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Paul Bierman's realization that Greenland's ice sheet melted when Earth was no warmer than today sounds an alarm for our planet.
In 2018, frozen soil from the bottom of the world's first deep ice core, lost for decades, reappeared in Denmark. When geologist Paul Bierman and his team analyzed this material, it led them to a startling discovery: Greenland's ice sheet melted naturally 400,000 years ago. That meant the ice was unstable even without human interference. In When the Ice Is Gone, Bierman traces the story of this pivotal discovery, delving into the nuances of polar science and arctic history. He explains how scientists, across more than a century, learned to read the language of ice and snow. He describes how engineers drilled the ice core at Camp Century, a Cold War military base built inside the ice sheet. And he explores the cataclysmic events the discovery portends if we don't address climate change, urging us to heed the warning from the ice and understand Greenland's significance for our collective future.
Paul Bierman, environmental science professor at the University of Vermont, develops methods to date ice and rocks. He has published in Science and Nature, with the findings covered by CNN, USA Today, and the Weather Channel. He lives in Burlington, Vermont.
"A potent examination of how melting glaciers and rising ocean levels are already at crisis levels [...] Bierman has written not another global warming polemic but rather a compelling introduction to Greenland, glaciers, and how scientists drill down through ice to reveal the past [...] Frightening yet excellent popular science."
– Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"A remarkable scientific detective story, told with panache – and carrying a very real and dangerous sting. Read it, and then do something about it."
– Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
"We are Scrooge and Bierman is Marley's ghost with a fascinating tale, all too true, of a great ice sheet that holds our future."
– James E. Hansen, director of Columbia University's Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions
"Paul Bierman paints a vivid portrait not only of the human characters involved with exploration of the Greenland ice cap but also of the personality of the ice itself. Both the humans and the ice are more idiosyncratic – and more sensitive – than one might expect. When the Ice Is Gone is a cautionary story about hubris in the Anthropocene."
– Marcia Bjornerud, author of Timefulness
"In his gripping new book, When the Ice Is Gone, paleoclimate expert Paul Bierman provides a firsthand account – through the lens of science and history, of how human-caused warming is rapidly melting the massive Greenland ice sheet and the dire consequences this poses for us and our planet. Read this book to be informed about the problem and inspired to make a difference."
– Michael E. Mann, author of Our Fragile Moment
"When the Ice is Gone tells the story of the scientists who pieced together the history of the Greenland ice sheet and, as a result, can now peer into its future. Paul Bierman, is himself one of these scientists, and he brings to his subject a deep affection and a wealth of experience. The result is at once fascinating, sobering, and eye-opening."
– Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction
