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The Last Winter: The Scientists, Adventurers, Journeymen, and Mavericks Trying to Save the World
As the planet warms, winter is shrinking. In the last fifty years, the Northern Hemisphere lost a million square miles of spring snowpack, and high-elevation snowpacks in the western United States have decreased by nearly half since 1982. On average, winter has shrunk by a month in most northern latitudes.
In this deeply researched, beautifully written, and adventure-filled book, journalist Porter Fox travels along the edge of the Northern Hemisphere's snow line to track the scope of this drastic change and how it will literally change everything-from rapid sea level rise, to fresh water scarcity for two billion people, to massive greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost, and several climate tipping points that could very well spell the end of our world.
This original research is animated by four harrowing and illuminating journeys-each grounded by interviews with idiosyncratic, charismatic experts in their respective fields and Fox's own narrative of growing up on a remote island in northern Maine.
Timely, atmospheric, and expertly investigated, The Last Winter showcases a shocking and unexpected casualty of climate change-which may well set off its own unstoppable warming cycle.
In this deeply researched, beautifully written, and adventure-filled book, journalist Porter Fox travels along the edge of the Northern Hemisphere's snow line to track the scope of this drastic change and how it will literally change everything-from rapid sea level rise, to fresh water scarcity for two billion people, to massive greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost, and several climate tipping points that could very well spell the end of our world.
This original research is animated by four harrowing and illuminating journeys-each grounded by interviews with idiosyncratic, charismatic experts in their respective fields and Fox's own narrative of growing up on a remote island in northern Maine.
Timely, atmospheric, and expertly investigated, The Last Winter showcases a shocking and unexpected casualty of climate change-which may well set off its own unstoppable warming cycle.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published November 2, 2021
About the author
Porter Fox
6 books64 followersPorter Fox was born in New York and raised on the coast of Maine. His book Northland, about travels along the U.S.-Canada border, will be published by W.W. Norton in July, 2018. He lives, writes, teaches and edits the award-winning literary travel writing journal Nowhere in Brooklyn, NY. He graduated with an MFA in fiction from The New School in 2004 and teaches at Columbia University School of the Arts. His fiction, essays and nonfiction have been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Believer, Outside, Men’s Journal, National Geographic Adventure, Powder, TheNewYorker.com, TheParisReview.com, Salon.com, Narrative, The Literary Review, Northwest Review, Third Coast and Conjunctions, among others. In 2013 he published DEEP: The Story of Skiing and the Future of Snow. The book was featured on the cover of The New York Times Sunday Review and in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Fox has been anthologized in The Best American Travel Writing, nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and was a finalist for the 2009 Robert Olen Butler Fiction Prize. He was a 2016 MacDowell Colony fellow and a recipient of MacDowell’s Calderwood Foundation Art of Nonfiction Grant. He won a Western Press Association Maggie in 2014 for a two-part feature about climate change. He has written and edited scripts for Roger Corman and several documentary filmmakers. He recently completed his first collection of short stories and an anthology of short fiction with poet Larry Fagin. He is a member of the Miss Rockaway Armada and Swimming Cities art collectives in New York and collaborated on installations on the Mississippi and Hudson rivers, Venice Biennale (2009), Mass MoCA (2008) and New York City’s Anonymous Gallery (2009).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
January 5, 2022
I had wanted to read his book Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America's Forgotten Border, but never managed to get to it, so when I saw this I grabbed it. Phenomenal book, a little memoir, adventure, and climatology. Unfortunately those who don't believe in climate change, those who need to read this the most, won't and if they did they wouldn't believe what they read. Climate change has been politicized just like Covid, vaccines and voting. I don't see how anyone could read this and not feel a sense of urgency. Fox talks to geologists, climatologists, even the I hits who have seen first hand the melting ice, glaciers. He talked to other experts and specialists running various experiments to see just how fast things are occuring. From fires to glacier ice, to Winters becoming shorter and shorter, storms coming Ng stronger and more often, we are at the tipping point. The next crisis of refugees may be those escaping places that will no longer be livable.
August 13, 2021
Did not know what to expect when I requested this but glad I did. Another great and sobering AF climatology/global warming that is presented as evidence of Earth's next extinction (PS- it is already happening). Well written and presented tastefully and concisely but with much warning.
Recommended for anyone interested in global warming threats, the next extinction event and climatology.
Thanks to Netgalley, Porter Fox and Little Brown & Company for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available: 11/2/21
Recommended for anyone interested in global warming threats, the next extinction event and climatology.
Thanks to Netgalley, Porter Fox and Little Brown & Company for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available: 11/2/21
November 8, 2021
“Winter is not a weather event. It is, in part, the result of an ancient astronomical collision.”
Porter Fox loves winter and skiing has been a major part of his life. He wants to ensure that his children will be able to experience winter throughout their lifetime. He’s not sure that will be possible and sets out to investigate.
Fox’s book is sometimes labeled as a travel adventure. He does take us along on a journey. Each section describes his personal exploration to understand the evolving climate’s impact on winter. To learn what is happening and why, Porter interviews geologists, glaciologists, indigenous people, and others who have specialized knowledge or affection for snow and ice. These are not mere conversations in brightly-lit labs and cozy restaurants. Instead, Fox joins the experts in the field and participates in their studies.
As Fox works with the field teams, they explain why the loss of winter will increase forest fires, flood coastlines, and will create other disasters. More impactful than reporting just the data, these teams are involved in monumental efforts to document and communicate their findings. Fox conveys their concern, their haste, and their determination. Even for someone reasonably aware of the looming climate disaster, Fox’s findings add to the distress.
Despite this, the deft prose carries you forward. The writing is strong in part because of its honesty and vulnerability. He speaks a truth that we know in our hearts but somehow we cannot face.
“It was pleasant on the plane. Warm. Safe-feeling, even. The sedating effect of modern convenience made it seem like everything was going to be all right, like someone would figure everything out…Maybe there would be a technological Hail Mary…Maybe the planet would mend itself…That would be nice, I thought. Then I reached for the screen and searched for a movie, a football game, a comedy, any possible distraction.”
Climate change is a frequent topic in the news these days, as it should be. Unfortunately, for many audiences, the realities of climate change seem distant, both in where it is happening as well as when it will occur. Fox shows that climate change is real, it is now, and the consequences impact all of us. Whether we like winter or not, we need it and so do our children.
Why you should not miss this one:
* Real people, real stories, real impact
* Porter Fox’s writing feels like he is speaking directly to you, almost as if he is sometimes breaking the fourth wall
* This will likely become a classic in environmentalism literature
Thanks to NetGalley, Little, Brown, and the author, Porter Fox, for the opportunity to read a digital copy in exchange for this review.
#NetGalley #TheLastWinter @PorterFox
Porter Fox loves winter and skiing has been a major part of his life. He wants to ensure that his children will be able to experience winter throughout their lifetime. He’s not sure that will be possible and sets out to investigate.
Fox’s book is sometimes labeled as a travel adventure. He does take us along on a journey. Each section describes his personal exploration to understand the evolving climate’s impact on winter. To learn what is happening and why, Porter interviews geologists, glaciologists, indigenous people, and others who have specialized knowledge or affection for snow and ice. These are not mere conversations in brightly-lit labs and cozy restaurants. Instead, Fox joins the experts in the field and participates in their studies.
As Fox works with the field teams, they explain why the loss of winter will increase forest fires, flood coastlines, and will create other disasters. More impactful than reporting just the data, these teams are involved in monumental efforts to document and communicate their findings. Fox conveys their concern, their haste, and their determination. Even for someone reasonably aware of the looming climate disaster, Fox’s findings add to the distress.
Despite this, the deft prose carries you forward. The writing is strong in part because of its honesty and vulnerability. He speaks a truth that we know in our hearts but somehow we cannot face.
“It was pleasant on the plane. Warm. Safe-feeling, even. The sedating effect of modern convenience made it seem like everything was going to be all right, like someone would figure everything out…Maybe there would be a technological Hail Mary…Maybe the planet would mend itself…That would be nice, I thought. Then I reached for the screen and searched for a movie, a football game, a comedy, any possible distraction.”
Climate change is a frequent topic in the news these days, as it should be. Unfortunately, for many audiences, the realities of climate change seem distant, both in where it is happening as well as when it will occur. Fox shows that climate change is real, it is now, and the consequences impact all of us. Whether we like winter or not, we need it and so do our children.
Why you should not miss this one:
* Real people, real stories, real impact
* Porter Fox’s writing feels like he is speaking directly to you, almost as if he is sometimes breaking the fourth wall
* This will likely become a classic in environmentalism literature
Thanks to NetGalley, Little, Brown, and the author, Porter Fox, for the opportunity to read a digital copy in exchange for this review.
#NetGalley #TheLastWinter @PorterFox
January 19, 2022
This book does not live up to it's title. I expected much more on the climate, on warming and the disappearance of winter as we know it. The Arthur takes the reader on a travelogue, his visits to sites where melting glaziers are being studied and Greenland for a dog sled adventure, all interesting but the book provided no substantial insights into why winter is disappearing.
November 5, 2021
This is an elegant, beautifully crafted and well-researched journey into our rapidly changing climate—a terrifying glimpse into our near future.
February 6, 2022
DNF because I left it too long, let it get overdue when someone else had a hold on it, and then realized it's not the sort of content one can breeze through. Easy enough to read and I would definitely look for it again, maybe in audio!
Read
July 25, 2022Appropriately, I read this book while a heat wave is sweeping the world. Although the title of this book is a bit misleading, Fox does a decent job of explaining how our ice and snow are declining.
December 30, 2021
Please read this one! So good and interesting- climate change is coming and fast!
August 25, 2021
“Warm Atlantic currents are fast melting the Arctic ice,” my grandfather said in an interview in 1960. He warned that within 150 years, Detroit could be under water, “caused by torrential rains caused by the Arctic ice melting.”
In 1958, my grandfather had read an article in Harper’s called “The Coming Ice Age” by Betty Freidan. It was about the Theory of Ice Ages proposed by Columbia University professors Dr. Maurice Ewing and Dr. William L. Donn. Gramps became a climate change believer. He wrote countless letters to the men, and I have their letters back in my possession. Gramps tapped his college friend Roger Blough, then president of U. S. Steel, to grant the Lamont researchers $25,000 for their project.
A letter dated August 17, 1959, from Dr. Ewing noted, “…a Mr. Vajado has returned from the north pole with the news that there is a lot of hot water coming into the Arctic, both through the Bering Straits and from the Gulf Stream.” As I was born in 1952, I essentially grew up in a family where talk about climate change and melting Arctic ice, rising sea waters, and torrential rains was table talk.
Toward the end of Porter Fox’s book The Last Winter, he writes about rising sea levels and geoengineering projects including floating seawalls to block warm water currents from glaciers.
The mention of the floating seawalls sent me spinning back to my grandfather’s hobby horse: he was convinced that portable dams could block warm surface sea water and prevent further melting of Arctic ice. Gramps wanted to prevent a new Ice Age.
Climate science has changed since 1959, and we have had years to observe the effects of fossil fuels. Porter Fox is concerned not with glaciers taking over the Earth, but the end of glaciers and the havoc it would create.
Without glacier and mountain melt, rivers dry up. If rivers dry up, transportation is curtailed, human populations are without a water source, agriculture is affected, and mass migration is inevitable.
Fox traveled to the North Cascades, Alaska, the Swiss Alps, and Greenland to see how climate change and global warming is affecting these iconic ‘winter wonderlands’.
Part travelogue, part memoir, part biographical sketches, and part nature writing, the book is highly entertaining. His portraits of the people he met are wonderful, and I was very sorrowful when he wrote of the death of one man.
The book is also highly terrifying. More than one chapter’s end left me dejected and hopeless about the future we have fashioned for ourselves. The Earth will remain, but the future for humanity is so overwhelmingly bleak, it makes me accept that I have no grandchildren to survive it.
And yet…is there yet time to change our course? At least enough to prevent the worst case scenario? I dream of the wealthy putting their money to use to save the world, funding inventions to draw out carbon monoxide from the atmosphere, or alternative energy sources, and things I can’t even imagine but someone out there surely can.
Fox barely made it off Greenland in time to reenter America before the Covid-19 shut down. He and his family left the city for the mountains, enjoying the white world of ice and snow, aware that at any time, the winter he has loved could be the last.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
In 1958, my grandfather had read an article in Harper’s called “The Coming Ice Age” by Betty Freidan. It was about the Theory of Ice Ages proposed by Columbia University professors Dr. Maurice Ewing and Dr. William L. Donn. Gramps became a climate change believer. He wrote countless letters to the men, and I have their letters back in my possession. Gramps tapped his college friend Roger Blough, then president of U. S. Steel, to grant the Lamont researchers $25,000 for their project.
A letter dated August 17, 1959, from Dr. Ewing noted, “…a Mr. Vajado has returned from the north pole with the news that there is a lot of hot water coming into the Arctic, both through the Bering Straits and from the Gulf Stream.” As I was born in 1952, I essentially grew up in a family where talk about climate change and melting Arctic ice, rising sea waters, and torrential rains was table talk.
Toward the end of Porter Fox’s book The Last Winter, he writes about rising sea levels and geoengineering projects including floating seawalls to block warm water currents from glaciers.
The mention of the floating seawalls sent me spinning back to my grandfather’s hobby horse: he was convinced that portable dams could block warm surface sea water and prevent further melting of Arctic ice. Gramps wanted to prevent a new Ice Age.
Climate science has changed since 1959, and we have had years to observe the effects of fossil fuels. Porter Fox is concerned not with glaciers taking over the Earth, but the end of glaciers and the havoc it would create.
Without glacier and mountain melt, rivers dry up. If rivers dry up, transportation is curtailed, human populations are without a water source, agriculture is affected, and mass migration is inevitable.
Fox traveled to the North Cascades, Alaska, the Swiss Alps, and Greenland to see how climate change and global warming is affecting these iconic ‘winter wonderlands’.
Part travelogue, part memoir, part biographical sketches, and part nature writing, the book is highly entertaining. His portraits of the people he met are wonderful, and I was very sorrowful when he wrote of the death of one man.
The book is also highly terrifying. More than one chapter’s end left me dejected and hopeless about the future we have fashioned for ourselves. The Earth will remain, but the future for humanity is so overwhelmingly bleak, it makes me accept that I have no grandchildren to survive it.
And yet…is there yet time to change our course? At least enough to prevent the worst case scenario? I dream of the wealthy putting their money to use to save the world, funding inventions to draw out carbon monoxide from the atmosphere, or alternative energy sources, and things I can’t even imagine but someone out there surely can.
Fox barely made it off Greenland in time to reenter America before the Covid-19 shut down. He and his family left the city for the mountains, enjoying the white world of ice and snow, aware that at any time, the winter he has loved could be the last.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
February 28, 2022
A difficult book to rate and critique. My wife gave me this book among others for my birthday; she is aware of my interest (and dread) in regard to global warming - and the subtitle "The Scientists and Adventurers Trying to Save the World" piqued her interest on my behalf.
I've made a bit heavier weather of this book that I might, to have given it justice. It's just with so much happening around the world, including Covid, I have been guilty of allowing my attention span to diminish. So, it's taken a couple of weeks, maybe more, of desultory reading at times, to finish it.
To anyone opening this book thinking it might provide some real insight into climate change,
particularly the science, this will be a disappointing read. For me this would be its greatest failure, on the other hand, it was never written as a science primer. Porter Fox is from New York and is best known as a travel writer, and has earned some praise for his writing. He has become interested and knowledgeable about climate change. He has incorporated these skills in to a book which is a compendium of adventures in North America, the European Alps and Greenland, in order to write about a winter world, a landscape, a way of life, that is seriously imperilled by global warming. He meets up with various climate researchers, scientists, but also describes as much the other folk he interacts with, the explorers, skiers, residents, business owners on the way. He writes in a folksy but literary style, a bit breathless at times, but always charitably to those he writes about. And don't get me wrong, there is interest in the places and people he meets, and the conduct of research at these planetary extremes. But that is where the writing lies, an informed and informal travelogue around parts of the planet's cryosphere, its icy realms.
The books is divided into sections, which are self explanatory - The Fires (western USA),The Icefield, (Juneau), The Alps, The White Earth (Greenland). He very usefully provides a "cast list" at the start of the book, with a line or two description of the main characters. It's unusual to see this nowadays.
I don't think this is a spoiler, because it's not that sort of book. There's a sad episode as one of his characters, introduced towards the end of the book, Koni Steffen, a Swiss glaciologist, dies later in an accident when he falls into a crevasse on the Greenland Icecap, the very danger that global warming is causing, and about which Koni had already expressed his fears. It should be noted that his death is one of quite a large number of deaths among climate scientists due to accidents in their research - they are often working in very challenging conditions, not just in polar or mountain areas, but equally in the tropics or oceans. We owe them so much, but their work has had little repayment in the attention it receives from the very politicians who provide the grants that employ them - you'd think in this case the politicians would have taken a bit more notice of what their scientists were telling them. If you've seen the film "Don't Look Up", you'll understand what I mean.
But I should add, there is something very seriously wrong with us human beings that most of us can so blithely countenance a world that we're criminally destroying, so that what Porter Fox is writing can no longer be read as a travelogue, but a requiem.
I've made a bit heavier weather of this book that I might, to have given it justice. It's just with so much happening around the world, including Covid, I have been guilty of allowing my attention span to diminish. So, it's taken a couple of weeks, maybe more, of desultory reading at times, to finish it.
To anyone opening this book thinking it might provide some real insight into climate change,
particularly the science, this will be a disappointing read. For me this would be its greatest failure, on the other hand, it was never written as a science primer. Porter Fox is from New York and is best known as a travel writer, and has earned some praise for his writing. He has become interested and knowledgeable about climate change. He has incorporated these skills in to a book which is a compendium of adventures in North America, the European Alps and Greenland, in order to write about a winter world, a landscape, a way of life, that is seriously imperilled by global warming. He meets up with various climate researchers, scientists, but also describes as much the other folk he interacts with, the explorers, skiers, residents, business owners on the way. He writes in a folksy but literary style, a bit breathless at times, but always charitably to those he writes about. And don't get me wrong, there is interest in the places and people he meets, and the conduct of research at these planetary extremes. But that is where the writing lies, an informed and informal travelogue around parts of the planet's cryosphere, its icy realms.
The books is divided into sections, which are self explanatory - The Fires (western USA),The Icefield, (Juneau), The Alps, The White Earth (Greenland). He very usefully provides a "cast list" at the start of the book, with a line or two description of the main characters. It's unusual to see this nowadays.
I don't think this is a spoiler, because it's not that sort of book. There's a sad episode as one of his characters, introduced towards the end of the book, Koni Steffen, a Swiss glaciologist, dies later in an accident when he falls into a crevasse on the Greenland Icecap, the very danger that global warming is causing, and about which Koni had already expressed his fears. It should be noted that his death is one of quite a large number of deaths among climate scientists due to accidents in their research - they are often working in very challenging conditions, not just in polar or mountain areas, but equally in the tropics or oceans. We owe them so much, but their work has had little repayment in the attention it receives from the very politicians who provide the grants that employ them - you'd think in this case the politicians would have taken a bit more notice of what their scientists were telling them. If you've seen the film "Don't Look Up", you'll understand what I mean.
But I should add, there is something very seriously wrong with us human beings that most of us can so blithely countenance a world that we're criminally destroying, so that what Porter Fox is writing can no longer be read as a travelogue, but a requiem.
May 29, 2022
If you're at all interested in climate change, this title is sure to grab you, as it did me. I'm also a huge fan of winter so I just had to pick this up. I was even more excited to read it when I realized he went to college in the town I currently live in.
Fox starts this off in a really unique way, outlining the cast of characters first, which made me excited to read through his research and travels and meet the scientists, skiers, and other adventurers in this personal essay meets ecological research tale.
I learned several new facts about climate change, like how the soot from wildfires impacts the winter snowpack, and how important that snowpack is to preventing wildfires. I did find the last few chapters a bit underwhelming, which is likely due to the fact that Fox had to rearrange his plans due to the pandemic.
Overall, still a great read on the impacts of climate change on our winters.
Fox starts this off in a really unique way, outlining the cast of characters first, which made me excited to read through his research and travels and meet the scientists, skiers, and other adventurers in this personal essay meets ecological research tale.
I learned several new facts about climate change, like how the soot from wildfires impacts the winter snowpack, and how important that snowpack is to preventing wildfires. I did find the last few chapters a bit underwhelming, which is likely due to the fact that Fox had to rearrange his plans due to the pandemic.
Overall, still a great read on the impacts of climate change on our winters.
January 11, 2023
I put a book on hold through my Overdrive account (yes, I know I have to change over to Libby soon). But the book was unavailable so Overdrive recommended this book. I have been on a winter kick, so I immediately thought it would be a great idea! I love winter! It’s one of my four favorite seasons!
Then I started reading and it was not a great idea. This book was about climate change and how winter will be soon coming to an end. Wut?! And how that end is going to look! Wut?!
Part 1: Washington State. Oh! That’s where I live. Cool… but not cool. Part one talked about how climate change is burning our forest and turning summer into fire season and it’s devastating effects that can be felt for years. This really brought climate change home for me and how it’s already here.
Part 2: Alaska. I almost abandoned the book during this part of life on the retreating glaciers and the people who study it. I mostly skimmed.
Part 3: The Alps. Mostly about the Italian Alps, the shorter ski season and the lower elevation ski resorts that have to close because of that. Also the devastating effects of melting glaciers that can lead to avalanches and unstable permafrost that can wipe out towns in rockslide. That is something I hadn’t even thought of. I figured we would lose waterfront cities like NYC and Hong Kong and low-elevation countries like the Maldives to rising seas. But I hadn’t thought that our mountain ranges would completely change as well.
Part 4: Greenland. We talk about rising seas from Antarctic melting, but when Greenland goes, we are fucked! Many of our models predict a rise of 8 feet when Antarctica melts. But 24 feet when Greenland goes. Fuck! Why aren’t we doing shit?!
The end of this book was like an adventure story, because the author of this book, while visiting Greenland for this book had to haul ass to get off the island before the world closed down because of Covid. So Covid contrasted one disaster that can wipe out humans on our planet vs that of climate change. The planet will be fine. It’s people who will suffer the devastation of climate change. So I’m really tired of people denying this exists and calling it weather.
So as I ponder what the world would be like getting older, I wonder if I have great scientific discoveries to look forward to. Is there life on other planets that’s like us? Will we ever get flying cars as promised in the Jetsons? Now I have an idea of what will really be happening as I get older: rising seas taking out coastal populations, migration because of drought and heat and an end to winter. Not a lot to look forward to.
This book, although a non-fiction reminded me of the fiction book Migrations. Migrations is a fictional account of how the world would look with the heating up of our oceans.
Then I started reading and it was not a great idea. This book was about climate change and how winter will be soon coming to an end. Wut?! And how that end is going to look! Wut?!
Part 1: Washington State. Oh! That’s where I live. Cool… but not cool. Part one talked about how climate change is burning our forest and turning summer into fire season and it’s devastating effects that can be felt for years. This really brought climate change home for me and how it’s already here.
Part 2: Alaska. I almost abandoned the book during this part of life on the retreating glaciers and the people who study it. I mostly skimmed.
Part 3: The Alps. Mostly about the Italian Alps, the shorter ski season and the lower elevation ski resorts that have to close because of that. Also the devastating effects of melting glaciers that can lead to avalanches and unstable permafrost that can wipe out towns in rockslide. That is something I hadn’t even thought of. I figured we would lose waterfront cities like NYC and Hong Kong and low-elevation countries like the Maldives to rising seas. But I hadn’t thought that our mountain ranges would completely change as well.
Part 4: Greenland. We talk about rising seas from Antarctic melting, but when Greenland goes, we are fucked! Many of our models predict a rise of 8 feet when Antarctica melts. But 24 feet when Greenland goes. Fuck! Why aren’t we doing shit?!
The end of this book was like an adventure story, because the author of this book, while visiting Greenland for this book had to haul ass to get off the island before the world closed down because of Covid. So Covid contrasted one disaster that can wipe out humans on our planet vs that of climate change. The planet will be fine. It’s people who will suffer the devastation of climate change. So I’m really tired of people denying this exists and calling it weather.
So as I ponder what the world would be like getting older, I wonder if I have great scientific discoveries to look forward to. Is there life on other planets that’s like us? Will we ever get flying cars as promised in the Jetsons? Now I have an idea of what will really be happening as I get older: rising seas taking out coastal populations, migration because of drought and heat and an end to winter. Not a lot to look forward to.
This book, although a non-fiction reminded me of the fiction book Migrations. Migrations is a fictional account of how the world would look with the heating up of our oceans.
March 8, 2022
How many winters will I experience? What about my children or grandchildren? Porter Fox travels across the globe in writing “The Last Winter” to learn why winter as we know it today may cease to exist. From raging forest fires across the pacific north, to the French Alps, and glaciers in the Alaska and Greenland, Potter introduces us to numerous experts in the field who live with and study the catastrophic effects of global warming every day.
Global warming is a difficult topi to write about, its especially difficult to predict may affect our future lives. Long term threats like global warming and disease, much like the pandemic we are experiencing right now are very difficult to conceptualize. Potters‘s travels and narrative helps the reader see how global do warming is affecting the planet right now from the perspective of those facing and studying it everyday.
This is a fantastic first start for someone just bringing their learning journey about climate change and global warming. Potter does an exceptional job, describing how global warming and climate change will: affect the availability of drinking water, disrupt growing seasons and subsistence hunters, destroy homes, and (as the title suggests) forever change winter as we know it.
One of my biggest complaints about the book is that it is just a beginners course. Fox does provide additional suggested readings at the back of the book but I would have liked to see a little more data and a little less personal side stories from the author.
In all, the “Last winter” is a great preliminary reading for someone wanting to learn more about climate change. While I loved Fox’s style of narration, I wouldn’t recommend this book for anyone expecting a quick read. The Last Winter requires more thought and attention from the reader, but it is definitely worth the extra time. Keep in mind, Fox’s work isn’t a call to action but rather a mirror to show us: what was, what is, and what could be.
Global warming is a difficult topi to write about, its especially difficult to predict may affect our future lives. Long term threats like global warming and disease, much like the pandemic we are experiencing right now are very difficult to conceptualize. Potters‘s travels and narrative helps the reader see how global do warming is affecting the planet right now from the perspective of those facing and studying it everyday.
This is a fantastic first start for someone just bringing their learning journey about climate change and global warming. Potter does an exceptional job, describing how global warming and climate change will: affect the availability of drinking water, disrupt growing seasons and subsistence hunters, destroy homes, and (as the title suggests) forever change winter as we know it.
One of my biggest complaints about the book is that it is just a beginners course. Fox does provide additional suggested readings at the back of the book but I would have liked to see a little more data and a little less personal side stories from the author.
In all, the “Last winter” is a great preliminary reading for someone wanting to learn more about climate change. While I loved Fox’s style of narration, I wouldn’t recommend this book for anyone expecting a quick read. The Last Winter requires more thought and attention from the reader, but it is definitely worth the extra time. Keep in mind, Fox’s work isn’t a call to action but rather a mirror to show us: what was, what is, and what could be.
October 22, 2021
It is clear to anyone who is not living under a rock that the most pressing issue of our time, and likely the most pressing issue for generations to come, is climate change. As more and more literature is dedicated to the subject, fiction and nonfiction alike, it is hard to carve out a niche with a fresh perspective for those who are not well-versed in the subject. Porter Fox has managed to do that with The Last Winter.
The Last Winter is focused exclusively on the "cryosphere," the term applied to the frozen part of the Earth system: glaciers, snow, ice, etc. At times, this reads like an adventure story as the author follows the world's scientists into the cryosphere, from the Rockies, to the Alps, to Greenland. These adventures are interspersed with personal tidbits, as well as bursts of science laying out clearly the effects of climate change on the cryosphere. The fate of all humanity rests in some of the most inhospitable climates, which are vanishing at a rapid pace. Porter Fox does well to tie threads of humanity - between history, culture, arts, sports, travel, all connected to winter - and the potential impacts that will be felt as our winters become more scarce. It's hard to picture our children or children's children existing in a world without snowball fights or sledding, but this book forces you to face that head on. This was also a thoughtful love note to what might be most people's least favorite season. We might all hate snow or slush or the cold, but we might hate a world without it more.
I highly recommend this book.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Last Winter is focused exclusively on the "cryosphere," the term applied to the frozen part of the Earth system: glaciers, snow, ice, etc. At times, this reads like an adventure story as the author follows the world's scientists into the cryosphere, from the Rockies, to the Alps, to Greenland. These adventures are interspersed with personal tidbits, as well as bursts of science laying out clearly the effects of climate change on the cryosphere. The fate of all humanity rests in some of the most inhospitable climates, which are vanishing at a rapid pace. Porter Fox does well to tie threads of humanity - between history, culture, arts, sports, travel, all connected to winter - and the potential impacts that will be felt as our winters become more scarce. It's hard to picture our children or children's children existing in a world without snowball fights or sledding, but this book forces you to face that head on. This was also a thoughtful love note to what might be most people's least favorite season. We might all hate snow or slush or the cold, but we might hate a world without it more.
I highly recommend this book.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
October 29, 2022
This book is built around the theme of how our world and our existence as humans might change if there was no more winter and how climate change is leading us to such a world. Just as the cumulative effect of snowfall is to provide life-giving water to the planet in a reliable and sustainable way, the cumulative effect of this book is to gradually become aware of how climate change erodes our options, as well as fully grasping just how badly we are doing in our response to climate change.
One criticism of the book I've seen is that it offers no solutions, no options. I don't see this as a flaw. Rather, it's a tool to educate, to help people understand what's going on and why. There are thousands of scientists studying this and discovering critical information that is being shared with world leaders. There is enough information to fully understand that human-created climate change is real and what the consequences of this change will be (no longer might be), consequences that will be so pervasive that it's not just an ecological issue, but an economic one as well.
World leaders need to act, often against their own interests, because large corporations will not change as long as what they're doing now remains profitable. And we as individuals, even if we managed an entire collective movement (and that, sadly, is unlikely), are not enough to make current business practices unprofitable. Our governments must do this legislatively or it won't happen. And there are mighty forces working against such legislation purely motivated by self-interest and greed for profit.
One criticism of the book I've seen is that it offers no solutions, no options. I don't see this as a flaw. Rather, it's a tool to educate, to help people understand what's going on and why. There are thousands of scientists studying this and discovering critical information that is being shared with world leaders. There is enough information to fully understand that human-created climate change is real and what the consequences of this change will be (no longer might be), consequences that will be so pervasive that it's not just an ecological issue, but an economic one as well.
World leaders need to act, often against their own interests, because large corporations will not change as long as what they're doing now remains profitable. And we as individuals, even if we managed an entire collective movement (and that, sadly, is unlikely), are not enough to make current business practices unprofitable. Our governments must do this legislatively or it won't happen. And there are mighty forces working against such legislation purely motivated by self-interest and greed for profit.
January 13, 2022
You may wonder why I didn't give this a higher rating but I'm old enough to have seen a lot of what he describes in these pages happen before my eyes. I could relate to many of the places he visited because I have traveled quite a lot over the years. He writes about a few very interesting people who are studying climate change. I honestly believe that younger people, those who think what we are living through now is "normal," are the the very people who most need to read this book. The changes that are happening to the planet are not linear; they are happening faster than predicted and will continue to accelerate. I don't believe that individuals can change the course of global climate change. It is up to governments and corporations to commit to the changes needed and to do it right away. There is no time to lose. So I think the reason I gave it three stars is because it depressed me so much even though the message is important. We cannot recycle our way out of this crisis and as individuals we need to feel that we are making a difference for ourselves and future generations.
November 26, 2021
Climate change is a very real issue on our earth. It’s of massive concern to people who live, work, and renew their lives daily near glacial regions. There are 15 people featured in this book about climate change that include glaciologists, firefighters, professors of earth science, mountain climbers, skiers, and alpine scientists. Each person is a component to the overall picture of global warming in cold and frozen areas of Earth.
Even though it’s not intended to be a travelogue, the book is enjoyable in that regard because it covers many beautiful areas of geological splendor. Too many of these places are being altered in our natural world.
Even though it’s not intended to be a travelogue, the book is enjoyable in that regard because it covers many beautiful areas of geological splendor. Too many of these places are being altered in our natural world.
February 4, 2022
Alarming.
Some of that is due to the risky, thrilling adventures Fox experiences on his trek to follow our diminishing winters to the end of the Earth. Deep crevasses, sleeping in a tent in 40 below temperatures, skiing (and skinning!) on icy cliffs, and trying not to fall off of a speeding dog sled. It's also beautiful though. Fox's descriptions of the Alps, Colorado, and Greenland are awe-inspiring.
Mostly though it's alarming to read what he learned from climate - and more specifically, cryo - scientists studying how the melting of our iciest and coldest places indicates a crisis that we probably can't avert.
Some of that is due to the risky, thrilling adventures Fox experiences on his trek to follow our diminishing winters to the end of the Earth. Deep crevasses, sleeping in a tent in 40 below temperatures, skiing (and skinning!) on icy cliffs, and trying not to fall off of a speeding dog sled. It's also beautiful though. Fox's descriptions of the Alps, Colorado, and Greenland are awe-inspiring.
Mostly though it's alarming to read what he learned from climate - and more specifically, cryo - scientists studying how the melting of our iciest and coldest places indicates a crisis that we probably can't avert.
January 24, 2022
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
This was a knowledge bomb where weather is concerned.
An enlightening read with a personal, human touch applied to it, in an easily approachable and exciting style.
Possibly best enjoyed by a lover of winter sports- like skiing.
I prefer my nonfiction to be more dry with facts at the forefront of the narrative, whereas the facts here are interspersed amongst the journeys of the author to various locations.
This was a knowledge bomb where weather is concerned.
An enlightening read with a personal, human touch applied to it, in an easily approachable and exciting style.
Possibly best enjoyed by a lover of winter sports- like skiing.
I prefer my nonfiction to be more dry with facts at the forefront of the narrative, whereas the facts here are interspersed amongst the journeys of the author to various locations.
May 8, 2022
This is the third book I've read from fellow Mainer Porter Fox, and this was certainly my favorite. I feel like he really nailed the balance of sharing people's stories while weaving in science and history and adding in his own commentary, perspective, and an element of adventure to the narrative. I think this is pretty hard to achieve, so I was very impressed! I enjoyed the coverage of four different landscapes and the narrative weaving through, each long enough to dive deep and wrestle with characters but concise enough to drive thoughtfully back to his thesis. Well done!
May 24, 2022
Thank you for the giveaway! I liked this book and find it to be such an important issue that everybody to a degree, should care about. It's hard to know that people still argue about climate change and the effects we have on this planet. This planet NEEDS people to take these effects more seriously!! I urge you to read this or any book on climate change to get a deeper understanding of the effects we have made on this planet and the destructive path we are on leading to the future if we don't make changes.
February 9, 2023
I like the subject matter and think this book was well written and engaging. However I think the author tried to do too many things, leading to confusion as well as a lack of direction at some points. I feel like he asked the same questions I have about climate change but didn’t answer them.
Also this is petty but more than once the author threw shade at non-outdoorsy people (comments about cruise ship passages for example) and I like to be outside too but why publish that in your book my dude?
Also this is petty but more than once the author threw shade at non-outdoorsy people (comments about cruise ship passages for example) and I like to be outside too but why publish that in your book my dude?
April 16, 2023
Probably 3.5 stars - the book is at its best when going into how the current snow and glacier melt fits with historic cycles of freezing and melting and what those did to the earth’s climate, as well as bringing out how dependent different parts of the world are on winter both for their economies and (much more importantly) for water and power generation. The case studies where the author travels to see what this looks like on the ground are less compelling - it might just be familiarity but the Arctic Circle was good, the Alps got a bit lost in how exactly they made it up mountains.
April 30, 2023
Interesting portrayal of winter as it was, is and will become. The science is interesting, the human events memorable of personal experiences. I am sadden by climate change in our future with little hope that anything will improve. Each generation will experience winter, less and less, until it is no longer anything other than myth. Ramifications? You already know this. We are faced with a new world in short time span. Will we change things or let it be what is it to be? You know the answers. It is an good book but really much too late.
November 8, 2021
Very well written and easily understood, this treatise describes the author's involvement with scientists investigating the effects of the arctic melt at present and what will happen if we don't make a concerted effort to reverse the trend. Read and become more aware!
I requested and received a free temporary PDF from Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley. Too bad a form with TTS was not on offer.
I requested and received a free temporary PDF from Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley. Too bad a form with TTS was not on offer.
February 5, 2022
This is an eye opening and startling look at the consequences of climate change on every single one of us. It asks the unanswerable questions of how we, as humans, will survive and if it is already too late to save ourselves. It introduces us to the people trying to save humankind. It makes it perfectly clear that the earth will survive with or without us. Good, interesting, and necessary reading. I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
February 19, 2022
Porter Fox explores global warming and the impact it will have on many locations around the world. He takes us to many different areas of the cryosphere such as Alaska, Greenland, the Cascades, the Italian Dolomites, and Antarctica to interview many outstanding scientists on the impact of the shrinking cyrosphere. This book is well researched and integrates personal stories with the facts in order to appeal to those without scientific degrees.
February 26, 2022
This informative read is part memoir, part travelogue, part dire warning to readers. Follow Porter Fox as he tells of his family's and his experience chasing perfect powder and seeing how climate change threatens not just winter sports, but all life on earth. Fox reports on the current science and the natural systems we have been splintering apart since the Industrial Revolution. Excellent read with further reading referenced within the text.
October 18, 2022
Disappointing chronicle of the author's adventures
The book contains a great deal of scientific information, data about temperatures and ice through earth's history. Intermingled are stories about the author's travels and science projects he observed and participated in, along with hardly relevant ski stories, episodes in his private life, and sometimes snide comments about people. He seemed unable to focus on the subject and ended up with an indigestible stew.
The book contains a great deal of scientific information, data about temperatures and ice through earth's history. Intermingled are stories about the author's travels and science projects he observed and participated in, along with hardly relevant ski stories, episodes in his private life, and sometimes snide comments about people. He seemed unable to focus on the subject and ended up with an indigestible stew.
January 28, 2024
I really love this way of talking about an issue -- Fox decides to learn about something and he gives us the benefit of his education by taking us along with him. We meet his teachers and mentors along the way and form our own attachment to them, and come away from the book better informed because of the way the education unfolds. I'll be reading more of Porter Fox.
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