tall ice tower with light in the cave in its base.

One way to fight climate change: Make your own glaciers.

As snows dwindle and glaciers recede, people in the mountains of northern India are building huge ice cones that provide water into summer.

Conical ice stupas serve as water towers, storing winter meltwater for spring planting. The youth group that built this one in the northern Indian village of Gya also installed a café in its base. They used the proceeds to take village elders on a pilgrimage. “No one takes them anywhere,” one of the youths said.
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This story appears in the July 2020 issue of National Geographic magazine.
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