Our Vanishing Glaciers

Auteur

Robert (Bob) William Sandford is the Senior Government Relations Liaison, Global Climate Emergency Response at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health (UNU-INWEH). He is the co-author of the UN’s Water in the World We Want report on post-2015 global sustainable development goals relating to water. He is also the author of some 30 books on the history, heritage, and landscape of the Canadian Rockies, including Water, Weather and the Mountain West, Restoring the Flow: Confronting the World's Water Woes, Ethical Water: Learning to Value What Matters Most, Cold Matters: The State and Fate of Canada’s Fresh Water, Saving Lake Winnipeg, Flood Forecast: Climate Risk and Resiliency in Canada, Storm Warning: Water and Climate Security in a Changing World, North America in the Anthropocene, Our Vanishing Glaciers: The Snows of Yesteryear and the Future Climate of the Mountain West, The Weekender Effect: Hyperdevelopment in Mountain Towns – Updated Edition, and The Weekender Effect II: Fallout. He is also a co-author of The Columbia River Treaty: A Primer, The Climate Nexus: Water, Food, Energy and Biodiversity in a Changing World, and The Hard Work of Hope: Climate Change in the Age of Trump. Robert lives in Canmore, Alberta.

Texte du rabat

The UN General Assembly has declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation and designated March 21st as World Day for Glaciers. Our Vanishing Glaciers serves as a powerful reminder of the fragility of these natural wonders and the urgent need to protect them for future generations.

Winner of the 2017 Lane Anderson Award for best Canadian science writing, this updated edition features a new essay and additional photographs highlighting the UN International Year of Glaciers' Preservation. In addition, it celebrates global partnerships and initiatives aimed at safeguarding glaciers, including Guardians of the Ice, a nonprofit blending art and science for advocacy, and contributions from visionaries such as Caroline Coté, Tim Patterson, and Amy Snider. Sandford offers a poignant yet hopeful perspective, mourning the rapid disappearance of glaciers while inspiring collective, intergenerational efforts to combat climate change. He calls on humanity to "listen to the ice," fostering deeper connections with nature and reimagining our coexistence with the planet.

Centred around the Columbia Icefield, a vast expanse straddling the Continental Divide, Our Vanishing Glaciers showcases an extraordinary collection of visual materials, including photographs, illustrations, aerial surveys, and thermal imaging. Drawing on 45 years of personal observation, Sandford captures the grandeur and scale of glaciers in western Canada.

Backed by compelling evidence, Sandford reveals that as many as 300 glaciers have disappeared from the Canadian Rockies since 1920. This large-format, fully illustrated book vividly portrays the rapid pace of glacial retreat projected to continue throughout this century while celebrating the indispensable role of water, ice, and snow in the region's ecological and cultural heritage.