A dark Arctic tale set after the ice melts

In his book ‘After the Ice,’ Anderson writes of a world in which Arctic ice has permanently melted and polar bears don’t exist. He says the nightmare will likely come true in only decades.

It’s hard to imagine a world in which polar bears don’t exist in the wild. Alun Anderson, former editor-in-chief of New Scientist magazine, asserts that it most likely will occur in our lifetime.

In his book, “After the Ice: Life, Death, and Geopolitics in the New Arctic” (HarperCollins, 2009), Anderson takes a close look at the complicated past, present and future of the Arctic region, the area of Earth that he says is certain to feel the effects of global warming first and most powerfully.

Anderson traveled extensively in the Arctic to tell the story of a place that few are familiar with.

His greatest frustration was that no one he spoke with was taking the long or multifaceted view when discussing the region — considering the environmental along with the political; the business with the science; the way of life of those who actually live in the Arctic with movements to protect endangered animals.

Anderson talked about the book, and gave his predictions for the region’s future:

LA Times