Planet Ice: A Climate for Change
Photography By James Martin
Published October 30, 2009 (Hardcover) Braided River
Open Planet Ice, and I am transported immediately by the deep calming breath I take. The title page is a tranquil scene, whispers of ice lying at the ocean’s edge. Opposing that still scene, is a solid page of hundreds of penguins, the orange of their beaks livening the page of black and white. My adrenaline – racing from a packed day of recording, writing, dance, therapy, hair appointment, two evening events – surrenders instantly to a place right in the center of this very moment. A place I don’t easily find.
The photographer, James Martin, notes “This book is a love story.” Oh yes. The energy pours forth. Unmistakable. This is also a powerful and political book, with photographs of ice in Antarctica, Greenland, Patagonia, Alaska, Mount Everest, the Andes, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Alps, the Rockies, the Cascades, China, Iceland, and others.
The climate shifts are in full color. It is a cautionary tale.
There are then and now photos of places on earth which used to be covered in ice, and now only a spot or two remains. There are stories by climbers, a glossary called “The language of ice,” and scientific explanations of the melting of glaciers. Even literary writing by Gretel Ehrlich as magical as the blues of water and ice on the opposite page.
Closeups of adult emperor penguins, their heads forming a heart shape over their young chick, in Antarctica. A polar bear, nuzzling her cub while they sleep in the snow in Manitoba, Canada. Two tourists standing next to a lone emperor penguin, dwarfed by stranded icebergs.
Unforgettable images.
I want to give this book. I want to keep this book. The one thing I know for sure I had to do, was to tell you about this book.
