"Since 1977, the Gesellschaft für ökologische Forschung (Society for Ecological Research) in Munich has been committed to analyzing the natural and social-scientific aspects of industrialization and to addressing related environmental issues in a sustainable manner. The Society’s Glacier Archive is devoted to documenting the rapid and increasingly accelerating retreat of glaciers in the Alps by precisely transposing views of the same subjects from series of old pictures and postcards. The resulting collection of images combines technical precision, determined persistence, and emotional perception. It thereby makes a unique contribution to the public discourse on climate change.

The Gesellschaft für ökologische Forschung in Munich documents the retreat of glaciers in the Alps through a systematic comparison of current photographs with earlier pictures and postcards. Its unique Glacier Archive is publicly available on the internet. In book form and as an exhibition, it has received a powerful international response. It is used in schools and has been featured in a wide range of publications. It has made an exemplary contribution to raising public and political awareness of issues related to climate change and its consequences for high mountain regions.

The loss of the greater part of the world’s glacier ice is already all but unavoidable. The continuing work of the Glacier Archive will thus increasingly serve as valuable memorial documentation for the benefit of future generations, while also providing an important basis for public reflection on the sustainable treatment of the newly emerging landscapes in formerly glaciated high mountain terrain."

Albert Mountain Award 2022