents of Blatten, the unimaginable has happened today. We have practically lost the physical village. I'm glad we were able to evacuate you all and bring you to safety. That gives us the strength to do what lies ahead. We have lost the village today but not its heart. For several days, millions of tons of mountain debris piled up on the Birch Glacier above the village and tumbled into the surrounding valley while fears grew that a major landslide was imminent. Authorities ordered a complete evacuation of Blatten's inhabitants, some 300 people and their livestock. Some were even airlifted out of the danger zone. It was very surprising. We realized how bad it was. The scenario had obviously worsened. But then you just adapt and get on with it. The mood is very good and calm, so no panic. The people of this valley are used to natural disasters. Many climate experts say rising temperatures increase the risk of something like this hitting more communities like Blatten. Let's talk to Hena Handel about this, a policy specialist when it comes to the climate. She joins us from Stanford in California. Research suggests climate change is increasing landslides in the Swiss Alps. Is this global warming in action that we're seeing in this footage today? Well, thank you very much for having me on. I appreciate it. And that footage is just tragic. And here's what we know. We have been on a string of broken heat records. 2024 was the hottest year on record. It included the warmest summer on record as well as the warmest day on record. So we've just been breaking multiple records. And as a result of that, we're noticing effects in the permafrost in the Arctic, and that's really thawing, as well as these glaciers melting. We have the West Inked Arctic Ice Sheet, which is really important, and that's been melting at really notable rates. And so, of course, all of these effects are intertwined. And I think that's why it's so important to have these conversations about climate change, because the effects are really bearing down on populations. So as global temperatures rise, how unstable are parts of the Swiss Alps becoming, would you say? You know, it is certainly part of the picture. I mean, we're noticing that as these glaciers melt, as the Arctic permafrost thaws, as all these effects come together, and as we continue to breach these heat records, this is really part of the picture. I mean, we know, for example, that in 2015, it was decided that we need to keep global average temperature increase under 1.5 degrees Celsius to avert the worst impacts of climate change that could potentially be irreversible. And we know that we're actually not meeting that mark. It's going up and up and up. And so because of that, unfortunately, these effects are coming to bear, and we're having to deal with disasters like the population in Switzerland is right now. Are these one-off things, though, or can we expect more large events like these to happen more often, with a clear shift or trend underway? Yeah, unfortunately, we're looking at extreme disasters happening more often because of climate change-induced effects. We know, for example, if we take cyclones, tropical cyclones, they're increasing in severity because of human-induced climate change. If we look at heat events, heat waves, they're increasing in duration, intensity, and frequency. Look at the duration of fire seasons that are lengthening. I mean, all these extreme weather events are actually happening because of human-induced climate change, in part because we're not taping down on climate change. Unfortunately, those events will probably be more frequent and or more severe in the future. So would you say it's being dealt with at a top level? You've been a delegate to several UN climate change conferences, I believe. I have. I've been a delegate to four UN climate change conferences. We'll be again at the COP conference this year in Brazil. You know, unfortunately, at these conferences, you have delegates from all across the world convened together to try to solve this problem. But really, it is also up to each country after the conference to execute their part and to do their role. And unfortunately, right now, we have so many challenges with actually getting countries to execute on this mission. As I mentioned, we continually breach that 1.5 degree Celsius goal, and it looks like we may be breaching that in the long term, which is really bad for averting those irreversible outcomes. So we also know that, for example, in the United States, where I'm coming at you from, President Trump is really adamant about undoing former President Biden's climate legacy. And we know, for example, the United States is a really key player in the global climate fight, as is the European Union, as are some other state actors. So it's really important to have the big climate players at the table, you know, doing their job. And unfortunately, right now, with the current political climate, that's been very difficult to do. Okay, we'll have to leave it on that note. Unfortunately, Henna Handel, thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Really appreciate it.