Watermelon Snow: Science, Art, and a Lone Polar Bear (Hardback)

Lynne Quarmby (author)

£19.95

Hardback 184 Pages
Published: 22/10/2020

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Synopsis

Concern about the climate crisis is widespread as humans struggle to navigate life in uncertain times. From the vantage of a schooner full of artists on an adventure in the high Arctic, biologist Lynne Quarmby explains the science that convinced her of an urgent need to act on climate change and recounts how this knowledge - and the fear and panic it elicited - plunged her into unsustainable action, ending in arrests, lawsuits, and a failed electoral campaign on behalf of the Green Party of Canada.

Watermelon Snow weaves memoir, microbiology, and artistic antics together with descriptions of a sublime Arctic landscape. At the top of the warming world, Quarmby struggles with burnout and grief while an aerial artist twirls high in the ship's rigging, bearded seals sing mournfully, polar bears prowl, and glaciers crumble into the sea. In a compelling narrative, sorrow and fear are balanced by beauty and wonder. The author's journey back from a life out of balance includes excursions into evolutionary history where her discoveries reveal the heart of human existence. The climate realities are as dark as the Arctic winter, yet this is a book of lightness and generosity. Quarmby's voice, intimate and original, illuminates the science while offering a reminder that much about the human experience is beyond reason.

Inspiring and deeply personal, Watermelon Snow is the story of one scientist's rediscovery of what it means to live a good life at a time of increasing desperation about the future.

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
ISBN: 9780228003595
Number of pages: 184
Dimensions: 229 x 152 mm

MEDIA REVIEWS

"A powerful journey, brimming with intelligence, love, and sorrow, into the Arctic, and into the heart of the climate change battle. Watermelon Snow is a song of both love and grief, as haunting as the song of the seals that Quarmby hears on her polar voyage. Embracing science, art, activism, and the poignant creativity of humans, Quarmby evokes the almost unimaginable beauty of the polar north while calling us to be the clear-eyed witnesses the earth needs right now, to fight climate change, and to preserve the living wonders of the earth - from molecules to polar bears - before it is too late. A moving and courageous memoir." Shaena Lambert, author of Petra and Oh, My Darling

"A deeply personal journey into the heating Arctic, climate change activism and science, Watermelon Snow is a powerful expression of how a scientist learns to cope with the realities of climate change." Krirsten Zickfeld, SFU Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University, and lead author of the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees and the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

"Watermelon Snow is a moving book, eloquently dancing between the science and emotion that defines life in a warming world, and offers a glimpse at what we must overcome if we are to soldier on in search of solutions." Policy Magazine

"[Quarmby] presents the wonder of the Arctic and the agony of this existential threat through routine and ritualized actions of individuals and groups of people in loosely affiliated alliances. The reader cannot help but want to visit Svalbard-the Arctic island setting of Quarmby's narrative-and witness in person the raw beauty she describes, along with experiencing the sadness of awakening to the unprecedented melting evident all around. This book deals deftly with the most pressing concern facing us today. Watermelon Snow is a masterpiece. Essential. All readers." Choice