The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption

Jamail (Beyond the Green Zone), a war correspondent and mountaineer, offers an unrelentingly depressing account of the current state of the environment. Time and again, Jamail asserts that all available scientific evidence shows that the damage humanity has done to the planet cannot be reversed, recounting near the start his realization that “we had defiled the biosphere and we were past the point of no return.” His survey of various ecosystems, including the Alaskan glaciers, the Amazon basin, the Great Barrier Reef, and northern California’s forests, leads him to the grim conclusion that “we are already facing mass extinction.” Jamail has managed to achieve inner peace by accepting the inevitability of humanity’s end, even as he grieves deeply, although he offers no basis for concluding that his calm response will be widespread. His message is not entirely consistent; he echoes an expert in palliative care that “the time to change our ways is long past,” but also endorses Vaclav Havel’s definition of hope as “the certainty that something is worth doing no matter how it turns out,” suggesting some merit to changing policies. The hopelessness this book engenders makes its intended audience and scope of readership unclear. Agent: Anthony Arnove, Roam Agency. (Jan.)