I’m going to switch around the question here and talk about how people actually rely on glaciers for survival. The most important resource provided by glaciers is freshwater. Many people who live along the Andes receive their water from glacial melt that originates high in the mountains and makes its way into the valleys via rivers and streams where the villages and cities are located. These glacial deposits can also provide fertile soil great for growing crops. Indigenous communities residing the mountains have relied on both the water and the soil for agricultural production for hundreds of years. Modern cities, too, depend on these resources for food production. Glaciers also produce sand and gravel deposits that can be made into concrete and asphalt (National Geographic). Especially here in Chile, where much of the country is in a drought, glacial melt is a critical water resource. Unfortunately, this type of water continues to become more and more scarce in face of climate change.
Sources: National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/glacier/
Glaciers in Chile, the U.S. and all over the world are shrinking due to climate change. According to Science Daily, Andean glaciers have shrunk by more than 90 percent over the past 10,000 years, and the majority of this shrinking has occurred over the past 200 years. Can you guess why that is? That's right... it's due to the industrial revolution and the increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from human activity.
