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This glacier was featured on a postcard in 1900. A camera captured where it is today.

Whoa.

116 years ago, the Pasterze glacier in the Austria's Eastern Alps was postcard perfect:

Photo via Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons.

Snowy peaks. Windswept valleys. Ruddy-cheeked mountain children in lederhosen playing "Edelweiss" on the flugelhorn.

But a lot has changed since 1900.

Much of it has changed for the better! We've eradicated smallpox, Hitler is dead, and the song "Billie Jean" exists now.

On the downside, the Earth has gotten a lot hotter. A lot hotter.

The 15 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998. July 2016 was the planet's hottest month — ever.

Unsurprisingly, man-made climate change has wreaked havoc on the planet's glaciers — including the Pasterze, which is Austria's largest.

Just how much havoc are we talking about? Well...

A series of stunning photos, published in August, show just how far the glacier has receded since its heyday.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

First measured in 1851, the glacier lost half of its mass between that year and 2008.

The glacier today.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

A marker placed in 1985 shows where the edge of the glacier reached just 31 years ago. You can still see the ice sheet, but just barely, way off in the distance. In between is ... a big, muddy lake.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

The view from the glacial foot marker from 1995 — 10 years later — isn't much more encouraging.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

Even in just one year, 2015, the glacier lost an astounding amount of mass — 177 feet, by some estimates.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

Ice continues to melt daily, and while the dripping makes for a good photo, it's unfortunate news for planet Earth. Glacial melting is one of the three primary causes of sea-level rise.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

According to a European Environment Agency report, the average temperature in the Alps has increased 2 degrees Celsius in the last 100 years — double the global average.

Beautiful, but ominous, fissures in the glacier.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

It's not unreasonable to assume that that's why this mountain hut has been abandoned by the flugelhorn-playing children who once probably lived in it.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

Is there anything we can do to stop climate change besides look at scary glacier photos?

Climate change is, unfortunately, still a robust debate in the United States as many of our elected officials refuse to acknowledge that we humans are the ones doing the changing. As of last year, that list included a whopping 49 senators. Calling them to gently persuade them otherwise would be helpful. Not voting for them if they don't change their minds would be even more so.

There is some tentative good news — the Paris Agreement signed in December 2015 commits 197 countries, including the U.S., to take steps to limit future global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius. While it may be too late for the Pasterze glacier, if we really commit as a world, we might be able to stop ourselves from sinking whole countries and turning Miami into a swimming pool and stuff like that.

And who knows, with a little luck, and a little more not poisoning the sky, we just might recapture a little of that Alpine magic one day.

OK, these guys are Swiss. But who's counting?

Photo by Cristo Vlahos/Wikimedia Commons.

This article originally appeared seven years ago.

Everyone loves before-and-after glacier pics. But do you know what comes after the after?

Watching a mighty glacier recede before your eyes can be stunning.

The Mendenhall Glacier receded about 1,800 feet between 2007 and 2015. Images from James Balog via AP.

To see something so huge rendered so ephemeral in just a simple pair of images.

Switzerland's Stein Glacier lost about 1,800 feet between 2006 and 2015.

These before-and-after shots serve as powerful reminders of climate change.

The Trift Glacier in Switzerland lost nearly three-quarters of a mile between 2006 and 2015. Images from James Balog via AP and Matt Kennedy via AP.

Warmer weather has been shrinking glaciers around the world, from the Himalayas to the American West. These latest images are part of a set released by the Geological Society of America.

But they don't show the whole story.

What happens after the "after" photo?

When glaciers melt, that water runs into streams and rivers. But here's the thing: It matters when the water moves into streams and rivers.

Glaciers work like icy time machines. In many areas, glaciers and mountaintop snowpack trap winter precipitation that would have otherwise ended up flowing downstream, eventually to the ocean. They then release it during the warmer, drier summer, helping even out river levels year-round.

But as glaciers shrink, that time machine winds down. Rivers and lakes can't depend on that meltwater.

Ross Lake in northern Washington. In 2001, little rain and a light snowpack caused water levels to drop (top). The photo above is the lake at normal water level. Photos by David McNew/Newsmakers/Getty Images and Zengame/Flickr.

This is a major worry in many areas, such as in the Himalayas and the many highly populated countries their glaciers feed, but in America too. In the Pacific Northwest, declining snowpack might starve the mighty Columbia River.

Shrinking rivers have their own after-effects.

We depend on rivers for much more than just drinking water. Hydroelectric dams provide 70% of the Pacific Northwest's electricity. They feed agricultural projects and provide a habitat for salmon, trout, and other creatures. We play in them and on them. All of these things could be affected.

We still have the power to head off negative changes. Transitioning to cleaner energy sources such as wind and solar means fewer climate-affecting emissions, while more judicious water usage could help head off the worst effects.

So the next time you see one of these amazing before-and-afters, remember it's only the start of the story.

The Sólheimajökull Glacier in Iceland retreated more than 2,000 feet between 2007 and 2015. Images from James Balog via AP.

This glacier repeatedly melts and freezes in a new form. The results are stunning.

True

If you follow "Game of Thrones," you know some scenes call for some pretty remote — not to mention freezing — locations.

I know, Jon Snow. I know. GIF via "Game of Thrones."

They look pretty majestic on screen, but one ice-cold location in particular looks even cooler in real life.

This is Vatnajökull,the largest glacier mass in all of Europe.

All images via Mikael Buck, used with permission.

Pretty spectacular, right? I mean, look at this place!

These incredible images were taken by British photographer Mikael Buck, who was the first to capture these stunning caves from the inside using a special sensor technology.

And he had to go through quite the trek just to get there.

"Accessing the best caves requires a two-hour hike each way over the glacier. To do this, you need to rope up to your hiking partners, carry an ice axe and wear crampons," Buck wrote in an email.

A local guide, Einar Rúnar Sigurðsson, made the journey possible and helped Buck go deep into the glacier in order to access the most impressive ice caves.

Because the caves can only be accessed during winter — daylight hours are limited — they had to race time to get the images Buck wanted and get back while it was still light.

But when Buck actually set foot inside the ice caves, it was pure magic.

"Entering the caves for the first time, you step into a dark hole and suddenly you are in an alien landscape. It was unlike anything I've seen before and the colours are just as vivid in real life as in the images," wrote Buck.

"The shapes and textures where the water has slowly eroded parts of the ice are amazing. If we had the time I could have happily spent hours in there staring at all the cracks and crevasses."

The caves presented some unusual challenges though.

"Inside the ice caves themselves, things can get very claustrophobic," Buck added. "At one point I was on my hands and knees crawling under the ice above in order to get to another part of the cave."

"Game of Thrones" filmed in the surrounding areas and not inside the actual caves (maybe because they would look better for an alien movie). But even if they had, the cave they would've shot then is different from the way it looks today.

You see, the appearance of Vatnajökull is constantly changing.

"Each summer, the ice moves and new caves form and old ones collapse and are never seen again," explained Buck. "The caves themselves are formed where water runs off from the surrounding slopes and into the sides of the glacier."

The sheer magnitude and beauty of these ice caves put things into perspective for Buck.

"It was an awe inspiring trip and an experience I won't be forgetting in a hurry," he said.

"As with any trip to somewhere so wild and remote, the concerns of life in the city and the world of work seem pretty trivial on your return."

As beautiful as these morphing formations may be, they may not be around forever.

Glaciologist Oddur Sigurðsson has been very outspoken about the significant shrinking that Icelandic glaciers have undergone in the past 20 years. The culprit? You guessed it: climate change.

"The caves themselves are not formed as a result of climate change, but the glacier itself is rapidly retreating," noted Buck. "Our guide pointed out the distance the glacier had retreated in his lifetime and it was quite staggering."

At the current rate the world is going, these glaciers may be completely wiped out in 200 years.

That means we would lose one of Earth's most amazing natural wonders just like that.

These images are breathtaking, but they also paint a bigger picture.

Fortunately, some necessary steps are being taken to save these marvels for future generations. The Kolviður Fund, for instance, has made it their mission to reduce CO2 emissions in Iceland by improving their forest ecosystems. By planting more trees strategically, they hope to offset the CO2 emissions generated by cars and flights and preserve the glaciers.

And works such as Buck's photo series are able to shine a light on this important cause. By spotlighting just how magnificent these remote locations are, people can better understand their value to the world and just how worth saving they really are.

So yes, winter may be coming. But in this particular case, we hope it's here to stay.

If you're 30, see what the Arctic ice cap was doing when you went to high school.

If you're 30 years old, you've seen a good amount of change in your lifetime. Over the years you've gone from child to teenager to real adult. You've worked your way through the trials and tribulations of first steps, first crushes, and first jobs. You went to school, got jobs, and grew up. It's the start of an immense and grand story.

But you're not the only thing changing in this story. As you've grown, the background has changed too. Sometimes it's obvious — like moving to a new house or a new city.

But is it possible that larger things changed too?

If you're 30, you started the first grade around 1991 or so.

Back when this was the greatest place on Earth. Image from Matthew Paul Argall/Flickr.

Let's go way back — the first real day of school. New teachers, new kids. Homework, for the first time ever. I remember someone informing me that there were 11 more grades to go and being baffled that anything could possibly take that long!

Meanwhile, the world spun on. Plants grew and died with the seasons, storms came and and went, and up in the Arctic, the ice grew and shifted, as always.

1991. All GIFs from NOAA Climate.gov/YouTube.

You were a high school freshman in 1999, or so.

Eight years later, you were probably starting high school. You weren't the hyperactive kid anymore; you were more stable. More collected. More cool (maybe).

Meanwhile, exciting things were happening in the world. "Star Wars: Episode I," "The Matrix," and "Family Guy" all premiered that year. People were Y2K-proofing their computers. And everyone was drawing that weird S-thing on their notebooks.

1999.

And the Arctic still went through its annual cycle of freeze and thaw.

This is an animation created by the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, by the way. The colors in the GIFs show how old the ice is: The whiter the ice is, the older it is.

And ice, like people, tends to get stronger and more resilient as it matures. It's more likely to stick around through tough times. At first there seemed to be a lot of old ice. But something's changing...

If you went to college, you were probably the class of 2007.

Bob Barker bids farewell to "The Price Is Right," but Don Draper steps into the zeitgeist as the wildly-popular "Mad Men" premieres. The final "Harry Potter" book comes out.

As for you, this was a year of caps and gowns and new jobs. By now you were into your 20s — officially an adult — someone with real responsibility and experience. Someone who things can start to count on to stick around.

2007.

But the same can't be said for the North Pole.

Did you spot the pattern? Look close - the white part's starting to disappear. The old ice is going away.

And if you have kids, they might have been born in either 2011 or 2012, statistically speaking.

2011-2012.

But by then the old ice had practically disappeared.

That means the entire ice pack is weaker, more fragile, and more likely to melt in the summer. In 2012, for example, the summer extent of the ice was only about half the 1979-2000 average.

It's as if someone took a population of strong, resilient adults and replaced them with first graders.

What will the world be like by the time the next generation turns 30?

By the time the kids born in 2011 turn 30, the Arctic could be largely ice-free during the summer.

This could have huge implications for the planet. Melting sea ice could change weather patterns thousands of miles away. Ocean currents could change too. And all the people and animals — like polar bears — who depend on the ice would be in serious trouble.

But we can still do something about the underlying cause. By using less fossil fuel and investing in green energy, we can help slow down climate change and, hopefully, help retain as much of that mature ice as we can.

And it starts with us knowing what's going on in the great white north. Let's spread the word.

Watch the full animation below:

It's mesmerizing.

Video from NOAA Climate.gov/YouTube.