The Jorge Montt Glacier, in the Patagonia region of Chile, is receding faster than any other glacier in the country. This is probably largely because of climate change, but also maybe a little bit because some dude’s been stealing it piecemeal.
Police in the Chilean town of Cochranne arrested a man with five-and-a-half tons of glacial ice in the back of his truck. They think he hacked that ice out of the glacier to sell as a fancypants cocktail accoutrement:
Police suspect the ice was destined for the capital, Santiago, to make gourmet ice cubes for use in upmarket bars and restaurants.
The BBC’s Gideon Long, in Santiago, says tourists in southern Chile are often served whisky chilled with glacial ice — which has an extra kudos because it comes directly from the glaciers.
Destroying a glacier so that you can make money selling status symbols to rich people: Is there a better metaphor for the current state of the environment?
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