What exactly is the meaning of all those stone walls in the middle of the forest? Why do beech and birch trees have smooth bark when the bark of all other northern species is rough? How do you tell the age of a beaver pond and determine if beavers still live there? Why are pine trees dominant in one patch of forest and maples in another? What happened to the American chestnut? Turn to this book for the answers, and no walk in the woods will ever be the same.

    A crucial figure in the creation of our national parks system and a far-seeing prophet of environmental awareness who founded the Sierra Club in 1892, he was also a master of natural description who evoked with unique power and intimacy the untrammeled landscapes of the American West. The Library of America’s Nature Writings collects his most significant and best-loved works in a single volume.The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913) is Muir’s memoir of growing up by the sea in Scotland, of coming to America with his family at age eleven, and of his early fascination with the natural world. My First Summer in the Sierra (1911) is his famous account of the spiritual awakening he experienced when, in 1869, he first encountered the mountains and valleys of central California, of which he wrote: “Bathed in such beauty, watching the expressions ever varying on the faces of the mountains, watching the stars, which here have a glory that the lowlander never dreams of, watching the circling seasons, listening to the songs of the waters and winds and birds, would be endless pleasure…. No other place has ever so overwhelmingly attracted me as this hospitable, Godful wilderness.”The natural history classic The Mountains of California (1894) draws on half a lifetime of exploration of the High Sierra country to celebrate and evoke the region’s lakes, forests, flowers, and animals, its glaciers, storms, floods, and geological formations, in a masterpiece of observation and poetic description: “After ten years spent in the heart of it … it still seems to me above all others the Range of Light, the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain-chains I have ever seen.”Stickeen (1909), Muir’s most popular book, is the affectionate story of his adventure with a dog in Alaska. Rounding out the volume is a rich selection of essays—including “Yosemite Glaciers,” “God’s First Temples,” “Snow-Storm on Mount Shasta,” “The American Forests,” and the late appeal “Save the Redwoods”—highlighting various aspects of his career: his exploration of the Grand Canyon and of what became Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks, his successful crusades to preserve the wilderness, his early walking tour to Florida, and the Alaska journey of 1879.

    With this astonishing collection of tree portraits, Thomas Pakenham produced a new kind of tree book. The arrangement owed little to conventional botany. The sixty trees were grouped according to their own strong personalities: Natives, Travellers, Shrines, Fantasies and Survivors. From the ancient native trees, many of which are huge and immeasurably old, to the exotic newcomers from Europe, the East and North America, MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE TREES captures the history and beauty of these entrancing living structures. Common to all these trees is their power to inspire awe and wonder. This is a lovingly researched book, beautifully illustrated with colour photographs, engravings and maps - a moving testimonial to the Earth's largest and oldest living structures.

    In her early twenties, Steingraber was afflicted with cancer, a disease that has afflicted other members of her adoptive family. Writing from the twin perspectives of a survivor and a concerned scientist, she traces the high incidence of cancer and the terrifying concentrations of environmental toxins in her native rural Illinois. She goes on to show similar correlation in other communities, such as Boston and Long Island, and throughout the United States, where cancer rates have risen alarmingly since mid-century. At once a deeply moving personal document and a groundbreaking work of scientific detection, Living Downstream will be a touchstone for generations, reminding us of the intimate connection between the health of our bodies and the integrity of our air, land, and water. "By skillfully weaving a strong personal drama with thorough scientific research, Steingraber tells a compelling story....Well worth reading."--Washington Post

    But what are the real needs that must be satisfied to live rich, fulfilling lives? This is the question David Suzuki explores in this wide-ranging study. Suzuki begins by presenting the concept of people as creatures of the Earth who depend on its gifts of air, water, soil, and sun energy. He shows how people are genetically programmed for the company of other species, and suffer enormously when we fail to live in harmony with them. And he analyzes those deep spiritual needs, rooted in nature, that are also a crucial component of a loving world. Drawing on his own experiences and those of others who have put their beliefs into action, The Sacred Balance is a powerful, passionate book with concrete suggestions for creating an ecologically sustainable, satisfying, and fair future by rediscovering and addressing humanity’s basic needs.

    . . a man tracks his wife through a winter wilderness . . . an ancient ocean buried in the foothills of the Appalachians becomes a battleground for a young wildcat oilman and his aging mentor. Here is Bass at his magical, passionate, and lyrical best.

    Heinrich has spent a lifetime observing the natural world, and now he shares his vast knowledge and reflections on the trees of the Northeast woods and the rhythms of their seasons.From the DNA contained in an apple seed to the great choiring branches far beyond a young boy's reach, Heinrich explores a natural world in scientific and personal terms. Heinrich is a scientist, but his words speak with the power and subtle grace of a poet. He uses this gift, and his intimate knowledge of his 300 acres of Maine forest, to expose the forest's rhythms, and in doing so, illustrates the vital but tenuous link among man, trees, birds, insects, and all the creatures of the forest. Thanks to Bernd Heinrich, readers will finally see the forest and the trees.

    Without consultation, Abbey based the central character of eco-guerilla George Washington Hayduke on his friend Doug Peacock. Since then Peacock has become an articulate environmental individualist writing about the West's abundant wildscapes.Abbey and Peacock had an at times stormy, almost father and son relationship that was peacefully resolved in Abbey's last days before his death in 1989. This rich recollection of their relationship and the dry places they explored are recalled in Peacock's honest and heartfelt style in this poignant memoir.

    A companion to the author's first book, Dear Children of the Earth, this book tells the story of the one big family of Mother Earth, in a lesson of sharing and protecting our planet.

    Lippard, one of America's most influential art writers, weaves together cultural studies, history, geography, photography, and contemporary public art to provide a fascinating exploration of our multiple senses of place. Expanding her reach far beyond the confines of the art world, she discusses community, land use, perceptions of natures, how we produce the landscape, and how the landscape affects our lives.

    Karen Logan, an environmentalist with years of experience developing and selling her own line of eco-friendly cleaning products, reveals the secret of using simple, ordinary ingredients—like baking soda, vinegar, soap, lemon juice, and salt—to make safe, inexpensive cleaners.For instance, did you know: -Olive oil is not only good as a salad dressing, but also as a furniture polish. -Plain club soda works great as a window cleaner. -You can make your copper-bottomed pots sparkle with just lemon juice and salt. -Ordinary liquid soap and water will clean up those ants marching through your kitchen.

    The area is one of the northern hemisphere's richest unprotected wildlife habitats, the home of Canada's largest grizzly bears as well as the rare all-white spirit or Kermode bear.Ian and Karen McAllister, both environmental campaigners, have spent over ten years exploring, photographing and researching this once-forgotten coast. The book contains over 150 stunning colour photographs, including some of the most extraordinary images of wild bears ever seen in print, lush river valleys where grizzly bears feast on salmon, dramatic Coast Range mountaintops, exotic plants of the ancient rainforest, and some of the most magnificent coastline in Canada. With these photographs, a personable, informative commentary by Ian and Karen and environmental writer Cameron Young, and full-colour maps and drawings, this book is the first to unveil the beauty and magnificence of this unique place.Since 1990, fourteen large rainforest valleys on the mainland coast of British Columbia have been lost to industrial logging. The publication of The Great Bear Rainforest aided Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, Ian and Karen McAllister's Raincoast Preservation Society and other environmental groups successfully lobby BC's provincial government for a moratorium on grizzly-bear hunting and the protection of a large portion of the area as parkland in 2001.

    This book is for everyone who wants to take charge of their life in a positive, efficient and incredibly effective way. One of the exciting aspects of co-creative science is that everyone actively participates in it. This is a science that you must personally apply to your life in order to experience its benefits. And it has extraordinary benefits for your health and for your environment. This is a science that you can use personally and it will make a difference. Co-Creative Science is also a book about nature. What makes this science unique is that it establishes a direct, active and personal partnership between you and nature for working together to successfully address the many problems that pummel our everyday lives. Once you have finished reading this book, you will be convinced that there is an intelligence in nature, that this intelligence can be accessed by anyone who wishes and that together with this intelligence we can forge a partnership that can make real changes.

    Where massive in-migrations and exoduses were taking place, more plants and animals had become endangered. Locations with stable human populations sustained native wildlife more easily over the long term. This revelation prompted Nabhan to spend the next three years studying relationships among cultural diversity, community stability, and conservation of biological diversity in natural habitats. He concentrated on "cultures of habitat, " human communities with long histories of interacting with one particular kind of terrain and its wildlife. Here the author of The Desert Smells Like Rain has combined the eye of an ethnobiologist with chronicles from "the Far Outside, " that realm in which diverse natural habitats and indigenous cultures coexist. The result is a mosaic of essays that celebrates th vital connections between soul and space.

    They are enjoying unprecedented popularity as hikers and vacationers flock to the area to enjoy the magnificent scenery. It has been estimated that most good weekends, even in the winter, attract close to 50,000 visitors. Cameron McNeish, editor of The Great Outdoors magazine, provides an essential reference for readers either planning a trip to the region or wishing to relive the adventures they enjoyed there.

    A book of history, theory and polemic, the authors show how, if we are to survive, economies must become needs-based, environmentally sustainable, co-operative and local. They explain how the current capitalist system is none of these things, is inherently unstable and is dependent on the exploitation of various marginalized groups, particularly women, and of the environment. They call instead for a new politics and economics based on subsistence and present examples of such a perspective in practice.

    A Wilderness Within is the award-winning biography of this writer, teacher, and activist who was a harbinger of the raising of America's ecological consciousness.

    An incredible visual journey, Primates offers an exciting glimpse of gorillas, monkeys, apes, and other primates at home in the jungle. Wolfe traveled around the globe capturing as many species of primates on film as possible, journeying to the remote jungles of Central and South America, Uganda, and Rwanda, and to research centers and wildlife refuges worldwide. The resulting photographs celebrate the exotic beauty of these intelligent and, all too often, endangered species. From the playful antics of adolescents to the tender gestures between mother and child, Primates reveals an animal culture that has been, until now, almost completely inaccessible. Biologist Barbara Sleeper's accompanying text presents fascinating insights drawn from her many years spent observing primates. A marvelous blend of word and image, Primates offers a studied look at these remarkable creatures and their vanishing habitat.

    It relieves glaucoma, epilepsy, migraines, insomnia, asthma, the nausea associated with AIDS and chemotherapy, and a host of other conditions. It was once a staple in every American medicine cabinet, but because hemp is the plant from which marijuana is derived, it has been unavailable to consumers until recently. Now products made from imported hempseed are sold by stores and mail-order companies across the United States to satisfy a growing demand. Hemp for Health reveals the developments that have returned this ancient plant to the forefront of health and nutrition and that have doctors calling for its legalization. The author provides everything from recipes using hempseed, and an analysis of cannabis's therapeutic effect on the nervous system, to current information on bills that are currently moving through several state legislatures to legalize domestic hemp production .

    In the widely acclaimed Another Country: Journeying toward the Cherokee Mountains, Christopher Camuto describes the tragic collision of natural and cultural history embedded in the region. In the spirit of Thoreau’s “Walking,” Camuto explores the Appalachian summit country of the Great Smoky Mountains--the historical home of the Cherokee--searching for access to the nature, history, and spirit of a magnificent, if diminished, landscape.As the author takes the reader through old-growth forests and ancient myths, he tells of the attempted restoration of Canis rufus, the controversial red wolf, to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He details the impact of European occupation, and his meditations on the enduring relevance of Cherokee language, thought, and mythology evoke an appreciation of what were once sacred rivers, forests, and mountains.Through this attempt “to catch glimpses of the Cherokee Mountains beyond the veil of the southern Appalachians,” Camuto forges a new consciousness about the complex, conflicted past hidden there and leaves us with an important, thought-provoking book about a haunting American region.

    In Maine, cold can have so hard a grip that rivers freeze thick and clear, and ice is a crop that families depend upon for their livelihoods. Back in distant days of high-rigged schooners, what could children from two such very different places ever have in common? The deliciously satisfying answer, presented here with cut-paper pictures of a tropical island of always-summer and a New England village of very long winters, is given in the voices of two girls -- linked together by a sailor, a gift for imagining life in faraway places, and a taste for iced chocolate.

    Tom Huggler has devoted this book to the woodcock and to those who await his return to their favorite coverts each autumn.

    What can a Marxist perspective contribute to understanding this disturbing legacy, and mitigating its impact on future generations? Renowned social theorist James O'Connor shows how the policies and imperatives of business and government influence--and are influenced by--environmental and social change. Probing the relationship between economy, nature, and society, O'Connor argues that environmental and social crises pose a growing threat to capitalism itself. These illuminating essays and case studies demonstrate the power of ecological Marxist analysis for understanding our diverse environmental and social history, for grounding economic behavior in the real world, and for formulating and evaluating new political strategies.

    Stimulating and accessible, it has established a reputation as a comprehensive and essential resource.In this new edition, the text, references and illustrations have been thoroughly updated to give today's reader an up-to-the minute overview of the nature, origin and behaviour of glaciers and the geological and geomorphological evidence for their past history on earth.The first part of the book investigates the processes involved in forming glacier ice, the nature of glacier-climate relationships, the mechanisms of glacier flow and the interactions of glaciers with other natural systems such as rivers, lakes and oceans.In the second part, the emphasis moves to landforms and sediment, the interpretation of the earth's glacial legacy and the reconstruction of glacial depositional environments and palaeoglaciology.

    Since the land, the forests, the oceans, and the atmosphere have already been colonized, eroded, and polluted, she argues, Northern capital is now carving out new colonies to exploit for gain: the interior spaces of the bodies of women, plants and animals.

    This collection offers an all-important lesson for the labor movement: that problems of occupational health and safety are not merely technical problems but rather problems relating to workers' lack of control over the organization of capitalist production.

    Societies built on non-renewable resources have a tenuous future. Important social legacies are left from mineral exploitation.GEOLOGISTS: Where is the search for energy and minerals today? How is the world Earth resource base changing? What new roles will alternative energy sources play?ECOLOGISTS: The environmental impact of mineral and energy production now. Effects of alternative energy development on the environment. Population and the environment. Conservation of non-renewable resources - for whom?ECONOMISTS: Huge transfer of the industrial world's money to the Persian Gulf region; its effects on the world banking system, and international balances of payments. How the resource wealth of each nation directs its economy domestically and internationally. Prospects for renewable resources as a basis for a "sustainable economy." "Growth" - for how long?POLICYMAKERS, PLANNERS, FUTURISTS: The Twentieth Century was unique in its exponential use of Earth resources. It cannot be duplicated again against the demands of huge population growth. How long will we have enough to go around? What solutions might exist?POLITICAL SCIENTISTS: International relations and alliances as determined by competition for mineral and energy resources - the Persian Gulf War example.Russia is mineral rich but needs western technology - how this affects its policies. Japan's foreign policy is based on a critical need for raw materials.The economic rise of Southeast Asia and China - their increasing demands for energy and minerals, and probable future impacts.This unique volume provides essential data on energy and mineral resources and population issues including: World petroleum reserves. How long will they last? World trends in the use of two most vital materials: water and soil Current myths and realities about energy and mineral resources Future prospects for balancing resources to population, lifestyles, livingstandards, and the environment Conflicts over resources The realistic possibilities for alternative energy sources to replace oil Minerals and health Minerals and war ... and economic warfare World trade and strategic minerals A comprehensive bibliography for each chapter adds further reading suggestions for all topics. Quotes from GeoDestinies "The question of conserving mineral and energy resources ... is one whichcannot easily be answered. We conserve these resources for whom? And for howlong?" Chapter 23"NO other material has so profoundly and universally changed the worldin soshort a time as has oil." Chapter 12"At present, we are living on a great mineral resource inheritance. We mustbegin to live on current income ..." Chapter 22"... a major and increasing cause of human migration is the exhaustion ofnatural resources." Chapter 2"Water, for which there is no substitute, may be the ultimate limitingfactor in the growth of world population." Chapter 15"The great hope is that alternative energy sources will be found togradually fill the void left by diminishing oil supplies." Chapter 12"It takes a one-ton lead-acid battery to give an electric car the same energy as a gallon of gasoline." Chapter 14"Using corn to produce ethanol as a fuel makes no economic, energyefficiency, environmental, nor ethical sense." Chapter 14"... worldwide, land degradation is proceeding much above the rate ofsoilreplacement." Chapter 17"... most of the world's oil will have been consumed in a period of lessthan one lifetime ..." Chapter 12

    Its southern reaches are home to nomadic herders, but most of the region is the exclusive domain of a unique community of spectacular and rare mammals - such as wild yak and Tibetan antelope - most of which have seldom been seen, much less studied. For years, world-renowned wildlife biologist George Schaller longed to explore the Chang Tang, but Tibet's doors were closed. Finally, in 1988, Schaller became the first Westerner permitted to enter this uninhabited region. He sought to answer many basic questions about these unstudied animals. Largely as a result of the work of Schaller and his local colleagues, the Chinese government has set aside more than 125,000 square miles of this high-altitude terrain as a reserve - the second largest in the world. Profusely illustrated with Schaller's haunting photographs, Tibet's Hidden Wilderness is a unique record of one of the earth's most remote and least-known regions. It introduces us to the Chang Tang's majestic landscape, extraordinary wildlife, and traditional nomadic society and concludes with a hopeful plan that would allow the people and animals there to continue to live in harmony.

    It is one of the first books to acknowledge the importance of postmodern feminist arguments against ecofeminism whilst persuasively preseenting a strong new case for econolocal feminism. Chris J.Cuomo first traces the emergence of ecofeminism from the ecological and feminist movements before clearly discussing the weaknesses of some ecofeminist positions. Exploring the dualisms of nature/culture and masculing/feminine that are the bulwark of many contemporary ecofeminist positions and questioning traditional traditional feminist analyses of gender and caring, Feminism and Ecological Communities asks whether women are essentially closer to nature than men and how we ought to link the oppression of women, people of colour, and other subjugated groups to the degradation of nature. Chris J.Cuomo addresses these key issues by drawing on recent work in feminist ethics as well as teh work of diverse figures such as Aristotle, John Dewey, Donna Haraway adn Maria Lugones. A fascinating feature of the book is the use of the metaphor of the cyborg to highlight the fluidity of the nature/culture distinction and how this can enrich econfeminist ethics and politics. An outstanding new argument for an ecological feminism that links both theory and practice, Feminism and Ecological Communities bravely redraws the ecofeminist map. It will be essential reading for all those interested in gender studies, environmental studies and philosophy.

    Crumley watches, year in and year out, as a pair of mute swans struggle, against the odds, to raise their young on a wild patch of loch. But the pen starts to lose her eggs to predators and the cob begins to disappear for longer and longer periods. One day a third swan, younger and stronger than the first pen, appears at the other end of the loch.This beautiful record, on fine paper, is Crumley's homage to these noble creatures, but it is also an elegy, a love song to one swan whose silent tragedy he watched from one season to the next.

    Danny shares his hard-won skills and years of experience in a step-by-step guide that makes changing the world a little bit easier. In Generation React he teaches you how to start your own activist group, reenergize an existing, activist group, brainstorm creative fund-raising techniques, win media exposure, reform school policy, launch boycotts, make legislators listen, organize a protest, tap the wealth of free information on the Internet and much more!

    Selections take readers through the year, month by month, drawing them into a world they often miss amid the swirl of daily life. After reading this book, readers will see the world anew, whether on trips to the countryside or in daily travels across town.

    Only now is the full impact of their use coming to light. Responsible for genital abnormalities and cancers across a wide range of species, these hormone-disrupting chemicals pose a threat to our very survival.

    Some pages had corner folded back. Shipped by Amazon directly to you. FREE TRACKING + Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.00. This book will be professionally packed and immediately shipped by Amazon!

    This new book provides an overview of TNCs in the global economy and of their impacts on the global environment. It gives a general introduction to greenwashing and Provides profiles of the environmental claims of 20 global corporations involved in the chemical, energy, logging, and fishing industries. TNCs profiled in this book include DuPont, Royal Dutch/Shell, Mitsubishi, Ciba, Asea Brown Boveri, Westinghouse, Norsk Hydro, and Solvay. Drawing on a wealth of sources, and with numerous illustrations, this book contrasts corporate greenwashing with the many damaging effects of TNCs' actual behavior, and shows how TNCs remain the primary creators and peddlers of dirty, unsustainable technologies. Additionally, to help citizens move from recognizing to challenging greenwashing and the harm caused by corporate activities, the book offers guidelines and principles which citizens and communities everywhere can use to hold TNCs accountable and to regain control of their lives and environment.

    Special foldout pages provide eye-catching art and readable text that repeats as each day of creation progresses. Children ages three and up will enjoy looking for different animals in the detailed illustrations and borders on each page. Written in the style of the classic rhyme “The House That Jack Built,” "The World That God Made" will fascinate children as they learn the magnificent story of creation. (Ages 3 to 8)