The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change
"I love the winter. It's when I fly through the birch forest like a hawk." So begins Alaska-based journalist Wohlforth's beautifully written study of global warming's impact on Arctic weather patterns. He does a magnificent job of writing about two disparate culturesâ€"the Inupiaq Eskimos who live and hunt on the coast of the Arctic Ocean and Western scientists attempting to comprehend climate changeâ€"and demonstrating just how much they have in common. His goal is "to try to understand different ways of seeing the natural world," and he successfully moves between both groups as they acknowledge that significant change has already begun: "Average winter temperatures in Interior Alaska had risen 7 degrees F since the 1950s.... Alaska glaciers were shrinking, permanently frozen ground was melting, spring was earlier, and Arctic sea ice was thinner and less extensive than ever before measured. Winter was going to hell." The changes mean a lifestyle shift for the Inupiat, who depend for their livelihood on traditional methods of whaling that are being severely affected by the climate changes. Moving with ease from whaling boats to seminar rooms, Wohlforth brings excitement to the quest for information about global warming. Part adventure story, part science writing accessible to the general reader, this thoroughly engaging volume provides rich insight into ways of dealing with climate change. The issues Wohlforth raise go well beyond the Inupiaq Eskimos, he notes, and are certain to affect all of us in the coming years. Disregard the book's unfortunate titleâ€"it's worth reading.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.