INTO THE THAW Witnessing Wonder Amid Arctic Climate Crisis

Jon Waterman has written an ode to an Alaskan wilderness that is quickly disappearing due to climate change. His warm, almost poetic text, combined with photos in a pdf file, paints a clear portrait of what is and what was. Sadly, his narration doesn't match his words. The tone is reverent, and his delivery generally matches it. But many times he starts a sentence with a loud voice and then trails off to a near whisper. This would be effective if he were making a point, but he does it repeatedly with ordinary declarative sentences. Also, there are awkward pauses before prepositional phrases in some sentences. These shortcomings undermine what could have been a powerful statement about the changing environment. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2025]