While the rest of the world dithers over climate change, Mongolia is doing something about it. In the nation’s capital, Ulan Bator, they’re creating what’s being called an “ice shield” by growing the amount of ice that naturally forms on the city’s Tuul River with a little help from man. It’s similar to how ice skating rinks are made thicker, by topping the ice with more and more water. Ulan Bator will grow the ice up to 21 feet in thickness to create reserves of water for summer, as well as fight the city’s heat island effect. The project could provide a precedent for other arid cities that also have cold winters; Denver, for instance, which is facing potentially dire water shortages by 2020.

After an online petition reamed the Discovery Channel for being cowardly on climate change, the network has reversed course and said it will air the seventh episode of the BBC’s Frozen Planet documentary when the series hits this coming spring. The final episode not only documents the coldest regions of our world, as do the first six, but also starkly discusses the effects a warming world will have on the plants, animals, and people who depend on cold winters either directly or indirectly. Discovery had originally said it wouldn’t show the finale because it was worried that some viewers didn’t believe in climate change. But an online petition from Change.org hit 75,000 signatures in just a few hours after the news broke, prompting the network to backpedal.