My summer was full of amazing opportunities. Seriously, I was in paradise. After attending SC3, in August I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Washington to climb Mt. Baker. There I truly solidified my passion in conservation and environmentalism. After having a hands on experience in the outdoors, not only did I travel with scientific experts for 11 days to learn about mountains, glaciers, and plant life, but I was also able to become an expert on my own by carrying out a personal science project. I had the opportunity to look at the Easton glacier and compare it to how it was in previous years. The results were shocking! Apparently at the same time last year, there was much more snow fall on the location and you could not even see the blue ice of the glacier, but now the glacier is extremely exposed. Although I only spent 11 days on the mountain, changes were noticeable each day. Due to the rate of snow melt, new streams were created because of snow melt by the end of my two weeks there.
When you think about it on a larger scale, the world seems to be consistently warming. During the Little Ice Age, about 300 years ago, the Easton Glacier was much larger and our entire campsite (which was completely exposed) would have been covered with snow. I also learned that during the Little Ice Age, Seattle was covered with glaciers. Now, especially in the ablation zone, the Easton glacier is experiencing the most amount of change due to the fact that it is getting thinner and retreating. Whether we want to acknowledge this or not, the world is constantly changing and although we may not have all the answers, we have a responsibility to this world.
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