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Dr. M Jackson: The Secret Lives of Glaciers
October 15, 2019 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm PDT
Free
Dr. M Jackson discusses her new book, The Secret Lives of Glaciers.
Praise for The Secret Lives of Glaciers
“This outrageous book, rich with revelation and stewardship, is, at its deepest level, an icy blue love story to make us reconsider what it means to be fully alive – and open to wonder – in our ever-changing world.” Kim Heacox, Author, John Muir and the Ice That Started a Fire
“M Jackson brings a powerful combination of skills to bear in her ambitious task of complicating our understanding of the rapidly dwindling masses of ice with which we share this planet. Blending hands-on science, vivid descriptive writing, affecting personal anecdote, and insightful cultural observation, The Secret Lives of Glaciers is a hypnotic and inspiring book–essential reading for anyone who loves nature and is concerned about the human species’ continued existence within it.” Tim Weed, Author, A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing
“M Jackson is a master storyteller, weaving evocative anecdotes and historical and scientific narratives into an intricate dance of the relationship between man and ice. Jackson writes eloquently, her stories of the real, concrete effects of climate change on the people of Iceland both informative and heart-wrenching. ” Dr. Michele Koppes, Glaciologist & Geographer
About The Secret Lives of Glaciers
Geographer, adventurer, environmental educator, 2018 TED Fellow and National Geographic Society Emerging Explorer Dr. M Jackson studies and writes about glaciers and climate change worldwide.
Seeking to understand the wild diversity and complexity that exists between people and ice, Jackson lived for a year on the south-eastern coast of Iceland, chronicling in The Secret Lives of Glaciers the cultural and societal impacts of glacier change on local communities. Jackson interviewed hundreds of Icelanders living in close proximity to ice, seeking to understand just what was at stake as the island’s ice disappeared.
Painstakingly detailed, Jackson recounts stories of glaciers told by people throughout the region, stories exploring the often conflicting and controversial plasticity of glaciers, the power glaciers enact in society, the possible sentience of glaciers, and the range of intertwined positive and negative consequences glacier change produces throughout Iceland. The Secret Lives of Glaciers reaches beyond Iceland and touches on changing glaciers everywhere, revealing oft-overlooked interactions between people and ice throughout human history.
The Secret Lives of Glaciers delivers a critical message: understanding glaciers and people together teaches us about how human society worldwide experiences being in the world today amidst increasing climatic changes and anthropogenic transformation of all of Earth’s systems. Instead of creating another catalogue of all the ice the world is losing, The Secret Lives of Glaciers explores what we may yet find with glaciers: hope for humanity, and the possibility of saving this world’s glaciers.