A Season At Palmer

Montaigne Joseph F, Pelham NY

Investigators

Abstract

The author will write a book that tells the story of ecologist Bill Fraser's life and work by chronicling a season in the field with him at Palmer Station, Antarctica. Using this narrative device--following the birding team from the moment the Adelie penguins show up to nest in October until the last fledged chicks head out to sea in late February--he hopes also to paint a portrait of a dedicated field biologist, the breathtaking place at the heart of this scientist's life's work, and the changes affecting the lives of creatures there as a result of rapid warming. The end intent is to put a human, and animal, face on a situation that has left many people resigned and perplexed--climate change. What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity? The proposal describes a tightly conceived concept based on extensive preliminary research. The applicant is a Pulitzer Prize nominee with a strong background in writing about science. The scientist to be featured in the proposed book has spent a lifetime chronicling the population changes of a unique penguin species traced to the effect of global warming. The proposed story serves as a narrative line on which important science, philosophy, and environmental awareness are suspended. What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity? The book is planned for a popular audience, the author is well known and has a good writing style in the nature writing tradition, and the subject and approach are interesting. With book reviews and potential public appearances by the author, the project should have a broad impact. With its planned narrative structure, it is likely to draw in readers who initially have little to no interest in Antarctica or climate change. Mr. Montaigne has a contract with a publisher to publish the book.