https://science.feedback.org/glacier-collapse-recently-buried-swiss-village-heres-what-scientists-say-triggered-event/ On 28 May 2025, the Swiss Alpine village of Blatten was tragically buried after the Birch Glacier collapsed, sparking immediate questions online about climate change’s role. It’s a fair question, given the clear links between climate change and glacier loss. However, pinpointing its role in any single event is challenging—*it’s a single event that did in fact occur while Earth’s climate is changing, so we can’t ‘test’ the alternative* . That is, we don’t have an Earth ‘replica’ without human-caused climate change to see what would have happened. Scientists were quick to investigate the event and provide the best-available insights about potential ties between this event and climate change in a fact sheet published by ETH Zürich: The disaster happened in a chain of events with no single cause, but many contributing factors, including the partial collapse of a mountain peak which deposited rocks on the glacier, which added excess weight to it. Science Feedback discussed with five glaciologists researching glaciers in Switzerland. Here was a key takeaway: *although climate change was not the sole factor, it likely played a role in the events that unfolded.* As glaciologist Christian Huggel put it: > “Considering all these processes, it would be absurd, ignorant or dishonest to state that anthropogenic warming has not played any role in the ice-rock avalanche disaster in Blatten.”