Our Vanishing Glaciers

The UN General Assembly has declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation and designated March 21st as World Day for Glaciers. Our Vanishing Glaciers serves as a powerful reminder of the fragility of these natural wonders and the urgent need to protect them for future generations.

Winner of the 2017 Lane Anderson Award for best Canadian science writing, this updated edition features a new essay and additional photographs highlighting the UN International Year of Glaciers' Preservation. In addition, it celebrates global partnerships and initiatives aimed at safeguarding glaciers, including Guardians of the Ice, a nonprofit blending art and science for advocacy, and contributions from visionaries such as Caroline Cote, Tim Patterson, and Amy Snider. Sandford offers a poignant yet hopeful perspective, mourning the rapid disappearance of glaciers while inspiring collective, intergenerational efforts to combat climate change. He calls on humanity to "listen to the ice," fostering deeper connections with nature and reimagining our coexistence with the planet.

Centred around the Columbia Icefield, a vast expanse straddling the Continental Divide, Our Vanishing Glaciers showcases an extraordinary collection of visual materials, including photographs, illustrations, aerial surveys, and thermal imaging. Drawing on 45 years of personal observation, Sandford captures the grandeur and scale of glaciers in western Canada.

Backed by compelling evidence, Sandford reveals that as many as 300 glaciers have disappeared from the Canadian Rockies since 1920. This large-format, fully illustrated book vividly portrays the rapid pace of glacial retreat projected to continue throughout this century while celebrating the indispensable role of water, ice, and snow in the region's ecological and cultural heritage.