"While Glaciers Slept" weaves together the parallel stories of what happens when the climates of a family and a planet change. Jackson, a National Geographic Expert, reveals how these events are deeply similar and intertwined. She tells the story of her parents struggles with cancer while describing in detail the planetary changes she s witnessed in Africa, Alaska, and in the lower 48. Above all else, Jackson shows that even in the darkest of times there is clear reason for hope and light. Readers are drawn into a world where complex climatic themes and glacial processes are broken down for a general audience through writing often tinged with whimsy. Jackson dances us over solar, wind, and geothermal mysteries, bringing us along on expeditions where she teaches climate change for National Geographic. Climate change, she convinces us, is not just about science it is also about the audacity of human courage and imagination. "While Glaciers Slept" shows us that the story of one family can be the story of one planet, and that climate change has a human face. "While Glaciers Slept" is one of the first books to explore climate change in truly human terms. Currently book is approximately 60,000 words. A variety of photographs of glaciers, glacial landscapes, expeditions, and the author are available from National Geographic photographers including Kim Heacox, David Estrada, Jes Therkleson, Peter Richards, Federico Pardo, and Jill Schneider. "While Glaciers Slept" is an innovative way to write about climate change, which has mass-market appeal. Climate change is in the news daily, but many people do not understand what it is, what is at stake, and most importantly, how it affects them personally. Ambivalence and confusion towards climate change by general audiences is in part rooted in scientific reports that readers find inaccessible due to the dense science and confusing language. Frankly, most of climate change media bores readers into a state of uncaring neutrality. Unpacking scientific topics such as glacier construction by utilizing every day, human analogy and metaphor is one of this book s truest strengths. "While Glaciers Slept" is an original way to bridge the gap between the human life cycle and planetary life cycle while providing intimate access both. "While Glaciers Slept" tells a relatable and intimate story of a family whose dynamic, like our planet s, is shaped and changed as it struggles to exist under the increased presence of disease and death. "While Glaciers Slept" teaches readers about climate change in beautiful, accessible language while also providing a compelling human narrative. Women, a large segment of the book-buying market, will pick up this book because, at its heart, this is a story about a family struggling to overcome the loss of a mother and a father while trying to keep sight of the beauty and hope that is still in this world. Younger readers involved in sustainability and green movements will gravitate towards this book for nourishment and hope. Fans of nature writing will be attracted to "While Glaciers Slept" as Jackson weaves her personal story around the developing narrative of the world surrounding us. Stories of wild places sprinkled with interesting facts and tidbits are found in every chapter. Much of "While Glaciers Slept" explores two landscapes of endless fascination: Alaska and Africa. These places catch people s imagination in stirring ways as evidenced by the growing lists of books and television shows hitting the market every year. If readers cannot travel themselves to those remaining wild places, the next best thing is to pick up a book describing them. Another market for this book is anyone within the environmental sciences. Scientists are continually looking for better ways to translate hard science into human language: and that is precisely what this book does. Anyone seeking to understand glaciers, climate change, or sustainability, will buy this book. Quick and engaging, it suits many different age and education levels. Jackson is available for any promotions necessary, including radio, television, or print media. She is very experienced in dealing with many aspects of the media. National Geographic has employed Jackson for five years working on expeditions, updating blogs, and promotions. Previously, she worked for five years as a journalist and has interviewed with local newspapers such as "The Dispatch" and "The Skagway News." She s been interviewed on radio stations KBGA 89.9 Missoula and KHNS 91.9 Alaska. Jackson is willing to create and distribute promotional materials for interviews, reviews, and events. Jackson has a multitude of friends and peers willing to help promote "While Glaciers Slept" through e-newsletters, print newsletters, blogs, and webnotes in organizations including the National Geographic, the Glaciological Society, National Forest Foundation ( "Tree Mail" e-newsletter with a subscription base of over 20,000), Montana Wilderness Association (5,500 members accessed through newsletters and blogs that include a Book Corner ), The Mountaineers, the Sierra Club, International Mountain Guides, Grist.org, Alaska Mountain Guides, and ClimateActionNow.org. Further, Jackson has fantastic contacts within large print organizations, including the director of programming for "National Geographic," the editors at "Orion, High Country News, Camas," and the Richard Hugo House. Jackson has written for the National Geographic Student Expeditions blog and the U.M. Environmental Sciences "Newsline" (over 9,000 subscribers), which specifically looks to discuss new environmental topics and resources. Jackson can set up interviews with friends in any of these organizations to supplement any reviews or excerpts from the book. Jackson has relationships with several bookstores, including Village Books, Shakespeare and Co, Fact and Fiction, Skagway News Depot, and Elliot Bay Book Company. She d love to set up readings and book signings at these venues and any others available. In addition, Jackson is an excellent and engaging public speaker. She s participated in readings of her own work and others throughout the United States, Australia, and Iceland. As a doctoral student at the University of Oregon, Jackson gives presentations and speaking events monthly. Previously, she hosted the weekly 2011 Wild Mercy Reading Series in Missoula, Montana. Jackson routinely travels with National Geographic Expeditions, Packer Expeditions, and Holland America Cruise Lines to give climate change and environmental presentations and lectures. In an average year, she may speak, teach, or facilitate to between 3,000 to 5,000 people. Her book can be marketed and sold on future trips. She also has connections for promotions, lectures and workshops with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), Outward Bound, The Natural Conservancy, The Wilderness Society, and many schools and universities including the University of Oregon, University of Montana, Western Washington University, University of Alaska, University of Washington, Pierce College, and the University of Puget Sound. Teaching writing workshops, giving readings and lectures, and signing books are all options at each of these universities. Other organizations and networks mentioned in the book are accessible for promotions, including Peace Corps and the U.S. Fulbright Commission. Peace Corps sends out regularly the Peace Corps Hotline to over 100,000 subscribers promoting any materials that involve Peace Corps. Jackson could easily write and submit an article to "Hotline" promoting "While Glaciers Slept." Currently, Jackson has two Facebook pages with over a 1,000 friends: most have already read posted excerpts of "While Glaciers Slept." In terms of social networking, each friend acts as a hub for approximately 50,000 people. As evidenced in the early endorsements, many people believe in this book and are willing to help promote it. Chapter three, "Ice in Isolation," appeared last fall in "Camas," the environmental magazine of the University of Montana. Chapter ten, "Folding Together," appeared in the online magazine "Canary" in October 2011. Most chapters may stand alone for targeted excerpts in publications such as "Orion, Harper s "and" The Atlantic Monthly."Jackson has also developed a wide network of prizing-winning scientists, writers, bloggers, teachers, educators, and students across the world who may also promote this book in their respective fields. "
Industry Reviews
M Jackson does an intriguing job of weaving together observations about human health and frailty with global biospheric health and frailty. Her narrative brings climate change down from an abstract global scale to a very personal human scale. Particularly engaging for the non-scientist reader. -- Dr. Steve Running, Nobel Prize winner and America's foremost expert on climate change
Climate change is many things, including an upheaval - sudden and violent - in the life of our planet. As such, it unleashes feelings and forces like those in a family when someone dies. This is a profound way of thinking about where we are right now, and what we better do about it. -- Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and author of 'Eaarth' and 'The End of Nature'
If you've known hard grief and loss, you will understand this book. If you have hope or the wish for it, this book will shore you up. While Glaciers Slept tells a story of devotion and survival as it examines the ongoing global crisis of climate change. M Jackson is a naturalist, a teacher, and a daughter who mourns her mother's death as she discovers and explores the best choice, the only true choice ahead - a path of hope and action for ourselves and the living planet that birthed us all. -- Phil Condon, author of Montana Surround, Clay Center, and Nine Ten Again
The literary fabric of M Jackson's While Glaciers Slept comprises two strands intricately and intimately braided together. One is her engagement in a family journey through accident and disease that inflict pain and ultimately death on her parents. The second strand is also one of inflicted pain, but at a planetary scale - the degradation of Earth itself by its human inhabitants. M moves almost effortlessly from loss of limb to loss of ice, from prosthetics to a planetary parasol. The intertwining of the two strands creates a powerful narrative of humanity, singly and in the multitudes. -- Henry Pollack, author of A World Without Ice and a winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on climate change
As the poet Tony Hoagland has pointed out, most of us 'walk like zombies through our burning dying world'. Not so M Jackson, who moves through the world very much aware of both the little and individually important things, such as family, while simultaneously perceiving and understanding the catastrophe that is happening all around us. In While Glaciers Slept, she links the one to the other in a flawless and brilliant way. This is superb. -- Carlos Martinez, author of The Cold Music of the Ocean and The Raw Silk of the Dark
Jackson, a National Geographic Expert and prominent scientist passionate about researching glacial systems, explores in this emotional memoir her experience of losing her parents, one after the other, to cancer. Literally and metaphorically, the author compares the hopelessness she felt in the aftermath of their deaths with the depression people sometimes encounter witnessing the destruction of the environment. While at times on the verge of giving up in the face of such personal upheaval, Jackson persevered in learning a new way of living, as humanity will have to do with the advent of climate change. She offers parallel glimpses of optimism, both for herself and for the future of the planet, sharing her journey of growth and discovery while at the same time highlighting imaginative, radical projects proposed by innovative thinkers designed to avert what most scientists believe to be inevitable: a changed earth. VERDICT Reminiscent of Bill McKibben's "Eaarth", this title will interest readers of environmental issues, particularly climate change and a warming Arctic region, and fans of personal narratives. -- Venessa Hughes, Buffalo, NY Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
"I cannot untangle in my mind the scientific study of climate change and the death of my parents." M Jackson is a scientist, National Geographic Expert and glacier specialist, but her memoir While Glaciers Slept: Being Human in a Time of Climate Change rarely takes a scientific perspective and never claims objectivity. Rather, Jackson tells the story of losing both her parents when she was a young woman just embarking on life, and the trauma and extended grieving process that resulted. Following a brief, lovely foreword by Bill McKibben, Jackson poetically conflates her loss with the slow and still mysterious effects of anthropogenic climate change. Her scientific background and explorations of fascinating placesDenali and Chena Hot Springs in Alaska, Zambia with the Peace Corpsinform her writing and yield striking images, as she runs on spongy Alaskan tundra or contemplates cryoconite holes atop glaciers. But it is the personal side of her narrative that allows Jackson to address society's psychological difficulties with climate change. Each chapter of While Glaciers Slept is a finely braided essay, considering an aspect of her parents' lives or deaths alongside a facet of climate change's challenges. Jackson mourns her mother with the help of Joan Didion's writing; windmills offer possible "undulating answers" and comfort her on her drive home upon learning that her father is dying. She employs a disordered chronology that slightly disorients her reader, just as Jackson was disoriented. The effect is an evocative, lyrical work of musing and allegory rather than a scientific treatise. Julia Jenkins , librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia, Shelf Awareness
