A World Without Ice book club questions

1. 1.

   Pollack builds his case primarily from physical evidence — ice cores, tidal gauges, satellite measurements. How does that evidentiary approach compare to the kind of argument that tends to be persuasive in public debates about climate policy?

2. 2.

   The book was published in 2009. Which of its descriptions of ice loss and sea level rise have proved accurate or conservative since then?

3. 3.

   Two billion people depend on glacier-fed rivers. What kinds of political conflict do you expect to emerge as those glaciers retreat, and in which regions first?

4. 4.

   Pollack describes the albedo feedback loop — less ice means more warming means less ice — without attributing responsibility. How do you think about the ethics of feedback loops that no single actor controls?

5. 5.

   The permafrost carbon stores are described as a potential tipping point. What should the existence of tipping points change about how we think about risk management in climate policy?

6. 6.

   The book explains what is already in motion regardless of policy responses. How did reading about committed warming and sea level rise affect your sense of what policy responses are still worth pursuing?

7. 7.

   Pollack writes as a scientist describing evidence, not as an advocate prescribing policy. Is that an appropriate boundary for a scientist writing for a general audience, or does it amount to a kind of evasion?

8. 8.

   What's your understanding of where ice loss has been fastest since the book was published — in Greenland, Antarctica, or mountain glaciers — and why does the distinction matter?

9. 9.

   The book describes a world that will look substantially different within the lifetimes of children alive now. How does that time horizon affect how you think about your own obligations or decisions?

10. 10.

    Sea level rise will affect low-lying coastlines and small island nations before it affects most of the developed world. What does that distributional pattern suggest about the politics of climate response?

11. 11.

    Pollack uses the phrase 'what is already in motion' to describe changes that are committed regardless of future emissions. How do you communicate that kind of committed consequence without causing fatalism?

12. 12.

    What's the most surprising thing you learned from reading this book about how ice functions in the climate system?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.