Glaciers : The Politics of Ice

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. Though not traditionally thought of as key natural resource, glaciers are a crucial part of both our global ecosystem and the sustaining of life around the world. Comprising three quarters of the world's fresh water, they freeze in the winter and melt in the summer, supplying water that is plentiful enough for agriculture and clean enough to drink. Without them, many of the planet's rivers would run dry shortly after the winter snow-melt. In fact, a single mid-sized glacier in regions like California, Argentina, India, Kyrgyzstan, or Chile can provide an entire community with drinking water for generations. On the other hand, when global temperatures rise not only does glacier ice wither away into the oceans, but these massive ice bodies can become unstable and cause severe natural events like glacier tsunamis. But glaciers often exist well outside our environmental consciousness, and they are mostly unprotected from atmospheric impacts from transportation emissions, or from industrial threats such as the mining industry, which seeks the precious metals that lie beneath them. Glaciers: The Politics of Ice is a scientific, cultural, and political examination of the cryosphere -- the earth's ice -- and the environmental policies that aim to protect it. Jorge Daniel Taillant discusses the debates and negotiations behind the passing of the world's first glacier-protection law in the mid-2000s, and reveals the tension between the industry experts, politicians, and glacier conservationists. The book provides the basic environmental science behind glaciers, outlines current and future risks to their preservation, and reveals the intriguing politics behind the debate over glacier policies and laws. 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 natural resources, and a call to reawaken our interest in the world's changing climate. 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 supply a steady flow of water for agriculture, livestock, industry and human consumption. 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, resulting in severe natural events like glacier tsunamis. 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, from soot deriving from transportation emissions, or from industrial activity such as mining. This book 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. It is a quest to educate general society about the basic science behind glaciers, outline current and future risks to their preservation, and reveal the intriguing politics behind glacier melting debates over policies and laws to protect the resource. The author also makes suggestions on what can be done to preserve these crucial sources of fresh water, from both a scientific and policymaking standpoint.--Adapted from dust jacket Glaciers Is A Volume About The Role Glaciers Play In Our Daily Lives (often Without Us Knowing), The Risks Posed To Glaciers From Natural And Anthropogenic Activity (including Climate Change And Industrial Pollution), And Policies And Practices That Should Be Employed To Protect This Fundamental Hydrological Reserve-- How To Read This Book -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: Dynamiting Glaciers -- Chapter 2: What Is A Glacier? -- Chapter 3: The Birth Of Cryoactivism -- Chapter 4: Invisible Glaciers -- Chapter 5: The Barrick Veto -- Chapter 6: Life Without Glaciers -- Chapter 7: Resurgence -- Chapter 8: Amazing Glacier Stuff -- Chapter 9: Implementation -- Chapter 10: The Human Right... To Glaciers? -- Chapter 11: Final Words -- Appendix: The Argentine National Glacier Protection Law. Jorge Daniel Taillant. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 323-326) And Index. Glaciers are one of the world's most important natural resources, and yet they are largely unprotected by environmental policy. Glaciers: The Politics of Ice is a scientific, cultural, and political examination of the world's ice, showing all the ways in which glaciers are critical to our global ecosystem and making suggestions for protecting them better in the future. Glaciers are one of the worlds most important natural resources, and yet they are largely unprotected by environmental policy. This book is a scientific, cultural, and political examination of the worlds ice, showing all the ways in which glaciers are critical to our global ecosystem and making suggestions for protecting them better in the future "Glaciers is a volume about the role glaciers play in our daily lives (often without us knowing), the risks posed to glaciers from natural and anthropogenic activity (including climate change and industrial pollution), and policies and practices that should be employed to protect this fundamental hydrological reserve"-- Provided by publisher How to read this book Introduction 1. Dynamiting glaciers 2. What is a glacier? 3. The birth of cryoactivism 4. Invisible glaciers 5. The Barrick veto 6. Life without glaciers 7. Resurgence 8. Amazing glacier stuff 9. Implementation 10. The human right... to glaciers? 11. Final words Appendix. The Argentine National Glacier Act.