Shaped by Snow - Defending the Future of Winter

Ayja Bounous

Torrey House Press

2019

200 páginas

6h 40m

ISBN-13: 9781948814102

Ayja Bounous examines her deep connections to snow and skiing and how climate change threatens the mountains and the relationships that shape her.
Skier and debut author Ayja Bounous explores threats to the winters and watershed in the face of climate change and the far–reaching impacts of a diminishing snowpack on the American West—not only from ecological and economic perspectives, but also in regard to emotional and psychological health, as she realizes how deeply her personal relationships are tied to the snow–covered mountains of Utah's Wasatch range.

“A love letter and an elegy to a time when innocence could exist before the era of climate change…written with a muscularity of experience by a woman whose character was formed on the ski slopes in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. Ayja Bounous is an emerging writer of conscience. She has a beautiful voice on the page and in place, this place ‘shaped by snow.’”
—TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS, author of The Hour of Land

"Those who love winter will love this book. But as we steadily erase the season that sets us free from friction, Shaped by Snow will appeal to anyone who has ever looked up and thrilled at the first flakes fat in the autumn sky."
—BILL MCKIBBEN, author of The End of Nature

"The best people grow in open air, Walt Whitman told us, eat and sleep with the earth. Ayja Bounous is that person: raised on snow, seasoned on rivers, bound by conscience, called to action. This Utah oracle reminds us what’s at stake, what we are fighting for."
—MARK SUNDEEN, author of The Unsettlers

"In this poignant and engaging love letter to snow, Ayja Bounous beautifully interlaces science, family history, and her anxiety around climate change. This book bears witness to the changing nature of Utah and the Wasatch Front, and is a call to all of us to pay more attention, to choose our actions with thought, and to live with love."
—SYLVIA TORTI, author of Cages