THE MELTING WORLD by Christopher White tells the story of
the recent years of Glacier National Park in Montana. Since
Aug 2008 the author has been following the studies of Dan
Fagre of the U.S. Geological Survey which have been showing
a dramatic decrease in the size of the glaciers in the
park, so much so that, as the author says, the park may
soon have to be renamed; there will be no glaciers left in
it.
The causes of the shrinkage are principally more melting in
summer and less snowfall in winter, both due to climate
change. The consequences of shrinking glaciers are many-
fold and, due to the complications of eco-systems, often
very difficult to predict but there are some identifiable
trends. For example smaller glaciers mean less fresh water
melt downstream, when it is most needed, which leads to
farmers and ranchers having problems. In addition animals
native to the area, like snowshoe hares, may depend on the
snow for camouflage while others, like bears and wolverines
depend on it for winter dens. Many other species are very
sensitive to temperature and the raising of the temperature
level put them at serious risk.
There is also the important issue of losing so much of the
beauty which led to this area being designated a National
Park in the first place and the author's evocative
descriptions of the mountains and glaciers make you very
aware of what we still have and how much there is to lose.
THE MELTING WORLD is an excellent description of some of the
results
of climate change and the effect they can have on our
environment together with great descriptions of the area
and its beauty.
Global warming usually seems to happen far away,
but one catastrophic effect of climate change
is underway right now in the Rocky Mountains. In
The Melting World, Chris White travels
to Montana to chronicle the work of Dan Fagre,
a climate scientist and ecologist, whose
work shows that alpine glaciers are vanishing rapidly
close to home. For years, Fagre has monitored the ice
sheets in Glacier National Park proving that they—and
by extension all Rocky Mountain ice—will melt far
faster than previously imagined. How long will the ice
fields survive? What are the consequences on our
environment? The Melting
World chronicles the first extinction of a mountain
ecosystem in what is expected to be a series of such
global calamities as humanity faces the prospect
of a world without alpine ice.
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