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The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China
by Robert D. KaplanA stunning exploration of the Greater Middle East, where lasting stability has often seemed just out of reach but may hold the key to the shifting world order of the twenty-first century&“Engaging . . . Even those who resist Kaplan&’s tragic sensibility have much to learn from his look at the emerging Middle East and its recent history.&”—National Review The Greater Middle East, which Robert D. Kaplan defines as the vast region between the Mediterranean and China, encompassing much of the Arab world, parts of northern Africa, and Asia, existed for millennia as the crossroads of empire: Macedonian, Roman, Persian, Mongol, Ottoman, British, Soviet, American. But with the dissolution of empires in the twentieth century, postcolonial states have endeavored to maintain stability in the face of power struggles between factions, leadership vacuums, and the arbitrary borders drawn by exiting imperial rulers with little regard for geography or political groups on the ground. In the Loom of Time, Kaplan explores this broad, fraught space through reporting and travel writing to reveal deeper truths about the impacts of history on the present and how the requirements of stability over anarchy are often in conflict with the ideals of democratic governance. In The Loom of Time, Kaplan makes the case for realism as an approach to the Greater Middle East. Just as Western attempts at democracy promotion across the Middle East have failed, a new form of economic imperialism is emerging today as China's ambitions fall squarely within the region as the key link between Europe and East Asia. As in the past, the Greater Middle East will be a register of future great power struggles across the globe. And like in the past, thousands of years of imperial rule will continue to cast a long shadow on politics as it is practiced today. To piece together the history of this remarkable place and what it suggests for the future, Kaplan weaves together classic texts, immersive travel writing, and a great variety of voices from every country that all compel the reader to look closely at the realities on the ground and to prioritize these facts over ideals on paper. The Loom of Time is a challenging, clear-eyed book that promises to reframe our vision of the global twenty-first century.
The Looting Machine
by Tom BurgisThe trade in oil, gas, gems, metals and rare earth minerals wreaks havoc in Africa. During the years when Brazil, India, China and the other "emerging markets” have transformed their economies, Africa’s resource states remained tethered to the bottom of the industrial supply chain. While Africa accounts for about 30 per cent of the world’s reserves of hydrocarbons and minerals and 14 per cent of the world’s population, its share of global manufacturing stood in 2011 exactly where it stood in 2000: at 1 percent. In his first book, The Looting Machine, Tom Burgis exposes the truth about the truth about the African development miracle: for the resource states, it's a mirage. The oil, copper, diamonds, gold and coltran deposits just attract a global network of traders, bankers, corporate extractors and investors who combine with venal political cabals to loot the states' value . And the vagaries of resource-dependent economies could pitch Africa’s new middle class back into destitution just as quickly as they climbed out of it. The ground beneath their feet is as precarious as a Congolese mine shaft; their prosperity could spill away like crude from a busted pipeline. This catastrophic social disintegration is not merely a continuation of Africa’s past as a colonial victim. The looting now is accelerating as never before. As global demand for Africa’s resources rises, a handful of Africans are becoming legitimately rich but the vast majority, like the continent as a whole, are being fleeced. Outsiders tend to think of Africa as a great drain of philanthropy. But look more closely at the resource industry and the relationship between Africa and the rest of the world looks rather different. In 2010, fuel and mineral exports from Africa were worth $333 billion, more than seven times the value of the aid that went in the opposite direction. But who received the money? For every Frenchwoman who dies in childbirth, 100 die in Niger alone, the former French colony whose uranium fuels France’s nuclear reactors. In petro-states like Angola three-quarters of government revenue comes from oil. The government is not funded by the people, and as result it is not beholden to them. A score of African countries whose economies depend on resources are rentier states; their people are largely serfs. The resource curse is not merely some unfortunate economic phenomenon, the product of an intangible force. What is happening in Africa’s resource states is systematic looting. Like its victims, its beneficiaries have names.
The Looting Machine
by Tom BurgisThe trade in oil, gas, gems, metals and rare earth minerals wreaks havoc in Africa. During the years when Brazil, India, China and the other "emerging markets” have transformed their economies, Africa’s resource states remained tethered to the bottom of the industrial supply chain. While Africa accounts for about 30 per cent of the world’s reserves of hydrocarbons and minerals and 14 per cent of the world’s population, its share of global manufacturing stood in 2011 exactly where it stood in 2000: at 1 percent. In his first book, The Looting Machine, Tom Burgis exposes the truth about the truth about the African development miracle: for the resource states, it's a mirage. The oil, copper, diamonds, gold and coltran deposits just attract a global network of traders, bankers, corporate extractors and investors who combine with venal political cabals to loot the states' value . And the vagaries of resource-dependent economies could pitch Africa’s new middle class back into destitution just as quickly as they climbed out of it. The ground beneath their feet is as precarious as a Congolese mine shaft; their prosperity could spill away like crude from a busted pipeline. This catastrophic social disintegration is not merely a continuation of Africa’s past as a colonial victim. The looting now is accelerating as never before. As global demand for Africa’s resources rises, a handful of Africans are becoming legitimately rich but the vast majority, like the continent as a whole, are being fleeced. Outsiders tend to think of Africa as a great drain of philanthropy. But look more closely at the resource industry and the relationship between Africa and the rest of the world looks rather different. In 2010, fuel and mineral exports from Africa were worth $333 billion, more than seven times the value of the aid that went in the opposite direction. But who received the money? For every Frenchwoman who dies in childbirth, 100 die in Niger alone, the former French colony whose uranium fuels France’s nuclear reactors. In petro-states like Angola three-quarters of government revenue comes from oil. The government is not funded by the people, and as result it is not beholden to them. A score of African countries whose economies depend on resources are rentier states; their people are largely serfs. The resource curse is not merely some unfortunate economic phenomenon, the product of an intangible force. What is happening in Africa’s resource states is systematic looting. Like its victims, its beneficiaries have names.
The Looting Machine: Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa's Wealth
by Tom BurgisThe trade in oil, gas, gems, metals and rare earth minerals wreaks havoc in Africa. During the years when Brazil, India, China and the other "emerging markets” have transformed their economies, Africa’s resource states remained tethered to the bottom of the industrial supply chain. While Africa accounts for about 30 per cent of the world’s reserves of hydrocarbons and minerals and 14 per cent of the world’s population, its share of global manufacturing stood in 2011 exactly where it stood in 2000: at 1 percent. In his first book, The Looting Machine, Tom Burgis exposes the truth about the African development miracle: for the resource states, it's a mirage. The oil, copper, diamonds, gold and coltan deposits attract a global network of traders, bankers, corporate extractors and investors who combine with venal political cabals to loot the states' value. And the vagaries of resource-dependent economies could pitch Africa’s new middle class back into destitution just as quickly as they climbed out of it. The ground beneath their feet is as precarious as a Congolese mine shaft; their prosperity could spill away like crude from a busted pipeline. This catastrophic social disintegration is not merely a continuation of Africa’s past as a colonial victim. The looting now is accelerating as never before. As global demand for Africa’s resources rises, a handful of Africans are becoming legitimately rich but the vast majority, like the continent as a whole, is being fleeced. Outsiders tend to think of Africa as a great drain of philanthropy. But look more closely at the resource industry and the relationship between Africa and the rest of the world looks rather different. In 2010, fuel and mineral exports from Africa were worth $333 billion, more than seven times the value of the aid that went in the opposite direction. But who received the money? For every Frenchwoman who dies in childbirth, 100 die in Niger alone, the former French colony whose uranium fuels France’s nuclear reactors. In petro-states like Angola three-quarters of government revenue comes from oil. The government is not funded by the people, and as result it is not beholden to them. A score of African countries whose economies depend on resources are rentier states; their people are largely serfs. The resource curse is not merely some unfortunate economic phenomenon, the product of an intangible force. What is happening in Africa’s resource states is systematic looting. Like its victims, its beneficiaries have names.
The Los Angeles Plaza
by William David EstradaCity plazas worldwide are centers of cultural expression and artistic display. They are settings for everyday urban life where daily interactions, economic exchanges, and informal conversations occur, thereby creating a socially meaningful place at the core of a city. At the heart of historic Los Angeles, the Plaza represents a quintessential public space where real and imagined narratives overlap and provide as many questions as answers about the development of the city and what it means to be an Angeleno. The author, a social and cultural historian who specializes in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Los Angeles, is well suited to explore the complex history and modern-day relevance of the Los Angeles Plaza. From its indigenous and colonial origins to the present day, Estrada explores the subject from an interdisciplinary and multiethnic perspective, delving into the pages of local newspapers, diaries and letters, and the personal memories of former and present Plaza residents, in order to examine the spatial and social dimensions of the Plaza over an extended period of time. The author contributes to the growing historiography of Los Angeles by providing a groundbreaking analysis of the original core of the city that covers a long span of time, space, and social relations. He examines the impact of change on the lives of ordinary people in a specific place, and how this change reflects the larger story of the city.
The Lost Continent: Coral Reef Conservation and Restoration in the Age of Extinction
by David Alexander BakerThis poignant tribute to the beauty of coral reefs sheds light on the destruction of global reef ecosystems and the climate science behind the conservation efforts to save them.Broken into three parts—Discovering Corals, Wonder and Devastation, and Searching for Hope—and told through a series of gripping stories, author and documentarian David Alexander Baker takes readers on a global adventure to the front lines of an unfolding ecological crisis. More than half of the world's coral reefs have been destroyed in the past fifty years due to the climate crisis. The Lost Continent helps readers gain a deeper understanding of coral reefs and why they are vital to the health of our oceans—and the survival of our planet—and highlights the incredible conservation and restoration strides being made around the world. With over 60 breathtaking photographs of coral reefs spanning from Colombia to Australia to the Florida Keys readers will be moved both by the majesty of nature and the urgency to preserve and restore these great cities of the seas.
The Lost Elms: The stunning new nature book from the 'unofficial poet laureate of our woodlands'
by Dr Mandy Haggith'Unofficial poet laureate of our woodlands.' - THE SCOTSMAN'Not just an elegy to our lost elms but also a meditation on life, culture and trees.' - FRED PEARCEFor millennia, elms shaped our landscape and our folklore; then they started dying.For the past century, a deadly pandemic has raged across the world, destroying all in its path and outmanoeuvring scientists' desperate attempts to halt it.Dutch elm disease has killed hundreds of millions of trees globally and over 25 million in the UK alone, altering our landscapes forever. Few young people have seen a mature elm tree, yet they once covered great swathes of Europe and North America and their legacy lives on in our mythology.The Lost Elms is a love letter to our vanished elms - the story of how we have nearly lost them all, and the long, slow fight back. It tells the gripping story of the scientists desperately trying to halt the disease's relentless progress, and demonstrates the deadly effect globalisation can have on the environment, the threat of climate change, the importance of biosecurity and the intricate ways in which trees are interlinked with other species. Woven throughout is a lyrical look at the elm's central place in our history, culture and folklore - the elm features heavily in Greek, Celtic, Japanese, Germanic and Scandinavian mythology; as the 'Liberty Tree' it played a symbolic role in both the American and French Revolutions; and since ancient times the elm has held associations with death and the supernatural.However all is not lost: recent breakthroughs in ecological understanding reveal elms to be far more resilient than we ever imagined. This tree holds an important place in our history, and now might just offer hopeful lessons for how we can save other disappearing species and our environment.
The Lost Elms: The stunning new nature book from the 'unofficial poet laureate of our woodlands'
by Dr Mandy Haggith'Unofficial poet laureate of our woodlands.' - THE SCOTSMAN'Not just an elegy to our lost elms but also a meditation on life, culture and trees.' - FRED PEARCEFor millennia, elms shaped our landscape and our folklore; then they started dying.For the past century, a deadly pandemic has raged across the world, destroying all in its path and outmanoeuvring scientists' desperate attempts to halt it.Dutch elm disease has killed hundreds of millions of trees globally and over 25 million in the UK alone, altering our landscapes forever. Few young people have seen a mature elm tree, yet they once covered great swathes of Europe and North America and their legacy lives on in our mythology.The Lost Elms is a love letter to our vanished elms - the story of how we have nearly lost them all, and the long, slow fight back. It tells the gripping story of the scientists desperately trying to halt the disease's relentless progress, and demonstrates the deadly effect globalisation can have on the environment, the threat of climate change, the importance of biosecurity and the intricate ways in which trees are interlinked with other species. Woven throughout is a lyrical look at the elm's central place in our history, culture and folklore - the elm features heavily in Greek, Celtic, Japanese, Germanic and Scandinavian mythology; as the 'Liberty Tree' it played a symbolic role in both the American and French Revolutions; and since ancient times the elm has held associations with death and the supernatural.However all is not lost: recent breakthroughs in ecological understanding reveal elms to be far more resilient than we ever imagined. This tree holds an important place in our history, and now might just offer hopeful lessons for how we can save other disappearing species and our environment.
The Lost Elms: The stunning new nature book from the 'unofficial poet laureate of our woodlands'
by Dr Mandy Haggith'Unofficial poet laureate of our woodlands.' - THE SCOTSMAN'Not just an elegy to our lost elms but also a meditation on life, culture and trees.' - FRED PEARCEFor millennia, elms shaped our landscape and our folklore; then they started dying.For the past century, a deadly pandemic has raged across the world, destroying all in its path and outmanoeuvring scientists' desperate attempts to halt it.Dutch elm disease has killed hundreds of millions of trees globally and over 25 million in the UK alone, altering our landscapes forever. Few young people have seen a mature elm tree, yet they once covered great swathes of Europe and North America and their legacy lives on in our mythology.The Lost Elms is a love letter to our vanished elms - the story of how we have nearly lost them all, and the long, slow fight back. It tells the gripping story of the scientists desperately trying to halt the disease's relentless progress, and demonstrates the deadly effect globalisation can have on the environment, the threat of climate change, the importance of biosecurity and the intricate ways in which trees are interlinked with other species. Woven throughout is a lyrical look at the elm's central place in our history, culture and folklore - the elm features heavily in Greek, Celtic, Japanese, Germanic and Scandinavian mythology; as the 'Liberty Tree' it played a symbolic role in both the American and French Revolutions; and since ancient times the elm has held associations with death and the supernatural.However all is not lost: recent breakthroughs in ecological understanding reveal elms to be far more resilient than we ever imagined. This tree holds an important place in our history, and now might just offer hopeful lessons for how we can save other disappearing species and our environment.
The Lost Flock: Rare Wool, Wild Isles and One Woman’s Journey to Save Scotland’s Original Sheep
by Jane CooperThe Lost Flock is the story of the remarkable and rare little horned sheep, known as Orkney Boreray, and the wool-obsessed woman who moved to one of Scotland’s wildest islands to save them. It was Jane Cooper’s passion for knitting that led her to discover the world of rare-breed sheep and their wool. Through this, Jane uncovered the ‘Orkney Borerary’ – a unique group within the UK’s rarest breed of sheep, the Boreray, and one of the few surviving examples of primitive sheep in northern Europe. As her knowledge of this rarest of heritage breeds grew, she took the bold step to uproot her quiet suburban life in Newcastle and relocate to Orkney, embarking on a new adventure and life as farmer and shepherd. Jane was astonished to find that she was the sole custodian of this lost flock in the world, and so she began investigating their mysterious and ancient history, tracking down the origins of the Boreray breed and its significance to Scotland’s natural heritage. From Viking times to Highland crofts and nefarious research experiments in Edinburgh, this is a so-far untold real-life detective story. It is also the story of one woman’s relentless determination to ensure a future for her beloved sheep, and in doing so revealing their deep connection to the Scottish landscape. An unforgettable story of a heritage breed and the importance of its existence.
The Lost Forest
by Phyllis RootThe story of a forest &“lost&” by a surveying error—and all the flora and fauna to be found thereA forest, of course, doesn&’t need a map to know where to grow. But people need a map to find it. And in 1882 when surveyors set out to map a part of Minnesota, they got confused, or tired and cold (it was November), and somehow mapped a great swath of ancient trees as a lake. For more than seventy-five years, the mistake stayed on the map, and the forest remained safe from logging—no lumber baron expects to find timber in a lake, after all. The Lost Forest tells the story of this lucky error and of the 144 acres of old-growth red and white pine it preserved. With gentle humor, Phyllis Root introduces readers to the men at their daunting task, trekking across Minnesota, measuring and marking the vast land into townships and sections and quarters. She takes us deep into a stand of virgin pine, one of the last and largest in the state, where U.S. history and natural history meet. With the help of Betsy Bowen&’s finely observed and beautiful illustrations, she shows us all the life that can be found in the Lost Forest.Accompanying the story is a wealth of information about the Cadastral Survey and about the plants and animals that inhabit forests—making the book a valuable guide for readers who might want to look even deeper into the history of Minnesota, the flora and fauna of old-growth forests, and the apportioning of land in America.
The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes
by Conevery Bolton ValenciusFrom December 1811 to February 1812, massive earthquakes shook the middle Mississippi Valley, collapsing homes, snapping large trees midtrunk, and briefly but dramatically reversing the flow of the continent's mightiest river. For decades, people puzzled over the causes of the quakes, but by the time the nation began to recover from the Civil War, the New Madrid earthquakes had been essentially forgotten. In The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes, Conevery Bolton Valencius remembers this major environmental disaster, demonstrating how events that have been long forgotten, even denied and ridiculed as tall tales, were in fact enormously important at the time of their occurrence, and continue to affect us today. Valencius weaves together scientific and historical evidence to demonstrate the vast role the New Madrid earthquakes played in the United States in the early nineteenth century, shaping the settlement patterns of early western Cherokees and other Indians, heightening the credibility of Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa for their Indian League in the War of 1812, giving force to frontier religious revival, and spreading scientific inquiry. Moving into the present, Valencius explores the intertwined reasons--environmental, scientific, social, and economic--why something as consequential as major earthquakes can be lost from public knowledge, offering a cautionary tale in a world struggling to respond to global climate change amid widespread willful denial. Engagingly written and ambitiously researched--both in the scientific literature and the writings of the time--The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes will be an important resource in environmental history, geology, and seismology, as well as history of science and medicine and early American and Native American history.
The Lost Subways of North America: A Cartographic Guide to the Past, Present, and What Might Have Been
by Jake BermanA visual exploration of the transit histories of twenty-three US and Canadian cities. Every driver in North America shares one miserable, soul-sucking universal experience—being stuck in traffic. But things weren’t always like this. Why is it that the mass transit systems of most cities in the United States and Canada are now utterly inadequate? The Lost Subways of North America offers a new way to consider this eternal question, with a strikingly visual—and fun—journey through past, present, and unbuilt urban transit. Using meticulous archival research, cartographer and artist Jake Berman has successfully plotted maps of old train networks covering twenty-three North American metropolises, ranging from New York City’s Civil War–era plan for a steam-powered subway under Fifth Avenue to the ultramodern automated Vancouver SkyTrain and the thousand-mile electric railway system of pre–World War II Los Angeles. He takes us through colorful maps of old, often forgotten streetcar lines, lost ideas for never-built transit, and modern rail systems—drawing us into the captivating transit histories of US and Canadian cities. Berman combines vintage styling with modern printing technology to create a sweeping visual history of North American public transit and urban development. With more than one hundred original maps, accompanied by essays on each city’s urban development, this book presents a fascinating look at North American rapid transit systems.
The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue: A Story of Climate and Hope on One American Street
by Mike TidwellA riveting and elegant story of climate change on one city street, full of surprises and true stories of human struggle and dying local trees – all against the national backdrop of 2023's record heat domes and raging wildfires and, simultaneously, rising hopes for clean energy.In 2023, author and activist Mike Tidwell decided to keep a record for a full year of the growing impacts of climate change on his one urban block right on the border with Washington, DC. A love letter to the magnificent oaks and other trees dying from record heat waves and bizarre rain, Tidwell's story depicts the neighborhood's battle to save the trees and combat climate change: The midwife who builds a geothermal energy system on the block, the Congressman who battles cancer and climate change at the same time, and the Chinese-American climate scientist who wants to bury billions of the world's dying trees to store their carbon and help stabilize the atmosphere.The story goes beyond ailing trees as Tidwell chronicles people on his block coping with Lyme disease, a church with solar panels on its roof and floodwater in its basement, and young people anguishing over whether to have kids –all in the same neighborhood and all against the backdrop of 2023’s record global temperatures and raging wildfires and hurricanes. Then there’s Tidwell himself who explores the ethical and scientific questions surrounding the idea of “geoengineering” as a last-ditch way to save the world’s trees – and human communities everywhere – by reflecting sunlight away from the planet. No book has told the story of climate change this way: hyper-local, full of surprises, full of true stories of life and death in one neighborhood. The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue is a harrowing and hopeful proxy for every street in America and every place on Earth.
The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate (The Lost World Series #Volume 2)
by John H. WaltonIn this astute mix of cultural critique and biblical studies, John H. Walton presents and defends twenty propositions supporting a literary and theological understanding of Genesis 1 within the context of the ancient Near Eastern world and unpacks its implications for our modern scientific understanding of origins.Ideal for students, professors, pastors and lay readers with an interest in the intelligent design controversy and creation-evolution debates, Walton's thoughtful analysis unpacks seldom appreciated aspects of the biblical text and sets Bible-believing scientists free to investigate the question of origins.
The Lovely and the Wild
by Louise De Lawrence Glen LoatesWinner of the 1969 John Burroughs Medal <p><p> From childhood Louise de Kiriline Lawrence dreamed of settling one day in an unspoiled, tranquil spot and living in harmony with nature. This beautifully written book is the story of her dream come true. <p> Truly a labour of love, The Lovely and the Wild is the product of an exceptional woman's profound joy at being part of the limitless world of nature. <p> Louise de Kiriline Lawrence passes over in a single sentence a fascinating life "which does not belong to this book." Born in Sweden, daughter of a naturalist, she served as a translator to an American military mission during the Russian Revolution, and was in charge of a Russian military hospital. She was a delegate of the Swedish Red Cross Expedition to the Volga region during the great famine of 1922 before emigrating to Canada.
The Low-Carbon Contradiction: Energy Transition, Geopolitics, and the Infrastructural State in Cuba (Critical Environments: Nature, Science, and Politics #13)
by Gustav CederlofIn the pursuit of socialism, Cuba became Latin America’s most oil-dependent economy. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the country lost 86 percent of its crude oil supplies, resulting in a severe energy crisis. In the face of this shock, Cuba started to develop a low-carbon economy based on economic and social reform rather than high-tech innovation. The Low-Carbon Contradiction examines this period of rapid low-carbon energy transition, which many have described as a "Cuban miracle" or even a real-life case of successful "degrowth." Working with original research from inside households, workplaces, universities, and government offices, Gustav Cederlöf retells the history of the Cuban Revolution as one of profound environmental and infrastructural change. In doing so, he opens up new questions about energy transitions, their politics, and the conditions of a socially just low-carbon future. The Cuban experience shows how a society can transform itself while rapidly cutting carbon emissions in the search for sustainability.
The Low-Carbon Cookbook & Action Plan: Reduce Food Waste and Combat Climate Change with 140 Sustainable Plant-Based
by Alejandra SchraderWINNER IN THE FOOD WASTE CATEGORY OF THE GOURMAND WORLD COOKBOOK AWARDS FOR THE UNITED STATESDiscover how to reduce the carbon footprint sitting on your dinner plateFrom the farmers to the delivery trucks and everything in between, there are countless people and processes involved in getting meat and produce from where they're made to your kitchen. This recipe book highlights the difficulties and pleasures of eating sustainably!If you're looking for a way to combat climate change from your kitchen, this cookbook will help you with your goals. It includes: • An introduction to the climate crisis and what the low-carbon diet is • Expert tips and advice on how to eat a low-carbon diet • Science-backed information on how to shop and cook smart by making the most-climate friendly choices • 140 plant-based recipes made with fresh, wholesome, and seasonal ingredients that can help you lower your carbon footprint and foodprint You may not think your food has anything to do with global warming, but in reality, the food industry has an undeniable impact on the environment and contributes one-fourth of our global greenhouse gas emissions. You can take a few small steps to help lower that number by introducing a low-carbon diet into your kitchen and life - and The Low-Carbon Cookbook will show you exactly how. Determining a food&’s carbon cost can be difficult. From examining the impact of the supply chain for foods to evaluating the carbon footprint of various plant-based options, this cookbook shows you exactly how to make the most environmentally friendly food choices. Packed with over 140 delicious recipes made with sustainable ingredients, this climate-friendly cooking book will teach you how to calculate your footprint, reduce your meat and dairy intake, and eat seasonal and local. • • • &“The Low-Carbon Cookbook is a welcome roadmap for home chefs of any level who care about the future of our planet and making conscious food choices. Alejandra Schrader blends detailed research with vibrant, delicious recipes that make eating a climate-friendly diet possible. With this delightful thought-provoking book, everyone can start making changes in how they eat today that will have a big impact on our planet tomorrow. In these times of climate crisis, this is a must-read for all who care about food, our climate, and all the living beings who share our planet.&” – Abby Maxman, president and CEO of Oxfam America &“When Alejandra writes about the relationship between the food we eat and the impact it has on the environment, she&’s not just doing it on a hunch—she&’s done the research and shares it in a way that&’s not polarizing or politicizing. By setting the table with food and facts, Alejandra provides anyone who cares about the food they eat with plenty of inspiration for creating meals that taste—and do—good.&” – Courtney Hazlett, executive producer and creator, Netflix&’s Restaurants on the Edge &“Our planet is in a crisis. Food systems are in a crisis. Rates of malnutrition—stunting and starvation and obesity—are on the increase. Many countries around the world have adopted farming and production patterns that are designed for convenient consumption and mass calories rather than the sustainability of the planet and good health. With more than 30,000 edible plants available on Earth, it&’s criminal we have come to rely on 3 crops for more than 60% of our calories. It&’s crucial we understand the relationship between nutrition and the health of our bodies—as well as planetary health—in order to care for our planet and to change food systems for the better. However, we can&’t talk about planetary health,
The Low-Carbon Good Life (Routledge-SCORAI Studies in Sustainable Consumption)
by Jules PrettyThe Low-Carbon Good Life is about how to reverse and repair four interlocking crises arising from modern material consumption: the climate crisis, growing inequality, biodiversity loss and food-related ill-health. Across the world today and throughout history, good lives are characterised by healthy food, connections to nature, being active, togetherness, personal growth, a spiritual framework and sustainable consumption. A low-carbon good life offers opportunities to live in ways that will bring greater happiness and contentment. Slower ways of living await. A global target of no more than one tonne of carbon per person would allow the poorest to consume more and everyone to find our models of low-carbon good lives. But dropping old habits is hard, and large-scale impacts will need fresh forms of public engagement and citizen action. Local to national governments need to act; equally, they need pushing by the power and collective action of citizens. Innovative and engaging and written in a style that combines storytelling with scientific evidence, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, sustainability, environmental economics and sustainable consumption, as well as non-specialist readers concerned about the climate crisis.
The Lower Damodar River, India
by Kumkum BhattacharyyaInterweaving the human aspects of river control with analysis of hydro-physical data, including historical data over the last few centuries, this monograph is a comprehensive evaluation of the Damodar's lower reaches. While the Damodar River isn't an exceptional tropical river, nor does it feature classic examples of river control structures, it is unusual and worthy of study due to the fact that nowhere else in the tropical world have riverine sandbars been used as a resource base as well as for permanent settlements. Based on their knowledge of river stages, the inhabitants have fine-tuned their land use to flood events, applying a concept of flood zoning to the riverbed. Every available space has been utilized rationally and judiciously. This rare human-environmental study analyzes the remarkable way in which immigrants unfamiliar with the riverine environment have adapted to the altered hydrologic regime of the river. In doing so they have demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of the flood regime and the vagaries of an unpromising environment in their land use, cropping and settlement patterns. Spurred on by restricted social and economic mobility and sometimes political constraints, these self-settled refugees have learned to adapt to their environment and live with the floods. Bhattacharyya's text is particularly timely, as anthropogenic processes of this kind have not been adequately studied by geographers.
The Lower Danube River: Hydro-Environmental Issues and Sustainability (Earth and Environmental Sciences Library)
by Abdelazim Negm Liliana Zaharia Gabriela Ioana-ToroimacThis book provides essential information and recent findings on hydro-environmental issues in the Lower Danube River, particularly its hydrological and hydromorphological processes; physico-chemical features; climate and water-related hazards; and not only the biodiversity and quality but also the sustainable management and governance of its hydro-environment. Accordingly, it presents a broad range of scientific information on the lower sector of the second-longest river in Europe, which holds major economic importance and has been severely impacted by human pressures, especially since the second part of the last century. The engineering works (e.g. dams, reservoirs, levees, channelization, etc.) on the Danube and its tributaries, despite their benefits to society, have altered its flow and significantly reduced its sediment load, with consequences for hydromorphological processes and aquatic ecosystems. These ecosystems have also been affected by pollution from various sources. To promote sustainable management of the Danube River and its watershed, several strategies and measures have been developed by a number of institutions, from the European level to the national and regional levels (commissions, national authorities, non-governmental organizations, etc.). Compared to the upper and middle sectors of the Danube, the lower sector has received less attention in the international scientific literature in terms of hydro-environmental issues. The book fills this gap and provides current and original insights and findings from recent studies conducted by scientists from three countries drained by the Lower Danube River and its tributaries: Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. This unique book will be of great scientific interest to professional engineers, policy planners and policymakers in the three countries mentioned above, helping them to implement their own sustainable development plans. It also offers a valuable resource for graduate students, researchers and stakeholders.
The Lowland Maya Area: Three Millennia at the Human-Wildland Interface
by Arturo Gómez-Pompa Michael F. Allen Scott L. Fedick Juan J. Jiménez-OsornioWhat can we learn from the people of the Maya Lowlands? Integrating history, biodiversity, ethnobotany, geology, ecology, archaeology, anthropology, and other disciplines, The Lowland Maya Area is a valuable guide to the fascinating relationship between man and his environment in the Yucatán peninsula. This book covers virtually every aspect of the biology and ecology of the Maya Lowlands and the many ways that human beings have interacted with their surroundings in that area for the last three thousand years. You'll learn about newly discovered archaeological evidence of wetland use; the domestication and use of cacao and henequen plants; a biodiversity assessment of a select group of plants, animals, and microorganisms; the area's forgotten cotton, indigo, and wax industries; the ecological history of the Yucatán Peninsula; and much more. This comprehensive book will open your eyes to all that we can learn from the Maya people, who continue to live on their native lands, integrating modern life with their old ways and teaching valuable lessons about human dependence on and management of environmental resources. The Lowland Maya Area explores: the impact of hurricanes and fire on local environments historic and modern Maya concepts of forests the geologic history of the Yucatán challenges to preserving Maya architecture newly-discovered evidence of fertilizer use among the ancient Maya cooperation between locals and researchers that fosters greater knowledge on both sides recommendations to help safeguard the future The Lowland Maya Area is an ideal single source for reliable information on the many ecological and social issues of this dynamic area. Providing you with the results of the most recent research into many diverse fields, including traditional ecological knowledge, the difficult transition to capitalism, agave production, and the diversity of insect species, this book will be a valuable addition to your collection. As the editors of The Lowland Maya Area say in their concluding chapter: If we are to gain global perspective from the changing Maya world, it is that understanding space and time is absolutely critical to human persistence. Understanding how the Maya have interacted with their environment for thousands of years while maintaining biodiversity will help us understand how we too can work for sustainable development in our own environments.
The Lure of Mountain Peaks
by Myra WeatherlyWhat makes so many people risk their lives to climb above the clouds? Young readers will learn how Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, and Mount Everest came to be while they discover the beauty and allure of these mountain peaks.
The Lure of the Beach: A Global History
by Robert C. RitchieA human and global take on a beloved vacation spot. The crash of surf, smell of salted air, wet whorls of sand underfoot. These are the sensations of the beach, that environment that has drawn humans to its life-sustaining shores for millennia. And while the gull’s cry and the cove’s splendor have remained constant throughout time, our relationship with the beach has been as fluid as the runnels left behind by the tide’s turning.The Lure of the Beach is a chronicle of humanity's history with the coast, taking us from the seaside pleasure palaces of Roman elites and the aquatic rituals of medieval pilgrims, to the venues of modern resort towns and beyond. Robert C. Ritchie traces the contours of the material and social economies of the beach throughout time, covering changes in the social status of beach goers, the technology of transport, and the development of fashion (from nudity to Victorianism and back again), as well as the geographic spread of modern beach-going from England to France, across the Mediterranean, and from nineteenth-century America to the world. And as climate change and rising sea levels erode the familiar faces of our coasts, we are poised for a contemporary reckoning with our relationship—and responsibilities—to our beaches and their ecosystems. The Lure of the Beach demonstrates that whether as a commodified pastoral destination, a site of ecological resplendency, or a flashpoint between private ownership and public access, the history of the beach is a human one that deserves to be told now more than ever before.
The Lure of the North Woods: Cultivating Tourism in the Upper Midwest
by Aaron ShapiroIn the late nineteenth century, the North Woods offered people little in the way of a pleasant escape. Rather, it was a hub of production supplying industrial America with vast quantities of lumber and mineral ore. This book tells the story of how northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and Michigan&’s Upper Peninsula became a tourist paradise, turning a scarred countryside into the playground we know today.Stripped of much of its timber and ore by the early 1900s, the North Woods experienced deindustrialization earlier than the Rust Belt cities that consumed its resources. In The Lure of the North Woods, Aaron Shapiro describes how residents and visitors reshaped the region from a landscape of exploitation to a vacationland. The rejuvenating North Woods profited in new ways by drawing on emerging connections between the urban and the rural, including improved transportation, promotion, recreational land use, and conservation initiatives. Shapiro demonstrates how this transformation helps explain the interwar origins of modern American environmentalism, when both the consumption of nature for pleasure and the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the North Woods and elsewhere led many Americans to cultivate a fresh perspective on the outdoors. At a time when travel and recreation are considered major economic forces, The Lure of the North Woods reveals how leisure—and tourism in particular—has shaped modern America.