A World Without Ice

Outline

A World Without Ice (2009) examines the history of Earth’s ice and explains how glaciers, polar regions, and frozen landscapes influence climate, sea levels, and human civilisation. Henry Pollack combines scientific research with historical examples to show what ice reveals about changes in the planet’s temperature. The book also considers how continued warming and melting ice could affect coastal communities, natural systems, water supplies, and future generations.

• Glaciers, polar regions, and frozen landscapes shape Earth's climate and sea levels, as well as the course of human civilisation.
• Ice works as a record of the planet's past, showing how its temperature has changed over time.
• Pollack combines scientific research with historical examples to explain what ice reveals about warming.
• Continued melting could affect coastal communities, natural systems, and the water supplies that people depend on.
• The consequences of a warming planet reach beyond the present and bear on future generations.

Henry Pollack is an American geophysicist and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan whose research has focused on Earth’s temperature, climate history, and the heat contained within the planet. He contributed to major international scientific assessments of climate change and has worked to make environmental science understandable to general readers. His writing connects geological evidence with the choices societies make about energy, development, and the future.