Review of Carey (2010), and why it's important to New Mexico

A few weeks ago, I attended the ASEH (American Society for Environmental History) meetings in Portland, Oregon. As usual, it was a great set of sessions and associated, er... field activities. An intellectual highlight was getting to meet the author of "In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers," Mark Carey, an historian who teaches at Washington & Lee (VA). Why would New Mexicans want to read about Andean society and climate change? Isn't this just about Peru? Obviously, New Mexico doesn't have any "glaciers" to worry about anymore, but the implications of the book for NM are numerous and revolve around the issue of snow-pack and future climate scenarios. The table of contents (below) from Carey (2010, Oxford U Press) should also help people decide whether they need to buy it right now, or just look in their libraries for it.

"Introduction

1. Melted Ice Destroys a City: Huaraz, 1941

2. Geo-Racial Disorder beneath Enchanted Lakes

3. Engineering the Andes, Nationalizing Natural Disaster

4. High Development Follows Disasters

5. In Pursuit of Danger: Defining and Defending Hazard Zones

6. The Story of Vanishing Water Towers

7. The Risk of Neoliberal Glaciers

Conclusion

Appendix 1 Glacier-Related Disasters in Cordillera Blanca History

Appendix 2 Government Entities Conducting Glacier and Glacial Lake Projects

Appendix 3 Selected Cordillera Blanca Glacial Lake Security Projects

Notes"

Carey tracks the story of glaciers in the high Andes of a Peruvian valley, as they evolve from sources of natural hazards (glacial lake outbursts, glacial avalanche, etc...) to potential sources of water for irrigation development and hydroelectricity in the 20th (and 21st) century. You can see some of his Peru-glacier photos here. He emphasizes the role of glaciologists and other local scientists as the intermediary between global concerns over glaciers (and climate change) and local concern over village and urban safety (because of glacial hazards). Careful reading by anthropologists may provoke a little grumbling based on his notion of how locals reacted to hazards planning, but it's an honest and critical reflection on how people can mess their own nests when locals are more concerned about social order and village nostalgia than they are about future safety concerns. Peruvians are not alone - just look around where you live to see people living in the floodplain.

Perhaps the best aspect of the work is that, while focused on Peru and glaciers, Carey throws some comparative light and insight on how many communities world-wide will have to deal with either disappearing glaciers (Andes, Himalayas, Canada) or reduced snow-pack if climate change scenarios can be relied upon. This will only increase the amount of friction between stakeholders vying for hydropower, urban water, and rural irrigation - and that sounds like New Mexico's current state of affairs.