, more than 80% of tourists rent cars during their stay and arrive by plane or ship, which are high emission methods of travel.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nnow running and operating her own travel agency, <\/span>atlad\u00f3ttir says losing glaciers would be complicated for the economy and come with difficult consequences for the country. but in the face of inevitable change, atlad\u00f3ttir advocates for future planning that considers potential new attractions that melting glaciers might reveal, such as river rafting. <\/span>\u201cconservation sometimes is looking at nature as a static thing, but glaciers have always grown, receded and changed,\u201d she says. \u201cyou have to think, are you preserving [nature] just because you happen to be there and you like the way it is?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nat the perlan museum, the world\u2019s first attempt at preserving the experience of a glacier proved tricky. to test such a large ice structure, the museum used a decommissioned fishery warehouse freezer, mimicking the layer-by-layer compression of snow that forms real glacier ice. although the museum opened six years ago, due to logistics and covid-19 related challenges, the ice caves exhibition has only recently celebrated one uninterrupted year of operation. the completed exhibit is held inside one of the six water tanks that the museum is built on, and features real snow from the nearby bl\u00e1fj\u00f6ll mountains, and volcanic ash sourced from eyjafjallaj\u00f6kull, a volcano that last erupted in 2010. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
visitors to the perlan museum walk through the ice caves exhibit. (sachi kitajima mulkey<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\ntoday, visitors can descend into a blue-ice series of tunnels under the perlan for a completely instagrammable glacier experience. along with touchable recreations of glacier moss and frigid temperatures, visitors can pose at the selfie station or on the \u201cgame of thrones\u201d-inspired ice-throne before ascending out of the exhibit into a climate change exhibition on glacier melt.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cof course it\u2019s going to be different, because you aren\u2019t actually going there. because not everyone can,\u201d says erla, the director of marketing at the perlan.<\/span> “it\u2019s about learning, getting a sense of the deep cold and experiencing the inside of the cave.” even while real glaciers exist, she says visitors come to ice cave for its accessibility. due to the danger of visiting real glacial ice caves, such as unpredictable weather and rough terrain, erla says going to an ice cave may not be safe for all tourists. located near travel ports in reykjav\u00edk and running on renewable energy, the ice caves exhibit also provides a glacier experience at a relatively low carbon cost.<\/span> <\/span> <\/span>while some glacier hiking tour companies may be utilizing a \u201csee them before they\u2019re gone\u201d strategy in their marketing, erla says the perlan is only in the business of education. like gunnarsson, she views the experience of a glacier as an important part of understanding their significance. \u201ci don\u2019t think climate change is a selling point. i think it\u2019s just reality,\u201d she says, noting that artificial ice caves could eventually replace lost glaciers as a tourist attraction. at the perlan, visitors can also experience other recreations of nature, such as a virtual northern lights show or learn about the great auk, a now-extinct icelandic bird.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
a waterfall leads into a highway that runs along iceland’s west coast. photo by sachi kitajima mulkey.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nglaciers were historically \u201cjust a part of the landscape,\u201d but as awareness of climate impacts has increased among the population, erla, gunnarsson, and <\/span>atlad\u00f3ttir all say that they have become an important icelandic symbol. \u201cjust look at our flag,\u201d erla says<\/span>. \u201cit represents ice, fire, and water. it\u2019s part of the country.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nfor atlad\u00f3ttir, thorough future planning by icelandic officials is a critical, and historically overlooked, key to developing sustainable tourism that can recover after glaciers melt. but with planning, she believes the country can be resilient to a glacier-less future. \u201cit is sad,\u201d she says. \u201cbut it is a reality. and you adapt to that and then you find beauty in something else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n