Ice Rivers
by Jemma Wadham
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Description
A passionate eyewitness account of the mysteries and looming demise of glaciers--and what their fate means for our shared future. The ice sheets and glaciers that cover one-tenth of Earth's land surface are today in grave peril. High in the Alps, Andes, and Himalaya, once-indomitable glaciers are retreating, even dying. Meanwhile, in Antarctica, thinning glaciers may be unlocking vast quantities of methane stored for millions of years beneath the ice. In Ice Rivers, renowned glaciologist show more Jemma Wadham offers a searing personal account of glaciers and the rapidly unfolding crisis that they--and we--face. Taking readers on a personal journey from Europe and Asia to Antarctica and South America, Wadham introduces majestic glaciers around the globe as individuals--even friends--each with their own unique character and place in their community. Defying their first appearance as silent, passive, and lifeless, she reveals that glaciers are, in fact, as alive as a forest or soil, teeming with microbial life and deeply connected to almost everything we know. They influence crucial systems on which people depend, from lucrative fisheries to fertile croplands, and represent some of the most sensitive and dynamic parts of our world. Their fate is inescapably entwined with our own, and the potential consequences are almost unfathomable unless we act to abate the greenhouse warming of our planet. A riveting blend of cutting-edge research and tales of encounters with polar bears and survival under the midnight sun, Ice Rivers is an unforgettable portrait of--and love letter to--our vanishing icy wildernesses. show lessTags
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Science: Earth
109 works; 1 member
Author Information
1 Work 39 Members
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Il mondo dove è bianco. Viaggio nelle terre dei ghiacciai tra allarme e stupore
- Original title
- Ice Rivers: A Story of Glaciers, Wilderness, and Humanity
- Original publication date
- 2021
- Important places
- Leverett Glacier, Greenland; Finsterwalderbreen, Svalbard; Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Swiss Alps; Shallap and Pastoruri Glaciers, Cordillera Blanca, Peru; Steffen Glacier, Patagonia, Chile; Chhota Shigri, Indian Himalaya (show all 7); Joyce Glacier, Antarctica
- First words
- (Introduction) Imagine that one morning you woke up, pottered into your kitchen to make a cup of tea, found you hadn't shut the freezer properly last night, and ice was now teasingly protruding out of a crack in the door.
I was twenty, on my first expedition, a somewhat green Geography undergraduate working as a field assistant on a research project that aimed to uncover mysterious details about the flow and plumbing of the Haut Glacier d'Arol... (show all)la, a small, relatively inaccessible valley glacier tucked up high in the Swiss Alps. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Maybe our situation with glaciers is no different to a global pandemic, if we choose to see it that way.
- Blurbers
- McKibben, Bill
- Original language
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Science & Nature, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 551.31092 — Natural sciences & mathematics Earth sciences; geology Geology, Hydrology Meteorology Surface and exogenous processes and their agents Glaciology
- LCC
- GB2403.7 .W33 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Physical geography Physical geography Hydrology. Water Ground and surface waters Ice. Glaciers. Ice sheets. Sea ice
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 39
- Popularity
- 747,328
- Rating
- (3.00)
- Languages
- English, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 1
