The Big Melt: A Journey to Antarctica’s Doomsday Glacier

by Jeff Goodell

In conjunction with Columbia Journalism Review's Covering Climate Change initiative, Rolling Stone contributing editor and leading environmental journalist Jeff Goodell takes us up close and personal to the world's coldest location - Western Antarctica - and to the foot of the Thwaites Glacier. Hear what it sounds like when ice melts and come to understand how the destabilization of this faraway shelf of ferociously beautiful ice will cause water levels to rise and overflow - much like a bathtub faucet might - across the globe. The consequences of what scientists have nicknamed "the Big Melt" could lead to flooding coastal cities from Africa and Asia to here in the United States in a matter of weeks - and may not stop for years. A team of international scientists are struggling to understand the physics of melting ice and how to potentially slow the drip. This is an environmental thriller with shattering real consequences for all of us.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Climate Change, Environment

Audiobook

Published October 22, 2019

About the author

Jeff Goodell’s latest book is The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet. He is the author of six previous books, including The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, which was a New York Times Critics Top Book of 2017. He has covered climate change for more than two decades at Rolling Stone and discussed climate and energy issues on NPR, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, ABC, NBC, Fox News and The Oprah Winfrey Show. He is a Senior Fellow at the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center and a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow.

Reviews

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audiobook represents propaganda. That doesn't make it wrong. Nevertheless, it is propaganda and has only a passing resemblance to science.

I suggest reading Richard Feynman's lectures: "The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist" and "The Character of Physical Law" for tips on how to evaluate scientific claims.

Scientists are quoted in "The Big Melt" audiobook but mostly on non-scientific subjects. Scientists have opinions, as we all do, but when those opinions extend to subjects upon which they are not experts, their opinions are no more valid than mine. (If you look in your critical thinking notebook, that is an "appeal to authority" fallacy.)

Despite the propaganda flaw, this audiobook is a well produced adventure of a environmental journalist as he follows a group of scientists measuring the ice melting in the antarctic Thwaites Glacier. It was an enjoyable travelogue if nothing else.

Any problems with this presentation? Yes. Aside from the propaganda aspects, I found it rude and crude that the journalist subtly criticized a member of the ship's crew for having an illness that caused the ship to turn around and head back to port, thus cutting short by several days some scientific measurements. The journalist did this by giving examples of scientists of the antarctic treating themselves for cancer rather than stopping their scientific endeavors, and other examples. It sounded like one might expect a scientist to cut out his own appendix with a melon ball cutter rather than delay any scientific endeavor. (Did I hear that joke recently? It is not original to me.) While a scientist might actually do something like that, that doesn't mean that a sailor/clerk/janitor need have the same dedication/obsession.

WARNING: The author mocks a statement made by President Trump on Twitter. I didn't bother to check the validity of the statement. As of this writing, President Trump has left office and is now politically irrelevant, but if the desire of the journalist was to convince the general public of the validity of his point of view, he just alienated half of his potential audience. In particular, he alienated the half of his potential audience that needed to understand that we must to do something serious about global climate change. Since I assume the author is not a fool, this entire endeavor was simply preaching to the choir.

I might listen to this audio production again. As a travelogue it was very interesting.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeff Goodell - who brought the effects of rising ocean waters and their inundation of coastal cities in an earlier book - traveled to Antarctica aboard the research vessel, Nathaniel B. Palmer, to actually encounter the massive Thwaites Glacier, or as he once called it, "the Doomsday Glacier". To talk about this vitally important mass of snow and ice nearly the size of Great Britain or even the state of Florida. A sheer cliff of over 100 feet that looms over the water that is working at ever increasing speed to melt it's mass and dump billions of gallons of water into the oceans.

Goodell also tells of a trip for Norfolk Naval Base and looking out over the complex, wondering if that military installation will be one of the lucky ones to either be moved or raised or if it will become a submerged city in the years to come.

As this is an audio book, every short chapter has a soundbite to start - sea lions roar, penguins and the hollow sound of ice hitting against the hull of the ship. It's a nice touch as are the views into life for ship-bound researchers and the vast diversity of their actions and fields at the bottom of the world. The table tennis game. Knowing that any medical assistance beyond the basics is literally hours away.

But if you're looking for hard data regarding climate change and how it is affecting Thwaites, there are far better books out there but this one is short and and more personable than hard hitting.

2021-167

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthwhile podcast style listen. Light on science talk, and focussed on stories of scientists and city planners trying to highlight the impact of sea level rise, where it will come from and when. Particularly interesting is the description of life on an Antarctic research ship. Also great to hear from engineers at the frontline. Short chapters make it great for 10 minute breaks. Definitely for the already convinced though.

[Laura Trombley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This very short read will scare the bejeebers out of you if you have any sense. It also made me think maybe Michigan should build walls around it so that when all of the coastal cities are under water the illegal aliens might just come on over to collect welfare and state benefits.... Wait a minute we are surrounded by water, what happens to us? AAHHAAHHAHAHAH!

[Brian Kerr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contemplative story of a science expedition to Antarctica.

Interesting story mixing the day to day of a science expedition to research climate change affects on ice of Antarctica, along with contemplation on possible future impacts of climate change with expected sea level rise. Really worth listening to for personal awareness, recommend it to others.

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting. I have the book the author wrote before this one. Its so upsetting that people won't listen, and in fact some even threaten hard working scientists who are actually trying to help mankind. This book is one anyone who can read, should read. Or, if you can't read, listen to it. Our planet is in trouble. And then there are some religious wackos who want our planet to end.

[Sheila Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Descriptive diary of a 2019 expedition on a research ship to the Thwaites Glacier (Doomsday Glacier) in Antarctica. Reality of the effects of climate change and sea warming on the melting of the underside of the Antarctic ice sheet. Some scary calculations of the scale of possible sea level rise worldwide as a result of ice sheet melting.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The "big glacier" is interesting, but there's not much real science in this book -- just the author/journalist interacting with scientists. Still, it's an interesting topic, and he makes it intriguing enough to want to learn more about it.

[Niniane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned about climate change along with the day to day life on a research vessel to Antarctica, from the intensity of a medical emergency, to the mundane fun of a ping pong tournament.

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Big Melt by Jeff Goodell. A true story about scientists who journey to the Thwaite ice shelf in Antarctica to study the glacial melting in western Antarctica.

[Luis Brudna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Escrito como um diário de uma viagem à Antártica. Não tem uma grande densidade de informações.

[Charles Northey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a whole bunch fascinating and a little bit scary only because of the inevitability of it all. I like the statement: “Climate scientists are the heroes of our age. “ so true.

[Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was nice little docu-style read but it didn't go into as much depth as I would have liked.

[Lynette Ackman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and interesting.