How the West Was Warmed: Responding to Climate Change in the Rockies

“There is no single menu theme here, but plenty of food for thought. Sample it. Chew on it. Share it with friends. Enjoy.”—From the foreword by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper Melting glaciers. Pine beetle infestation. Drought. Carbon footprints. Green jobs and promises of a new energy economy. . . . When the venerable Aspen Skiing Company starts talking about the “death of snow,” even the most determined deniers start to wonder, what is going on? This enlightening collection of essays develops a portrait of the wide range of responses to climate change in the Rocky Mountain West. For more than two decades, this region has been a leader in addressing climate change, and today it is a hub of solutions to this pressing global issue. Written by more than forty veteran journalists, scientists, businesspersons, and policy makers, these essays show us how climate change has and continues to affect the ways in which we live, work, and play. An alternative to the many dry scientific books and how-to greening manuals about global warming, How The West Was Warmed provides insight, hope, and a little dose of humor to inspire all Americans as we face the future.A portion of the sales of this book will be donated to Western Resource Advocatesand to High Country News Research Fund. Editor Beth Conover has worked for twenty-five years at the intersection of environmental protection and economic development. As policy advisor to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, she was the architect of Greenprint Denver, one of the nation’s earliest and largest urban sustainability programs, and helped lay the groundwork for the greening of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Contributors to How the West Was Warmed include: Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Beth Conover, Auden Schendler, Stephen Trimble, Todd Hartman, Laura Pritchett, David Akerson, Mark Eddy, Lisa Jones, Sean Kelly, Jackson Perrin and Dev Carey, Diane Carman, Michael Jamison, Kirk Johnson, Peter Heller, Marc Waage, Eric Kuhn, Brad Udall, John Daley, Susan Moran, Jim Robbins, Hillary Rosner, Michelle Nijhuis, Tim Sullivan, Jocelyn Hittle, Ken Snyder, The Staff of Holy Cross Energy, James R. Udall, Todd Neff, Catherine Greener, Martha Records, Josh Radoff, Matthew H. Brown, Susan Innis, Michael L. Beatty, Steve Andrews, Jill Hanauer, David Winkler, Lisa Grove, Melissa Chernaik, Andrew Myers, Chip Ward, Florence Williams, Heidi VanGenderen, Jason Salzman, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Jr.