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Thinking on My Feet: The small joy of putting one foot in front of another
by Kate Humble'An enticing read that makes every walk Humble describes an adventure' - Ranulph Fiennes'A beautiful and magnificent book. A paean to a simple act. I defy you to read this book and not be inspired to walk, march or hike - and as a result live a better life more connected with nature and the world around you.' - Simon Reeve'A lovely book, fast-flowing yet at every turn giving the reader pause for thought. Kate Humble makes a delightful companion, her words full of sunshine and the raw pleasure she radiates as she encounters life in its many unexpected forms.' - Benedict Allen'I've discovered that going for a daily walk has become as essential to me feeling good for the rest of the day as that first cup of tea. But I would argue that all I am doing is responding to a natural need we all have. Humans have always been migrants, the physiological urge to be nomadic is deep-rooted in all of us and perhaps because of that our brains are stimulated by walking. I solve all sorts of problems, formulate ideas, work things out to that gentle rhythm of self-propelled movement.' - Kate HumbleThinking on My Feet tells the story of Kate's walking year - shining a light on the benefits of this simple activity. Kate's inspiring narrative not only records her walks (and runs) throughout a single year, but also charts her feelings and impressions throughout - capturing the perspectives that only a journey on foot allows - and shares the outcomes: a problem solved, a mood lifted, an idea or opportunity borne. As she explores the reasons why we walk, whether for creative energy, challenge and pleasure, or therapeutic benefits, Kate's reflections and insights will encourage, motivate and spur readers into action.Also featured are Kate's walks with others who have discovered the magical, soothing effect of putting one foot in front of the other - the artist who walks to find inspiration for his next painting; the man who takes people battling with addiction to climb mountains; the woman who walked every footpath in Wales (3,700 miles) when she discovered she had cancer.This book will inspire you to change your perspective by applying walking to your daily endeavours.
Advances and New Trends in Environmental Informatics: Managing Disruption, Big Data and Open Science (Progress in IS)
by Hans-Joachim Bungartz Dieter Kranzlmüller Volker Weinberg Jens Weismüller Volker WohlgemuthThis book presents the latest findings and ongoing research in the field of environmental informatics. It addresses a wide range of cross-cutting activities, such as efficient computing, virtual reality, disruption management, big data, open science and the internet of things, and showcases how these green information & communication technologies (ICT) can be used to effectively address environmental and societal challenges. Presenting a selection of extended contributions to the 32nd edition of the International Conference EnviroInfo 2018, at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre in Garching near Munich, it is essential reading for anyone looking to expand their expertise in the area.
Come Out to the Garden
by Rick January“Come out to the garden,” Granny calls to Mary Louise. It’s a beautiful, sunny day, and there are vegetables to be picked and a feast to be cooked! But Mary Louise points out there are plenty of vegetables growing in the cool shade of the porch, so why go out in the sun? Together they pick baskets of corn, beans, and other vegetables, then cook them up and make a tasty, healthy feast. Come join the rhyme and discover the reason why Granny and Mary are dozing in the sun and purring like the cat. Maybe tomorrow, you too can pick some turnips and peas!
Sadie's Seed Adventures: Learning About Seeds
by Tina DybvikSadie and Gardener Marv set out to clear weeds from a garden plot. While working, they go on a magical adventure to learn all about seeds. From hitching a ride with a cocklebur to flying through the sky with a milkweed seed, join Sadie as she figures out how seeds disperse.
Walden; Or, Life in the Woods
by Henry David ThoreauNature was a form of religion for naturalist, essayist, and early environmentalist Henry David Thoreau (1817–62). In communing with the natural world, he wished to "live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and … learn what it had to teach." Toward that end Thoreau built a cabin in the spring of 1845 on the shores of Walden Pond — on land owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson — outside Concord, Massachusetts. There he observed nature, farmed, built fences, surveyed, and wrote in his journal.One product of his two-year sojourn was this book — a great classic of American letters. Interwoven with accounts of Thoreau's daily life (he received visitors and almost daily walked into Concord) are mediations on human existence, society, government, and other topics, expressed with wisdom and beauty of style.Walden offers abundant evidence of Thoreau's ability to begin with observations on a mundane incident or the minutiae of nature and then develop these observations into profound ruminations on the most fundamental human concerns. Credited with influencing Tolstoy, Gandhi, and other thinkers, the volume remains a masterpiece of philosophical reflection.A selection of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.
Voices of Drought: The Politics of Music and Environment in Northeastern Brazil
by Michael B. SilversIn Voices of Drought, Michael B. Silvers proposes a scholarship focused on environmental justice to understand key questions in the study of music and the environment. His ecomusicological perspective offers a fascinating approach to events in Ceará, a northeastern Brazilian state affected by devastating droughts. These crises have a profound impact on social difference and stratification, and thus on forró music in the sertão (backlands) of the region. At the same time, the complex interactions of popular music and social conditions also help create the environment. Silvers offers case studies focused on the sertão that range from the Brazilian wax harvested in Ceará for use in early wax cylinder sound recordings to the drought- and austerity-related cancelation of Carnival celebrations in 2014-16. Unearthing links between music and the environmental and social costs of drought, his daring synthesis explores ecological exile, poverty, and unequal access to water resources alongside issues like corruption, prejudice, unbridled capitalism, and expanding neoliberalism.
The Republican Reversal: Conservatives and the Environment from Nixon to Trump
by James Morton TurnerNot long ago Republicans took pride in their tradition of environmental leadership. The GOP helped create the EPA, extend the Clean Air Act, and protect endangered species. Today Republicans denounce climate change as a “hoax” and seek to dismantle environmental regulations. What happened? James Morton Turner and Andrew C. Isenberg provide answers.
The End of the End of the Earth: Essays
by Jonathan FranzenFrom Jonathan Franzen, one of our preeminent writers and thinkers, comes a brilliant, searing essay collection that calls for us to take better care of our planet and one another in these troubled times.The End of the End of the Earth is a collection of Jonathan Franzen's essays and speeches from the past five years, in which he grapples with the most important and heated ethical subjects of the day: environmentalism, capitalism, wealth inequality, race, technology and the role of art. He challenges us to ask difficult questions: What is our civic responsibility in the face of climate change, the greatest ever threat to our planet and species? Does technology give us a sense of control or community or is it stripping these from us? Above all, in these essays, Franzen asks us to care--about causes great and small, with subjects as big as our planet and specific as a rare species of birds. These essays are in praise of empathy, and of the beauty and power of nature and art.This slim but powerful book is Franzen at his best, incisive, persuasive and compassionate.
The Anatomy of the Honey Bee
by R. E. SnodgrassThis is not just a technical reference book on honey bee anatomy. It is far more, it is essentially a treatise on entomology, using one species as an example, and including a discussion of the fundamentals of embryology, development, and metamorphosis as well as anatomy. The subject of each chapter is approached from the broadest evolutionary point of view, and its horizon includes all the arthropods and beyond, so that the bee really typifies animal life in general.
Green Made Easy: The Everyday Guide For Transitioning To A Green Lifestyle
by Chris PrelitzGreen Made Easy is a simple-to-use guidebook offering tips on how you can make the transition toward a healthy green lifestyle one step at a time. Chris Prelitz has been passionately committed to green living and sustainability for more than 25 years. He and his wife, Becky, share a green solar-powered home in Laguna Beach, California, which Chris designed and built. Most months they produce more energy than they use and receive a credit from their power company instead of a bill. In his writing, Chris shares personal experiences, lessons learned, and reflections that humorously touch the heart and inspire the spirit. The chapter on "Green Myth Busting" will sway even the most cynical person toward better eco-choices that will also save money. Chris sees "We are rediscovering that it is so much healthier, more lucrative financially, and better for every living thing to transition away from wasteful, polluting technologies and make choices that work in harmony with nature." Green Made Easy is written in a friend-to-friend, conversational style and examines our daily lives from personal care and cosmetics to water catchment and solar systems. The book will delight and inspire any and all who dream of making a difference and who wish to create a thriving, healthy future for generations to come.
Green Supply Chain Management
by Dimitris Folinas Dimitrios Aidonis Dionysis D. Bochtis Charisios AchillasToday, one of the top priorities of an organization’s modern corporate strategy is to portray itself as socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. As a focal point of sustainability initiatives, green supply chain management has emerged as a key strategy that can provide competitive advantages with significant parallel gains for company profitability. In designing a green supply chain, the intent is the adoption of comprehensive and cross-business sustainability principles, from the product conception stage to the end-of-life stage. In this context, green initiatives relate to tangible and intangible corporate benefits. Sustainability reports from numerous companies reveal that greening their supply chains has helped reduce operating cost, thus boosting effectiveness and efficiency while increasing sustainability of the business. Green Supply Chain Management provides a strategic overview of sustainable supply chain management, shedding light on the theoretical background and key principles of the topic. Specifically, this book covers various thematic areas including benefits and impact of green supply chain management; enablers and barriers on supply chain operations; inbound and outbound logistics considerations; and production, packaging and reverse logistics under the notion of "greening". The ultimate aim of this textbook is to highlight the challenges in the implementation of green supply chain management in modern companies and to provide a roadmap for decision-making in real-life cases. Combining chapter summaries and discussion questions, this book provides an accessible and student-friendly introduction to green supply change management and will be of great interest to students, scholars and practitioners in the fields of sustainable business and supply chain management.
Human and Environmental Justice in Guatemala
by Stephen Henighan Candace JohnsonIn 1996, the Guatemalan civil war ended with the signing of the Peace Accords, facilitated by the United Nations and promoted as a beacon of hope for a country with a history of conflict. Twenty years later, the new era of political protest in Guatemala is highly complex and contradictory: the persistence of colonialism, fraught indigenous-settler relations, political exclusion, corruption, criminal impunity, gendered violence, judicial procedures conducted under threat, entrenched inequality, as well as economic fragility. Human and Environmental Justice in Guatemala examines the complexities of the quest for justice in Guatemala, and the realities of both new forms of resistance and long-standing obstacles to the rule of law in the human and environmental realms. Written by prominent scholars and activists, this book explores high-profile trials, the activities of foreign mining companies, attempts to prosecute war crimes, and cultural responses to injustice in literature, feminist performance art and the media. The challenges to human and environmental capacities for justice are constrained, or facilitated, by factors that shape culture, politics, society, and the economy. The contributors to this volume include Guatemalans such as the human rights activist Helen Mack Chang, the environmental journalist Magalí Rey Rosa, former Guatemalan Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, as well as widely published Guatemala scholars.
Climate Change in Human History: Prehistory to the Present
by Benjamin Lieberman Elizabeth GordonClimate Change and Human History provides an up-to-date and concise introduction to the relationship between human beings and climate change throughout history. <P><P>Starting with periods hundreds of thousands of years ago and continuing up to the present day, the book illustrates how natural climate variability affected early human societies, and how humans are now altering climate drastically within much shorter periods of time. For each major period of time, the book will explain how climate change has created opportunities as well as risks and challenges for human societies. <P><P>The book introduces and develops several related themes including: <ul> <li>Phases of climate and history</li> <li>Factors that shape climate</li> <li>Climate shocks and sharp climate shifts</li> <li>Climate and the rise and fall of civilizations</li> <li>Industrialization and climate science</li> <li>Accelerating climate change, human societies, and the future</li> </ul> <P><P>An ideal companion for all students of environmental history, Climate Change and Human History clearly demonstrates the critical role of climate in shaping human history and of the experience of humans in both adapting to and shaping climate change.
Totems of Seldovia: An Alaska Children's Adventure Mystery
by Grossman MartinOne dark night on a windswept Alaska beach, The Teller of Tales tells a story never heard before. An aura of mystery surrounds the tale and draws you in like a warm fire on a cold winter's night. He challenges only those who believe his story to face the hazards of the trail and to go on the adventure of a lifetime. Three children answer his call and try to unravel the clues that surround The Mystery of the Totems of Seldovia. As the story unwinds you will find yourself hiding from a hungry bear, traveling along a dusty road where Dust Devils rise to meet you, or looking for clues in the old cemetery while two ominous ravens stare at you like you're their next meal. Totems of Seldovia will take you on a roller coaster adventure in the age of innocence and a search for treasure beyond your wildest dreams--so come along with our young explorers in a search for the secrets of the Totems of Seldovia.
Storie di mare
by Carmelo Massimo Tidona Steve VernonAffrontiamo la verità. Circa il settantacinque per cento del mondo è coperto di acqua – e di quell’acqua, circa il novantasette per cento si trova in mare. I naviganti vi diranno che c’è una storia per ogni onda che si è mai abbattuta sulla riva. Qui ci sono sette di quelle storie. "Nelle oscure profondità" offre un’inquietante assaggio del servizio di scorta durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, e di un marinaio che ha fatto e mantenuto un terribile patto. "La sirena di Harry” vi presenta un gruppo di uomini senza dimora che pescano qualcosa che POTREBBE essere una sirena. Se questo non vi dice abbastanza sul racconto, provate a immaginare come sarebbe Vicolo Cannery di Steinbeck se fosse stato scritto da HP Lovecraft. "So perché l’acqua del mare sa di sale" è la storia di un pilota kamikaze dell’aviazione giapponese di stanza a Okinawa e del suo incontro con un mostro marino, più o meno. "La storia di Finbar" è una storia dark fantasy delle correnti più profonde che si agitano tra le profonde correnti silenziose del freddo cuore di un uomo. "La donna che perse un dente per aver riso troppo forte del mare" è una piccola tranquilla fiaba che parla d’acqua salata, lacrime e rimorsi. "Tra chi-sai-tu e il profondo blu" è la storia dell’ultimo patto sulla terra. Questa raccolta inizia con un patto e finisce con un patto... cosa che a me sembra un ottimo patto. "Se Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson e Robert Bloch avessero una serata di sesso a tre in una vasca d’acqua calda, e poi un gruppo di scienziati entrasse e filtrasse l’acqua e mescolasse il DNA rimasto in una provetta, l’esperimento genetico risultante molto probabilmente crescerebbe per diventare Steve Vernon." - Bookgasm
Making Birdhouses: Easy and Advanced Projects
by Leon H. Baxter Gladstone CaliffThis practical guide for building birdhouses contains plans for more than fifty attractive and useful structures — from a one-room house for bluebirds to a forty-two-room structure for purple martins. In addition to instructions and diagrams for constructing houses for such avian varieties as robins, wrens and chickadees, the easy-to-follow text also provides suggestions for feeding devices, bird house materials, methods of finishing exteriors, and winter care for birds. An authoritative, how-to book that will appeal to beginning and veteran woodcrafters alike, Making Birdhouses also features a supplement with easy projects for novices — among them simple structures for woodpeckers, a box for robins, and an “A-frame” for nuthatches. Plans for houses made from such common objects as gourds, a flower pot, tin cans, and an old lantern are also included.Detailed instructions and diagrams assure successful completion of projects that will satisfy builders as well as their feathered friends.
Manual of the Grasses of the United States, Volume One
by A. S. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture A. S. HitchcockThis work is actually the definitive encyclopedia of United States grass life. Compiled from the U.S. National Herbarium collection, the largest of its kind in the world, it is the only complete manual of U.S. grasses available and one of the basic reference works on U.S. plant life. It catalogs and describes in detail all 1,398 numbered species in 169 numbered genera found in this country, plus 120 species in 16 genera of the so-called “waifs.” Professor Hitchcock is the former Chief Botanist in charge of systematic agrostology for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, by whom the work was originally published, and an internationally known authority.The heart of the book is its detailed descriptions of the family of grasses, the two main subfamilies, the tribes, genera, and species. Quick finding keys are provided for the identification of tribes and genera. Each of the species is given thorough botanical description, including various aspects of its morphology — size, shape, form of culms, blades, panicles, spikes, and flowers — and height, proper planting season, and range of distribution are noted. The Manual also outlines the common uses to which grasses are put and discusses in general terms their distribution, classification, nomenclature, and common names. The 1,199 drawings make identification of any grass species found in the United States a virtual certainty. The appended synonymy of alternate names for each species provides an authoritative taxonomy, eliminating confusion.The nature lover with no more technical equipment than a keen eye can use this manual with profit, for a glossary of botanical terms is included. Naturalists, botanists, agriculturists, and horticulturists will find it valuable as a field and research guide to virtually all the grasses that grow in this country.
Manual of the Grasses of the United States, Volume Two
by A. S. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture A. S. HitchcockThis work is actually the definitive encyclopedia of United States grass life. Compiled from the U.S. National Herbarium collection, the largest of its kind in the world, it is the only complete manual of U.S. grasses available and one of the basic reference works on U.S. plant life. It catalogs and describes in detail all 1,398 numbered species in 169 numbered genera found in this country, plus 120 species in 16 genera of the so-called “waifs.” Professor Hitchcock is the former Chief Botanist in charge of systematic agrostology for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, by whom the work was originally published, and an internationally known authority.The heart of the book is its detailed descriptions of the family of grasses, the two main subfamilies, the tribes, genera, and species. Quick finding keys are provided for the identification of tribes and genera. Each of the species is given thorough botanical description, including various aspects of its morphology — size, shape, form of culms, blades, panicles, spikes, and flowers — and height, proper planting season, and range of distribution are noted. The Manual also outlines the common uses to which grasses are put and discusses in general terms their distribution, classification, nomenclature, and common names. The 1,199 drawings make identification of any grass species found in the United States a virtual certainty. The appended synonymy of alternate names for each species provides an authoritative taxonomy, eliminating confusion.The nature lover with no more technical equipment than a keen eye can use this manual with profit, for a glossary of botanical terms is included. Naturalists, botanists, agriculturists, and horticulturists will find it valuable as a field and research guide to virtually all the grasses that grow in this country.
The Silent Storm (Scholastic Edition)
by Sherry GarlandThirteen-year-old Alyssa has not spoken since seeing her parents die in a hurricane, and now, three years later, another storm threatens the home she shares with her grandfather on Galveston Island.
The Night Gardener
by Terry Fan Eric Fan<p>In the spirit of Goodnight Moon and The Curious Garden comes a stunning debut picture book filled with whimsy and creativity from brothers Terry and Eric Fan. <p>One day, William discovers that the tree outside his window has been sculpted into a wise owl. In the following days, more topiaries appear, and each one is more beautiful than the last. Soon, William’s gray little town is full of color and life. And though the mysterious night gardener disappears as suddenly as he appeared, William—and his town—are changed forever. <p>With breathtaking illustrations and spare, sweet text, this masterpiece about enjoying the beauty of nature is sure to become an instant classic.</p>
Adapting Cities to Sea Level Rise: Green and Gray Strategies
by Stefan Al Edgar WesterhofAs cities build more flood-management infrastructure to adapt to the effects of a changing climate, they must go beyond short-term flood protection and consider the long-term effects on the community, its environment, economy, and relationship with the water.Adapting Cities to Sea Level Rise, by infrastructure expert Stefan Al, introduces design responses to sea-level rise, drawing from examples around the globe. Going against standard engineering solutions, Al argues for approaches that are integrated with the public realm, nature-based, and sensitive to local conditions and the community. He features design responses to building resilience that creates new civic assets for cities.With the right solution, Al shows, sea-level rise can become an opportunity to improve our urban areas and landscapes, rather than a threat to our communities.
Counting Sheep: Reflections and Observations of a Swedish Shepherd
by Axel LindénNorwegian Wood meets The Tao of Pooh in this philosophical, witty, and heartwarming collection of daily observations from a Swedish academic-turned-sheep farmer who finds peace and meaning outside the hustle and bustle of modern, urban life. One of the fun things about keeping sheep is that now and then it feels like something other than a job or a duty. Perhaps the feeling can best be summed up by the idea that it’s not I who keep the sheep, but the sheep who keep me. When Axel Lindén leaves his literary life in the city for the farm he unexpectedly inherits—along with the ever-escaping flock of sheep that comes with it—he has a fairly naïve notion of what farm life will be: pure drudgery. But as time passes and Axel slowly settles into the rhythms of the farm and shepherding, his naiveté fades away and is gradually replaced with a new appreciation of the spiritual and emotional value of manual labor, caring for other living things, and staying connected to the earth. Capturing his observations and thoughts in short diary entries, Counting Sheep is a meditative and irresistibly delightful book that delves into the small wonders of our world and celebrates pastoral life, demonstrating that it’s often the little things in life that mean the most.
How the Stars Fell into the Sky: A Navajo Legend
by Jerrie Oughton Lisa DesiminiThis retelling of a Navajo folktale explains how First Woman tried to write the laws of the land using stars in the sky, only to be thwarted by the trickster Coyote.
Wedgie & Gizmo vs. the Great Outdoors (Wedgie & Gizmo #3)
by Suzanne Selfors Barbara Fisinger“A delightfully fun read that will leave you in stitches!”—Caldecott Medalist Dan SantatFans of Stick Dog and My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish will LOL when rival pets Wedgie and Gizmo brave their first family camping trip in book three of bestselling author Suzanne Selfors’s hilarious illustrated series. Wedgie and Gizmo’s humans are taking their first family vacation—to a campground by a lake! And their pets are too destructive to stay home alone. Wedgie the corgi is super-excited. He can’t wait to chase squirrels and poop in the woods!But Gizmo, the evil genius guinea pig, has no time for games. He must convince the forest critters to join his Evil Horde and help him take over the world—one tent at a time.Muh-hah-hah!
The Secret Bay (Tilbury House Nature Book)
by Rebekah Raye Kimberly Ridley<P><P>AWARDS: *Moonbeam Silver*, *John Burroughs Association Riverby 2016 Award* <P><P> Estuaries form where river meets sea and fresh water mixes with salt. Teeming with life, these places of salt marshes, mudflats, and tidal backwaters serve as nursery areas for oceangoing fish, migratory stopovers for shorebirds, and homes for an amazing diversity of snails, bivalves, fish, mammals, horseshoe crabs, fiddler and blue crabs, terrapin turtles, plankton, and many others, all of whom we meet in the pages of this delightful book. <P><P> Narrated in the poetic voice of the estuary itself, and accompanied by natural-history sidebars about estuary plants, animals, and cycles, THE SECRET BAY is another topnotch nature book from the author and illustrator of the award-winning, bestselling The Secret Pool. <P><P> A stand-alone book and a stunning companion volume to Ridley and Raye’s award-winning Secret Pool. Ridley deftly augments the estuary’s lyrical narrative voice with sidebars about the plants, animals, and natural processes of an estuary. Raye’s gorgeous watercolors reveal new features and hidden treats with each reading. Back matter includes The Estuary Food Web, Great Escapes (how estuary animals avoid predators), and an author’s note about the challenges facing estuaries. A perfect book for the budding naturalist and for his or her parents and teachers. <P><P> Fountas & Pinnell Level S Lexile 1180