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In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers: Climate Change and Andean Society
Climate change is producing profound changes globally. Yet we still know little about how it affects real people in real places on a daily basis because most of our knowledge comes from scientific studies that try to estimate impacts and project future climate scenarios. This book is different, illustrating in vivid detail how people in the Andes have grappled with the effects of climate change and ensuing natural disasters for more than half a century. In Peru's Cordillera Blanca mountain range, global climate change has generated the world's most deadly glacial lake outburst floods and glacier avalanches, killing 25,000 people since 1941. As survivors grieved, they formed community organizations to learn about precarious glacial lakes while they sent priests to the mountains, hoping that God could calm the increasingly hostile landscape. Meanwhile, Peruvian engineers working with miniscule budgets invented innovative strategies to drain dozens of the most unstable lakes that
continue forming in the twenty first century.
But adaptation to global climate change was never simply about engineering the Andes to eliminate environmental hazards. Local urban and rural populations, engineers, hydroelectric developers, irrigators, mountaineers, and policymakers all perceived and responded to glacier melting differently-based on their own view of an ideal Andean world. Disaster prevention projects involved debates about economic development, state authority, race relations, class divisions, cultural values, the evolution of science and technology, and shifting views of nature. Over time, the influx of new groups to manage the Andes helped transform glaciated mountains into commodities to consume. Locals lost power in the process and today comprise just one among many stakeholders in the high Andes-and perhaps the least powerful. Climate change transformed a region, triggering catastrophes while simultaneously jumpstarting modernization processes. This book's historical perspective illuminates these trends that
would be ignored in any scientific projections about future climate scenarios.
continue forming in the twenty first century.
But adaptation to global climate change was never simply about engineering the Andes to eliminate environmental hazards. Local urban and rural populations, engineers, hydroelectric developers, irrigators, mountaineers, and policymakers all perceived and responded to glacier melting differently-based on their own view of an ideal Andean world. Disaster prevention projects involved debates about economic development, state authority, race relations, class divisions, cultural values, the evolution of science and technology, and shifting views of nature. Over time, the influx of new groups to manage the Andes helped transform glaciated mountains into commodities to consume. Locals lost power in the process and today comprise just one among many stakeholders in the high Andes-and perhaps the least powerful. Climate change transformed a region, triggering catastrophes while simultaneously jumpstarting modernization processes. This book's historical perspective illuminates these trends that
would be ignored in any scientific projections about future climate scenarios.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
288 pages, Paperback
First published March 10, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 30, 2018
Carey, Mark. In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers: Climate Change and Andean Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Topic: Mark Carey’s In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers examines the environmental history and climate science research that has centered on glacial retreats and natural disasters in Peru to deliberate on how the evolution of technology, modern political struggles, societal relationships, and cultural heritage have affected responses to climate disasters. It touches on how the public’s social and economic perceptions of climate shape their perspectives of scientific advice and governmental efforts regarding disaster mitigation to analyze the overlooked historical effects of climate and glaciers on Peruvian society. The adaptations of Western scientific ideals to Latin America are also noted, detailing the importance of scientific research on the periphery and shedding light on the development of disaster capitalism and neo-liberalism in Latin America.
Scope: In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers analyzes the phenomena of glacier retreat in Latin America and its threatening of coastlands, water resources, and economies built on snowfall. It brings specificity to this scope by considering the Peruvian Andes and its societies in the twentieth century to detail how governmental agencies, scientific experts, non-governmental organizations, companies, local communities, and international organizations perceive and manage climate change and environmental research dealing with disaster mitigation and the conservation of glaciers. The occurrences of glacial avalanches are also noted, detailing how they sparked aspects of Peruvian modernization, the commoditization of glaciers, and disaster capitalism. Socioeconomic influences, cultural heritage, and the agency of local communities are weighed to add a human element to environmental history often overlooked in climate science.
Historical Questions: Carey details the relationships that disaster mitigation and conservation maintain with glacial retreat and the interests of governmental agencies, non-governmental entities, and local communities in Peru. These relationships pose the following questions: how do diverse peoples consider and react to climate change when it threatens their resources and lifestyles, how does the influence of local communities impact climate change research and disaster mitigation efforts, and how do power imbalances and social relationships affect individual choices regarding environmental management? Carey also asks why do individuals continued to inhabit areas vulnerable to climate events when they are aware of environmental hazards and what role should local communities maintain with research, private, and governmental entities dealing with disaster mitigation, modernization, and disaster capitalism?
Thesis(es): In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers contends that climate change science needs to be augmented by studies of the cultures and societies where changes occur to develop an understanding of how human elements mold disaster mitigation, conservation, and environments.
It also makes the following arguments: that culture and worldview often matter more to individuals affected by climate change than science, power dynamics and social relationships impact how people deal with climate change and glacial retreat, and understanding climate change reactions in Peru requires knowledge of how governmental entities, non-governmental organizations, private companies, scientific experts, and local communities jockey for governmental power and resource influence to fit their respective regional agendas.
Sources: Carey utilizes cross-disciplinary primary, secondary, and reference sources taken from environmental history, climate science, economics, cultural history, and political science to create a discourse of Latin American conservation and disaster mitigation efforts that include local social and humanist perspectives of environment and resource usage. He utilizes poetry, pictures, maps, and governmental records to illustrate the interactions occurring between all the actors present in efforts to conserve glaciers, modernize Peru, and mitigate climate disasters.
Topic: Mark Carey’s In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers examines the environmental history and climate science research that has centered on glacial retreats and natural disasters in Peru to deliberate on how the evolution of technology, modern political struggles, societal relationships, and cultural heritage have affected responses to climate disasters. It touches on how the public’s social and economic perceptions of climate shape their perspectives of scientific advice and governmental efforts regarding disaster mitigation to analyze the overlooked historical effects of climate and glaciers on Peruvian society. The adaptations of Western scientific ideals to Latin America are also noted, detailing the importance of scientific research on the periphery and shedding light on the development of disaster capitalism and neo-liberalism in Latin America.
Scope: In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers analyzes the phenomena of glacier retreat in Latin America and its threatening of coastlands, water resources, and economies built on snowfall. It brings specificity to this scope by considering the Peruvian Andes and its societies in the twentieth century to detail how governmental agencies, scientific experts, non-governmental organizations, companies, local communities, and international organizations perceive and manage climate change and environmental research dealing with disaster mitigation and the conservation of glaciers. The occurrences of glacial avalanches are also noted, detailing how they sparked aspects of Peruvian modernization, the commoditization of glaciers, and disaster capitalism. Socioeconomic influences, cultural heritage, and the agency of local communities are weighed to add a human element to environmental history often overlooked in climate science.
Historical Questions: Carey details the relationships that disaster mitigation and conservation maintain with glacial retreat and the interests of governmental agencies, non-governmental entities, and local communities in Peru. These relationships pose the following questions: how do diverse peoples consider and react to climate change when it threatens their resources and lifestyles, how does the influence of local communities impact climate change research and disaster mitigation efforts, and how do power imbalances and social relationships affect individual choices regarding environmental management? Carey also asks why do individuals continued to inhabit areas vulnerable to climate events when they are aware of environmental hazards and what role should local communities maintain with research, private, and governmental entities dealing with disaster mitigation, modernization, and disaster capitalism?
Thesis(es): In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers contends that climate change science needs to be augmented by studies of the cultures and societies where changes occur to develop an understanding of how human elements mold disaster mitigation, conservation, and environments.
It also makes the following arguments: that culture and worldview often matter more to individuals affected by climate change than science, power dynamics and social relationships impact how people deal with climate change and glacial retreat, and understanding climate change reactions in Peru requires knowledge of how governmental entities, non-governmental organizations, private companies, scientific experts, and local communities jockey for governmental power and resource influence to fit their respective regional agendas.
Sources: Carey utilizes cross-disciplinary primary, secondary, and reference sources taken from environmental history, climate science, economics, cultural history, and political science to create a discourse of Latin American conservation and disaster mitigation efforts that include local social and humanist perspectives of environment and resource usage. He utilizes poetry, pictures, maps, and governmental records to illustrate the interactions occurring between all the actors present in efforts to conserve glaciers, modernize Peru, and mitigate climate disasters.
December 6, 2014
One of the best environmental history books I've ever read. Absolutely fascinating the whole way through, well written and very readable. It really makes global warming and its effects hit home!
April 10, 2018
This book brought to light a lot of things I didn't know about how climate change is already and has been destroying the lives of many for years. There was a lot of interesting information in here about Peru and glaciology and the book was well written. My only complaint is that it often seemed overly detailed and slightly repetitive in the points the author was trying to make.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews