In an enchanting cloudy light, Iceland’s Fjallsjökull glacier flows downhill above the Fjallsárlón lagoon, dotted with icebergs. From this glacier, a rapidly growing heart-shaped rock island emerges – a symbol of love, vulnerability, and hope.

Here at the gateway to the Arctic, where ice has shaped the landscape for thousands of years, a quiet but relentless change is taking place, caused by us humans. The Fjallsjökull glacier, an outlet arm of the mighty Vatnajökull ice cap, is retreating further into higher regions every year, like all other glaciers, due to climate change. As it melts, more and more land is exposed at ever shorter intervals, revealing rocks that were previously hidden under the persistent ice. This is how this black heart in the middle of the glacier came into being – a reminder to us as humanity to be mindful.

While the beauty of this landscape overwhelms us, it also tells the mindful observer a tragic story of loss. Since industrialization around 1850, Iceland’s ice has lost 16 percent of its volume, seven percent of that since 1995. Since 2010, the annual loss of ice has accelerated fivefold compared to the long-term average. As a result, 18 percent of Iceland’s originally ice-covered area has now been irretrievably lost. In the past 25 years, as much ice has been lost as in the 100 years before that – clear evidence of a dramatic acceleration in global warming, comparable to worldwide developments of glacier loss. The melting glaciers around the world have already contributed to a 22 percent rise in sea levels. The displacement of these temperature-dependent habitats also threatens countless species. What appears peaceful in the fog is in fact a dramatic wake-up call.

Let us see the heart in Fjallsárlón as a call not only to admire, but to act. It speaks about the fragility of nature – and at the same time about the possibility of opening our own hearts. It is not the ice of the earth that should disappear, but the coldness within us – the carelessness towards what we are losing.

Looking attentively at this landscape, one sees much more than a rugged, fog-shrouded landscape. We are looking into the heart of Earth, exposed by climate change, a symbol of what we should protect—if we finally have the courage to change. 

Let us melt the ice in our hearts—so that the ice of Earth remains. Every little spark matters when it passes from heart to heart.