Creation Time Day 2

Photo by Lorraine Hodgson

For the second day of the Creation Time season I've selected this aerial view of the European Alps captured on a flight from Greece to London. Its stunningly beautiful snow-capped mountains and glaciers, so accessible to some of the most prosperous and densely-populated regions of the world,  have ensured the Alps are a major tourist attraction. According to some measures the Alps are the second most-visited tourist destination in the world after the Mediterranean coastline. 

For many the Alps with their towering peaks and bright white snowfields symbolise the unfettered wildness of nature. Yet the Alps are especially vulnerable to climate change. Temperatures in the region have risen by almost 2°C in the last 120 years; twice as much as the global average. Many glaciers have consistently retreated in recent decades and total ice volume today is estimated to be half what it was in 1850.

"At bottom, mountains, like all wildernesses, challenge our complacent conviction - so easy to lapse into - that the world has been made for humans by humans." Robert Macfarlane