For the First Thursday Book Discussion this February, climb aboard a research vessel and head to the Antarctic in “The Quickening: Antarctica, Motherhood and Cultivating Hope in a Warming World” by Elizabeth Rush.
We only have 200 years of human history in Antarctica, and most of it has been written by men and about men. These stories are fraught with failure and death, struggles to survive, science and exploration.
Into this history steps Elizabeth Rush, a woman who wants to write about Antarctica, the changing climate and motherhood. She brings nuance and empathy to keen observations on crucial endeavor. Her tone is hopeful.
In 2019, Elizabeth Rush set out with 57 scientists on an icebreaker headed for Antarctica. They spent the next 50-plus days studying “the doomsday glacier.” The Thwaites Glacier is significant for its sheer mass. If it melts, the water freed from its ice is enough to raise the sea level of the world by two feet. In addition, Thwaites is like a keystone in the local topography. The loss of this behemoth would destabilize the surrounding glaciers, causing more thawing, culminating in a devastating 10-foot rise in sea level — doomsday.
The 2019 expedition was first the research trip to study the glacier and look at the forces affecting it, with the hope of understanding its — and ultimately our own — fate.
Rush’s thorough reporting of the scientific mission combined with the perspective she brings as a reporter, a woman and a future mother provide plenty of fodder for discussion. Join us for the next First Thursday Book Discussion on February 6 at noon in the Columbia Public Library to delve into the subjects and themes Rush brings to light.
