"A thousand years ago in a Himalayan valley, the village of Kumik was founded. For generations, Kumik villagers survived by learning to cultivate their mountain terrain, drawing from the waters of the glacier and snows above the village. But now the glacier is almost gone, and Kumik is dying. Why? As Fire and Ice reveals, the culprit is black carbon, the most dangerous pollutant in the world and the least understood. Black carbon absorbs more heat per unit of mass in the atmosphere than greenhouse gases, and contributes as much to melting the glaciers of the Himalaya as carbon dioxide. It's also a major component of the household air pollution that causes 4.3 million deaths each year from respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, and 3 million more from outdoor pollutants such as industrial exhaust. Black carbon threatens to overwhelm Kumik, unless the village can change the way it cooks, heats, farms and lives. In Fire and Ice, Jonathan Mingle weaves a dramatic narrative of one village's inspiring efforts to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, and a scientific detective tale about the impact of fire on every nation. Ranging from the Tibetan Plateau to New York and Washington, D.C., from Delhi and Kathmandu and China to northern California, Fire and Ice is a heroic exploration of our race to change the fate of our planet"--
Black Carbon. My first thought with those words is "soot", yet how wrong that simple picture is. As we peer up into our skies, and think about how much progress we've made on combating air pollution, it turns out we really haven't come that far. And we have "miles to go before we sleep".
Black Carbon is, essentially, what is released upon burning. It might not travel, or it could travel hundreds - even thousands - of miles. And it, more than almost anything else, is what is responsible for the rapidly melting glaciers all over the world. As the particles settle, it affects the light-reflecting properties of snow and ice, so they end up absorbing heat faster and sooner than they should. It also affects the size of the snow, making it bigger, the snowpack less dense, allowing more light (and therefore heat) into the snow. Again, more and faster melting.
Jonathan Mingle moves between China, the US, and a tiny Himalayan village in order to explore and expose what is happening and what can be done. The book is interesting, though at times seems a bit like it bounces around in a way that is more confusing than it needs to be. But the science within the book is solid, and it's an eye-opening look at a problem too few even know exists. Be prepared - it's a LONG book. I wouldn't recommend sitting down and trying to read it all in one sitting. But the information contained within is definitely something that everyone should be aware of, both concerned environmentalists and climate-change deniers alike.
In all, it's a book well worth reading, about a problem that can be fixed relatively quickly if the solutions are allowed to be put into place. China - I'm talking to you.
