Giving Compass' Take:

• Marisa Endicott reports that Ice911 and other organizations are engaging in research and efforts to save arctic ice through geoengineering.

• How can funders help to find and fund effective climate solutions? 

• Learn more about geoengineering the earth's climate.

Tiny glass beads might seem an unlikely hero in the fight against climate change, but they may end up playing an outsize role in tackling one of the natural world’s most dire predicaments. A group of researchers have found that millions of these spheres spread in a layer across swaths of Arctic ice reflects sunlight and helps keep the ice frozen.

Glaciers, polar land, and sea ice are rapidly melting, much faster than many scientists expected, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report on oceans and the cryosphere released Wednesday reiterated. During a five-day heat wave this summer, Greenland lost more than 60 billion tons of ice, including the biggest loss in a 24-hour period since record-keeping began. Recent projections warn that Arctic summers could be nearly ice-free in 10 to 40 years. Arctic ice levels are both a primary indicator of rising global temperatures and a key determinant of how bad climate change might get. Serious ice loss means sea levels rise, more heat is absorbed by the ocean and planet, and weather and ocean currents could change.

Ice911 isn’t the only ice restoration project out there. People have proposed building underwater walls to prop up glaciers and boring cold water tunnels under ice to help thicken it. Chinese researchers are investing billions into polar research over the next decade, including feasibility testing for various geoengineering solutions.

But Ice911 is one of the furthest along. Last year, the team covered almost 18,000 square yards on lake ice in Utqiagvik (previously Barrow), Alaska, for pilot tests. While they work on permitting with the Environmental Protection Agency for testing on sea ice, they are collaborating with NASA on modeling.

Read the full article about efforts to save Arctic ice by Marisa Endicott at Grist.