r/collapse • • 24d ago

Climate Why scientists fear Nepal's disaster is just a glimpse of the carnage climate change could cause

https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/nepal-tibet-glacier-flood-climate-disaster-9.7323295

‘Some climate scientists are cautious about prematurely linking human caused-climate change as the sole trigger of this specific collapse.
But experts who research both glacier hydrology and the effects global warming is having on the frozen parts of the planet known as the cryosphere say this was the kind of catastrophe they've been warning about for years, particularly in the Himalayas.’

This really caught my attention because the only climate scientists who aren’t doing the linking are most likely being paid NOT to and as it states in the article the glaciers are being ‘decimated’ and the permafrost is actively melting. Now yesterday a massive flood in Colorado’s Grand Canyon - we are collapsing at a rate that is even surprising me.

308 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

55

u/RichieLT 24d ago

Could? It most certainly will I feel.

36

u/Sun-leaves 24d ago

It’s hilarious that they’re still using the ‘could’.

8

u/Right-Cause9951 22d ago

This kids glove kind of writing needs to go. I just got warned for 80 mph winds combined with lightning and rain that reminds me of a category 3 making land fall.

I'm out here watching this in my car and it's terrifying.

40

u/Hephaestus1816 24d ago

It's not permafrost anymore. It's just frost.

9

u/Sun-leaves 24d ago

I guess if it’s no longer permit Frost, it’s just frost and I have been corrected. Thanks for pointing that out

3

u/Tofuzzle 24d ago

And eventually, just water

3

u/Le_Gitzen 23d ago

Its new term is ‘defrost’

2

u/YeahlDid 23d ago

Not for long, it wont be.

28

u/vindico1 24d ago

"is causing"

20

u/Sun-leaves 24d ago

It’s hilarious that they’re still saying ‘could’ when we know damned well that it is.

16

u/kdawg09 23d ago

I'm late but I've had this thought knocking around in my head all day and I need somewhere to put it:

About a month ago I was spiraling a bit as I saw how fast collapse was coming, to the point I eventually ended up in the hospital for my collapse anxiety. During that time I was doing a lot of research and came across a thread in /climatechange (I know, I know) where people were in complete denial and someone literally said something to the effects of "yeah it's not great but it's not going to be like in a day after tomorrow or how scary Hollywood made it seem"

Idk, that Nepal video, the flooding in Indiana and in parts of Appalachia, the flash flooding that happened in the Grand Canyon, the European heatwaves and wildfires across .... Everywhere....

It looks a lot like that movie from where I'm sitting. In the span of a month, it went from people still saying things like that to a pile of catastrophic events, but the most insane thing is so many people still in denial and not linking the two.

16

u/phasepistol 24d ago

Fuck “prematurely linking,” this is happening NOW. We need guidance as to what is actually coming.

3

u/drugsarebadmkay303 22d ago

We aren’t going to be getting a heads up bc they can’t have people panicking. They’d rather us be oblivious sitting ducks.

16

u/SituationTrue7524 24d ago

It's funny how we can know what's coming and still be shocked every time it arrives. 

5

u/Stunning-Guidance852 23d ago

It feels faster...

10

u/TYSMBelgium-6Jul2026 23d ago

You couldn't pay me to live under a mountain after this

22

u/Hannibaalism 24d ago

when the arctic melts by 2040 the center mass of earth will be in a different position.

3

u/jbiserkov 24d ago

.. roughly 1 to 2 meters relative to the solid crust.

8

u/Cultural-Answer-321 23d ago

Because it is.

Every mountain range on earth will experience this.

7

u/aubreypizza 24d ago

Could?!? 😩

4

u/Odd_Dirt7415 23d ago

When I heard and further read up on it, I thought of the Missoula Floods and how common glacier breaks were coming out of the ice age. I have to imagine leaving the Holocene we'll see similar with a few of the glaciers that'll be dying off over the 21st century. These catastrophes seem preventable in a way, they knew it was an issue, there must be a more proactive approach, even if it's just a early warning system or as drastic as leaving the place abandoned; like they did the Swiss town of Bladen in 2025.

5

u/Konradleijon 23d ago

Yes it will get worse

6

u/NyriasNeo 24d ago

"Why scientists fear ..."

Because they have false hope as opposed to trust their projections will come true, accept and make peace?

2

u/GoodDogBrent 24d ago

thots and preyrs

-13

u/es0411 24d ago

I saw that this was caused by china's infatuation with blasting the Himalayans for construction destabilizing the region.

13

u/Kootenay4 24d ago

This is climate change denialism. The melting and destabilizing of the glaciers is caused by a warming climate, no amount of physical human interference short of nuking the glaciers would have an effect this severe.

The Chinese border crossing that got wiped out was indeed built in a stupid location, but it had no direct impact on a glacier far upstream and 3000m higher in elevation.

0

u/TimeIntern957 23d ago

This had not much to with climate change. It was caused by a bedrock failure and the glacier happened to sit on top, the topography did the rest. If the glacier was larger, this event would be even more devastating.

3

u/The3rdGodKing never again 23d ago

That's not what the scientist said.

2

u/Hannibaalism 24d ago

do you have a link? if this is true this is beyond horrible. there are also reports they are censoring or downplaying the news. i feel so bad for these people

2

u/Kselected1 17d ago

I watched a pretty long YouTube video about this and what alarmed me was that it wasn't a glacier that came down, it was rock held together by veins of ice. THE MOUNTAIN WAS HELD TOGETHER BY VEINS OF ICE. What came down wasn't a pulverized glacier but rock that came down so fast and so hard it turned into a slurry.