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Through Amazonian Eyes: The Human Ecology of Amazonian Populations
by Emilio MoranIn the final years of the twentieth century we live with omnipresent worries. Will the Amazonian forests survive current deforestation trends? Will Amazonia's native populations survive the spread of diseases and the expropriation of traditional territories? Will the promise of biotechnology ever be fulfilled, given the genetic losses we are experiencing? Will scientists find new chemical substances in the forests of Amazonia to cure diseases heretofore incurable or yet unknown? Will we learn to use, rather than thoughtlessly destroy, the thousands of tropical species that we now consider without value? Will we invest in agronomic research to find ways to achieve sustainable cultivation in the humid tropics? In June 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the world was finally ready to ask these questions.
The Alps: A Human History from Hannibal to Heidi and Beyond
by Stephen O'SheaA thrilling blend of contemporary travelogue and historical narrative about the Alps from “a graceful and passionate writer” (Washington Post). For centuries the Alps have seen the march of armies, the flow of pilgrims and Crusaders, the feats of mountaineers, and the dreams of engineers?and some 14 million people live among their peaks today. In The Alps, Stephen O’Shea takes readers up and down these majestic mountains, battling his own fear of heights to journey through a 500-mile arc across France, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia. O’Shea, whose style has been hailed for its “engaging combination of candid first-person travel writing and absorbing historical narrative” (Chicago Sun-Times), whisks readers along more than 2,000 years of Alpine history. As he travels pass-by-pass through the mountains, he tells great stories of those (real and imagined) who have passed before him, from Hannibal to Hitler, Frankenstein’s monster to Sherlock Holmes, Napoleon to Nietzsche, William Tell to James Bond. He explores the circumstances behind Hannibal and his elephants’ famous crossing in 218 BCE; he reveals how the Alps have profoundly influenced culture from Heidi to The Sound of Music; and he visits iconic sites, including the Reichenbach Falls, where Arthur Conan Doyle staged Sherlock Holmes’s death scene with Professor Moriarty; Caporetto, the bloody site of the Italians’ retreat in World War I; and the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s aerie of a vacation home. O’Shea delves into Alpine myths and legends, such as the lopsided legs of the dahu, the fictitious goatlike creature of the mountains, and reveals why the beloved St. Bernard dog is so often depicted with a cask hanging below its neck. Throughout, he immerses himself in the communities he visits, engagingly recounting his adventures with contemporary road trippers, watchmakers, salt miners, cable-car operators, and yodelers.
Rainforest: Dispatches from Earth's Most Vital Frontlines
by Tony JuniperRainforests have long been recognized as hotspots of biodiversity—but they are crucial for our planet in other surprising ways. Not only do these fascinating ecosystems thrive in rainy regions, they create rain themselves, and this moisture is spread around the globe. Rainforests across the world have a powerful and concrete impact, reaching as far as America's Great Plains and central Europe. In Rainforest: Dispatches from Earth's Most Vital Frontlines, a prominent conservationist provides a comprehensive view of the crucial roles rainforests serve, the state of the world's rainforests today, and the inspirational efforts underway to save them.In Rainforest, Tony Juniper draws upon decades of work in rainforest conservation. He brings readers along on his journeys, from the thriving forests of Costa Rica to Indonesia, where palm oil plantations have supplanted much of the former rainforest. Despite many ominous trends, Juniper sees hope for rainforests and those who rely upon them, thanks to developments like new international agreements, corporate deforestation policies, and movements from local and Indigenous communities. As climate change intensifies, we have already begun to see the effects of rainforest destruction on the planet at large. Rainforest provides a detailed and wide-ranging look at the health and future of these vital ecosystems. Throughout this evocative book, Juniper argues that in saving rainforests, we save ourselves, too.
Farming on the Wild Side: The Evolution of a Regenerative Organic Farm and Nursery
by Nancy J. Hayden John P. HaydenOne farm’s decades-long journey into regenerative agriculture—and how these methods enhance biodiversity, pollinators, and soil health Northern Vermont’s Nancy and John Hayden have spent the last 25 years transforming their draft horse–powered, organic vegetable and livestock operation into an agroecological, regenerative, biodiverse, organic fruit farm, fruit nursery, and pollinator sanctuary. In Farming on the Wild Side they explain the philosophical and scientific principles that influenced them as they phased out sheep and potatoes and embraced apples, pears, stone fruits, and a wide variety of uncommon berry crops; turned much of their property into a semi-wild state; and adapted their marketing and sales strategies to the new century. As the Haydens pursued their goals of enhancing biodiversity and regenerating their land, they incorporated agroforestry and permaculture principles into perennial fruit polycultures, a pollinator sanctuary, repurposed greenhouses for growing fruit, hügelkultur, and ecological “pest” management. Beyond the practical techniques and tips, this book also inspires readers to develop greater ecological literacy and respect for the mysteries of the global ecosystem. Farming on the Wild Side tells a story about new ways to manage small farms and homesteads, about nurturing land, about ecology, about economics, and about things that we can all do to heal both the land and ourselves.
Sobrevive al fin del mundo con un poco de SUERTE y mucha CIENCIA (Curiosidades con Mike #Volumen 1)
by Curiosidades con Mike¿Buscas AVENTURAS + DIVERSIÓN + CIENCIA? ¡Encuéntralo todo en la serie de libros de «Curiosidades con Mike»! Mike acaba de perder TODO su laboratorio después de una lluvia de METEORITOS. Al principio creía que el desastre era culpa de alguno de sus experimentos, pero no... Esta vez, no. ¿Acaso es esto EL FIN DEL MUNDO y nadie le ha avisado? No pasa nada, este es su KIT DE SUPERVIVENCIA:- Comida envasada de astronautas chinos.- Mapa EN PAPEL: ¡No funciona el móvil!- Gafas de bucear modificadas para ver en la oscuridad.- Ropa interior limpia: ¡Hay que estar preparado para el apocalipsis! ¡SOBREVIVE CON UN POCO DE SUERTE Y MUCHA CIENCIA!
Global Warming (Nonfiction Reading And Writing Workshops)
by Rebecca Johnson National Geographic Learning StaffDiscover the science behind global warming, its causes, and possible effects. Learn how human activities affect global temperatures and explore the good news and the bad news about our warming world.
Sea Level Rise: A Slow Tsunami on America's Shores
by Orrin H. Pilkey Keith C. PilkeyThe consequences of twenty-first-century sea level rise on the United States and its nearly 90,000 miles of shoreline will be immense: Miami and New Orleans will disappear; many nuclear and other power plants, hundreds of wastewater plants and toxic waste sites, and oil production facilities will be at risk; port infrastructures will need to be raised; and over ten million Americans fleeing rising seas will become climate refugees. In Sea Level Rise Orrin H. Pilkey and Keith C. Pilkey argue that the only feasible response along much of the U.S. shoreline is an immediate and managed retreat. Among many topics, they examine sea level rise's effects on coastal ecosystems, health, and native Alaskan coastal communities. They also provide guidelines for those living on the coasts or planning on moving to or away from them, as well as the steps local governments should take to prepare for this unstoppable, impending catastrophe.
Laudato Si’ and the Environment: Pope Francis’ Green Encyclical (Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies)
by Robert McKimThis volume is a response to the Pope’s Laudato Si’, giving an interdisciplinary overview of its impact on the environmental concerns of Catholics as well as other religious groups. Published in 2015, it is often seen as an "environmental" encyclical and in it the Pope urges us to face up to the crisis of climate change. He argues that all of us should prioritise taking better care of the Earth, our common home, while also attending to the plight of the poor. Written by an international and multidisciplinary team of leading scholars, the Pope’s invitation to all people to begin a new dialog about these matters is considered from a variety of perspectives. There is discussion of the implications for immigration, population control, eating animals, and property ownership. Additionally, indigenous religious perspectives, development and environmental protection, and the implementation of the ideas of the encyclical in the Church are explored. Each chapter deals with the scriptural, theological, and philosophical underpinnings of the encyclical, as well as other central concepts such as interconnectedness, the role of practice, and what Pope Francis calls the "technocratic paradigm". This book expertly illuminates the relationship between Laudato Si’ and environmental concerns. It will, therefore, be vital reading for anyone studying religion and the environment, environmental ethics, Catholic theology, and environmental thought.
Your Role In The Green Environment: Trainee Guide
by NccerNow featuring a comprehensive vocabulary list, this updated new module brings together the expertise of industry and higher education in defining a topic of growing international importance: green building. Geared to entry-level craft workers or to anyone wishing to learn more about green building, this module provides fundamental instruction in the green environment, green construction practices, and green building rating systems. <p><p> Presented in easy-to-understand terms and illustrations, Your Role in the Green Environment will better equip learners to make decisions regarding their personal impacts on the environment and will make them more aware of how to lessen their impacts in the built environment.
A Desert Scrapbook: Dawn To Dusk In The Sonoran Desert
by Virginia Wright-FriersonIn the early morning hours, an artist stirs. Gathering her paints and notebook, she heads into the Arizona Sonoran Desert to explore its treasures. Sketching, painting, and writing, she records all that she sees and as night falls, she spreads out her pictures to make this scrapbook of her day, from dawn to dusk.
How Do You Know It's Winter? (Into Reading, Read Aloud Module 5 #2)
by Ruth OwenNIMAC-sourced textbook
Rainy, Sunny, Blowy, Snowy: What Are Seasons? (Into Reading, Big Book Module 7)
by Jane BrocketNIMAC-sourced textbook
The Arctic Council: Between Environmental Protection and Geopolitics
by Svein Vigeland RottemThis pivot introduces the Arctic Council and its role as a platform for dealing with local, national, regional and global challenges of relevance to the “new” Arctic. Against the backdrop of climate change and increasing commercial activity, it considers what a future Arctic should look like, from ideas of total protection to expansive oil and gas extraction. It examines the Arctic’s position on the political agenda, from Norway’s High North hype to a more peripheral place in the foreign policy of the US and explores the Council's role as an important international forum for dialogue and cooperation on Arctic challenges and opportunities, and a significant arena for developing knowledge and learning about a changing region.
Birds of New York: Over 100 Plates
by Louis Agassiz FuertesIn 1910 and 1914, a two-volume study of New York's native birds was issued as part of the State Museum's annual report. A vast catalog of hundreds of species, the survey was illustrated by Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874–1927), a rising star in scientific bird studies. Fuertes was highly influenced by John James Audubon's The Birds of America, and today he ranks second only to Audubon in terms of output and recognition for ornithological illustration. A frequent lecturer at Cornell University, he honed his expertise during numerous scientific expeditions throughout the United States and abroad, collaborating with Frank Chapman of the American Museum of Natural History on field research, museum dioramas, and book illustrations. This reproduction of all 106 of Fuertes's stunning full-color images spotlights more than 300 birds. It marks the first time that the artwork from Birds of New York has been available in decades, and the volume has never been so affordable. The captions have been reset for easy identification, and a complete Index offers a quick reference. Noted Fuertes expert Robert McCracken Peck provides an informative Foreword. Bird watchers at all levels of experience as well as illustrators, artists, and naturalists will find this book an excellent resource.
Surfacing
by Kathleen Jamie“[Kathleen Jamie’s] essays guide you softly along coastlines of varying continents, exploring caves, and pondering ice ages until the narrator stumbles over — not a rock on the trail, but mortality, maybe the earth’s, maybe our own, pointing to new paths forward through the forest.” —Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing, “By the Book” in The New York Times Book Review.An immersive exploration of time and place in a shrinking world, from the award-winning author of Sightlines.In this remarkable blend of memoir, cultural history, and travelogue, poet and author Kathleen Jamie touches points on a timeline spanning millennia, and considers what surfaces and what reconnects us to our past. From the thawing tundra linking a Yup'ik village in Alaska to its hunter-gatherer past to the shifting sand dunes revealing the impressiely preserved homes of neolithic farmers in Scotland, Jamie explores how the changing natural world can alter our sense of time. Most movingly, she considers, as her father dies and her children leave home, the surfacing of an older, less tethered sense of herself. In precise, luminous prose, Surfacing offers a profound sense of time passing and an antidote to all that is instant, ephemeral, unrooted.
To Speak for the Trees: My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest
by Diana Beresford-KroegerCanadian botanist, biochemist and visionary Diana Beresford-Kroeger's startling insights into the hidden life of trees have already sparked a quiet revolution in how we understand our relationship to forests. Now, in a captivating account of how her life led her to these illuminating and crucial ideas, she shows us how forests can not only heal us but save the planet.When Diana Beresford-Kroeger--whose father was a member of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy and whose mother was an O'Donoghue, one of the stronghold families who carried on the ancient Celtic traditions--was orphaned as a child, she could have been sent to the Magdalene Laundries. Instead, the O'Donoghue elders, most of them scholars and freehold farmers in the Lisheens valley in County Cork, took her under their wing. Diana became the last ward under the Brehon Law. Over the course of three summers, she was taught the ways of the Celtic triad of mind, body and soul. This included the philosophy of healing, the laws of the trees, Brehon wisdom and the Ogham alphabet, all of it rooted in a vision of nature that saw trees and forests as fundamental to human survival and spirituality. Already a precociously gifted scholar, Diana found that her grounding in the ancient ways led her to fresh scientific concepts. Out of that huge and holistic vision have come the observations that put her at the forefront of her field: the discovery of mother trees at the heart of a forest; the fact that trees are a living library, have a chemical language and communicate in a quantum world; the major idea that trees heal living creatures through the aerosols they release and that they carry a great wealth of natural antibiotics and other healing substances; and, perhaps most significantly, that planting trees can actively regulate the atmosphere and the oceans, and even stabilize our climate. This book is not only the story of a remarkable scientist and her ideas, it harvests all of her powerful knowledge about why trees matter, and why trees are a viable, achievable solution to climate change. Diana eloquently shows us that if we can understand the intricate ways in which the health and welfare of every living creature is connected to the global forest, and strengthen those connections, we will still have time to mend the self-destructive ways that are leading to drastic fires, droughts and floods.
Status and Dynamics of Forests in Germany: Results of the National Forest Monitoring (Ecological Studies #237)
by Nicole Wellbrock Andreas BolteThis book is an open access publication.Forest ecosystems in Central Europe are changing as a result of anthropogenic influences and changing climate conditions. As such, a large-scale monitoring programme was undertaken in order to understand the influence of site modification, deposition of air pollutants, and climate. This book presents the scientific findings of this study for Germany, including the major challenges with regard to the future preservation and management of forest ecosystems under environmental change. In addition, it addresses a number of central questions: what are the main factors affecting forest stands and soil integrity? How, and how rapidly, are forest ecosystems changing? How diverse are the changes across Germany? What will be the main risks in sustainable forest management in the future? And how can policy support the development and maintenance of adaptive and resilient forests that provide essential ecosystem services, today and in the future? Helping readers understand the importance of soils and related ecosystem processes for future sustainable forestry, and sharing essential findings on environmental change and related changes in forest status and dynamics, the book is a valuable resource for researchers and policymakers interested in science-based decisions.
Klimawirksame Kennzahlen Band II: Amerika, Nahost und Südasien, Ostasien und Ozeanien
by Valentin CrastanDer Autor analysiert die Energiewirtschaft der geographischen Einheiten Amerika – unterteilt in Nordamerika (Kanada + USA) sowie Mittel- +Südamerika (spanisch-portugisischer Kulturkreis) – Nahost und Südasien sowie Ost-Asien und Ozeanien. Die wichtigsten energiewirtschaftlichen Indikatoren der einzelnen Regionen und Länder und deren Entwicklung werden von ihm in zahlreichen Grafiken und Energieflussdiagrammen veranschaulicht. Darauf basierend empfiehlt er eine Verteilung der zur Begrenzung des Klimawandels notwendigen Emissionsreduktion (für Klimaziel 2 °C oder weniger, mit Perspektive bis 2050).Die in diesem Band behandelten Erdteile verursachen zusammen 77 % der Emissionen. Europa + Eurasien sowie Afrika werden im ersten Band behandelt.
The Nature Lover's Quotation Book: An Inspired Collection for Hiking, Camping and the Great Outdoors
by HatherleighA collection of inspirational and meaningful quotes perfect for every lover of the great outdoors.From simple walks and hikes in the woods, to longer treks and camping, we eagerly search for opportunities to escape into nature. Now there is a beautiful collection of inspired readings to take along the trail and read around the campfire, or just contemplate at home. The Nature Lover's Quotation Book captures the imagination and the senses, while pondering the words and wisdom of some of the greatest writers and thinkers of all time about the natural world. From Thoreau to Muir, Roosevelt to Whitman, you will discover imagination, poetry and prose about the wonders of the great outdoors.
A Short Philosophy of Birds
by Philippe J Dubois Elise Rousseau“Brilliant, magical and engrossing–I will never see birds the same way again.” — Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of TreesTHE INTERNATIONAL PHENOMENONTwenty-two short lessons from the secret lives of birds on living harmoniously and reconnecting with nature.This charming volume on bird behavior invites us to take a step back from our busy lives and to listen to the tiny philosophers of the sky. From the delicate sparrow to the majestic eagle, birds are among the most fascinating species on earth, and there is much to be learned from these paragons of beauty and grace that can be applied to our lives, including:Independence: what it means to be “pushed out of the nest.”Vulnerability: what the mallard teaches us about giving up our old feathers for new ones in order to fly.Gender equality: what happens when a papa Turtledove sits on the nest.Hierarchy and power: what the raven and the vulture know about the pecking order.Filled with elegant illustrations of bird species, this gem of a book celebrates of our friends in the sky, and what they can teach us about the rhythms of life.
By Hand
by John ReibetanzPoems that examine the creative achievements of the human hand, from cave art to contemporary photography. John Reibetanz’s twelfth collection, By Hand, begins with an epigraph from Lewis Mumford: “Until modern times, apart from the esoteric knowledge of the priests, philosophers, and astronomers, the greater part of human thought and imagination flowed through the hands.” Reibetanz’s new poems investigate human creativity as a visceral interaction with the world: our imagining hands finding the music implicit in the stuff of earth, a “duet// of earthbound songsters,” of mind and material, each shaping the other. Centered on this duet, the book encompasses the wide-ranging aspects of our humanity—hands used for good and ill—portrayed in the examined paintings and sculptures, gardens, tapestries, photographs, and carvings. And they explore in particular the relationship in these artifacts between the “givens” of nature and the modifications and contributions of human culture. As Roo Borson says of the collection, “the poems are shot through with moments in which language’s particular dexterity comes into its own and real objects are remade, as when these lines from ‘The Installation’ celebrate the ‘commonality of clay’ in a relief by della Robbia:” the light-quickened humus of the eyes that, for hundreds of years, have read the notes inscribed on the banner an angel is unscrolling…
Microbes for Sustainable Insect Pest Management: An Eco-friendly Approach - Volume 1 (Sustainability in Plant and Crop Protection)
by Md. Aslam Khan Wasim AhmadThis Volume comprises 14 chapters in an attempt to provide the reader with available information on safe and effective use of entomopathogens. Chapters in this book dealing with soil-borne entomopathogens and their phylogeny also provide a review on most updated information of their isolation and molecular identification. Employing fungal pathogens in biological control programmes plays a key role, and conidial thermotolerance and oxidative stress are examined in separate chapters. Entomopathogenic bacteria are able to kill their hosts quickly. An important contribution concerns informations provided upon bacterial cytotoxic factors on insect haemocytes. Nematodes are biological control agents safe to the environment. The information with respect to their direct and indirect effects on non-target organisms is provided. Viruses as highly specific, virulent candidates for use as biological insecticides are safe to non-target species. A separate chapter on the role of granuloviruses in IPM contributes a wealth of information. Biopesticides in combination with synthetic insecticides are reported as effective, economic, and eco-friendly. Understanding their interactions will certainly promote their uses. Finally, emphasis has been given on reviewing synergistic and antagonistic interactions of microbial and chemical pesticides, in other chapters.
Human Geoscience (Advances in Geological Science)
by Yukio Himiyama Kenji Satake Taikan OkiThis book is a product of the joint efforts of interdisciplinary academic fields under the integrative framework of human geoscience. Human geoscience is a new genre of geoscience concerned with the natural phenomena that occur on the surface of the Earth and their relations with human activities. It therefore has connections with many fields of geoscience, namely, physical geography, geomorphology, geology, soil science, sedimentology, seismology, volcanology, meteorology, climatology, oceanography, and hydrology. It also has strong links to the humanities, social sciences, agricultural sciences, and engineering related to disaster prevention or mitigation. All these disciplines are important fields for understanding disasters and global environmental problems and for evaluating the associated risks comprehensively, then proposing mitigation strategies.The volume is designed for those who may not necessarily have a geoscience background but have broad scientific interest in understanding the causes, mechanisms, and consequences of geo-disasters and global environmental problems and wish to make the world more sustainable on that basis. The book consists of six parts: I. Introduction, II. Earth Surface Realms, III. Natural Resources and Society, IV. Natural Hazards and Society, V. Global Environmental Problems, and VI. Global Sustainability Programmes and Human Geoscience, which discusses the contribution of this field of science to a new comprehensive framework for global sustainability.
Green Planet Blues: Critical Perspectives on Global Environmental Politics
by Ken Conca Geoffrey D. DabelkoRevised and updated throughout, this unique anthology examines global environmental politics from a range of perspectives and captures the voices of both the powerless and the powerful. Paradigms of sustainability, environmental security, and ecological justice illustrate the many ways environmental challenges and their solutions are framed in contemporary international debates about climate, water, forests, toxics, energy, food, and biodiversity. Organized thematically, the selections offer a truly global scope. Seventeen new readings explore climate justice, globalization, land and water grabs, climate change and conflict, China’s international environmental relations, and the future of climate politics in the wake of the Paris Agreement. This book stresses the underlying questions of power, interests, authority, and legitimacy that shape environmental debates, and it provides readers with a global range of perspectives on the critical challenges facing the planet and its people. This new edition of Green Planet Blues connects directly with a wide-range of upper-level undergraduate and graduate-level courses.