Field Notes from a Catastrophe

Kolbert begins her journey in Hotel Arctic in Ilulissat, on Greenland’s west coast. The icebergs carried by the Jakobshavn Isbrae current have diminished in size in recent years. Field Notes from a Catastrophe is a book about the realities of climate change. After all her research, Kolbert has concluded that a “critical threshold is approaching” (3). In the first half of the book, Kolbert tracks climate change from the arctic circle to Britain and the Netherlands. The second half of her book deals with the politics of environmental crisis.

Five miles from the Seward Peninsula, the island of Shishmaref is disappearing underwater. Life here consists of subsistence hunting with dog-sleds and snowmobiles. The islanders are contemplating leaving their home. Twenty-five years ago, the Charney panel from the National Academy of Sciences determined that climate change would become a problem. Since the 1970s, global temperatures have continued to rise, and scientific coverage of the issue has been continuous. Glaciers are shrinking, oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, and plants are blooming earlier. All are signs that the Charney panel forecasted.

Forest fires in Alaska burn longer due to the warm weather, and permafrost is melting.