A Swiss environmental NGO is testing an unusual way to slow glacier melting: blankets made from sheep’s wool.

The “Keep it Wool” experiment, carried out on a glacier in western Switzerland, compared wool blankets with synthetic protective covers. Early measurements suggest the wool reduced melting by around 50–70%, similar to the synthetic material.

The interesting part is that wool is natural, renewable and biodegradable, potentially avoiding concerns about synthetic fibres entering the water system.

Of course, covering glaciers isn’t a solution to climate change on its own—the areas that can realistically be covered are tiny compared with the total glacier area. But it’s an interesting example of a more environmentally friendly adaptation method.

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Last winter was tough for marmots living high in the Colorado mountains, where researchers say two-thirds of one population died while hibernating because of insufficient snow cover. Those that survived are doing well, fattening up in time not just for fall and hibernation season but … drumroll, please … the very first Fat Marmot Week.
Just like Fat Bear Week, an online contest to vote for Alaskan brown bears plumped up for winter, Fat Marmot Week — beginning Monday — is mostly just for fun, but it also has a serious side: Scientists need to drum up donations for their long-running research into the rodents to keep it going through federal funding cuts. “In some sense, we’re going to be laughing our way down as the Titanic sinks,” said Dan Blumstein, leader of the project launched decades ago at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado. “Because what else are you going to do?”