But there is an important and simple step toward reversing this alarming trend: Everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity.There is an unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife—native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. In many parts of the world, habitat destruction has been so extensive that local wildlife is in crisis and may be headed toward extinction.Bringing Nature Home has sparked a national conversation about the link between healthy local ecosystems and human well-being, and the new paperback edition—with an expanded resource section and updated photos—will help broaden the movement. By acting on Douglas Tallamy's practical recommendations, everyone can make a difference.

    Once Anthony entered Baghdad he discovered that full-scale combat and uncontrolled looting had killed nearly all the animals of the zoo.But not all of them. U.S. soldiers had taken the time to help care for the remaining animals, and the zoo's staff had returned to work in spite of the constant firefights. Together the Americans and Iraqis had managed to keep alive the animals that had survived the invasion.Babylon's Ark chronicles the zoo's transformation from bombed-out rubble to peaceful park. Along the way, Anthony recounts hair-raising efforts to save a pride of the dictator's lions, close a deplorable black-market zoo, and rescue Saddam's Arabian horses. His unique ground-level experience makes Babylon's Ark an uplifting story of both sides working together for the sake of innocent animals caught in the war's crossfire.

    Poetic in voice and elegant in design, the book introduces children to a fascinating array of seed and plant facts, making it a guide that is equally at home being read on a parent's lap as in a classroom reading circle.

    He climbs, walks, and swims by day and spends his nights sleeping on cliff-tops and in ancient meadows and wildwoods. With elegance and passion he entwines history, memory, and landscape in a bewitching evocation of wildness and its vital importance. A unique travelogue that will intrigue readers of natural history and adventure, The Wild Places solidifies Macfarlane's reputation as a young writer to watch.

    Each year, thousands of backpackers traverse some or all of the trail, relying on Wilderness Press's John Muir Trail. The completely updated edition of this Sierra classic includes significant information found nowhere else. The new John Muir Trail meticulously describes the entire trail and is written for today's hikers. The book includes GPS coordinates, not only for every junction, but also for every established campsite, bear box, and mountain pass that the trail crosses. The guide has separate descriptions for northbound and southbound hikers; for each direction, a junction chart shows all the trail's ups and downs.

    In 1741, hungry explorers discovered herds of Steller’s sea cow in the Bering Strait, and in less than thirty years, the amiable beast had been harpooned into extinction. It’s a classic story, but a key fact is often omitted. Bering Island was the last redoubt of a species that had been decimated by hunting and habitat loss years before the explorers set sail. As Callum M. Roberts reveals in The Unnatural History of the Sea, the oceans’ bounty didn’t disappear overnight. While today’s fishing industry is ruthlessly efficient, intense exploitation began not in the modern era, or even with the dawn of industrialization, but in the eleventh century in medieval Europe. Roberts explores this long and colorful history of commercial fishing, taking readers around the world and through the centuries to witness the transformation of the seas. Drawing on firsthand accounts of early explorers, pirates, merchants, fishers, and travelers, the book recreates the oceans of the past: waters teeming with whales, sea lions, sea otters, turtles, and giant fish. The abundance of marine life described by fifteenth century seafarers is almost unimaginable today, but Roberts both brings it alive and artfully traces its depletion. Collapsing fisheries, he shows, are simply the latest chapter in a long history of unfettered commercialization of the seas. The story does not end with an empty ocean. Instead, Roberts describes how we might restore the splendor and prosperity of the seas through smarter management of our resources and some simple restraint. From the coasts of Florida to New Zealand, marine reserves have fostered spectacular recovery of plants and animals to levels not seen in a century. They prove that history need not repeat itself: we can leave the oceans richer than we found them.

    In this groundbreaking and meticulously field-tested guide, the rich variety of Sierra life-- trees, wildflowers, ferns, fungi, lichens, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals, and insects-- comes alive.

    But the glory of each essay lies in Childs's ability to portray the sometimes brutal beauty of the wilderness, to capture the individual essence of wild creatures, to transport the reader beyond the human realm and deep inside the animal kingdom.

    Birds play a prominent role in attracting visitors, too. The shimmering quetzals, gaudy macaws, and comical toucans only begin to hint at the impressive avian diversity to be found throughout this small country."--from the Introduction This is the one field guide the novice or experienced birder needs to identify birds in the field in the diverse habitats found in Costa Rica. It features descriptions and illustrations of more than 820 resident and neotropical migrant species found in Costa Rica, all in a compact, portable, user-friendly design. The detailed full-color illustrations show identifying features--including plumage differences among males, females, and juveniles--and views of birds in flight wherever pertinent. Additional features of this all-new guide include: o 166 original color plates depicting more than 820 species. o Concise text that describes key field marks for positive identification, as well as habitat, behavior, and vocalizations. o Range maps and texts arranged on opposing pages from illustrations for quick, easy reference. o The most up-to-date bird list for Costa Rica. o A visual guide to the anatomical features of birds with accompanying explanatory text. o Quick reference to vultures and raptors in flight.

    The Varmints come and build their city where once was grass. Before they realise what they have done, there is nothing but a huge dark city. Can someone find the time and space to stop, think and plant seeds of change?

    This collection of astonishing studio portraits of 175 wild creaturesfrom baby leopards to parrots, bears, mandrills, and many moreare stunningly foregrounded against white backgrounds, depicting their subjects with rare sensitivity,insight, humor, and wonder. Zuckermanalso an up-and-coming filmmaker, whose first short film, High Falls, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007has created a volume perfect for animal lovers, photography fans, and anyone fascinated by the world around us. Creature is a beautiful and thought-provoking look at the fragile wonders of the natural world.

    Amazing images show the beauty and otherworldliness of spiders. Simple, engaging text conveys basic information about spiders as well as cool and quirky facts. One stop-action montage shows a spider leaping twenty times its body length!

    It contains, however, a number of deeper messages related to some of the most basic and important principles of modern biology. The bees are merely the actors that take us into the realm of physiology, genetics, reproduction, biophysics and learning, and that introduce us to the principles of natural selection underlying the evolution of simple to complex life forms. The book destroys the cute notion of bees as anthropomorphic icons of busy self-sacrificing individuals and presents us with the reality of the colony as an integrated and independent being—a superorganism with its own, almost eerie, emergent group intelligence. We are surprised to learn that no single bee, from queen through drone to sterile worker, has the oversight or control over the colony. Instead, through a network of integrated control systems and feedbacks, and communication between individuals, the colony arrives at consensus decisions from the bottom up through a type of swarm intelligence. Indeed, there are remarkable parallels between the functional organization of a swarming honeybee colony and vertebrate brains.

    Award-winning writer and wildlife photographer Ian McAllister draws from his intimate observations of more than forty wolf packs along this rugged coastline over a seventeen-year period in this first-ever documentation of their fascinating, complex way of life. In a compelling narrative and more than 100 stunning photographs, McAllister captures these majestic animals fishing for salmon, stalking seals hauled out on rocks, playing on the beach, and raising their families. The Last Wild Wolves also describes the work of scientists whose recent findings have corroborated McAllister's own observations and the traditional knowledge gleaned by First Nations people over centuries—that these wolves are genetically distinct; unlike other wolves, they subsist on coastal prey and swim from island to island in their archipelago home. The Last Wild Wolves is a remarkable portrait of the unique lives of island wolves and an eloquent expression of just how much is at stake in their preservation. Copub: Greystone Books

    Birders will find it indispensable: this single, portable volume features more than 750 species, along with more than 2,000 stunning images by leading nature photographers showing birds in their natural habitats. Captions highlight important field marks, and comprehensive species accounts describe habitats, behavior, flight, migration, songs, and plumages. Other features include: more than 600 maps showing bird distribution in every season; strategies for watching and identifying birds; a complete species index plus a quick-flip index; a glossary of terms; and a checklist of birds. The guide’s unique waterproof cover makes it especially valuable for use in the field.

    Think you've spotted one? Lift one of ten gatefolds to find out. A full page of fascinating information accompanies each animal so readers can learn how nature's camouflage serves hunter and hunted alike. Why do fawns have spots during their first year of life? How did killdeer birds get their name? What makes a crab spider so good at ambushing its prey? Recipient of the 2008 American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Book and Films Prize for Excellence in Science Books.Named a 2008 Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Children's Book Council (CBC)Editor's Choice, 2007— Booklist magazineListed in "Lasting Connections of 2007," an annual roundup of the year's best books to tie into curriculum.-Book Links magazine

    Exploring along those beaches offers encounters with myriads of plants, animals, minerals, and manmade objects--all are covered in this comprehensive guide with descriptive accounts of 822 items, 983 color images, and 431 maps. Beginning with the premise that beaches are themselves alive, this guide to the natural history of Florida beaches heralds the living things and metaphorical life near, on, and within the state's sandy margins. It is organized into Beach Features, Beach Animals, Beach Plants, Beach Minerals, and Hand of Man. In addition to being an identification guide, the book reveals much of the wonder and mystery between dune and sea along Florida's long coastline.

    Naturalists Kenn Kaufman and Eric R. Eaton use a broad ecological approach rather than overly technical terms, making the book accessible and easy to use. Their lively and engaging text emphasizes the insects that are most likely to draw attention and also includes helpful details on a wide array of lesser-known but recognizable groups. The guide is lavishly illustrated, with more than 2,350 digitally enhanced photographs representing every major group of insects found in North America north of Mexico.

    More than 2,000 close-up color photographs by leading nature photographers reveal the field marks that distinguish each creature, and the clear and concise text that accompanies each image describes the range, habitat, life cycle, and behavior. Budding entomologists will be inspired to explore further with the detailed information on starting a collection, planting an arthropod garden, keeping insects and spiders in captivity, and learning the techniques of macro photography. The unique waterproof cover makes it ideal for use outdoors.

    It was the era of Manifest Destiny, a Gilded Age that treated the West as nothing more than a treasure chest of resources to be dug up or shot down. The buffalo in this world was a commodity, hounded by legions of swashbucklers and unemployed veterans seeking to make their fortunes. Supporting these hide hunters, even buying their ammunition, was the U.S. Army, which considered the eradication of the buffalo essential to victory in its ongoing war on Native Americans.Into that maelstrom rode young George Bird Grinnell. A scientist and a journalist, a hunter and a conservationist, Grinnell would lead the battle to save the buffalo from extinction. Fighting in the pages of magazines, in Washington's halls of power, and in the frozen valleys of Yellowstone, Grinnell and his allies sought to preserve an icon from the grinding appetite of Robber Baron America.Grinnell shared his adventures with some of the greatest and most infamous characters of the American West—from John James Audubon and Buffalo Bill to George Armstrong Custer and Theodore Roosevelt (Grinnell's friend and ally). A strikingly contemporary story, the saga of Grinnell and the buffalo was the first national battle over the environment. In Grinnell's legacy is the birth of the conservation movement as a potent political force.

    In Deakin's glorious meditation on wood, the "fifth element"as it exists in nature, in our culture, and in our souls the reader accompanies Deakin through the woods of Britain, Europe, Kazakhstan, and Australia in search of what lies behind man's profound and enduring connection with trees.Deakin lives in forest shacks, goes "coppicing" in Suffolk, swims beneath the walnut trees of the Haut-Languedoc, and hunts bushplums with Aboriginal women in the outback. Along the way, he ferrets out the mysteries of woods, detailing the life stories of the timber beams composing his Elizabethan house and searching for the origin of the apple.As the world's forests are whittled away, Deakin's sparkling prose evokes woodlands anarchic with life, rendering each tree as an individual, living being. At once a traveler's tale and a splendid work of natural history, Wildwood reveals, amid the world's marvelous diversity, that which is universal in human experience.

    From the #1 bestselling author of The Hot Zone comes an amazing account of scientific and spiritual passion for the tallest trees in the world, the startling biosystem of Rthe canopy, S and those who are committed to the preservation of this astonishing and largely unknown world.

    Reflecting Goldsworthys lifelong interest in the landscape of the British Isles, its history, and the people who work on it, Enclosure is a collection of ephemeral work that relates to sheep, including a spectacular series of large sheep paintings--made by the hoof-prints of sheep.

    As miraculous a feat of nature as the snowflakes has been, have we ever been truly able to appreciate this infinitesimal wonder in all its crystalline glory? Art of the Snowflake, as much a work of art as a testament to science, reveals how one of the snowflake's most inspired photographers came to such intimate knowledge of his craft and its fleeting focus. Beautiful pictures illustrate Kenneth Libbrecht's story of the microphotography of snow crystals, from the pioneering work of Wilson Bentley in the 1890s right up to Ken's own innovations in our age of digital images. A breathtaking look at the works of art that melt in an instant, this is a book to flip through and savor, season after season.

    Birds of Peru is the most complete and well-researched field guide to this rich and fascinating diversity. It illustrates every one of the 1,792 species and shows the distinct plumages of each. It includes 304 superb, high-quality color plates directly opposite concise descriptions and color distribution maps, making it much easier to use in the field than standard neotropical field guides. The detailed text discusses key identification features, status, distribution, and vocalizations for all species, and many subspecies.This field guide enables users to identify all species found in Peru, and is also useful throughout much of western South America, particularly southeastern Colombia, southern Ecuador, western Brazil, Bolivia, and northern Chile.Birds of Peru is an indispensable resource for birdwatchers, biologists, naturalists, and conservationists working or traveling in Peru and South America.The most complete and well-researched field guide to the 1,792 species of birds found in Peru304 superb, high-quality color plates directly opposite concise descriptions and full-color distribution maps for quick reference and easy identificationDistinct plumages, subspecies, sexes, age classes, and morphs fully illustratedDetailed text discusses key identification features, status, distribution, and vocalizationsDesigned especially for field use-compact, portable, and user-friendly

    Although Bernd Heinrich's father, Gerd, a devoted naturalist, specialized in wasps, Bernd tried to distance himself from his “old-fashioned” father, becoming a hybrid: a modern, experimental biologist with a naturalist's sensibilities.In this remarkable memoir, the award-winning author shares the ways in which his relationship with his father, combined with his unique childhood, molded him into the scientist, and man, he is today. From Gerd's days as a soldier in Europe to the family's daring escape from the Red Army in 1945 to the rustic Maine farm they came to call home, Heinrich relates it all in his trademark style, making science accessible and awe-inspiring.

    In this beautiful new one-volume edition, modern readers are introduced to one of the best nature writers of the last century. More than one hundred of the original illustrations by Paul Landacre highlight the eloquent and entertaining accounts of American trees. As we read Peattie's descriptions, we catch glimpses of our country's history and past daily life that no textbook could ever illuminate so vividly.Here you'll learn about everything from how a species was discovered to the part it played in our country’s history. Pioneers often stabled an animal in the hollow heart of an old sycamore, and the whole family might live there until they could build a log cabin. The tuliptree, the tallest native hardwood, is easier to work than most softwood trees; Daniel Boone carved a sixty-foot canoe from one tree to carry his family from Kentucky into Spanish territory. In the days before the Revolution, the British and the colonists waged an undeclared war over New England's white pines, which made the best tall masts for fighting ships. It's fascinating to learn about the commercial uses of various woods -- for paper, fine furniture, fence posts, matchsticks, house framing, airplane wings, and dozens of other preplastic uses. But we cannot read this book without the occasional lump in our throats. The American elm was still alive when Peattie wrote, but as we read his account today we can see what caused its demise. Audubon's portrait of a pair of loving passenger pigeons in an American beech is considered by many to be his greatest painting. It certainly touched the poet in Donald Culross Peattie as he depicted the extinction of the passenger pigeon when the beech forest was destroyed. A Natural History of North American Trees gives us a picture of life in America from its earliest days to the middle of the last century. The information is always interesting, though often heartbreaking. While Peattie looks for the better side of man's nature, he reports sorrowfully on the greed and waste that have doomed so much of America's virgin forest.

    The yard, like all the surrounding yards, is plain, boring grass. But then she discovers a wildflower. Soon she’s got her own little wildflower preserve, carefully protected from Dad’s lawn mower. She adds a tree . . . a pond . . . birdhouses . . .she’s brought a meadow to Meadowview Street! Time brings more little meadows, as the neighbors see how beautiful and alive a yard can be. An ideal choice for classroom reading and sharing and for inspiring the creation of green corridors—safe havens for migrating birds and butterflies—at home. For fans of Peter Brown's The Curious Garden, Joanna Gaines's We Are the Gardeners, and Christie Matheson's Tap the Magic Tree.“This lovely picture book offers children a quiet approach to embracing the natural world.”—School Library Journal, starred review “Gentle persuasion for the naturalist in everyone.”—Kirkus Reviews

    Culled from dozens of respected books from Stackpole, the industry's leader in outdoor adventure, this massive collection of wilderness know-how leaves absolutely nothing to chance when it comes to surviving and thriving in the wilderness—and appreciating every minute of it. Topics include Building Outdoor Shelter, Tracking Animals, Winter Camping, Tying Knots, Orienteering, Reading the Weather, Identifying Edible Plants and Berries, Surviving in the Desert, Bird Watching, Fishing and Ice Fishing, Hunting and Trapping, Canoeing, Kayaking, and White Water Rafting, First Aid, Wild Animals, Cookery, and much more. Useful illustrations and photos throughout make it easy to browse and use. With contributions by the experts at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) as well as the editors of Stackpole's Discover Nature series, Survival Wisdom & Know-How is the definitive, must-have reference for the great outdoors.

    Filled with friendly, industrious bees and equally inventive bugs, this is a book that brings the lovely particularity of life in Japan––marked by food and nature––to young readers here.Born in Tokyo, Japan, Kaya Doi graduated with a degree in design from Tokyo Zokei University. She got her start in picture books by attending the Atosaki Juku Workshop, held at a Tokyo bookshop specializing in children's books. Since then she has created many books featuring her delicate color-pencil drawings. She lives in Chiba Prefecture and maintains a strong interest in environmental and animal welfare issues.

    "Native Trees of the Southeast" is a practical, compact field guide for the identification of the more than 225 trees native to the region, from the Carolinas and eastern Tennessee south through Georgia into northern Florida and west through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas into eastern Texas. For confident identification, nearly 600 photographs, close to 500 of them in color, illustrate leaves, flowers and fruits or cones, bark, and twigs with buds. Full descriptions are accompanied by keys for plants in both summer and winter condition, as well as over 200 range maps. Crucial differences between plants that may be mistaken for each other are discussed and notes on the uses of the trees in horticulture, forestry, and for wildlife are included.

    This is because almost 70 percent of Earth's surface is covered with water. Earth is the only planet with liquid water --- and therefore the only planet that can support life. All water is connected. Every raindrop, lake, underground river and glacier is part of a single global well. Water has the power to change everything --- a single splash can sprout a seed, quench a thirst, provide a habitat, generate energy and sustain life. How we treat the water in the well will affect every species on the planet, now and for years to come. One Well shows how every one of us has the power to conserve and protect our global well. One Well is part of CitizenKid: A collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens.

    His journeys are as intellectual and spiritual as they are physical, and we are by his side, in his head." So wrote Robin Russin for the LA Times about Mark Jenkins’s last book, The Hard Way.In A Man’s Life, Jenkins walks across northern Afghanistan, retracing the ancient route of Marco Polo; clandestinely enters northern Burma, slipping along the forgotten Burma Road; climbs a new route in Uganda’s Mountains of the Moon; bicycles across Lithuania with a long-lost friend; canoes through Surinam with the Maroons, descendants of escaped slaves. Described by critic Bill Berkeley as having a "Whitmanesque openness to experience," Jenkins’s desire to explore and understand the world has pushed him to extremes most of us cannot imagine—being arrested in a dozen different countries from Tibet to Tajikistan, breaking a dozen bones, climbing inside glaciers in Iceland, narrowly escaping falling glaciers on Mont Blanc. Through his willingness to put himself out there, Jenkins captures profound glimpses of our chaotic, contradictory, ever-morphing world.A Man’s Life shares how these experiences change Jenkins from a reckless young globetrotter to a mature, contemplative family man who seeks adventure because he viscerally must, and yet is constantly aware of the dangers of the world and its cool-faced indifference to one man’s life. Each departure from home could be permanent and each homecoming is layered with pathos—his latest journey might have cost him his daughter’s first steps or his wife’s birthday. The tales in A Man’s Life explore the razor’s edge between life and death, as well as the nature of love and friendship, failure and redemption. Together, they unite Jenkins’s stunning travels with his lucid contemplations on the meaning of it all.Praised by Richard Bernstein in The New York Times for being able to "[transform] a common sight into a moment of pure magic" and by Amanda Heller in the Boston Globe as "blessed with a rare combination of physical and intellectual grace … he makes us understand what pushes the man who pushes the envelope," Jenkins is one of the rare writers who channels action-packed adventure into lyrical, evocative storytelling.

    And once you're on the trail, you'll enjoy the sidebars on flora and fauna, and historical highlights that accompany many of the routes.There is a full-color front map and then two-color section maps, along with clear driving directions to the trail head, options for nearby camping, ratings for trail difficulty and photos of what you'll see on your hike. Hikes are typically less than 12 miles round trip. The Day Hiking series guidebooks are the most comprehensive and attractive trail guides

    They are very colorful; oranges, yellows, greens, blacks and whites adorn trees, bedrock and even gravestones. This field guide spotlights 120 species, shown in color photos with natural history text.

    Thomas Bewick's History of British Birds marked the moment, the first "field guide" for ordinary people, illustrated with woodcuts of astonishing accuracy and beauty. But his work was far more than a mere guide, for in the vivid vignettes scattered through the book, Bewick captured the vanishing world of rural English life.In this superb biography, Jenny Uglow tells the story of the farmer's son from Tyneside who influenced book illustration for a century to come. It is a story of violent change, radical politics, lost ways of life, and the beauty of the wild -- a journey to the beginning of our lasting obsession with the natural world.

    And once you're on the trail, you'll enjoy the sidebars on flora and fauna, and historical highlights that accompany many of the routes. There is a full-color front map and then two-color section maps, along with clear driving directions to the trail head, options for nearby camping, ratings for trail difficulty and photos of what you'll see on your hike. Hikes are typically less than 12 miles round trip. The Day Hiking series guidebooks are the most comprehensive and attractive trail guides available for Washington state. **Mountaineers Books designates 1 percent of the sales of select guidebooks in our Day Hiking series toward volunteer trail maintenance. Since launching this program, we've contributed more than $14,000 toward improving trails. For this book, our 1 percent of sales is going to Washington Trails Association (WTA). WTA hosts more than 750 work parties throughout Washington's Cascades and Olympics each year, with volunteers clearing downed logs after spring snowmelt, cutting away brush, retreading worn stretches of trail, and building bridges and turnpikes. Their efforts are essential to the land managers who maintain thousands of acres on shoestring budgets.

    Environmental journalist Mark Harris examines this new green burial underground, leading you into natural cemeteries and domestic graveyards, taking you aboard boats from which ashes and memorial "reef balls" are cast into the sea. He follows a family that conducts a home funeral, one that delivers a loved one to the crematory, and another that hires a carpenter to build a pine coffin.In the morbidly fascinating tradition of "Stiff, Grave Matters" details the embalming process and the environmental aftermath of the standard funeral. Harris also traces the history of burial in America, from frontier cemeteries to the billion-dollar business it is today, reporting on real families who opted for more simple, natural returns.For readers who want to follow the examples of these families and, literally, give back from the grave, appendices detail everything you need to know, from exact costs and laws to natural burial providers and their contact information.

    This large-format 500-plus-page book profiles more than 1,500 species from every region of the world. In addition to more than 3,500 photographs, the pictorial contains 2,000 maps and other illustrations. An authoritative text provides taxonomic details, notes on bird behavior, and information on birdwatching locales. An audio CD of bird songs and calls supplements this professional-quality package.

    Gripping accounts of all known fatal mishaps in America's first protected land of scenic wonders

    For these beginning and intermediate enthusiasts, National Geographic Birding Essentials is a must. Comprehensive and authoritative, yet engaging and user-friendly, it teaches readers how to begin and improve their birding... what to look and listen for... and how to make sense of what they see and hear. A unique visual component shows actual field guide pages and how to read them, while another compares the same bird in photography versus artwork and explains how to use both for species identification. National Geographic's quality photography is a major highlight of the book, supplemented by pencil drawings and full-color maps to give the novice and intermediate birder a full range of visual information.Field Ornithologists Jonathan Alderfer and Jon Dunn have crafted a masterful guide, striking just the right balance of practical information and reader-friendly tone. Chapters discuss the pleasures of birding, equipment needed, how to read range maps, birds' physical features, how to identify birds, identification challenges, bird classification and suggested books and journals for building a fine birding library.National Geographic has established a stellar reputation among birders with our blockbuster Field Guide to the Birds of North America. The tradition continues as we serve an entry-level market that continually needs the helpful, up-to-the-minute information found in National Geographic Birding Essentials.

    'The Shorebird Guide' demonstrates how birders of all levels can identify Nearctic waders quickly and accurately.

    More than 20 hikes, ranging from easy to difficult, are covered in depth, with trail descriptions, elevation charts, maps, and photos. Chapters on history, geology, ecology, and wildlife are included along with essential information on lodging, camping, outdoor adventures, and popular park activities in Yosemite Valley, Tuolumne Meadows, Wawona, and Hetch Hetchy. From the world-famous views of cliffs, waterfalls, polished granite domes, and giant sequoia groves to fine dining at the High Sierra Camp, this comprehensive travel companion allows anyone to access this fascinating park.

    Whether he's escaping the personalvendetta of a bull named Killer (I was a matador without a cape),entangled with a rabid cow, chasing a stallion (well, not quite,anymore...) through downtown Bangor, performing heart surgery in anarena, or having a close encounter?while airborne?with a B-52 bomber,this vet regards it all as part of a (long) working day.

    The biological world under our toes is often unexplored and unappreciated, yet it teems with life. In one square meter of earth, there lives trillions of bacteria, millions of nematodes, hundreds of thousands of mites, thousands of insects and worms, and hundreds of snails and slugs. But because of their location and size, many of these creatures are as unfamiliar and bizarre to us as anything found at the bottom of the ocean.Lavishly illustrated with nearly three hundred color illustrations and masterfully-rendered black and white drawings throughout, Life in the Soil invites naturalists and gardeners alike to dig in and discover the diverse community of creatures living in the dirt below us.  Biologist and acclaimed natural history artist James B. Nardi begins with an introduction to soil ecosystems, revealing the unseen labors of underground organisms maintaining the rich fertility of the earth as they recycle nutrients between the living and mineral worlds. He then introduces readers to a dazzling array of creatures: wolf spiders with glowing red eyes, snails with 120 rows of teeth, and 10,000-year-old fungi, among others. Organized by taxon, Life in the Soil covers everything from slime molds and roundworms to woodlice and dung beetles, as well as vertebrates from salamanders to shrews. The book ultimately explores the crucial role of soil ecosystems in conserving the worlds above and below ground.A unique and illustrative introduction to the many unheralded creatures that inhabit our soils and shape our environment aboveground, Life in the Soil will inform and enrich the naturalist in all of us.

    This vivid collection of photographs with accompanying DVD from underwater photography collective Scubazoo, reveals reefs and the thousands of unique and valuable plants that inhabit them as they ve never been seen before!

    It's the most miraculous substance on earth, responsible for our food, our weather, our water, and our ability to hear. In this exuberant book, gifted science writer Gabrielle Walker peels back the layers of our atmosphere with the stories of the people who uncovered its secrets: - A flamboyant Renaissance Italian discovers how heavy our air really is: The air filling Carnegie Hall, for example, weighs seventy thousand pounds. - A one-eyed barnstorming pilot finds a set of winds that constantly blow five miles above our heads. - An impoverished American farmer figures out why hurricanes move in a circle by carving equations with his pitchfork on a barn door. - A well-meaning inventor nearly destroys the ozone layer. - A reclusive mathematical genius predicts, thirty years before he's proved right, that the sky contains a layer of floating metal fed by the glowing tails of shooting stars.

    Structured according to the seasonal units of an ancient Chinese almanac, East Wind Melts the Ice is made up of 72 short chapters that can be read straight through or dipped into at random. In the essays, Dalby transports us from her Berkeley garden to the streets of Kyoto, to Imperial China, to the sea cliffs of Northern California, and to points beyond. Throughout these journeys, Dalby weaves her memories of living in Japan and becoming the first and only non-Japanese geisha, her observations on the recurring phenomena of the natural world, and meditations on the cultural aesthetics of Japan, China, and California. She illuminates everyday life as well, in stories of keeping a pet butterfly, roasting rice cakes with her children, watching whales, and pampering worms to make compost. In the manner of the Japanese personal poetic essay, this vibrant work comprises 72 windows on a life lived between cultures, and the result is a wonderfully engaging read.

    Corn Snakes in Captivity by Don SoderbergCorn Snakes are the ultimate success story in the captive bred reptile industry.  They have been bred in ever-increasing numbers since the late 1960s and are available to hobbyists in a myriad of colors and patterns. Every year, new and exciting morphs are produced and the possibilities appear to be endless.  Corn Snakes not only provide keepers with exciting genetics projects, but they are the most gentle and easy to handle of all pet snakes. In Corn Snakes in Captivity, Don Soderberg of South Mountain Reptiles provides readers with an inspiring book for the keepers of these fascinating pets.  The genus Pantherophis has been his passion for over twenty-five years.  He is known worldwide as a Corn Snake specialist who is detail-oriented and passionate about these wonderful snakes.

    It will help you to create beautiful, productive, healthy gardens and have fun doing it. Writer, educator, and broadcaster Doug Welsh gives a wealth of practical gardening advice in this book. Encouraging us to think like a plant,” Welsh holds pruning school in February, conducts a lawn clinic in April, builds a perennial garden in September, and shows us how to grow fresh vegetables for Thanksgiving. Yet this barely scratches the surface of all that is offered in this comprehensive, fun-to-use guide. With colorful and instructive illustrations and helpful information boxes, plant lists, charts, sidebars, and tips, the book is written in the engaging, conversational style that anyone who has listened to Welsh’s radio show will recognize. Whether your passion is roses or green beans, wildflowers or trees, reading this book is like having a personal garden consultant and friend at your side. Doug Welsh’s Texas Garden Almanac will inspire you throughout the year and make you more eager than ever to get out into your garden.

    The loudmouths of the raptor world, they peep, trill, toot, bark, growl, shriek, whistle, chittle, whoop, chuckle, boom, and buzz. Indeed, very few actually "hoot." They have become the stuff of lore and legend—from the Roman myth that an owl foot could reveal secrets to the First Nations belief that an owl feather could give a newborn better night vision. But the truth about owls is much more exciting.In this gorgeous book, celebrated natural history writer and wildlife photographer Wayne Lynch reveals the secrets of these elusive species with stunning photographs, personal anecdotes, and accessible science. The photos alone are masterpieces. Unlike most published owl photos, which are portraits of birds in captivity, the vast majority of these were taken in the wild—a product of the author-photographer's incredible knowledge and patience.Lynch complements the photos with a wealth of facts about anatomy, habitat, diet, and family life. For each of the nineteen species that inhabit Canada and the United States, he provides a range map and a brief discussion of its distribution, population size, and status. Lynch debunks myths about owls' "supernatural" powers of sight and hearing, discusses courtship rituals, and offers personal tips for finding owls in the wild.From the great horned to the tiny elf owl, this amazing volume captures the beauty and mystery of these charismatic birds of prey.

    This definitive volume provides a complete overview of suborder Blattaria, highlighting the diversity of these amazing insects in their natural environments. Beginning with a foreword by E. O. Wilson, the book explores the fascinating natural history and behavior of cockroaches, describing their various colors, sizes, and shapes, as well as how they move on land, in water, and through the air. In addition to habitat use, diet, reproduction, and behavior, Cockroaches covers aspects of cockroach biology, such as the relationship between cockroaches and microbes, termites as social cockroaches, and the ecological impact of the suborder.With over 100 illustrations, an expanded glossary, and an invaluable set of references, this work is destined to become the classic book on the Blattaria. Students and research entomologists can mine each chapter for new ideas, new perspectives, and new directions for future study.

    Often on these walks of meditation and reflection, he finds himself making notes for poems. Some years he has accomplished as many as fifteen or twenty poems from those walks, while in other years only half a dozen. The resultant work has been published in collections of Sabbath Poems, a precursor to which was The Window Poems.The Window Poems were composed while Berry looked out of the multi-paned window of his writing studio, “The Long-Legged House.” The house is near the renovated farmhouse where Berry and his wife raised their children and continue to live. These poems contemplate Berry's personal life as much as they ponder the seasons he witnesses through the window. This beautiful book was first designed, composed, and printed on a Washington handpress by Bob Barris, at the Press on Scroll Road, with wood engravings by Wesley Bates. Including an introduction by James Baker Hall, this early sequence of poems signals and celebrates the groundwork of Berry's life.

    Earth has survived four and a half billion years of being 'stirred from below and bombarded from above' but at the start of the twenty-first century our planet faces new threats, brought about by human actions. It is the perfect time to look back on an extraordinary life and give Earth a thorough health-check. Each chapter focuses on one of Earth's most powerful forces - meteor impacts, plate tectonics, the ocean, atmosphere and ice - and explores their central role in keeping Earth alive.These are the forces that drive our planet and shape its destiny. We discover how a devastating cosmic impact blasted a huge chunk of Earth into space to form the Moon, how Earth nearly froze to death when it was completely encased in ice for millions of years, and how Earth's remarkable heat engine, its molten core, saved the day. Earth has been able to sustain complex life thanks to an extraordinary number of lucky breaks and coincidences. Scientists predict that one day it will die as the Sun heats up and expands. But are we hastening its end through our actions? This lavishly illustrated book will tell the epic story of the birth, life and future of our amazing planet.

    A powerful visual tool building on Joanna Macy’s book Coming Back to Life, this valuable resource is a light in the political darkness of our time. The lively, personal presentation of Joanna’s work will appeal to workshop facilitators and participants alike, as well as anyone with an interest in personal transformation.Joanna Macy is an eco-philosopher, scholar, teacher, activist, and the author of seven previous books.

    The origins of the Earth are discussed, including the mechanism of tectonics—the force driving the movement of the continents. Over time, these tectonic forces thrust up mountains, build continents, and consume entire oceans. Lands meet and separate and the rocks that make up this planet are transformed from one landform to another. Following on from tectonics is a journey through the Earth’s geological history, presenting each geological time period since its formation. Learn how the Earth formed and how the continents and oceans have been continually transformed from continent to supercontinent and back. Discover how the underlying geological process shaped not only the landforms of the planet but the living things that inhabit it and their evolution. Geologica presents an in-depth insight into the different types of landscapes. Volcanoes, caves, deserts, glaciers, and deltas are explored in relation to their geological heritage. How each type of landform is created is revealed, followed by an exploratory trip into the most extraordinary examples found in all parts of the world. Mountain ranges, rift valleys, archipelagos, deltas, and geysers—and the geological processes that created them—are brought to life through pictures and mapping. Featuring over 700 color photographs of some of the world’s most impressive land-scapes, and detailed world and regional maps, Geologica is a useful resource for the student and an ideal reference book for the home library.

    Enchanted, he stayed for three months, then returned to live there in 1978, undertaking a lifelong career as a naturalist and photographer driven by a deep commitment to and curiosity about the region. Killed by a bear while traveling in Russia in 1996, he is still widely regarded as the preeminent photographer of the Alaskan wilderness for his breathtakingly beautiful photographs, at once majestic and intimate. Hoshino's Alaska celebrates his life and work by collecting nearly 150 of his bestimages, along with insightful excerpts from his writings, and essays by his close friend and translator Karen Colligan-Taylor and by author and photographer Lynn Schoolerrevealing both the heart of Alaska and of the man behind the lens.

    Most of the chapters were taken from the zine Strong Hearts, which Rod wrote while in prison from 1997-1999.For over 20 years, Rod Coronado has been at the forefront of the radical ecological and animal rights movements. A loving father and compassionate warrior, he has inspired countless numbers of young radicals and scared the crap out of dozens of corporations. As a member of the Pascua Yaqui Nation, Rod has made clear the links between the current destruction of the planet and the ongoing genocide perpetrated against native peoples. All proceeds from this sale of this collection go to Rod's legal defense."As Earth warriors, we choose to be participants in the ancient battle between good and evil. On our side stand the waters and wind, and all things wild and of the Earth. On the other side, consumed with greed and in persuit of power, control and money, stand all the dark forces that lay waste to Her." - Rod Coronado"[Rod Coronado is] a danger to the community... I know he wasn't tried here for being a violent anarchist. This trial isn't about Rod Coronado being a violent terrorist, but he is one." - Assistant U.S. Attorney Wallace Kleindienst

    The Collection s exquisite natural history artworks in Amazing Rare Things is supplemented by an introduction and commentary from Sir David Attenborough. This exploration of the natural world from the late fifteenth century to the early eighteenth century represents a period when European knowledge of the world was transformed by voyages of discovery to the farthest reaches of Africa, Asia, America, and beyond. Included are works by Leonardo da Vinci and other foremost artists and collectors of their time who embraced the natural riches of their ever-expanding world and whose legacies help us better understand today our continuing relationship with the natural world.

    Mangelsen takes the reader on a visual odyssey, from the wildebeest migration on the plains of the Serengeti to the penguins of Antarctica, from the grizzlies of Alaska to the frozen landscape of polar bears on Hudson Bay. Featuring excerpts from his journals detailing his experiences in the field, this book offers an intimate look into the natural world that has inspired artists, conservationists, and adventurers for centuries.With a foreword written by renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, this book contains Mangelsen's selection of 120 of his most important panoramic images out of a library of more than 20,000. A quiet call to action, an inventory of our planet as it battles climate change, and a celebration of wildness and its intrinsic value, The Natural World is a record of Earth's last great locales, one that will inspire present and future generations with the message that what we have can, and must, be saved.

    These comprehensive guides contain more than 350 full-color, beautifully detailed illustrations that provide a visual catalog of the many dinosaurs that once roamed the Earth.

    The chapters forming the bulk of this report describe scientists assessment of the state-of-knowledge in their respective fields. The report will be highly relevant as Governments and industry consider their options for moving forward together to address the challenge of climate change. (Includes CD-ROM)

    Through this collection of delightful essays and beautiful illustrations, she shares with her readers the boundless joys of a country garden. Lovejoy has chosen to focus on animal life in the garden, including hummingbirds, caterpillars, and dragonflies, but her informative and witty prose also covers traditional plant care. The very titles of her sketches convey pleasure in the vibrant country landscape and the life that teems within it: “The Bumble Bee Rumba,” “Faeries in the Fuschias (sphinx moths),” “Holiday Feasts for the Birds and the Beasts,” and “Conversations with Sunflowers.” This compilation truly is—to borrow another of her titles—“Something to Crow About.”

    Can you figure out who's who?Watercolor and collage illustrations depict close-up scenes of an egg or eggs about to hatch. The text hints at what the eggs contain: Hidden in a rock cave/ Deep beneath the ocean waves/ Their mother wraps her long arms around/ To keep these eggs safe and sound. The observant young nature lover will find a visual clue of what animal the mother might be. The next spread provides the answer-in this case, it's an octopus. The second spread also provides fascinating facts about the species.The book features a number of species ranging from spiders to penguins to octopuses, and the back matter provides more information about the actual size of various eggs and how they develop.

    Now learn to identify them. This famous field guide, written by Don Mammoser with Stan Tekiela, features 200 of Colorado's wildflowers organized by color. (When you see a purple flower, simply turn to the purple section of the book.) Full-page photographs correspond with full-page species details, presenting the information that's critical to accurate identification in an easy-to-read format. Naturalist notes and gee-whiz facts further enhance your knowledge, so wildflower identification has never been easier!

    It comprises all the winning and commended photographs from the 2007 Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition - the most prestigious event of its kind in the world - selected by an international panel of judges out of 32,300 entries from 78 countries.The range of subjects and styles is diverse - from abstract nature images to animal behaviour and portraits to environmental reportage. Together they celebrate the splendour, drama and variety of life on Earth. Each is accompanied by a memorable caption that tells the story of how and why the shot was taken.

    Describes nearly the resident and migrant British and Irish species of macro-moth and illustrates with colour artworks by Richard Lewington, showing the moths in their natural resting postures.

    Many of the insects' colors are brilliant and jewellike, and they are displayed beautifully here. This book and accompanying CD provide a unique doorway to enjoyment of the insect concerts and solos that dominate our natural soundscape during the summer and autumn. The text includes information on the natural history of insects, identification tips, and an appreciation of insect song. A seventy-minute audio CD features high-quality recordings of the songs of all species, track-keyed to the information presented in the text.

    After more than a century of exploration, the Morrison continues to yield new discoveries about a time so different from our own that it almost seems imaginary. Aimed at the general reader, Jurassic West tells the story of the life of this ancient world as scientists have so far been able to reconstruct it. The book recounts the discovery of many important Late Jurassic dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus, Allosaurus, and Stegosaurus. But dinosaurs comprise barely a third of the more than 90 types of vertebrates known from the Formation, which include crocodiles and turtles, frogs and salamanders, dinosaurs and mammals, clams and snails, and ginkgoes, ferns, and conifers.

    Each species is covered in detail with information on how to identify, whether from a leaf, twig, bark or whole tree, plus extra information on where the tree grows (including a map), how high they grow, what uses the tree is used for and its unique history.Every species is also comprehensively illustrated with photographs of every useful feature – bark, leaf, seed, flower, twig and whole tree.Sample identification section:Silver Birch Betula pendula (Betulaceae) height to 26mA slender, fast-growing deciduous tree with a narrow, tapering crown when young and growing vigorously. Older trees acquire a weeping habit, especially if growing in an open, uncrowded situation.

    Award-winning nature photographer Stan Tekiela has captured the essence of what makes eagles compelling.

    This compelling work paints an unforgettable portrait not only of life on the inside?, but of our views of the natural world and our place in it.

    But where to begin? Using author Jordan Summers' careful, hiking-based research, this useful guide introduces area residents and visitors to an array of the best day-hikes — from casual riverside nature walks to rugged foothill treks — within roughly an hour’s drive of the city. The book's detailed descriptions help hikers choose routes with concise, at-a-glance information that highlights details such as location, access, directions, distances, and scenery. There's also preparation advice to help hikers get the most from each outing. Extensive and precise maps, descriptive text, a wealth of black-and-white photos, and trailhead coordinates guide hikers on their way and keep them on-route.

    Drawing from the collection of the world-renowned Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, this stunning book features a sleek, built-in digital audio player that showcases each bird's song, as well as illustrated portraits and brief descriptions emphasizing the exceptional vocalizations. From the brilliantly plumed Lilac-breasted Roller in Africa to the flamboyant North American Roseate Spoonbill to Asia's Red Avadavat, Bird Songs from Around the World combines approachable information, beautiful art, and high-quality sound in a distinctive, elegant package.Listen hereWhite Bellbird (South America)Spot-breasted Laughingthrush (Asia)Greater Potoo (North America)

    Organized for easy use in the field, this abundantly illustrated guide, with more than 400 color photographs, is the first to cover Georgia's dragonflies and damselflies (odonates). It details more than 150 species--species that are also the ones most likely to be seen throughout the U.S. Southeast north of Florida.The guide first explains dragonfly and damselfly body parts, taxonomy, life cycles, and habitats; discusses conservation issues; and offers tips on observing and photographing odonates. Later chapters, organized according to the ten odonate families, such as spreadwings, darners, spiketails, and emeralds, provide general family information followed by accounts of individual species. The beautifully illustrated species accounts describe general appearance and key identification features, distribution, habitats, life history and behavior, and conservation. Supplementary materials include suggestions for the best places to watch odonates in Georgia, a comparative listing of species' level of endangerment, and the date range during which each species can be seen.Odonates are easy to find and observe, and because they display an astounding variety of colors, sizes, and behaviors, they are popular with birders, butterfly watchers, and other nature enthusiasts. This guide will be welcomed by everyone who wants to learn about odonates and their habitats and what can be done to help protect them.Included in species accounts:beautiful, detailed photos that show odonates from angles important to determining species, sex, or agecommon and scientific namesimportant features for field identification, with tips on distinguishing between similar-looking speciestypical behavior of the species, including breeding and feeding habitsoccasional commentary on taxonomy or other notable featurescolorful quick guide, with a range map, incidence information, sizing graphics, and flight period informationAdditional features:listing of twenty ideal sites around the state for odonate watchingnotes on infrequently sighted speciesratings for each odonate's conservation status, from most critically imperiled to most stable specieschronological listing of flight dateslisting of additional resources: books, organizations, Web sites, and equipment suppliersglossary and index

    Features over 75 of the best locales for exploring and collecting rocks, minerals or fossils. Sites are presented with detailed directions, site maps, GPS readings, descriptive text and numerous black and white photos. A handy mineral locator index, glossary, lists of rock clubs and a full-color photo insert of rock fossil and mineral specimens are included to enhance the collecting experience.

    Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

    Carbon Detox explains the changes each of us can make at home, at work and in every aspect of our lives. From summer heat waves to rising sea levels, climate change affects us all. The main cause is carbon dioxide and our carbon emissions are growing year by year at a frightening rate. However, there is hope. The changes we make now can slow the effects of climate change and preserve the planet for future generations. George Marshall shows you how to carbon audit your life and start reducing your impact today. He also explains how to overcome psychological blocks such as scepticism, fear and feelings of insignificance. This book includes advice on low carbon transport options and holidays and how to create an energy-efficient home. With the help of Carbon Detox you will be able to make a real difference.

    Professor of ichthyology at Colorado State University, Behnke is our nation’s pre-eminent authority on trout biology, as well as a conservationist and superb fisherman. Known as “The Trout Doctor,” Behnke writes about topics such as native species introductions, genetic markers, endangered species, improving habitats, angling tips, and improved conservation in the wake of the efforts of Trout Unlimited. Illustrated with full-color images throughout by world-renowned fish artist Joseph Tomelleri, this book is the collection of Behnke’s best columns and most meaningful insights about trout, the environment, and the future of fishing. The perfect gift for anglers everywhere.Robert Behnke is professor emeritus at Colorado State University.

    Aimed at beginners and veteran gardeners alike, this book is designed to help Wisconsin gardeners find, plant, and maintain the best native species for their specific sites, however modest or lavish. Gardening with native plants is an ever-more popular practice—and for good reason.  Naturally suited to a region’s climate and soil, native plants tend to thrive, and to reflect a true “fit” with the environment. The Native Plant Profiles section offers comprehensive descriptions of some 600 species of flowers and groundcovers, trees, shrubs, vines, evergreens, grasses, and ferns native to Wisconsin, as well as information on planting, maintenance, and landscape uses for each plant.With advice on the process of designing a natural garden that fits each lifestyle and family, the book will guide readers to the level of native plant landscaping that is just right for them.

    Here are the volcanic mountains and mysterious fossils, vanilla-scented ponderosa pines, painted desert colors, wild creatures large and small, rugged wildflowers, remote outposts, and rich history reaching back to prehistoric times. Your expert guide is Alan D. St. John, naturalist, photographer, native Oregonian, and lifetime dry-side explorer who shares it all, including — and this is generous indeed — some of his own little-known favorite places. Also a broad field guide to eastern Oregon, this treasure of a book shows the region's flora and fauna and dramatic geology in gorgeous photographs.

    Addressing everything from how an elephant's trunk works to why the blue whale is not a fish, this question-and-answer guide includes more than 700 color photographs and a detailed section on tracks and signs, making it a must-have for anyone wanting to know about the mammals of the bush region.

    Each entry has its own full color identification photograph, an artwork reconstruction showing just what the fossilized plant or animal may have looked like and a factfile of essential information.

    Wherever there is greenery, photosynthesis isworking to make oxygen, release energy, and create living matter from the raw material of sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Without photosynthesis, there would be an empty world, an empty sky, and a sun that does nothing more than warm the rocks and reflect off the sea. With photosynthesis, we have a living world with three billion years of sunlight-fed history to relish.Eating the Sun is a bottom-up account of our planet, a celebration of how the smallest things, enzymes and pigments, influence the largest things­­—the oceans, the rainforests, and the fossil fuel economy. From the physics, chemistry, and cellular biology that make photosynthesis possible, to the quirky and competitive scientists who first discovered the beautifully honed mechanisms of photosynthesis, to the modern energy crisis we face today, Oliver Morton offers a complete biography of the earth through the lens of this mundane and most important of processes.More than this, Eating the Sun is a call to arms. Only by understanding photosynthesis and the flows of energy it causes can we hope to understand the depth and subtlety of the current crisis in the planet's climate. What's more, nature's greatest energy technology may yet inspire the breakthroughs we need to flourish without such climatic chaos in the century to come.Entertaining, thought-provoking, and deeply illuminating, Eating the Sun reveals that photosynthesis is not only the key to humanity's history; it is also vital to confronting and understanding contemporary realities like climate change and the global food shortage. This book will give you a new and perhaps troubling way of seeing the world, but it also explains how we can change our situation—for the better or the worse.

    As a special bonus, this edition includes a print of one of Ansel Adams finest scenic photos suitable for framing.Hachette Book Group USA

    Cynthia Barnett does it by telling us the stories of the amazing personalities behind our water wars, the stunning contradictions that allow the wettest state to have the most watered lawns, and the thorough research that makes her conclusions inescapable. Barnett has established herself as one of Florida’s best journalists and Mirage is a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of the state.”—Mary Ellen Klas, Capital Bureau Chief, Miami Herald “Mirage is the finest general study to date of the freshwater-supply crisis in Florida. Well-meaning villains abound in Cynthia Barnett’s story, but so too do heroes, such as Arthur R. Marshall Jr., Nathaniel Reed, and Marjorie Harris Carr. The author’s research is as thorough as her prose is graceful. Drinking water is the new oil. Get used to it.”—Michael Gannon, Distinguished Professor of history, University of Florida, and author of Florida: A Short History “With lively prose and a journalist’s eye for a good story, Cynthia Barnett offers a sobering account of water scarcity problems facing Florida—one of our wettest states—and the rest of the East Coast. Drawing on lessons learned from the American West, Mirage uses the lens of cultural attitudes about water use and misuse to plead for reform. Sure to engage and fascinate as it informs.”—Robert Glennon, Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of Arizona, and author of Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America’s Fresh Waters Part investigative journalism, part environmental history, Mirage reveals how the eastern half of the nation—historically so wet that early settlers predicted it would never even need irrigation—has squandered so much of its abundant freshwater that it now faces shortages and conflicts once unique to the arid West. Florida’s parched swamps and supersized residential developments set the stage in the first book to call attention to the steady disappearance of freshwater in the American East, from water-diversion threats in the Great Lakes to tapped-out freshwater aquifers along the Atlantic seaboard. Told through a colorful cast of characters including Walt Disney, Jeb Bush and Texas oilman Boone Pickens, Mirage ferries the reader through the key water-supply issues facing America and the globe: water wars, the politics of development, inequities in the price of water, the bottled-water industry, privatization, and new-water-supply schemes. From its calamitous opening scene of a sinkhole swallowing a house in Florida to its concluding meditation on the relationship between water and the American character, Mirage is a compelling and timely portrait of the use and abuse of freshwater in an era of rapidly vanishing natural resources.

     Trout Eyes is a love letter to the fish we pursue and insects they eat and the waters in which they live.

    Raptors in Captivity is the recommended US Fish & Wildlife Service 'bible' for the care and keeping of raptors in captivity -- an incredible endorsement! If you're a zoo, rehab center or a falconer, here are the guidelines for safely caring for raptors -- and complying with permits.Covers a range of topics from making the decision to keep raptors and choosing suitable species, to housing and transportation, diet, medical care, equipment, training, and recovering a lost bird.

    This one-stop resource for landscape quilting features 16 upscale step-by-step projects, and 20 partial projects; plus tips, tricks and techniques from the authors--including foremost sewing expert Nancy Zieman. With prints and supplies available at chains and independent shops, all you need is this book and your own creative spirit.

    Judith Larner Lowry, winner of the prestigious John Burroughs award, here builds on themes from her best-selling Gardening with a Wild Heart, which introduced restoration gardening as a new way of thinking about land and people. Drawing on her experiences in her own garden, Lowry offers guidance on how to plan a garden with birds, plants, and insects in mind; how to shape it with trees and shrubs, paths and trails, ponds, and other features; and how to cultivate, maintain, and harvest seeds and food from a diverse array of native annuals and perennials. Working in passionate collaboration with the scrub jays, quail, ants, and deer who visit her garden, and inspired by other gardeners, including some of the women pioneers of native plant horticulture, Lowry shares the delights of creating site-specific, ever-changing gardens that can help us better understand our place in the natural world.

    This concise, easy-to-use, authoritative identification guide introduces the fascinating and diverse ant fauna of the United States and Canada. It features the first illustrated key to North American ant genera, discusses distribution patterns, explores ant ecology and natural history, and includes a list of all currently recognized ant species in this large region. * New keys to the 73 North American ant genera illustrated with 250 line drawings ensure accurate identification * 180 color images show the head and profile of each genus and important species groups * Includes a glossary of important terms

    Some 300 plants and 30 animals (marine molluscs and scale insects) are illustrated and discussed by the author, whose passion for natural dyes, with their colors of unequalled richness and subtlety, has taken her across the globe in search of dye sources and dyers. Botanical and zoological details are given for each source and chemical structures for each dye. Dyes employed by different civilizations are illustrated and relevant historical recipes and detailed descriptions of dyeing-processes by traditional dyers are quoted and explained in the light of modern science. Other current uses of such colorants, such as in medicine, and as colorants for food and cosmetics, are also noted. Although natural dyes have been largely replaced by synthetic dyes, increasing worldwide awareness of the harmful consequences of the pollution resulting from the production and use of some synthetic colorants has led to a significant revival and renewed interest in natural colorants. As potential renewable resources, natural dyes are an integral part of the major issue of our time: sustainable development. The aim of this book is to provide a scientific background for this important debate."

    +`me'S-pace, doc. 001.b is book 1, volume 2 of a wider, ongoing project known as For Love Alone Christina'S-tead, a poetic enquiry into the current state of the English tongue. In a time when many are questioning if we still need formalism and feminism, Wertheim's +`me'S-pace, doc. 001.b is a spirited and fun defense of both. Written in part as a didactic instructional manual that cannot keep itself from constantly going astray into beautiful and challenging language play, this is a book that asks crucial questions and reconfigures recent histories. It is essential for its arguments. But even more, it is fun to read for its word play--Juliana Spahr. Introduction by Dodie Bellamy and art by Lisa Darms.

    It then explains how modern science has refocused its attention on the healing properties of mushrooms and, along the way, discovered wonderful new properties. Included are chapters that examine the folklore, health benefits, and culinary uses of mushrooms, including detailed instructions for buying, storing, and using eight major varieties of this marvelous medicinal.

    Whether you have a half acre of land in the country or a tiny patch of grass in the city, whether you’re an experienced digger or you’ve never held a trowel, Whiteside offers forty-one versatile projects that will make anyone into a proud gardener. In The Way We Garden Now, Whiteside, known as House Beautiful’s Garden Goddess, tackles every aspect of creating beautiful and personal gardens, from making a new bed to adding decorative details. Always down-to-earth, Whiteside believes that “fretting over having a perfect garden is not fun, but getting out there and accomplishing basic garden goals will always leave you happily fulfilled.” To that end, she shows how to create the garden that’s just right for you by mixing and matching projects according to your skill level, space limitations, climate, and even how much time you have. The Way We Garden Now is graced with whimsical watercolors, fun sidebars, and Whiteside’s expert tips. In five accessible sections, she teaches you how to:-Get going with ten easy, manageable projects that will turn your yard into a garden while helping you master basic garden chores -Surmount design dilemmas with solutions such as hedges, paths, and patios -Organize ornamentals—from containers to a cutting garden -Add edibles: Start a small salad garden that can evolve into an organic herb and vegetable potager -Be a gardener for all seasons with summer bulbs, winter gardens, spring shows, and more...With all the information about the supplies you’ll need, preparations to make, and even a helpful rating of how big an undertaking each project is, this is an indispensable book from a wise and witty mentor—a gardener who has been there and tried that.

    Corporatism and globalization are two of the obvious villains here, but what part does human nature play in the problem? Since its inception in 1982, Orion magazine has been a forum for looking beyond the effects of ecological crises to their root causes in human culture. Less an anthology than a vision statement, this timely collection challenges the division of human society from the natural world that has often characterized traditional environmentalism. Edited and introduced by Barry Lopez, The Future of Nature encompasses such topics as local economies, the social dynamics of activism, America’s incarceration society, naturalism in higher education, developing nations, spiritual ecology, the military-industrial landscape, and the persistent tyranny of wilderness designation. Featuring the fine writing and insights for which Orion is famous, this book is required reading for anyone interested in a livable future for the planet.

    Author Luke Hunter looks into the history, evolution, behavior and day-to-day survival of one of the most fascinating of the big cats. He discusses the ancestry of the cheetah, its hunting strategies, reproduction, social behavior and status throughout Africa and Iran - the last remaining pocket of the species in Asia. Hunter also focuses on the tenuous future of the cheetah, its decreasing habitat and declining numbers, and deals with the immediate and long-term conservation issues facing the species. His authoritative text highlights the latest research on cheetahs, dispelling the myths and providing a comprehensive overview of the cheetah in the wild. Throughout the book, his first-hand field observations supplement data on the latest ecological discoveries from cheetah researchers across Africa. Powerful, full-color photographs by Dave Hamman make this book a visual feast and reveal a world that is both intensely private and highly dramatic. Hamman's portrayal of the many modes and activities of this elusive animal presents a sumptuous gallery of photographs, while at the same time serving to broaden our knowledge - and help ensure the survival - of this remarkable and beautiful cat.

    For thirteen years he paddled the creek, photographed it, and researched its history as the Atlanta area's major watershed. The result is Peachtree Creek, a compelling mix of urban travelogue, local history, and call for conservation. Historical images and Kaufman's evocative color photographs help capture the creek's many faces, past and present.Most Atlantans only glimpse Peachtree Creek briefly, as they pass over it on their daily commute, if at all. Looking down on the creek from Piedmont or Peachtree Roads, few contemplate how it courses through the city, where it originates and flows to. Fewer still-many fewer-would ever consider paddling down it, with its pollution and flash floods.Through his expeditions down Peachtree Creek and its five tributaries--North Fork, South Fork, Clear Creek, Nancy Creek, and Tanyard Creek--Kaufman takes readers through such places as Piedmont and Chastain Parks, which, aside from the polluted water, are beautiful, even bucolic. Other stretches of creek, like those draining Midtown and Atlantic Station, are channeled into massive culverts and choked with discarded waste from the city. One day, floating past the Bobby Jones Golf Course, he surprises a golfer searching for his stray ball along the creek bank; another he spends talking to a homeless man living under a bridge near Buckhead.Kaufman reveals fascinating aspects of Atlanta by examining how Peachtree Creek shaped and was shaped by the history of the area. Street names like Moore's Mill Road and Howell Mill Road take on new meaning. He explains the dynamics of water run off that cause the creek to go from a trickle to a torrent in a matter of hours. Kaufman asks how a waterway that was once people's source of water, power, and livelihood became, at its worst, an open sewer and flooding hazard. Portraying some of our worst mishandling of the environment, Kaufman suggests ways to a more sustainable stewardship of Peachtree Creek.

    This field-tested guide features color photos showing bark; branching patterns; fruits, flowers, or nuts; and overall appearance; as well as leaf color and shape--all chosen specifically to illustrate trees in spring, summer, winter, and fall. Accompanying text describes common locations and identifying characteristics. Created for in-the-field or at-home use, this guide includes an easy-to-use key that will help you put a name to any tree by flipping only a few pages. Covers every common tree in eastern North America.

    From this deep reservoir of writing--as well as from previously published work by writers including Joy Harjo, Denise Chávez, Diane Ackerman, Naomi Shihab Nye, Leslie Marmon Silko, Gloria Anzaldúa, Terry Tempest Williams, and Barbara Kingsolver--the editors of this book have drawn nearly a hundred pieces that witness both to the ever-changing, ever-mysterious life of the natural world and to the vivid, creative, evolving lives of women interacting with it. Through prose, poetry, creative nonfiction, and memoir, the women in this anthology explore both the outer landscape of the Southwest and their own inner landscapes as women living on the land--the congruence of where they are and who they are. The editors have grouped the writings around eight evocative themes: * The way we live on the land * Our journeys through the land * Nature in cities * Nature at risk * Nature that sustains us * Our memories of the land * Our kinship with the animal world * What we leave on the land when we are gone From the Gulf Coast of Texas to the Pacific Coast of California, and from the southern borderlands to the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, these intimate portraits of women's lives on the land powerfully demonstrate that nature writing is no longer the exclusive domain of men, that women bring unique and transformative perspectives to this genre.