"A thousand years ago in a Himalayan valley, the village of Kumik was founded. For generations, Kumik villagers survived by learning to cultivate their mountain terrain, drawing from the waters of the glacier and snows above the village. But now the glacier is almost gone, and Kumik is dying. Why? As Fire and Ice reveals, the culprit is black carbon, the most dangerous pollutant in the world and the least understood. Black carbon absorbs more heat per unit of mass in the atmosphere than greenhouse gases, and contributes as much to melting the glaciers of the Himalaya as carbon dioxide. It's also a major component of the household air pollution that causes 4.3 million deaths each year from respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, and 3 million more from outdoor pollutants such as industrial exhaust. Black carbon threatens to overwhelm Kumik, unless the village can change the way it cooks, heats, farms and lives. In Fire and Ice, Jonathan Mingle weaves a dramatic narrative of one village's inspiring efforts to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, and a scientific detective tale about the impact of fire on every nation. Ranging from the Tibetan Plateau to New York and Washington, D.C., from Delhi and Kathmandu and China to northern California, Fire and Ice is a heroic exploration of our race to change the fate of our planet"--