Activists stage funeral for Swiss glacier in Alps

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A line of several dozen hikers climb a rocky, picturesque mountainside in the Swiss Alps.

And in addition to climbing gear, many are dressed in costume formal black in the bright Sunday sunshine (September 22).

Some of the men wear black hats, some of the women black lace veils in the thin alpine air.

Because this is a funeral, of sorts.

These are climate activists, and they're mourning what they says is the death of a glacier to due global warming.

The Pizol Glacier perches 8,500 feet above sea level, near the border with Austria.

And all that's left of it are a few patches of white against the mountain.

Matthias Huss is the head of the Swiss Glaciers Monitoring Network.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) GLACIAR SPECIALIST AT ETH ZURICH UNIVERSITY AND HEAD OF THE SWISS GLACIERS MONITORING NETWORK, MATTHIAS HUSS, SAYING:

"At present, we still have an ice-covered size of about four football fields, so it is already a very small glacier, but the retreat has dramatically accelerated in the last two years. So, in 2018 it started to disintegrate its last 40% of its area, and now this year again more. So, we have really almost lost everything, we have some little ice patches left, but really not much."

The activists hold a ceremony marking the loss of the alpine ice.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) GLACIAR SPECIALIST AT ETH ZURICH UNIVERSITY AND HEAD OF THE SWISS GLACIERS MONITORING NETWORK, MATTHIAS HUSS, SAYING:

"We have built up a relation to this glacier over time, and many of the people that are here have probably some kind of relation, so it is a sad day where people say goodbye to this glacier, as we do it to humans that we have loved."

One man plays an alp horn.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) GLACIAR SPECIALIST AT ETH ZURICH UNIVERSITY AND HEAD OF THE SWISS GLACIERS MONITORING NETWORK, MATTHIAS HUSS, SAYING:

"We can basically not save this glacier, this glacier is a symbol that glaciers are disappearing, that the ice is melting in the Alps. We cannot save this glacier but there are many other glaciers that we can potentially save by protecting the climate, the bigger glaciers can still be saved, but also in a smaller size."

While the Pizol Glacier may continue to retreat, activists such as Huss see the loss as a call to action, to prevent climate change from permanently altering the face of the planet.