Overview

Though not traditionally thought of as strategic natural resources, glaciers are a crucial part of our global ecosystem playing a fundamental role in the sustaining of life around the world. Comprising three quarters of the world's freshwater, they freeze in the winter and melt in the summer, supplying a steady flow of water for agriculture, livestock, industry and human consumption. The white of glacier surfaces reflect sunrays which otherwise warm our planet. Without them, many of the planet's rivers would run dry shortly after the winter snow-melt. A single mid-sized glacier in high mountain environments of places like California, Argentina, India, Kyrgyzstan, or Chile can provide an entire community with a sustained flow of drinking water for generations. On the other hand, when global temperatures rise, not only does glacier ice wither away into the oceans and cease to act as water reservoirs, but these massive ice bodies can become highly unstable and collapse into downstream environments, resulting in severe natural events like glacier tsunamis and other deadly environmental catastrophes. But despite their critical role in environmental sustainability, glaciers often exist well outside our environmental consciousness, and they are mostly unprotected from atmospheric impacts of global warming or from soot deriving from transportation emissions, or from certain types of industrial activity such as mining, which has been shown to have devastating consequences for glacier survival. Glaciers: The Politics of Ice is a scientific, cultural, and political examination of the cryosphere -- the earth's ice -- and the environmental policies that are slowly emerging to protect it. Jorge Daniel Taillant discusses the debates and negotiations behind the passage of the world's first glacier-protection law in the mid-2000s, and reveals the tension that quickly arose between industry, politicians, and environmentalists when an international mining company proposed dynamiting three glaciers to get at gold deposits underneath. The book is a quest to educate general society about the basic science behind glaciers, outlines current and future risks to their preservation, and reveals the intriguing politics behind glacier melting debates over policies and laws to protect the resource. Taillant also makes suggestions on what can be done to preserve these crucial sources of fresh water, from both a scientific and policymaking standpoint.Glaciers is a new window into one of the earth's most crucial and yet most ignored natural resources, and a call to reawaken our interest in the world's changing climate.

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9780199367252

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.. .so riveting. Taillant answers a question asked a lot of late: How can we talk about climate change so that people will listen? --Library Journal While there are quite a number of books on the market about glaciers from a scientific perspective, this is the first book about the actual protection of glaciers through environmental legislation and other mitigation measures. Interdisciplinary books, such as this one, are highly relevant in today's world. In the face of a changing climate and increased need to access natural resources under a growing world population, understanding the intersection between science and society is critical. --Eugenie Euskirchen, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks

...so riveting. Taillant answers a question asked a lot of late: How can we talk about climate change so that people will listen? --Library Journal While there are quite a number of books on the market about glaciers from a scientific perspective, this is the first book about the actual protection of glaciers through environmental legislation and other mitigation measures. Interdisciplinary books, such as this one, are highly relevant in today's world. In the face of a changing climate and increased need to access natural resources under a growing world population, understanding the intersection between science and society is critical. --Eugenie Euskirchen, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks Featured in Nature. Aside from Antarctic ice, most North Americans probably think of glaciers as a northern phenomenon, which is why it's particularly thought-provoking to read about them from the perspective of a global southerner. Daniel Taillant, co-founder of the Centre for Human Rights and Environment, an Argentinian NGO, has written an account both exuberant in its wide-eyed appreciation of glaciers and sombre in its evaluation of their current state. --Maclean's Taillant's book provides the opportunity to read not only about a fascinating world of ice, but about the political maneuvering necessary to protect it. --Glacier Hub Taillant tracks both the science and politics of glaciers in this interesting book, keeping readers in suspense and hoping for a happy ending. Highly recommended. --CHOICE

"""...so riveting. Taillant answers a question asked a lot of late: How can we talk about climate change so that people will listen?"" --Library Journal ""While there are quite a number of books on the market about glaciers from a scientific perspective, this is the first book about the actual protection of glaciers through environmental legislation and other mitigation measures. Interdisciplinary books, such as this one, are highly relevant in today's world. In the face of a changing climate and increased need to access natural resources under a growing world population, understanding the intersection between science and society is critical."" --Eugenie Euskirchen, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks Featured in Nature. ""Aside from Antarctic ice, most North Americans probably think of glaciers as a northern phenomenon, which is why it's particularly thought-provoking to read about them from the perspective of a global southerner. Daniel Taillant, co-founder of the Centre for Human Rights and Environment, an Argentinian NGO, has written an account both exuberant in its wide-eyed appreciation of glaciers and sombre in its evaluation of their current state."" --Maclean's ""Taillant's book provides the opportunity to read not only about a fascinating world of ice, but about the political maneuvering necessary to protect it."" --Glacier Hub ""Taillant tracks both the science and politics of glaciers in this interesting book, keeping readers in suspense and hoping for a happy ending. Highly recommended."" --CHOICE"

Author Information

Jorge Daniel Taillant is the executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Environment, an Argentina-based organization. He is the author of numerous publications on the impacts of mining on glaciers.

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