In 2015, a massive avalanche descended on the small Arctic Norwegian city of Longyearbyen, Svalbard, leveling eleven houses and killing a two-year-old girl and a young father. It was a tragic natural disaster but one that was becoming increasingly and alarmingly common for citizens of Svalbard, like journalist Line Nagell YlvisÅker. In her arresting book My World Is Melting, YlvisÅker explores the effects of a warming planet up close and personal, from inside a remote community intimately attuned to its environment. YlvisÅker introduces readers to her friends and neighbors, including dedicated meteorologists racing to anticipate future disasters and a veteran trapper who harbors doubts about climate change even as he bears witness to a constantly shifting landscape. Blending memoir, long-form journalism, and scientific reportage, she provides an intimate picture of life in a place where the effects of climate change can be seen in all their startling reality—and a compelling and hopeful argument for collective and cooperative action across the globe.
