Best of
Environment

2014

The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food


Dan Barber - 2014
    Instead, Barber proposes Americans should move to the 'third plate,' a cuisine rooted in seasonal productivity, natural livestock rhythms, whole-grains, and small portions of free-range meat.

Untamed: The Wildest Woman in America and the Fight for Cumberland Island


Will Harlan - 2014
    She eats road kill, wrestles alligators, rides horses bareback, and lives in a ramshackle cabin that she built herself in an island wilderness. She’s had three husbands and many lovers, one of whom she shot and killed in self-defense. A combination of Henry David Thoreau and Jane Goodall, Carol is a self-taught scientist who has become a tireless defender of sea turtles on Cumberland Island, a national park off the coast of Georgia.Cumberland is the country's largest and most biologically diverse barrier island—over forty square miles of pristine wilderness celebrated for its windswept dunes and feral horses. Steel magnate Thomas Carnegie owned much of Cumberland, and his widow Lucy made it a Gilded Age playground. But in recent years, Carnegie heirs and the National Park Service have clashed with Carol over the island’s future. What happens when a dirt-poor naturalist with only a high-school diploma tries to stop one of the wealthiest families in America? Untamed is the story of an American original standing her ground and fighting for what she believes in, no matter the cost.

Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon


Paul Rosolie - 2014
    In January 2006, when he was just a restless eighteen-year-old hungry for adventure, Paul Rosolie embarked on a journey to the west Amazon that would transform his life.Venturing alone into some of the most inaccessible reaches of the jungle, he encountered giant snakes, floating forests, isolated tribes untouched by outsiders, prowling jaguars, orphaned baby anteaters, poachers in the black market trade in endangered species, and much more. Yet today, the primordial forests of the Madre de Dios are in danger from developers, oil giants, and gold miners eager to exploit its natural resources.In Mother of God, this explorer and conservationist relives his amazing odyssey exploring the heart of this wildest place on earth. When he began delving deeper in his search for the secret Eden, spending extended periods in isolated solitude, he found things he never imagined could exist. "Alone and miniscule against a titanic landscape I have seen the depths of the Amazon, the guts of the jungle where no men go, Rosolie writes. "But as the legendary explorer Percy Fawcett warned, 'the few remaining unknown places of the world exact a price for their secrets.'"Illustrated with 16 pages of color photos.

A Buzz in the Meadow: The Natural History of a French Farm


Dave Goulson - 2014
    Brilliantly reviewed, it was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for the best nonfiction book of the year, and debuted the already renowned conservationist's ability to charm and educate, and tell an absorbing story. In A Buzz in the Meadow, Goulson returns to tell the tale of how he bought a derelict farm in the heart of rural France. Over the course of a decade, on thirty-three acres of meadow, he created a place for his beloved bumblebees to thrive. But other creatures live there too, myriad insects of every kind, many of which Goulson had studied before in his career as a biologist. You'll learn how a deathwatch beetle finds its mate, why butterflies have spots on their wings, and see how a real scientist actually conducts his experiments. But this book is also a wake-up call, urging us to cherish and protect life in all its forms. Goulson has that rare ability to persuade you to go out into your garden or local park and observe the natural world. The undiscovered glory that is life in all its forms is there to be discovered. And if we learn to value what we have, perhaps we will find a way to keep it.

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate


Naomi Klein - 2014
    It's not about carbon—it's about capitalism. The good news is that we can seize this crisis to transform our failed economic system and build something radically better. In her most provocative book yet, Naomi Klein, author of the global bestsellers Shock Doctrine and No Logo, exposes the myths that are clouding climate debate. You have been told the market will save us, when in fact the addiction to profit and growth is digging us in deeper every day. You have been told it's impossible to get off fossil fuels when in fact we know exactly how to do it—it just requires breaking every rule in the 'free-market' playbook. You have also been told that humanity is too greedy and selfish to rise to this challenge. In fact, all around the world, the fight back is already succeeding in ways both surprising and inspiring. It's about changing the world, before the world changes so drastically that no one is safe. Either we leap—or we sink. This Changes Everything is a book that will redefine our era.

Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change


George Marshall - 2014
    What is the psychological mechanism that allows us to know something is true but act as if it is not? George Marshall’s search for the answers brings him face to face with Nobel Prize–winning psychologists and Texas Tea Party activists; the world’s leading climate scientists and those who denounce them; liberal environmentalists and conservative evangelicals. What he discovers is that our values, assumptions, and prejudices can take on lives of their own, gaining authority as they are shared, dividing people in their wake.With engaging stories and drawing on years of his own research, Marshall argues that the answers do not lie in the things that make us different, but rather in what we share: how our human brains are wired—our evolutionary origins, our perceptions of threats, our cognitive blind spots, our love of storytelling, our fear of death, and our deepest instincts to defend our family and tribe. Once we understand what excites, threatens, and motivates us, we can rethink climate change, for it is not an impossible problem. Rather, we can halt it if we make it our common purpose and common ground. In the end, Don’t Even Think About It is both about climate change and about the qualities that make us human and how we can deal with the greatest challenge we have ever faced.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History


Elizabeth Kolbert - 2014
    Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us. In prose that is at once frank, entertaining, and deeply informed, The New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before. Interweaving research in half a dozen disciplines, descriptions of the fascinating species that have already been lost, and the history of extinction as a concept, Kolbert provides a moving and comprehensive account of the disappearances occurring before our very eyes. She shows that the sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy, compelling us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human.

Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat


Philip Lymbery - 2014
    We no longer know for certain what is entering the food chain and what we are eating – as the UK horsemeat scandal demonstrated. We are reaching a tipping point as the farming revolution threatens our countryside, health and the quality of our food wherever we live in the world.* Our health is under threat: half of all antibiotics used worldwide (rising to 80 per cent in US) are routinely given to industrially farmed animals, contributing to the emergence of deadly antibiotic-resistant superbugs* Wildlife is being systematically destroyed: bees are now trucked across the States (and even airfreighted from Australia) to pollinate the fruit trees in the vast orchards of California, where a chemical assault has decimated the wild insect population* Cereals that could feed billions of people are being given to animals: soya and grain that could nourish the world's poorest, are now grown increasingly as animal fodderFarmageddon is a fascinating and terrifying investigative journey behind the closed doors of a runaway industry across the world – from the UK, Europe and the USA, to China, Argentina, Peru and Mexico. It is both a wake-up call to change our current food production and eating practices and an attempt to find a way to a better farming future.

The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet


Kristin Ohlson - 2014
    That carbon is now floating in the atmosphere, and even if we stopped using fossil fuels today, it would continue warming the planet. In The Soil Will Save Us, journalist and bestselling author Kristin Ohlson makes an elegantly argued, passionate case for "our great green hope"—a way in which we can not only heal the land but also turn atmospheric carbon into beneficial soil carbon—and potentially reverse global warming.As the granddaughter of farmers and the daughter of avid gardeners, Ohlson has long had an appreciation for the soil. A chance conversation with a local chef led her to the crossroads of science, farming, food, and environmentalism and the discovery of the only significant way to remove carbon dioxide from the air—an ecological approach that tends not only to plants and animals but also to the vast population of underground microorganisms that fix carbon in the soil. Ohlson introduces the visionaries—scientists, farmers, ranchers, and landscapers—who are figuring out in the lab and on the ground how to build healthy soil, which solves myriad problems: drought, erosion, air and water pollution, and food quality, as well as climate change. Her discoveries and vivid storytelling will revolutionize the way we think about our food, our landscapes, our plants, and our relationship to Earth.

A Window on Eternity: A Biologist's Walk Through Gorongosa National Park


Edward O. Wilson - 2014
    Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique was nearly destroyed in a brutal civil war, then was reborn and is now evolving back to its original state. Edward O. Wilson’s personal, luminous description of the wonders of Gorongosa is beautifully complemented by Piotr Naskrecki’s extraordinary photographs of the park’s exquisite natural beauty. A bonus DVD of Academy Award–winning director Jessica Yu’s documentary, The Guide, is also included with the book.Wilson takes readers to the summit of Mount Gorongosa, sacred to the local people and the park’s vital watershed. From the forests of the mountain he brings us to the deep gorges on the edge of the Rift Valley, previously unexplored by biologists, to search for new species and assess their ancient origins. He describes amazing animal encounters from huge colonies of agricultural termites to spe­cialized raider ants that feed on them to giant spi­ders, a battle between an eagle and a black mamba, “conversations” with traumatized elephants that survived the slaughter of the park’s large animals, and more. He pleads for Gorongosa—and other wild places—to be allowed to exist and evolve in its time­less way uninterrupted into the future.As he examines the near destruction and rebirth of Gorongosa, Wilson analyzes the balance of nature, which, he observes, teeters on a razor’s edge. Loss of even a single species can have serious ramifications throughout an ecosystem, and yet we are carelessly destroying complex biodiverse ecosystems with unknown consequences. The wildlands in which these ecosystems flourish gave birth to humanity, and it is this natural world, still evolving, that may outlast us and become our leg­acy, our window on eternity.

Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction


Thom van Dooren - 2014
    Unlike other meditations on the subject, Flight Ways incorporates the particularities of real animals and their worlds, drawing philosophers, natural scientists, and general readers into the experience of living among and losing biodiversity.Each chapter of Flight Ways focuses on a different species or group of birds: North Pacific albatrosses, Indian vultures, an endangered colony of penguins in Australia, Hawaiian crows, and the iconic whooping cranes of North America. Written in eloquent and moving prose, the book takes stock of what is lost when a life form disappears from the world--the wide-ranging ramifications that ripple out to implicate a number of human and more-than-human others. Van Dooren intimately explores what life is like for those who must live on the edge of extinction, balanced between life and oblivion, taking care of their young and grieving their dead. He bolsters his studies with real-life accounts from scientists and local communities at the forefront of these developments. No longer abstract entities with Latin names, these species become fully realized characters enmeshed in complex and precarious ways of life, sparking our sense of curiosity, concern, and accountability toward others in a rapidly changing world.

Secrets of the Oak Woodlands: Plants and Animals Among California's Oaks


Kate Marianchild - 2014
    Yet, while common, oak woodlands are anything but ordinary. In a book rich in illustration and suffused with wonder, author Kate Marianchild combines extensive research and years of personal experience to explore some of the marvelous plants and animals that the oak woodlands nurture. Acorn woodpeckers unite in marriages of up to ten mates and raise their young cooperatively. Ground squirrels roll in rattlesnake skins to hide their scent from hungry snakes. Manzanita's rust-colored, paper-thin bark peels away in time for the summer solstice, exposing sinuous contours that are cool to the touch even on the hottest day. Conveying up-to-the-minute scientific findings with a storyteller's skill, Marianchild introduces us to a host of remarkable creatures in a world close by, a world that rustles, hums, and sings with the sounds of wild things.

The Killing of Wolf Number Ten: The True Story


Thomas McNamee - 2014
    A manhunt. The triumph of justice and of the wolf.The greatest event in Yellowstone history. Greater Yellowstone was the last great truly intact ecosystem in the temperate zones of the earth—until, in the 1920s, U.S. government agents exterminated its top predator, the gray wolf. With traps and rifles, even torching pups in their dens, the killing campaign was entirely successful. The howl of the “evil” wolf was heard no more. The “good” animals—elk, deer, bison—proliferated, until they too had to be “managed.” Two decades later, recognizing that ecosystems lacking their keystone predators tend to unravel, the visionary naturalist Aldo Leopold called for the return of the wolf to Yellowstone. It would take another fifty years for his vision to come true. In the early 1990s, as the movement for Yellowstone wolf restoration gained momentum, rage against it grew apace. When at last, in February 1995, fifteen wolves were trapped in Alberta and brought to acclimation pens in Yellowstone, even then legal and political challenges continued. There was also a lot of talk in the bars about “shoot, shovel, and shut up.” While the wolves’ enemies worked to return them to Canada, the biologists in charge of the project feared that the wolves might well return on their own. Once they were released, two packs remained in the national park, but one bore only one pup and the other none. The other, comprising Wolves Nine and Ten and Nine’s yearling daughter, disappeared. They were in fact heading home. As they emerged from protected federal land, an unemployed ne’er-do-well from Red Lodge, Montana, trained a high-powered rifle on Wolf Number Ten and shot him through the chest. Number Nine dug a den next to the body of her mate, and gave birth to eight pups. The story of their rescue and the manhunt for the killer is the heart of The Killing of Wolf Number Ten. + Read this book, and if you are ever fortunate enough to hear the howling of Yellowstone wolves, you will always think of Wolves Nine and Ten. If you ever see a Yellowstone wolf, chance are it will be carrying their DNA. The restoration of the wolf to Yellowstone is now recognized as one of conservation’s greatest achievements, and Wolves Nine and Ten will always be known as its emblematic heroes.

Where Song Began: Australia's Birds and How They Changed the World


Tim Low - 2014
    Compared with birds elsewhere, ours are more likely to be intelligent, aggressive and loud, to live in complex societies, and are long-lived. They're also ecologically more powerful, exerting more influences on forests than other birds.But unlike the mammals, the birds did not keep to Australia; they spread around the globe. Australia provided the world with its songbirds and parrots, the most intelligent of all bird groups. It was thought in Darwin's time that species generated in the Southern Hemisphere could not succeed in the Northern, an idea that was proven wrong in respect of birds in the 1980s but not properly accepted by the world's scientists until 2004 – because, says Tim Low, most ornithologists live in the Northern Hemisphere. As a result, few Australians are aware of the ramifications, something which prompted the writing of this book.Tim Low has a rare gift for illuminating complex ideas in highly readable prose, and making of the whole a dynamic story. Here he brilliantly explains how our birds came to be so extraordinary, including the large role played by the foods they consume (birds, too, are what they eat), and by our climate, soil, fire, and Australia's legacy as a part of Gondwana. The story of its birds, it turns out, is inseparable from the story of Australia itself, and one that continues to unfold, so much having changed in the last decade about what we know of our ancient past. Where Song Began also shines a light on New Guinea as a biological region of Australia, as much a part of the continent as Tasmania. This is a work that goes far beyond the birds themselves to explore the relationships between Australia's birds and its people, and the ways in which scientific prejudice have hindered our understanding.

Catori's Worlds


Murielle Cyr - 2014
    Her ability to see things nobody else does makes her an oddball at school. She accidently boards the wrong bus to school one morning and is transported to a strange parallel world. There’s no way back for her; the bus she boarded doesn't do return trips and she has to figure out her own way back. She discovers that the evil forces over-running this parallel world are tracking her down and have no intention of letting her go home alive. Trusting strangers doesn't come easy to her, but her only hope of escaping her hunters is to follow Miren, a girl she encounters in the public restrooms. They manage to reach a secluded wood where Catori meets up with Otsoa, the only boy who has ever made her feel like she was worthy of love. She must fight another intense battle – she must choose between her loyalty to her friend Miren and her infatuation for Otsoa, the handsome, would-be rock star. The evil forces have zeroed in on them and Catori must fight for her life. What chance does a lone fifteen-year-old girl have to confront those powerful forces? Does she bow to their evil scheme of taking over planet Earth or does she fight them to her last breath?

American Catch: The Fight for Our Local Seafood


Paul Greenberg - 2014
    In 2005, the United States imported five billion pounds of seafood, nearly double what we imported twenty years earlier. Bizarrely, during that same period, our seafood exports quadrupled. American Catch examines New York oysters, Gulf shrimp, and Alaskan salmon to reveal how it came to be that 91 percent of the seafood Americans eat is foreign. In the 1920s, the average New Yorker ate six hundred local oysters a year. Today, the only edible oysters lie outside city limits. Following the trail of environmental desecration, Greenberg comes to view the New York City oyster as a reminder of what is lost when local waters are not valued as a food source. Farther south, a different catastrophe threatens another seafood-rich environment. When Greenberg visits the Gulf of Mexico, he arrives expecting to learn of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill’s lingering effects on shrimpers, but instead finds that the more immediate threat to business comes from overseas. Asian-farmed shrimp—cheap, abundant, and a perfect vehicle for the frying and sauces Americans love—have flooded the American market. Finally, Greenberg visits Bristol Bay, Alaska, home to the biggest wild sockeye salmon run left in the world. A pristine, productive fishery, Bristol Bay is now at great risk: The proposed Pebble Mine project could under¬mine the very spawning grounds that make this great run possible. In his search to discover why this pre¬cious renewable resource isn’t better protected, Green¬berg encounters a shocking truth: the great majority of Alaskan salmon is sent out of the country, much of it to Asia. Sockeye salmon is one of the most nutritionally dense animal proteins on the planet, yet Americans are shipping it abroad. Despite the challenges, hope abounds. In New York, Greenberg connects an oyster restoration project with a vision for how the bivalves might save the city from rising tides. In the Gulf, shrimpers band together to offer local catch direct to consumers. And in Bristol Bay, fishermen, environmentalists, and local Alaskans gather to roadblock Pebble Mine. With American Catch, Paul Greenberg proposes a way to break the current destructive patterns of consumption and return American catch back to American eaters. The Washington Post: "Americans need to eat more American seafood. It’s a point [Greenberg] makes compellingly clear in his new book, American Catch: The Fight for our Local Seafood...Greenberg had at least one convert: me.” Jane Brody, New York Times “Excellent.” The Los Angeles Times “If this makes it sound like American Catch is another of those dry, haranguing issue-driven books that you read mostly out of obligation, you needn’t worry. While Greenberg has a firm grasp of the facts, he also has a storyteller’s knack for framing them in an entertaining way.” The Guardian (UK) “A wonderful new book” Tom Colicchio: "This is on the top of my summer reading list. A Fast Food Nation for fish.”

John Muir and the Ice That Started a Fire: How a Visionary and the Glaciers of Alaska Changed America


Kim Heacox - 2014
    Muir went from impassioned author to leading activist. He would popularize glaciers unlike anybody else, and be to glaciers what Jacques Cousteau would be to the oceans and Carl Sagan to the starsThe book also offers an environmental caveat on global climate change and the glaciers' retreat alongside a beacon of hope: Muir shows us how one person changed America, helped it embrace its wilderness, and in turn, gave us a better world.In 2005, Californians had to choose a design for its commemorative quarter. Hundreds of submissions – the iconic Hollywood sign above Hollywood Hills, the 1849 Gold Rush, the Golden Gate Bridge, etc. – fell away until one remained: an image of John Muir.  2014 will mark the 100th anniversary of Muir’s death. Muir’s legacy is that he reordered our priorities and contributed to a new scientific revolution that was picked up a generation later by Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, and is championed today by influential writers like E.O. Wilson and Jared Diamond.Heacox takes us into how Muir changed our world, advanced the science of glaciology and popularized geology. How he got people out there. How he gave America a new vision of Alaska, and of itself.

Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian Timber Mafia


Lukas Straumann - 2014
    Historian and campaigner Lukas Straumann goes in search not only of the lost forests and the people who used to call them home, but also the network of criminals who have earned billions through illegal timber sales and corruption. Straumann singles out Abdul Taib Mahmud, current governor of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, as the kingpin of this Asian timber mafia. Taib's family – with the complicity of global financial institutions – have profited to the tune of 15 billion US dollars. Money Logging is a story of a people who have lost their ancient paradise to a wasteland of oil palm plantations, pollution, and corruption – and how they hope to take it back. Translated from German.“In thrilling chapters historian Lukas Straumann gives the portrait of a clan of kleptocrats, who, through the granting of timber concessions and export licenses, have managed to become billionaires.“ – Neue Zürcher Zeitung“One of the most comprehensive and brutally honest investigations into the intrigues of the Malaysian and international timber Mafia.“ – Süddeutsche Zeitung“A unique way of life in the rainforests has been destroyed in a single generation. Read this book and weep. But then get angry.“ – Wade Davis

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels


Alex Epstein - 2014
    But Alex Epstein shows that if we look at the big picture, the much-hated fossil fuel industry is dramatically improving our planet by making it a far safer and richer place. The key difference between a healthy and unhealthy environment, Epstein argues, is development—the transformation of nature to meet human needs. And the energy required for development is overwhelmingly made possible by the fossil fuel industry, the only way to produce cheap, plentiful, reliable energy on a global scale. While acknowledging the challenges of fossil fuels (and every form of energy), Epstein argues that the overall benefits, including the largely ignored environmental benefits, are incomparably greater.

The Lonely Tiger


Hugh Allen - 2014
    But even as his crops flourished, they suffered the attentions of the hungry denizens of the surrounding forest. Allen was thus compelled to take up arms to defend his crops and, occasionally, the villagers of Mandikhera.The Lonely Tiger recounts Allen’s encounters with animals of all kinds: snappish tigers in heat; a wounded, angry leopard; a surly, murderous boar; chattering, helpful monkeys; an enraged she-bear protecting her cubs; and a melancholy tiger that has lost his family to poachers. Hugh Allen narrates his adventures in spare, taut and thrilling prose which brings the jungle—and the hunt—to pulsating life. And while The Lonely Tiger is one of the best shikar books to have been ever written, it is also one of the earliest appeals to conserve India’s rapidly vanishing wildlife. Appearing in print after a hiatus of more than half a century, The Lonely Tiger is a must read.

Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love


Elizabeth A. Johnson - 2014
    Focused on the human dilemma of sin and redemptive grace, theology has considered the doctrine of creation to be mainly an overture to the main drama of human being`s relationship to God. What value does the natural world have within the framework of religious belief? The crisis of biodiversity in our day, when species are going extinct at more than 1,000 times the natural rate, renders this question acutely important.Standard perspectives need to be realigned; theology needs to look out of the window, so to speak as well as in the mirror. Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love leads to the conclusion that love of the natural world is an intrinsic element of faith in God and that far from being an add-on, ecological care is at the centre of moral life.

An Ocean Garden: The Secret Life of Seaweed


Josie Iselin - 2014
    Produced on a flatbed scanner, Iselin’s vibrant portraits of ocean flora reveal the exquisite color and extraordinary forms of more than 200 specimens gathered from tidal pools along the California and Maine coasts. Her engaging text, which accompanies the images, blends personal observation and philosophical musings with scientific fact. Like her previous books, An Ocean Garden: The Secret Life of Seaweed is a poetic and compelling tribute to the natural world and the wonder it evokes.

Blue Hope: Exploring and Caring for Earth's Magnificent Ocean


Sylvia A. Earle - 2014
    Earle, international advocate for the ocean, set out on a new mission: "To create a campaign to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, Hope Spots large enough to save and restore the ocean - the blue heart of the planet." This lavishly illustrated volume describes the renowned oceanographer's wish-in-progress, the development of a massive effort called Mission blue to take care of our living ocean. Blue Hope captures the author's compelling story, intertwined with the beauty of the ocean, the splendor of its wildlife, the issues it faces, and the resilience of its resources.

A New World: Untold Stories


John O'Brien - 2014
    Then night fell and the world ended. For many, it was a long, slow, lingering death. For others, it came quickly, full of terror and agony. Few survived. The ones that did watched the setting sun with a rising panic. Out of the ashes of humankind’s demise rose the night runners. They were death loping down darkened streets, their shrieks echoing off empty buildings. Untold Stories is a series of short stories depicting the experiences of some who faced the fall of civilization as we know it. A scream in the night… And terror poured forth…

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors


Carolyn Finney - 2014
    Bridging the fields of environmental history, cultural studies, critical race studies, and geography, Finney argues that the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, and racial violence have shaped cultural understandings of the great outdoors and determined who should and can have access to natural spaces. Drawing on a variety of sources from film, literature, and popular culture, and analyzing different historical moments, including the establishment of the Wilderness Act in 1964 and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Finney reveals the perceived and real ways in which nature and the environment are racialized in America. Looking toward the future, she also highlights the work of African Americans who are opening doors to greater participation in environmental and conservation concerns.

Galápagos George


Jean Craighead George - 2014
    His story gives us a glimpse of the amazing creatures inhabiting the ever-fascinating Galapagos Islands.Renowned naturalist and bestselling author of the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves and the critically acclaimed Everglades Jean Craighead George once again introduces children to the wonders of the natural world, in this incredible evolution story set in the Galapagos Islands.

Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation: How Silicon Valley Will Make Oil, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Coal, Electric Utilities and Conventional Cars Obsolete by 2030


Tony Seba - 2014
    Maybe before. Exponentially improving technologies such as solar, electric vehicles, and autonomous (self-driving) cars will disrupt and sweep away the energy and transportation industries as we know it. The same Silicon Valley ecosystem that created bit-based technologies that have disrupted atom-based industries is now creating bit- and electron-based technologies that will disrupt atom-based energy industries. Clean Disruption projections (based on technology cost curves, business model innovation as well as product innovation) show that by 2030: - All new energy will be provided by solar or wind. - All new mass-market vehicles will be electric. - All of these vehicles will be autonomous (self-driving) or semi-autonomous. - The new car market will shrink by 80%. - Even assuming that EVs don't kill the gasoline car by 2030, the self-driving car will shrink the new car market by 80%. - Gasoline will be obsolete. Nuclear is already obsolete. - Up to 80% of highways will be redundant. - Up to 80% of parking spaces will be redundant. - The concept of individual car ownership will be obsolete. - The Car Insurance industry will be disrupted. The Stone Age did not end because we ran out of rocks. It ended because a disruptive technology ushered in the Bronze Age. The era of centralized, command-and-control, extraction-resource-based energy sources (oil, gas, coal and nuclear) will not end because we run out of petroleum, natural gas, coal, or uranium. It will end because these energy sources, the business models they employ, and the products that sustain them will be disrupted by superior technologies, product architectures, and business models. This is a technology-based disruption reminiscent of how the cell phone, Internet, and personal computer swept away industries such as landline telephony, publishing, and mainframe computers. Just like those technology disruptions flipped the architecture of information and brought abundant, cheap and participatory information, the clean disruption will flip the architecture of energy and bring abundant, cheap and participatory energy. Just like those previous technology disruptions, the clean disruption is inevitable and it will be swift.

Big World, Small Planet: Abundance within Planetary Boundaries


Johan Rockström - 2014
    Friedman, New York Times Big World, Small Planet probes the urgent predicament of our times: how is it possible to create a positive future for both humanity and Earth? We have entered the Anthropocene—the era of massive human impacts on the planet—and the actions of over seven billion residents threaten to destabilize Earth’s natural systems, with cascading consequences for human societies. In this extraordinary book, the authors combine the latest science with compelling storytelling and amazing photography to create a new narrative for humanity’s future. Johan Rockström and Mattias Klum reject the notion that economic growth and human prosperity can only be achieved at the expense of the environment. They contend that we have unprecedented opportunities to navigate a “good Anthropocene.” By embracing a deep mind-shift, humanity can reconnect to Earth, discover universal values, and take on the essential role of planetary steward. With eloquence and profound optimism, Rockström and Klum envision a future of abundance within planetary boundaries—a revolutionary future that is at once necessary, possible, and sustainable for coming generations.

Trees and Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest


Mark Turner - 2014
    It features introductory chapters on the native landscape and plant entries that detail the family, scientific and common name, flowering seasons, and size. This must-have guide is for hikers, nature lovers, plant geeks, and anyone who wants to know more about the many plants of the Pacific Northwest.Includes photographs and descriptions of 568 species of woody plantsCovers Oregon, Washington, northern California, and British ColumbiaIntroductory chapters discuss the ecoregions, habitats, and microhabitats of the Pacific NorthwestUser-friendly organization by leaf type

Superstorm: Nine Days Inside Hurricane Sandy


Kathryn Miles - 2014
    Everything had been consumed by cloud. The storm’s immensity caught the attention of scientists on the International Space Station. Even from there, it seemed almost limitless: 1.8 million square feet of tightly coiled bands so huge they filled the windows of the Station. It was the largest storm anyone had ever seen.Initially a tropical storm, Sandy had grown into a hybrid monster. It charged across open ocean, picking up strength with every step, baffling meteorologists and scientists, officials and emergency managers, even the traditional maritime wisdom of sailors and seamen: What exactly was this thing? By the time anyone decided, it was too late.And then the storm made landfall.Sandy was not just enormous, it was also unprecedented. As a result, the entire nation was left flat-footed. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration couldn’t issue reliable warnings; the Coast Guard didn’t know what to do. In Superstorm, journalist Kathryn Miles takes readers inside the maelstrom, detailing the stories of dedicated professionals at the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service. The characters include a forecaster who risked his job to sound the alarm in New Jersey, the crew of the ill-fated tall ship Bounty, Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Christie, and countless coastal residents whose homes—and lives—were torn apart and then left to wonder . . . When is the next superstorm coming?

Plant a Pocket of Prairie


Phyllis Root - 2014
    Now, in Plant a Pocket of Prairie, Root and Bowen take young readers on a trip to another of Minnesota’s important ecosystems: the prairie.Once covering almost 40 percent of the United States, native prairie is today one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. Plant a Pocket of Prairie teaches children how changes in one part of the system affect every other part: when prairie plants are destroyed, the animals who eat those plants and live on or around them are harmed as well. Root shows what happens when we work to restore the prairies, encouraging readers to “plant a pocket of prairie” in their own backyards.By growing native prairie plants, children can help re-create food and habitat for the many birds, butterflies, and other animals that depend on them. “Plant cup plants,” Root suggests. “A thirsty chickadee might come to drink from a tiny leaf pool. Plant goldenrod. A Great Plains toad might flick its tongue at goldenrod soldier beetles.” An easy explanation of the history of the prairie, its endangered status, and how to go about growing prairie plants follows, as well as brief descriptions of all the plants and animals mentioned in the story.With Betsy Bowen’s beautiful, airy illustrations capturing the feel of an open prairie and all its inhabitants, readers of all ages will be inspired to start planting seeds and watching for the many fascinating animals their plants attract. What a marvelous transformation could take place if we all planted a pocket of prairie!

The Soda Bottle School: A True Story of Recycling, Teamwork, and One Crazy Idea


Laura Kutner - 2014
    The villagers had tried expanding the school, but the money ran out before the project was finished. No money meant no wall materials, and that meant no more room for the students. Until one boy got a wonderful, crazy idea: Why not use soda bottles, which were scattered all around, to form the cores of the walls? Sometimes thinking outside the box, or inside the bottle, leads to the perfect solution.

Real Gardens Grow Natives: Design, Plant & Enjoy a Healthy Northwest Garden


Eileen M. Stark - 2014
    Aimed at beginning and veteran gardeners alike, Real Gardens Grow Natives is a stunningly photographed guide that helps readers plan, implement, and sustain a retreat at home that reflects the natural world. Gardening with native plants that naturally belong and thrive in the Pacific Northwest’s climate and soil not only nurtures biodiversity, but provides a quintessential Northwest character and beauty to yard and neighborhood! For gardeners and conservationists who lack the time to read through lengthy design books and plant lists or can’t afford a landscape designer, Real Gardens Grow Natives is accessible yet comprehensive and provides the inspiration and clear instruction needed to create and sustain beautiful, functional, and undemanding gardens. With expert knowledge from professional landscape designer Eileen M. Stark, Real Gardens Grow Natives includes: * Detailed profiles of 100 select native plants for the Pacific Northwest west of the Cascades, plus related species, helping make plant choice and placement. * Straightfoward methods to enhance or restore habitat and increase biodiversity * Landscape design guidance for various-sized yards, including sample plans * Ways to integrate natives, edibles, and nonnative ornamentals within your garden * Specific planting procedures and secrets to healthy soil * Techniques for propagating your own native plants * Advice for easy, maintenance using organic methods

Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made


Gaia Vince - 2014
    But all too often the full picture of change is obstructed by dense data sets and particular catastrophes. Struggling with this obscurity in her role as an editor at Nature, Gaia Vince decided to travel the world and see for herself what life is really like for people on the frontline of this new reality. What she found was a number people doing the most extraordinary things.During her journey she finds a man who is making artificial glaciers in Nepal along with an individual who is painting mountains white to attract snowfall; take the electrified reefs of the Maldives; or the man who's making islands out of rubbish in the Caribbean. These are ordinary people who are solving severe crises in crazy, ingenious, effective ways. While Vince does not mince words regarding the challenging position our species is in, these wonderful stories, combined with the new science that underpins Gaia's expertise and research, make for a persuasive, illuminating — and strangely hopeful — read on what the Anthropocene means for our future.

Rivertime


Trace Balla - 2014
    Along the way Clancy learns about different species of birds and is surprised to learn how much he enjoys slowing down in this life-changing and learning experience. Illustrated in the style of a graphic novel, this tender and sweetly drawn tale about a boy and his uncle's canoe trip is sure to inspire a love of nature and the environment in young children.

Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry


Andrew Nikiforuk - 2014
    Since then, her ongoing lawsuit against Encana, Alberta Environment, and the Energy Resources Conservation Board has made her a folk hero in many places worldwide where fracking is underway. In this powerful work of investigative journalism, Andrew Nikiforuk interweaves Ernst’s story with the science of fracking and stories of human and environmental repercussions left in its wake. Slick Water raises dramatic questions about the role of Big Oil in government, society’s obsession with rapidly depleting supplies of unconventional oil and gas, and the future of civil society.

Amazing World Atlas: Bringing the World to Life


Deborah Murrell - 2014
    Touching on popular culture, sports and school life, this will bring the world to life for kids aged 8 and up.More than 300 amazing photographsOver 50 illustrated mapsThe perfect present for every kid!About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in.TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards 2012 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

Melting Away: A Ten-Year Journey through Our Endangered Polar Regions


Camille Seaman - 2014
    As an expedition photographer aboard small ships in the Arctic and Antarctic, she has chronicled the accelerating effects of global warming on the jagged face of nearly fifty thousand icebergs. Seaman's unique perspective of the landscape is entwined with her Native American upbringing: she sees no two icebergs as alike; each responds to its environment uniquely, almost as if they were living beings. Through Seaman's lens, each towering chunk of ice—breathtakingly beautiful in layers of smoky gray and turquoise blue—takes on a distinct personality, giving her work the feel of majestic portraiture. Melting Away collects seventy-five of Seaman's most captivating photographs, lifeaffirming images that reveal not only what we have already lost, but more importantly what we still have that is worth fighting to save.

War of the Whales: A True Story


Joshua Horwitz - 2014
    As Joel Reynolds launches a legal fight to expose and challenge the Navy program, marine biologist Ken Balcomb witnesses a mysterious mass stranding of whales near his research station in the Bahamas. Investigating this calamity, Balcomb is forced to choose between his conscience and an oath of secrecy he swore to the Navy in his youth.When Balcomb and Reynolds team up to expose the truth behind an epidemic of mass strandings, the stage is set for an epic battle that pits admirals against activists, rogue submarines against weaponized dolphins, and national security against the need to safeguard the ocean environment. Waged in secret military labs and the nation’s highest court, War of the Whales is a real-life thriller that combines the best of legal drama, natural history, and military intrigue.

A Wind-Storm in the Forests


John Muir - 2014
    In this essay from 1894, Muir describes the grandeur of the winds at play in the forests, with stunning and musical detail about the trees of the Sierra and their individual reaction to the wind. Muir's story of climbing a 100-foot Douglas Spruce to experience the sway and swirl of a storm for himself is unforgettable. This short work is part of Applewood's "American Roots," series, tactile mementos of American passions by some of America's most famous writers.

Land and Labour: Marxism, Ecology and Human History


Martin Empson - 2014
    In so doing he shows that human action is key, both to the destruction of nature and to the possibility of a sustainable solution to the ecological crises of the 21st century.Land and Labour has been long-listed for the 2015 Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing.

Running the River: Secrets of the Sabine


Wes Ferguson - 2014
    The Sabine held a reputation as a haunt for a handful of hunters and loggers, more than a few water moccasins, swarms of mosquitoes, and the occasional black bear lumbering through swamp oak and cypress knees.But when Ferguson set out to do a series of newspaper stories on the upper portion of the river, he and photographer Jacob Croft Botter were entranced by the river's subtle beauty and the solitude they found there. They came to admire the self-described "river rats" who hunted, fished, and swapped stories along the muddy water-plain folk who love the Sabine as much as Hill Country vacationers love the clear waters of the Guadalupe. Determined to travel the rest of the river, Ferguson and Botter loaded their gear and launched into the stretch of river that charts the line between the states and ends at the Gulf of Mexico.

Abayomi, the Brazilian Puma: The True Story of an Orphaned cub


Darcy Pattison - 2014
    A mother puma, an attempt to steal a chicken and an angry chicken farmer—the search is on for orphaned cubs. Will the scientists be able to find the cubs before their time runs out?In this “Biography in Text and Art,” Harvill takes original photos as references to create accurate wildlife illustrations. These aren’t generic cats, but one particular individual in detail. Pattison’s careful research, vetted by scientists in the field, brings to life this this true story of an infant cub that must face a complicated world alone—and find a way to survive. Praise for Wisdom, the Midway Albatross: Surviving the Japanese Tsunami and other Disasters for Over 60 Years★ “. . .Pattison writes crisply and evocatively. . .” “Harvill contributes carefully detailed and naturalistic illustrations. . .”--Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

Maralinga: The Chilling Expose of Our Secret Nuclear Shame and Betrayal of Our Troops and Country


Frank Walker - 2014
    The treachery is chilling. The fallout ongoing.This edition contains a new author note with shocking new material that has come to light as a result of the groundbreaking original publication.Investigative journalist Frank Walker's Maralinga is a must-read true story of the abuse of our servicemen, scientists treating the Australian population as lab rats and politicians sacrificing their own people in the pursuit of power.During the Menzies era, with the blessing of the Prime Minister, the British government exploded twelve atomic bombs on Australian soil. RAAF pilots were ordered to fly into nuclear mushroom clouds, soldiers told to walk into radioactive ground zero, sailors retrieved highly contaminated debris - none of them aware of the dangers they faced.But the betrayal didn't end with these servicemen. Secret monitoring stations were set up around the country to measure radiation levels and a clandestine decades-long project stole bones from dead babies to see how much fallout had contaminated their bodies - their grieving parents were never told. This chilling expose drawn from extensive research and interviews with surviving veterans reveals the betrayal of our troops and our country.'An amazing tale ? utterly gripping, it reads like a thriller' - Jon Faine, ABC Radio Melbourne 'This book will contribute to a much greater awareness and perhaps much more action on this issue' - Fran Kelly, ABC Radio National 'Walker demonstrates powerfully why, regardless of the context in which the testing took place, the emotional legacy of Maralinga will linger in the Australian psyche, just as do Gallipoli, Bodyline and Singapore. The cost in terms of damage to health, the environment and public trust in government will remain with us for generations to come' - The Australian'Shocking revelations?' - Margaret Throsby, Midday Interview, ABC Classic FM'An extraordinary story ? there are things here that would make your hair stand on end' - Philip Clark, ABC Radio Canberra 'This book should be on the school syllabus' - Andrew O'Keefe, Weekend Sunrise

Meet Bacteria!


Rebecca Bielawski - 2014
     Peak through the microscope and down into a fantastic world of teeny tiny shapes, amazing colours and little friends who want to say – Hello. Who are these bacteria? Where do they live and what do they do all day? Meet Bacteria! is for little kids brimming with curiosity. It gives them their first basic notions of bacteria; a very interesting topic for children, seldom dealt within children's books at this level. What we can learn: The idea of the microscope Why we should wash our hands concepts: Basic bacteria shapes Some bacteria habitats new words: Bacteria, Microscope, Rod, Chain, Bunch, Multiply PAGES: 26 WORDS: 253 LEVEL: Preschool - 6yrs Other books in the series: Bees Like Flowers MUMMY NATURE series – nurturing children's curiosity Each book in the series is one mini nature lesson wrapped up in colour and rhyme. These books are intended for very young children including toddlers and will give them just a glimpse into some of the wonders of the natural world. Illustrated for maximum vibrancy and visual impact, using rhyme to engage young minds and encourage participation. Read the rhymes to your children and soon they will be reading them to you! The narrator is a small child and keen observer who tells us in short rhyming phrases everything she thinks we should know, and all about the magical things she sees around her. Sometimes she is camouflaged in the long grass and other times she has to climb a tree to get a better look.

National Geographic Pocket Guide to Rocks and Minerals of North America


National Geographic Society - 2014
    In a logical, user-friendly, highly visual format, this new title--one of an expanding collection of National Geographic pocket guides--offers key facts about dozens of rocks and minerals, how to hunt and identify them, where and how to go looking. The book also pictures and explains the fossils most likely to be found and the fundamental land and rock formations in the North American landscape. With 160 entries, formatted with clear language, key identification points, carefully chosen photographs, and expertly drafted illustrations, this guide is the perfect starting point for anyone, young or old, interested in the study of rocks and geology.

Consuming Ocean Island: Stories of People and Phosphate from Banaba


Katerina Martina Teaiwa - 2014
    As mining stripped away the island's surface, the land was rendered uninhabitable, and the indigenous Banabans were relocated to Rabi Island in Fiji. Katerina Martina Teaiwa tells the story of this human and ecological calamity by weaving together memories, records, and images from displaced islanders, colonial administrators, and employees of the mining company. Her compelling narrative reminds us of what is at stake whenever the interests of industrial agriculture and indigenous minorities come into conflict. The Banaban experience offers insight into the plight of other island peoples facing forced migration as a result of human impact on the environment.

The Last Beach


Orrin H. Pilkey - 2014
    The geologists Orrin H. Pilkey and J. Andrew G. Cooper sound the alarm in this frank assessment of our current relationship with beaches and their grim future if we do not change the way we understand and treat our irreplaceable shores. Combining case studies and anecdotes from around the world, they argue that many of the world's developed beaches, including some in Florida and in Spain, are virtually doomed and that we must act immediately to save imperiled beaches.After explaining beaches as dynamic ecosystems, Pilkey and Cooper assess the harm done by dense oceanfront development accompanied by the construction of massive seawalls to protect new buildings from a shoreline that encroaches as sea levels rise. They discuss the toll taken by sand mining, trash that washes up on beaches, and pollution, which has contaminated not only the water but also, surprisingly, the sand. Acknowledging the challenge of reconciling our actions with our love of beaches, the geologists offer suggestions for reversing course, insisting that given the space, beaches can take care of themselves and provide us with multiple benefits.

Streaming


Allison Adelle Hedge Coke - 2014
    We move this way, catching lifeuntil death captures us, where we rotinto the same dust holding multitudesbefore us, and welcoming those beyond.Allison Adelle Hedge Coke is a poet, writer, performer, editor, and activist.

The Thinking Person's Guide to Climate Change


Robert Henson - 2014
    Produced by one of the most venerable atmospheric science organizations, it is a must-read for anyone looking for the full story on climate change.Using global research and written with nonscientists in mind, the Guide breaks down the issues into straightforward categories: “Symptoms” covers signs such as melting ice and extreme weather, while “Science” lays out what we know and how we figured it out. “Debates” tackles the controversy and politics, while “Solutions” and “Actions” discuss what we can do as individuals and communities to create the best possible future. Full-color illustrations offer explanations of everything from how the greenhouse effect traps heat to which activities in everyday life emit the most carbon. Special-feature boxes zoom in on locations across the globe already experiencing the effects of a shifting climate.The Thinking Person's Guide to Climate Change combines years of data with recent research, including conclusions from the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This reference provides the most comprehensive, yet accessible, overview of where climate science stands today, acknowledging controversies but standing strong in its stance that the climate is changing— and something needs to be done.The Thinking Person's Guide to Climate Change is a full update and revision of Robert Henson’s The Rough Guide to Climate Change and is now published through the American Meteorological Society, with distribution through University of Chicago Press.

The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science


Tim Ball - 2014
    Tim Ball exposes the malicious misuse of climate science by dishonest brokers to advance the agenda of the progressive left. How was legitimate science twisted into a morass of convoluted gibberish? Dr. Ball explores how and why the science was distorted for political purposes.

How to Change Minds About Our Changing Climate: Let Science Do the Talking the Next Time Someone Tries to Tell You...


Seth Darling - 2014
    But the next time a skeptic puts you on the spot, will you know what to say to end the argument?How to Change Minds About Our Changing Climate dismantles all the most pernicious misunderstandings using the strongest explanations science has to offer. Armed with airtight arguments, you’ll never be at a loss for words again—no matter how convincing or unexpected the misconception you’re faced with. And with our planet’s future in our hands, the time to change minds is now: The sooner we can agree, once and for all, that climate change is a significant threat to our well-being, the sooner we can start to do something about it.

Florida's Edible Wild Plants: A Guide to Collecting and Cooking


Peggy Sias Lantz - 2014
    ”—Emily Ruff, director, Florida School of Holistic Living “Helps you learn to appreciate the bounty that Mother Nature serves up, from weeds to trees.”—Ginny Stibolt, coauthor of Organic Methods for Vegetable Gardening in Florida “An easy way to enjoy the common, healthful, and tasty edible plants growing around you.”—Richard Wunderlin, coauthor of Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida  Living off the land is a romantic idea, but in practice it can be confusing. So instead we buy nuts someone else picked for us, berries packaged hundreds of miles away, and greens that may or may not contain contaminants.Fully illustrated with photos and drawings to help with identification, Florida’s Edible Wild Plants demystifies the process of foraging to help you discover the wonder of finding and eating wild plants that may grow right in your own backyard. Peggy Lantz shares her fifty years’ experience gathering and preparing wild edibles and bringing them to her family’s table. Practical knowledge is interspersed with recipes, and Lantz shares her own anecdotes about searching for and finding new plants, as well as serving “weeds” to her curious friends. From acorns to wild sorrel, from duck potato soup to elderberry champagne, this easy-to-use guide provides general information about the most common wild edibles in Florida that are not only good for you but also delicious. And the tips for preparing them are indispensable. Lantz offers specific advice for locating and harvesting the different edible parts of each plant, whether it’s gathering walnuts in the Panhandle or making jelly from coco plums in the Keys.

Introducing Evangelical Ecotheology: Foundations in Scripture, Theology, History, and Praxis


Daniel L. Brunner - 2014
    In the eyes of many, the evangelical community has been slow to take up a call to creation care. How do Christians address this issue in a faithful way? This evangelically centered but ecumenically informed introduction to ecological theology (ecotheology) explores the global dimensions of creation care, calling Christians to meet contemporary ecological challenges with courage and hope. The book provides a biblical, theological, ecological, and historical rationale for Earthcare as well as specific practices to engage both individuals and churches. Drawing from a variety of Christian traditions, the book promotes a spirit of hospitality, civility, honesty, and partnership. It includes a foreword by Bill McKibben and an afterword by Matthew Sleeth.

Every Last Drop: Bringing Clean Water Home


Michelle Mulder - 2014
    But for millions of families worldwide, finding clean water is a daily challenge, and kids are often the ones responsible for carrying water to their homes. Every Last Drop looks at why the world's water resources are at risk and how communities around the world are finding innovative ways to quench their thirst and water their crops. Maybe you're not ready to drink fog, as they do in Chile, or use water made from treated sewage, but you can get a low-flush toilet, plant a tree, protect a wetland or just take shorter showers. Every last drop counts!

Victory Fever on Guadalcanal: Japan's First Land Defeat of World War II


William H. Bartsch - 2014
    But when they began to construct an airfield on Guadalcanal in July 1942, the Americans captured the almost completed airfield for their own strategic use.The Japanese Army countered by sending to Guadalcanal a reinforced battalion under the command of Col. Kiyonao Ichiki. The attack that followed would prove to be the first of four attempts by the Japanese over six months to retake the airfield, resulting in some of the most vicious fighting of the Pacific War.During the initial battle on the night of August 20–21, 1942, Marines wiped out Ichiki’s men, who—imbued with “victory fever”—had expected a quick and easy victory.William H. Bartsch draws on correspondence, interviews, diaries, memoirs, and official war records, including those translated from Japanese sources, to offer an intensely human narrative of the failed attempt to recapture Guadalcanal’s vital airfield.

Park Scientists: Gila Monsters, Geysers, and Grizzly Bears in America's Own Backyard


Mary Kay Carson - 2014
    These parks are natural laboratories for scientists. Did you know that Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming sits on top of an active (and very large) volcano? This volcano is monitored and studied on a daily basis, not only as a means of protection (though it seems a long way off from erupting) but also as a way of understanding how the environment changes and influences what goes on deep underground.     The scientists profiled in The Park Scientists also study grizzly bears in Yellowstone, the majestic Sagauro catci in Arizona, and fireflies in Tennessee -- and suggest many ways for the average reader of any age to help out. The emphasis here is twofold: the great science that happens everyday in these important, protected spaces, and the fact that you can visit all of them and participate in the research.     It's backyard science at its biggest and best in this resourceful addition to the Scientists in the Field series!

Seventh Generation Earth Ethics: Native Voices of Wisconsin


Patty Loew - 2014
    Each of the biographies speaks to traditional ecological values and cultural sensibilities, highlighting men and women who helped to sustain and nurture their nations in the past and present. The Native people whose lives are depicted in "Seventh Generation Earth Ethics" understood the cultural gravity that kept their people rooted to their ancestral lands and acted in ways that ensured the growth and success of future generations. In this way they honor the Ojibwe Seventh Generation philosophy, which cautions decision makers to consider how their actions will affect seven generations in the future--some 240 years.

World Heritage Sites: A Complete Guide to 981 UNESCO World Heritage Sites


UNESCO - 2014
    An excellent (and affordable) addition to any library." -- Library JournalThis new, fifth edition presents the complete and most up-to-date list of 981 World Heritage sites, including the 26 sites inscribed in 2012 and the 19 sites inscribed in 2013. Some of these newly inscripted sites are Red Basque Bay Whaling Station, Canada; Historic Centre of Agadez, Niger; Medici Villas and Gardens, Tuscany, Italy; Mount Etna, also in Italy; and the Nabib Sand Sea in Namibia.The strict listing criteria mean only the most extraordinary, important and best-managed sites make the cut. Other inscripted sites include the Statue of Liberty, the Great Barrier Reef, the Historic Center of Vienna, Bikini Atoll Nuclear Test Site, Australian Convict Sites, Prehistoric Caves of Yagul (Mexico), Robben Island, Ancient Damascus, Kremlin and Red Square and the Tower of London.Failure to maintain the criteria can result in delisting, the fate of Arab Oryx Sanctuary in 2007 and Dresden Elbe Valley in 2009.Clear text gives a brief history of the site, explaining its significance and the criteria that put it on the list. A location map gives readers an instant understanding of where it is in the world and color photographs illustrate the site. This is an ideal reference for trip planning, as a travel guide or for the armchair traveler.The World Heritage List is a roll call of the world's most important cultural, natural and mixed sites. The purpose of the list is to safeguard cultural and natural heritage considered to be of outstanding, universal value to humanity. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has overseen the list since its inception in 1959.

Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming


McKenzie Funk - 2014
    Funk shows us that the best way to understand the catastrophe of global warming is to see it through the eyes of those who see it most clearly—as a market opportunity.Global warming’s physical impacts can be separated into three broad categories: melt, drought, and deluge. Funk travels to two dozen countries to profile entrepreneurial people who see in each of these forces a potential windfall. The melt is a boon for newly arable, mineral-rich regions of the Arctic, such as Greenland—and for the surprising kings of the manmade snow trade, the Israelis. The process of desalination, vital to Israel’s survival, can produce a snowlike by-product that alpine countries use to prolong their ski season.Drought creates opportunities for private firefighters working for insurance companies in California as well as for fund managers backing south Sudanese warlords who control local farmland. As droughts raise food prices globally, there is no more precious asset.The deluge—the rising seas, surging rivers, and superstorms that will threaten island nations and coastal cities—has been our most distant concern, but after Hurricane Sandy and failure after failure to cut global carbon emissions, it is not so distant. For Dutch architects designing floating cities and American scientists patenting hurricane defenses, the race is on. For low-lying countries like Bangladesh, the coming deluge presents an existential threat.Funk visits the front lines of the melt, the drought, and the deluge to make a human accounting of the booming business of global warming. By letting climate change continue unchecked, we are choosing to adapt to a warming world. Containing the resulting surge will be big business; some will benefit, but much of the planet will suffer. McKenzie Funk has investigated both sides, and what he has found will shock us all. To understand how the world is preparing to warm, Windfall follows the money.

Overfished Ocean Strategy: Powering up Innovation for a Resource-Deprived World


Nadya Zhexembayeva - 2014
    The linear, throwaway economy of today—in which we extract resources, create products, use them, and throw them away like a cheap plastic fork—is rapidly coming to a close. We are, simply put, running out of things to mine and places to trash. A new economy is being born, one that takes this line and turns it into a circle. Resource scarcity—the overfished ocean—is the reality virtually every company is swimming in. Those managers who deeply understand and master this shift will be able to turn the new reality into disruptive innovation and remarkable competitive advantage. Overfished Ocean Strategy offers five essential principles for developing products and services for this new reality. A business owner herself, Nadya Zhexembayeva fills the book with examples of companies that are already successfully navigating the overfished ocean. Unlike less-farsighted companies, they are not making “green” products as a sideline for a niche market but rather have made dealing with resource scarcity the central, driving force of their entire strategy. As these innovators ride ahead of the wave, new products, new business models, new markets, and new profits follow. You can join them, or you can be left standing on the shore.

Cloudwalker


Roy Henry Vickers - 2014
    Their previous collaboration, "Raven Brings the Light" (2013), is a national bestseller. On British Columbia's northwest coast lies the Sacred Headwaters--the source of three of British Columbia's largest salmon-bearing rivers. These rivers are the source of life for all creatures in the area. But what gave life to the rivers themselves? Astace, a young Gitxsan hunter, is intent on catching a group of swans with his bare hands. He is carried away by the birds' powerful wings and dropped in the clouds. With only a cedar box of water Astace wanders the clouds, growing weaker, stumbling and spilling the contents. When he finally returns to earth he discovers lakes, creeks, and rivers where there were none before. The Gitxsan rejoice at having him home, and name the new river they live alongside Ksien--"juice from the clouds." Roy Henry Vickers' vibrant artwork, including 18 new prints, accompany this new retelling of an ancient story--readers of all ages will be captivated.

The Alphabet of Animals and Birds


Prabha Mallya - 2014
    Join a gulp of cormorants, a parliament of owls, a murder of crows, a sloth of bears and many others as they come together and have some unbelievable animal and alphabet fun.

A People's Curriculum for the Earth Teaching about the Environmental Crisis


Bill Bigelow - 2014
    The book features some of the best articles from Rethinking Schools magazine alongside classroom friendly readings on climate change, energy, water, food, and pollution--as well as on people who are working to make things better. At a time when it's becoming increasingly obvious that life on Earth is at risk, here is a resource that helps students see what's wrong and imagine solutions.

Rainforest


Lewis Blackwell - 2014
    Combining stunning photographs by the world’s leading nature photographers—including new work by Tim Flach—with an inspiring text by award-winning author Lewis Blackwell, Rainforest opens our minds to the breathtaking beauty of these remarkable ecosystems, with their verdant plant life and diverse animal species. Swooping from aerial to macro perspectives, the book captures the world’s most fascinating landscapes at all scales, from a vast sleeping forest cloaked in morning mist to the brilliant iridescent flicker of a butterfly’s wing.

Listening to Scent: An Olfactory Journey with Aromatic Plants and Their Extracts


Jennifer Peace Rhind - 2014
    Jennifer Peace Rhind explores the process of cultivating our sense of smell and demonstrates how the process itself can be therapeutic and enjoyable, as well as informative. She highlights the different skills involved, from olfactory vocabulary, awareness, and memory, through to discrimination and fragrance creation, and the activities that can help to acquire them, emphasizing the value of experiential learning. She describes the Japanese art of koh-do or the 'way of incense' and suggests ways of creating group events inspired by this. Based on her twenty five years' experience working with essential oils and aromatic plant extracts, she also leads the reader through a variety of scent families, with information on the botanical source, odour profiles, olfactory notes, and suggestions for comparison with other scents.This method of educating and training the 'nose' is fascinating, challenging and life-enhancing and will be of interest to anyone eager to develop their sense of smell, and of incalculable use to aromatherapy students and practitioners who must acquire these skills for their career.

Prairie Gold: An Anthology of the American Heartland


Lance M. Sacknoff - 2014
    In celebration of this region's inherent importance to American identity, Prairie Gold: An Anthology of the American Heartland presents a myriad of Midwestern-focused literature in three sections of literary styles: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry with introductions contributed by admired and award-winning Midwestern authors: Dean Bakopoulos, Debra Marquart, and Iowa State Poet Laureate, Mary Swander. With an extensive roster of sixty-eight highly talented writers, this anthology presents an eclectic mix of short stories, flash fiction, lyric essays, autobiographies, and formal and experimental poems that delve into the nuances of Midwestern identity. Each writer herein investigates, challenges, and redefines the varied perceptions of the Midwest, and, most importantly, their literary art invites us to gaze with renewed appreciation on the environmental beauty, nourishing agriculture, and innovative and creative people of the American Heartland.

Marine Pollution: What Everyone Needs to Know(r)


Judith S. Weis - 2014
    In recent history, we've seen oil spills, untreated sewage, eutrophication, invasive species, heavy metals, acidification, radioactive substances, marine litter, and overfishing, among other significant problems. Though marine pollution has long been a topic of concern, it has very recently exploded in environmental, economic, and political debate circles; scientists and non-scientists alike continue to be shocked and dismayed at the sheer diversity of water pollutants and the many ways they can come to harm our environment and our bodies.In Marine Pollution: What Everyone Needs to Know, Judith Weis covers marine pollution from numerous angles, each fascinating in its own right. Beginning with its sources and history, she discusses common pollutants, why they are harmful, why they cause controversy, and how we can prevent them from destroying our aquatic ecosystems. Questions ask what actually happened with the Exxon Valdez, and why harmful algal blooms are a serious concern. Covering pollutants that are only now surfacing as major threats, such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and metal nanoparticles, she explains how these can begin in the water and progress up the food chain to emerge in human bodies. Looking at the effects of climate change and acidification on marine pollution levels, we learn how we can begin to reduce pollution at the local and global levels.

A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice


Stephen D'Arcy - 2014
    Tar sands “development” comes with an enormous environmental and human cost. But tar sands opponents—fighting a powerful international industry—are likened to terrorists; government environmental scientists are muzzled; and public hearings are concealed and rushed. Yet, despite the formidable political and economic power behind the tar sands, many opponents are actively building international networks of resistance, challenging pipeline plans while resisting threats to Indigenous sovereignty and democratic participation. Including leading voices involved in the struggle against the tar sands, A Line in the Tar Sands offers a critical analysis of the impact of the tar sands and the challenges opponents face in their efforts to organize effective resistance. Contributors include Angela Carter, Bill McKibben, Brian Tokar, Christine Leclerc, Clayton Thomas-Muller, Crystal Lameman, Dave Vasey, Emily Coats, Eriel Deranger, Greg Albo, Jeremy Brecher, Jess Worth, Jesse Cardinal, Joshua Kahn Russell, Lilian Yap, Linda Capato, Macdonald Stainsby, Martin Lukacs, Matt Leonard, Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Naomi Klein, Rae Breaux, Randolph Haluza-DeLay, Rex Weyler, Ryan Katz-Rosene, Sâkihitowin Awâsis, Sonia Grant, Stephen D’Arcy, Toban Black, Tony Weis, Tyler McCreary, Winona LaDuke, and Yves Engler.

The Glory of the Tree: An Illustrated History


Noel Kingsbury - 2014
    Organized into six categories -- Antiquity, Ecology, Sacred, Utility, Food and Ornament -- the trees are presented in short chapters that touch on botany, history, culture and more.An inset box gives the basic characteristics of each tree: family and species, brief description, natural origin, size, potential age and climate. A stunning full-page photograph shows a prime specimen of the tree."The Glory of the Tree" celebrates 90 trees native to regions around the world, including these: Antiquity: Ginkgo, Magnolia, Giant sequoia, Liquidamber, Quaking aspen, Tabaquillo Ecology: Birch, Red maple, Mangrove, Longleaf pine, Eucalyptus, Black locust Sacred: Monkey puzzle, Camphor, American elm (the "Liberty Tree"), Banyan, Cedar of Lebanon Utility: Sycamore, Cork oak, Sugar maple, Ebony, Rubber, Calabash Food: Toddy palm, Date palm, Pecan, Mango, Clove, Indian Jujube Ornament: Lombardy poplar, Mimosa, Handkerchief tree, Japanese Maple, Pagoda, Leyland cypress.Beyond a glance, how much thought do we give any one tree? Do we know the species' history, what makes it unique, or even why we should care? Do we know that dinosaurs grazed on magnolia blossoms? That only after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was it learned that North America's "homegrown" apple, Malus domestica, originated in the fruit forests of Russia? Or that male black mulberry flowers eject pollen at 350 miles per hour -- half the speed of sound, and the fastest movement in the plant kingdom?"The Glory of the Tree" reveals all this and much more, in full color. It is a choice selection for arborists, gardeners, tree lovers (and huggers), and all who appreciate the beauty of nature.

Downwind: A People's History of the Nuclear West


Sarah Alisabeth Fox - 2014
                   Sarah Alisabeth Fox interviews residents of the Great Basin region affected by environmental contamination from the uranium industry and nuclear testing fallout. Those residents tell tales of communities ravaged by cancer epidemics, farmers and ranchers economically ruined by massive crop and animal deaths, and Native miners working in dangerous conditions without proper safety equipment so that the government could surreptitiously study the effects of radiation on humans. In chilling detail, Downwind brings to light the stories and concerns of these groups whose voices have been silenced and marginalized for decades in the name of “patriotism” and “national security.” With the renewed boom in mining in the American West, Fox’s look at this hidden history, unearthed from years of field interviews, archival research, and epidemiological studies, is a must-read for every American concerned about the fate of our western lands and communities.

Britain's Habitats: A Guide to the Wildlife Habitats of Britain and Ireland


Sophie Lake - 2014
    In essence a field guide, the book leads the reader through all the main habitat types, with information on their characteristics, extent, geographical variation, key species, cultural importance, origins and conservation. It aims to help visitors to the countryside recognize the habitats around them, understand how they have evolved and what makes them special, and imagine how they might change in the future.This book is the perfect companion for anyone travelling in Britain and Ireland, and essential reading for all wildlife enthusiasts, professional ecologists and landscape architects.Individual sections on all the main habitat types found in Britain and IrelandMore than 680 evocative colour photographs, including images from around Britain and Ireland in all seasonsDetails and photographs of key species and features associated with the different habitatsUp-to-date information--including maps--on the distribution, extent and importance of all habitat typesInformation on key nature conservation designations and different systems of habitat classification

The Vandana Shiva Reader


Vandana Shiva - 2014
    Her awareness of the complex connections among economy and nature and culture preserves her from oversimplification. So does her understanding of the importance of diversity.""-Wendell Berry, from the foreword Motivated by agricultural devastation in her home country of India, Vandana Shiva became one of the world's most influential and highly acclaimed environmental and antiglobalization activists. Her groundbreaking research h

The New Birder's Guide to Birds of North America


Bill Thompson III - 2014
    It is fun to read, beautifully laid out, and accompanied by exquisite illustrations. The sections called ‘Wow’ and ‘Remember’ on each page will elicit 'I never knew that!' from many readers. This is a winner for the new birder from four to one hundred and four.”—Jane Alexander, actress and former board member of the American Birding Association What a new birder needs is a field guide that shows most of the birds he or she is going to see but doesn’t overwhelm with rarities unlikely to be seen. This is that book. Covering 300 of the most common birds in the United States and Canada, this guide has just the right amount of information about how to identify birds, where and when to look for them, what they sound like, and how they behave.The New Birder’s Guide includes easy-to-understand descriptions and maps, clear photos, drawings of common and interesting behaviors, and fun “Wow!” facts for each bird, plus expert advice on identification basics, how to get started, and how to improve your birding skills.

Earthquakes - Earth Books for Kids (Earth Early Reader Books Book 3)


I.P. Factly - 2014
    "Earthquakes" one of our Early Earth Books for Kids. Including facts, photos, a question & answer section and even a video page. This is a fun and fascinating way for guided readers as well as early readers to find out more about earthquakes. Earth books for kids by IP Factly present information in a fun and entertaining way - mixing facts, photos and video clips. This IP Factly earthquake book for children has been designed to encourage and help guided reading - a vital step to independent reading and learning. Accompanying webpage with video clips This book provides fact after fact for information hungry children to tell family and friends, and even has an accompanying webpage with video clips explaining more about the information in the book. It makes learning fun and gives a real reason for children to want to read by themselves. Kids will love discovering new facts to share and enjoy. The IP Factly's Early Reader range encourages children along the path to truly independent reading and learning. See for yourself by clicking on the front cover to look inside the book. This book is great for both children that are read to and for guided readers. Reviews for other IP Factly books 5.0 out of 5 stars Space books for kids November 27, 2013 By Katrina Abiasi This review is from: Venus - Space Books for Kids. Early Reader Venus Facts, Pictures & Video Links. (Early Reader Space Books for Kids) (Kindle Edition) My son loved reading and learning all the facts in this book! The webpage and videos that go along with the book are great too and really illustrate the facts and make them come to life. Great educational and fun book for kids! 5.0 out of 5 stars Jupiter - Space Book for Kids. January 25, 2014 By Timon This review is from: Jupiter - Space Books for Kids. Early Reader Jupiter Facts, Pictures & Video Links. (Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase) Very interesting book about one of the planets in our solar system. It is filled with facts that not only kids but also adults will find very interesting. The photos are stunning and will make kids want to learn more about space and who knows, it might even inspire some little people to become future "Space Scientists" . Great book, highly recommended. There is even a "True or False" section at the end of the book to bolster learning and boost the fun Why not try some yourself? True or False? Earthquakes are our planet’s natural way of releasing pressure. An average earthquake lasts for an hour. Around 80 people each year are killed by earthquakes and their effects. It is estimated more than 13 million people have been killed by earthquakes in the past 4000 years! There are more than one billion earthquakes a year throughout the world. Most earthquakes are so weak that we don’t even feel them. Chapters Include: Earthquakes What are Earthquakes? Ancient Beliefs about Earthquakes Causes of Earthquakes Different Types of Earthquakes Measuring Earthquakes Tsunami Major Earthquakes True or False? Answers Video Page Scroll up and buy this earthquake book for kids now - your child will love going back to it again and again.

Come By Here: A Novella and Short Stories


Tom Noyes - 2014
    His third collection, Noyes writes a novella and stories, focused on how humans interact and destroy the earth.

Climate Peril: The Intelligent Reader's Guide to Understanding the Climate Crisis


John J. Berger - 2014
    Berger vividly evokes the looming hazards of a warmer world. Based on the latest climate science, Climate Peril reveals that the impacts of climate change on our health, economy, and environment are far worse--and more imminent--than many realize. The book identifies the obstacles to climate protection and shows why steep and unprecedented--yet affordable--cuts in greenhouse gases are needed now to avert a global climate catastrophe. Climate Peril portrays the radically altered world we will create in 2100 A.D. if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced and documents the rapid and unnatural climate change already taking place. The book explores all major consequences of climate change, especially its astonishing impacts on the economy, human health, other species, and the oceans. Among other awesome risks, Climate Peril describes the billions of tons of carbon lurking in ocean seabeds and thawing permafrost and the global danger of crossing an invisible threshold beyond which catastrophic climate changes become inevitable. While its conclusions are alarming, Climate Peril is above all a realistic and authoritative book that you can use to better understand how climate change may affect you and your family. Climate Peril is the second of a three book series. Volume 1, Climate Myths, focused on the political campaign waged against climate science, and volume 3, Climate Solutions (forthcoming), shows how to create a climate-safe world by radically transforming global energy, transportation, and land use practices. Early comments: "A brilliant book, and one that might just change the world. By far the best overview of climate science and its implications for our planet that I've ever read." - Tim Flannery, Chief Councilor, Australian Climate Council, and Author, The Weather Makers * "I applaud Climate Peril for showing so clearly that climatic disruption is the consuming issue of our time and our response in the next few years will determine the fate of this civilization." - George M. Woodwell, Founder, Director Emeritus, and Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center * "Climate Peril is an excellent primer on the causes and effects of climate change, which, as John Berger notes, imperils our very existence and that of all natural systems on which we depend." - Lester R. Brown, President, Earth Policy Institute and Author of Full Planet, Empty Plates * "Read Climate Peril and you will become well informed about what probably is the greatest threat ever faced by civilization." - Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich, from the Introduction to Climate Peril * "Climate Peril lays the foundation for understanding the actions we must take to begin building a sustainable world for the future. Highly recommended!" - Peter H. Raven, President Emeritus, Missouri Botanical Garden. About the Author: John J. Berger, Ph.D., writes about climate change from the perspective of an internationally respected energy and natural resources expert. Trained in ecology, Dr. Berger has served as a consultant to government, scientific, academic, and nonprofit organizations, including the U.S. Congress and the National Academy of Sciences.

Who Needs a Reef?


Karen Patkau - 2014
    Karen Patkau takes readers on an amazing voyage of discovery to find out   • How coral reefs form    • Why coral reefs bustle and teem with life    • Why there are more kinds of living things on coral reefs than anywhere else in the sea    • What the types of hard corals are    • Which plants and animals attach themselves to coral reefs    • How coral reefs protect shorelines    • How coral reefs help develop natural harbors and beaches    • Where the coral reef areas of the world are    • Why we need coral reefs

The Myths of Safe Pesticides


André Leu - 2014
    Leu translates technical jargon into layman's terms to break down the five most repeated myths about pesticide use: independent scientific analysis shows that pesticides are not at all as safe as industry leaders and regulatory agencies claim. The pesticide industry argues that human agriculture, and thereby the global population itself, cannot survive without using pesticides and herbicides, but Leu warns that human health is at great risk unless we break free of their toxic hold and turn to more natural methods of pest and weed regulation.

Six Capitals, or Can Accountants Save the Planet?: Rethinking Capitalism for the Twenty-First Century


Jane Gleeson-White - 2014
    Only the second revolution in accounting since double-entry bookkeeping began, it is of seismic proportions, driven by the 2008 financial crash and our ongoing environmental crisis. The changes it will wreak are profound and far-reaching and not only will transform the way the world does business but also will alter the nature of capitalism.While the wealth of nations and corporations has been vital to the global economy, increasingly the world is coming to realize that such endless growth is limited by the earth's resources and comes at a huge price to the planet and to human well-being. It simply cannot be sustained.This revolution demands that we go beyond merely accounting for traditional financial and industrial capital and take account of the benefits and detriments to the natural world and society. It urges us to include four new categories of wealth: intellectual (such as intellectual property), human (skills, productivity, and health), social and relationship (shared norms and values), and natural (environment). Making them part of our financial statements and GDP figures may be the only way to address the many calamities we face.Just two years ago this revolution seemed idealistic and unlikely. Today it is quickly unfolding. In 2012, the sea-change year, two key initiatives took root: an international movement to transform how corporate accounting is calculated and the rise of incorporating the effects on the environment to the accounting of national and global economies. Six Capitals tells the story of this coming new age in capitalism, evaluating its promise and the disaster that lies ahead if it is not implemented.

Circles of Compassion: Essays Connecting Issues of Justice


Will Tuttle - 2014
    These insightful and inspiring essays focus on how seemingly disparate issues of human, animal, and environmental rights are indeed connected. Illuminating the connections between injustice to animals and the various forms of social and ecological injustice, these thirty authors provide essential keys to effectively addressing the hidden roots of our dilemmas. The essays also provide practical guidance about how to make the individual, systemic, and social changes necessary to effectively create a peaceful and just world for all. This landmark book provides a crucial impetus for us to break through our confining delusions, build bridges of understanding, and awaken from the cultural trance of indifference and inequity.

Greening the Global Economy


Robert Pollin - 2014
    Yet in Greening the Global Economy, economist Robert Pollin shows that they are attainable through steady, large-scale investments--totaling about 1.5 percent of global GDP on an annual basis--in both energy efficiency and clean renewable energy sources. Not only that: Pollin argues that with the right investments, these efforts will expand employment and drive economic growth.Drawing on years of research, Pollin explores all aspects of the problem: how much energy will be needed in a range of industrialized and developing economies; what efficiency targets should be; and what kinds of industrial policy will maximize investment and support private and public partnerships in green growth so that a clean energy transformation can unfold without broad subsidies.All too frequently, inaction on climate change is blamed on its potential harm to the economy. Pollin shows greening the economy is not only possible but necessary: global economic growth depends on it.

Total Liberation: The Power and Promise of Animal Rights and the Radical Earth Movement


David Naguib Pellow - 2014
    But ELF’s communiqué on the action went beyond the radical group’s customary brief. Drawing connections between the harms facing the myriad animals who make their home in the trees and the struggles for social justice among ordinary human beings resisting exclusion and marginalization, the dispatch declared, “all oppression is linked, just as we are all linked,” and decried the “patriarchal nightmare” in the form of “techno-industrial global capitalism.”In Total Liberation, David Naguib Pellow takes up this claim and makes sense of the often tense and violent relationships among humans, ecosystems, and nonhuman animal species, expanding our understanding of inequality and activists’ uncompromising efforts to oppose it. Grounded in interviews with more than one hundred activists, on-the-spot fieldwork, and analyses of thousands of pages of documents, websites, journals, and zines, Total Liberation reveals the ways in which radical environmental and animal rights movements challenge inequity through a vision they call “total liberation.” In its encounters with such infamous activists as scott crow, Tre Arrow, Lauren Regan, Rod Coronado, and Gina Lynn, the book offers a close-up, insider’s view of one of the most important—and feared—social movements of our day. At the same time, it shows how and why the U.S. justice system plays to that fear, applying to these movements measures generally reserved for “jihadists”—with disturbing implications for civil liberties and constitutional freedom.How do the adherents of “total liberation” fight oppression and seek justice for humans, nonhumans, and ecosystems alike? And how is this pursuit shaped by the politics of anarchism and anticapitalism? In his answers, Pellow provides crucial in-depth insight into the origins and social significance of the earth and animal liberation movements and their increasingly common and compelling critique of inequality as a threat to life and a dream of a future characterized by social and ecological justice for all.

The Eagle's Way


Jim Crumley - 2014
    These magnificent creatures encapsulate the majesty and wildness of Scotland. But change is afoot for the eagles of Scotland: the golden eagles are now sharing the skies with sea eagles after a successful reintroduction programme. In this captivating account, Jim Crumley uses his years of observing these spectacular birds to paint an intimate portrait of their lives and how they interact with each other and the Scottish landscape. Combining passion, beautifully descriptive prose and writer's twenty-five years of living, breathing and writing the landscape, The Eagle's Way explores the controversies surrounding these birds. What now for the eagles? And how will they transform our skies?

Changing the Food Game: Market Transformation Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture


Lucas Simons - 2014
    "Changing the Food Game" shows how our unsustainable food production system cannot support this growth. In this prescient book, Lucas Simons argues that the biggest challenge for our generation can only be solved by effective market transformation to achieve sustainable agriculture and food production.Lucas Simons explains clearly how we have created a production and trading system which is inherently unsustainable. But he also explores that we have reason to be hopeful from a sustainability race in the cocoa industry to examples of market transformation taking place in palm oil, timber and sugarcane production. He also poses the question: where next?Rigorous and eye-opening, "Changing the Food Game" uncovers the real story of how our food makes it on to our plates and presents a game-changing solution to revolutionize the industry."

A Comprehensive Guide to Insects of Britain and Ireland


Paul D. Brock - 2014
    Brock, Scientific Associate of the Natural History Museum, London, and author of the acclaimed 'Photographic Guide to Insects of the New Forest' is the most complete guide to insects of Britain and Ireland ever produced with over 2700 full colour photographs and fully comprehensive sections on all insect groups, including flies, bees and wasps.

Ngunnawal Plant Use: a traditional Aboriginal plant use guide for the ACT region


ACT Government - 2014
    

International Climate Change Law


Daniel Bodansky - 2014
    Climate change is one of the fundamental challenges facing the world today, and is the cause of significant international concern. In response, states have created aninternational climate regime. The treaties that comprise the regime - the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and the 2015 Paris Agreement - establish a system of governance to address climate change and its impacts. This book provides a clearanalytical guide to the climate regime, as well as other relevant international legal rules.The book begins by locating international climate change law within the broader context of international law and international environmental law. It considers the evolution of the international climate change regime, and the process of law-making that has led to it. It examines the key provisions ofthe Framework Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. It analyses the principles and obligations that underpin the climate regime, as well as the elaborate institutional and governance architecture that has been created at successive international conferences to develop commitmentsand promote transparency and compliance. The final two chapters address the polycentric nature of international climate change law, as well as the intersections of international climate change law with other areas of international regulation.This book is an essential introduction to international climate change law for students, scholars and negotiators.

kolleti jaadalu


Akkineni Kutumbarao - 2014
    The author captured life around this lake spread over a few decades around 1950's. a Must Read. My personal opinion is it cannot be called a novel though it's author claims it to be one. Given a chance and the resources, I would go as far as stating that I would like to make a movie out of it. Of course, I should have the best cinematographer who loves nature.

Complete Outdoors Encyclopedia: Camping, Fishing, Hunting, Boating, Wilderness Survival, First Aid


Vin T. Sparano - 2014
    This latest (fifth) edition of the award-winning Complete Outdoors Encyclopedia will again prove to be the most effective outdoor skills instruction book ever published. This monumental guide to the outdoors is produced for the first time in full color, featuring more than 1,300 photographs and 1,000 diagrams and illustrations. Totally revised and updated, this indispensable resource offers in-depth coverage of hunting, shooting, fishing, camping, boating, survival, first aid, bowhunting, and species profiles of game animals, birds, fish, and sporting dogs. This book is a must-have reference guide for both novice and experienced sportsmen as well as any person planning to learn outdoor skills. To broaden the scope of this established reference work, author Vin T. Sparano has compiled brand-new sections on wilderness survival, all-terrain vehicles, and boating. He has included new information on GPS and increased focus on specialty sections such as flyfishing, sporting clays, backpacking, nutrition, and first-aid breakthroughs for outdoors emergencies. Complete Outdoors Encyclopedia clearly explains and illustrates the latest technologies and trends in the outdoors.

Designing for Hope: Pathways to Regenerative Sustainability


Dominique Hes - 2014
    Its aim is to move the discussion away from doing less, but still detracting from our ecological capital, to positively contributing and adding to this capital. This book offers a hopeful response to the often frightening changes and challenges we face; arguing that we can actively create a positive and abundant future through mindful, contributive engagement that is rooted in a living systems based worldview. Concepts and practices such as Regenerative Development, Biophilic Design, Biomimicry, Permaculture and Positive Development are explored through interviews and case studies from the built environment to try and answer questions such as: 'How can projects focus on creating a positive ecological footprint and contribute to community?'; How can we as practitioners restore and enrich the relationships in our projects?; and 'How does design focus hope and create a positive legacy?'

Arda Inhabited: Environmental Relationships in the Lord of the Rings


Susan Jeffers - 2014
    R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth is growing. unfortunately, scholarship dealing with Middle-Earth itself is comparatively rare in Tolkien studies, and students and scholars seeking greater insight have few resources. Similarly, although public concern for the environment is widespread and “going green” has never been trendier, ecocriticism is also an underserved area of literary studies. Arda Inhabited fills a gap in both areas by combining ecocritical and broader postmodern concerns with the growing appreciation for Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. Susan Jeffers looks at the way different groups and individuals in The Lord of the Rings interact with their environments. Drawing substantially on ecocritical theory, she argues that there are three main ways these groups relate to their setting: “power with,” “power from,” and “power over.” Ents, Hobbits, and Elves have “power with” their environments. Dwarves and Men draw “power from” their place, interacting with the world symbolically or dialectically. Sauron, Saruman, and Orcs all stand as examples of narcissistic solipsism that attempts to exercise “power over” the environment. Jeffers further considers how wanderers in Middle-Earth interact with the world in light of these three categories and examines how these relationships reflect Tolkien’s own moral paradigm. Arda Inhabited responds to environmental critics such as Neil Evernden and Christopher Manes, as well as to other touchstones of postmodern thought such as Hegel, DeSaussure, Adorno, and Deleuze and Guattari. It blends their ideas with the analyses of Tolkien scholars such as Patrick Curry, Verlyn Flieger, and Tom Shippey and builds on the work of other scholars who have looked at environment and Tolkien such as Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans. Arda Inhabited demonstrates how Tolkien studies enhances ecocriticism with a fresh examination of interconnection and environment, and ecocriticism enriches Tolkien studies with new ways of reading his work.

Of Green Leaf, Bird, and Flower: Artists' Books and the Natural World


Elisabeth Fairman - 2014
    Highlighting an enduring interest in natural history from the 16th century to the present, this gorgeous book explores depictions of the natural world, from centuries-old manuscripts to contemporary artists’ books.  It examines the scientific pursuits in the 18th and 19th centuries that resulted in the collecting and cataloguing of the natural world.  It also investigates the aesthetically oriented activities of self-taught naturalists in the 19th century, who gathered flowers, ferns, seaweed, feathers, and other naturalia into albums.  Examples of 20th- and 21st-century artists’ books, including those of Eileen Hogan, Mandy Bonnell, and Tracey Bush, broaden the vision of the natural world to incorporate its interaction with consumer culture and with modern technologies.  Featuring dazzling illustrations, the book itself is designed to evoke a fieldwork notebook, and features a collection pocket and ribbon markers.

The Indicted South: Public Criticism, Southern Inferiority, and the Politics of Whiteness


Angie Maxwell - 2014
    In this interdisciplinary study, Maxwell examines and connects three key twentieth-century moments in which the South was exposed to intense public criticism, identifying in white southerners' responses a pattern of defensiveness that shaped the region's political and cultural conservatism.

Doing Good Without Giving Up: Sustaining Social Action in a World That's Hard to Change


Ben Lowe - 2014
    Needs are overwhelming, resources are limited, opposition is real and progress is slow. How do we persevere when the novelty wears off and our enthusiasm runs out? We all want change in the world. But as C. S. Lewis put it, we don't get second things by placing them first; we get second things by keeping first things first. As Christians, we don't just aim at change; we aim at faithfulness, and out of faithfulness comes fruitfulness. Activist Ben Lowe renews our mission with key postures and practices for sustaining faithful social action. What makes social action distinctively Christian includes such things as living out Jesus? love, having a prophetic witness, building bridges with opponents, repudiating idolatries, and practicing repentance and sabbath. Moving beyond theory, Lowe showcases practical examples of what it looks like to persevere in faithful activism and advocacy today. Take heart. As you work for God, God is at work in you to keep your hope alive.

In Their Own Hands: How Savings Groups Are Revolutionizing Development


Jeffrey Ashe - 2014
    Even the most innovative banking institutions can't reach them; savings groups can. In savings groups, members save what they can in a communal pot and loan their growing fund to each other for their short-term needs. Jeffrey Ashe and Kyla Neilan illustrate how these savings groups form and function and how little "outside" support is actually required for their success. Drawing on decades of Ashe's personal experience, this book describes how he developed Saving for Change, which leveraged the wisdom and strength of group members to train and establish new groups. This model has impacted the lives of 680,000 people across five countries. Savings groups are a "catalytic innovation" that bypasses subsidies, dependency, and high costs while effectively reducing chronic hunger, building assets, and empowering the community. Today, saving groups have 9 million members around the globe -- with minimal support, membership could grow to ten times this number.

North Shore: A Natural History of Minnesota's Superior Coast


Chel Anderson - 2014
    Some plants and animals have taken up residence in the region’s ancient mountains, others in its lakes and flowing rivers. Together, they weave a living fabric of sublime and fascinating beauty. These organisms come to life in North Shore, a comprehensive environmental history of one of Minnesota’s most beloved places.The story of this region unfolds through the five interconnected areas of Minnesota’s North Shore watershed—the meandering rivers of the Headwaters, the deep and dense forest of the Highlands, the rocky Nearshore, the drama of Lake Superior, and its mysterious islands, including Isle Royale and Susie Island archipelagos. Each section begins with an overview of the forces that have shaped the area, then the focus turns to a wide range of inhabitants, such as chorus frogs and star-nosed moles, butterworts and coaster brook trout, jeweled diatoms and pitcher plants, black bears and blue-spotted salamanders. Each chapter links to the region’s broader history, from the sculpting of the land by mile-high glaciers to the role of scientific exploration, the advent of logging, the development of tourism, and the changing global climate.North Shore reminds us that the natural history of this extraordinary region is still being created and that each of us—individually and collectively—are the authors of this ongoing narrative. Compelling and accessible, the book will provide readers with a science-based knowledge of the Minnesota North Shore watershed so that together we can write a new, hopeful chapter for its inhabitants, both human and wild.

Eddie and Harry


Jane Kretzmann - 2014
    The friendship between Eddie, a Great Egret, and Harry, a Great Blue Heron, fosters an atmosphere of trust where both birds wrestle with their insecurities and come to understand themselves better. The work is beautifully illustrated by artist Diann Ditewig.

Recycled Thoughts: Just how Green is Green?


Jo Rodrigues - 2014
    Let me know your thoughts about 'Recycled Thoughts'!The eBook loses much of its intended formatting through upload. To download the full book, with the proper formatting for your book reader, please visit http://jorodrigues.com/recycled-thoug...__________________________Just how Green is Green? Recycled Thoughts will change your views on current environmental challenges. We can no longer afford to ignore the obvious because it is inconvenient.Logos, slogans, and Carbon Footprints are not Magic Filters that clean up our environment. These concepts are often abused for self-promotion and greed!Together we can address these urgent issues! We have the power to transform our lives, but how, is entirely in our hands!

Field Guide to Wisconsin Streams: Plants, Fishes, Invertebrates, Amphibians, and Reptiles


Michael A. Miller - 2014
    This guide is the ultimate companion for learning about the animals and plants in Wisconsin streams. A collaborative effort by dozens of biologists and ecologists, Field Guide toWisconsin Streams is accessible to anglers, teachers and students, amateur naturalists, and experienced scientists alike.             More than 1,000 images illustrate the species in this field guide. These images are augmented by detailed ecological and taxonomic notes, descriptions of look-alike species, and distribution maps. The guide identifies: • more than 130 common plants • all 120 fishes known to inhabit Wisconsin streams • 8 crayfishes • 50 mussels • 10 amphibians • 17 reptiles • 70 families of insects • other commonly found invertebrates. Best Regional General Interest Books, selected by the American Association of School Librarians Best Regional General Interest Books, selected by the Public Library Reviewers