Book excerpt: Cold Matters is a vital and approachable work that distills the scientific complexities of snow, ice, water and climate and presents the global implications of research put forth and funded by the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences. This timely book gives the concerned reader an opportunity to take part in the conversation about our global environment in a way that transcends traditional scientific journals, textbooks, public talks or newspaper articles that are so often ignored or forgotten. In the end, Cold Matters will change the way you think about ice and snow. The impassioned narrative and sophisticated illustrations found within the pages of Robert Sandford’s latest work offer ecologically and globally minded citizens an understanding of the behaviour of our ever-changing climate system and its effect on cold environments in western Canada over the past 400 years. Using revolutionary prediction scenarios to model glaciers and glacier meltwater in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Yukon, NWT and throughout the world, Cold Matters presents a clear snapshot of how altered ecosystems will impact future climates, urban centres and agricultural landscapes.