Arctic Thaw: The People of the Whale in a Changing Climate (review)

On his latest geographic junket, Lourie flies in to the Barrow, Alaska region to visit scientists from the lower Forty-Eight who study possible effects of global warming and to talk with Iñupiat whalers whose livelihood and folkways depend on climatic stability above the Arctic Circle. The juxtaposition of testimony from those who put their faith in scientific data and those who embody generations of experience is valuable, as are Lourie's occasional observations on groups who would actually benefit economically from a diminished ice cap. Unfortunately, organization is haphazard (information on Richard Glenn, who helped establish a forum through which Iñupiat and scientists can pool their findings, appears some twenty-five pages after his introduction). Moreover, after giving a fair hearing to those who believe that global warming may be, overall, beneficial, as well as those who view the rise in hunting accidents due to premature ice thaw an effect of weather rather than climate, Lourie's personal conclusion that it's time to "change my own ways" seems a bit abrupt. Still, Lourie rightly suggests that negative effects of global warming will surely rebound on the Iñupiat, while any positive effects (and those are speculative, at best) would benefit only narrow sections of the industrialized world. A regional map, plenty of snapshot style color photographs, an index, glossary, and list of print and Internet resources are included.