Mock funeral held for Icelandic glacier claimed by climate change

Scientists and activists said their final goodbyes to “Ok,” the first glacier lost to climate change, on Sunday in Iceland, according to The Associated Press. 

Okjökull, known as “Ok,” became the first glacier in Iceland to lose its title due to climate change in 2014, the AP noted. 

{mosads}Icelandic geologist Oddur Sigurðsson reportedly said that while Ok was the first glacier to disappear, more across the nation will be gone in 200 years. 

About 100 people attended the gathering to remember the glacier that once stretched six square miles, the news service reported. 

“The symbolic death of a glacier is a warning to us, and we need action,” former Irish President Mary Robinson said. 

“We see the consequences of the climate crisis,” Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir said. “We have no time to lose.”

Rice University last month had revealed a plaque with a eulogy, which was placed on Sunday.

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The plaque contains a somber warning to visitors, titled “A letter to the future.”

“Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it,” it reads.