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(More customer reviews)Scientists are becoming the new explorers and this book takes that point of view. In the same way that the photographer Hurley was taken aboard the Endurance to chronicle their achievement to the Antarctic in 1914, Grady is brought along on this trip to chronicle the exploration and discovery of the effects of global warming on the Arctic--the seeming linchpin of the climate change debate. If global warming is happening, it is happening here. Because scientists aren't always the best writers, they bring along Grady because of his experience in writing science and communicating to a larger audience. They don't want their discovery to go unheard, slipped into a report on some bureaucrat's desk. They want you and me to know so that we can make choices. Here's the evidence, Grady says, and--while we're at it, because I know you might like the adventure--here's the story, complete with characters, action and suspense. He also gives the reader--as the modern day exploration happens--a short history of Arctic exploration, global warming, and Arctic travel. I found myself making notes of all the original works he mentions, so I could read them later in their completed form. Deftly woven so that the reader becomes educated and enthralled, The Quiet Limit of the World is no ordinary travel adventure. This adventure has consequences for everyone, and Grady makes sure you are taken along for the ride.
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The Quiet Limit of the World: A Journey to the North Pole to Investigate Global WarmingWith 16 pp b&w illustrations.The five hottest years since records have been kept are, in descending order, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, and 1992. There is no longer a serious debate about whether global warming is a reality. Each year, disturbed weather patterns - severe winters, historic floods, freak droughts - provide devastating evidence of climatic change. The question is whether man is altering the very nature of life on Earth.In the summer of 1994, Wayne Grady joined a team of scientists aboard the Canadian icebreaker Louis S. St. Laurent on a research trip to the North Pole. Accompanied by the US icebreaker Polar Sea, the ship set off from Victoria, British Columbia to investigate the effects of global warming at the planet’s northernmost reach.Weaving natural science, oceanography, and Arctic history through the narrative, Grady chronicles that two-month trip. The Quiet Limit of the World reveals the dedication and ingenuity of the scientists. It depicts the unexpected richness and beauty of the north. And it raises some profoundly disturbing questions.The expedition showed beyond a doubt the connectedness of the world’s oceans. The Arctic can no longer be viewed as a one-dimensional entry in climate models. The scientists confirmed what had long been suspected: wastes dumped into southern waters eventually find their way into the Arctic, contaminating the food chain. More alarming was the discovery that greater amounts of warm Atlantic water are being pushed into the Arctic than ever before. Current predictions of a shrinking polar ice cap are based solely on atmospheric warming. The new findings suggest that polar ice is also being attacked from below, accelerating the melting process. This lends even greater urgency to what is already the most pressing environmental issue of our day.From the Hardcover edition.
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