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Waveguide Propagation of Nonlinear Waves: Impact of Inhomogeneity and Accompanying Effects (Springer Series on Atomic, Optical, and Plasma Physics #109)
by Sergey LebleThis book addresses the peculiarities of nonlinear wave propagation in waveguides and explains how the stratification depends on the waveguide and confinement. An example of this is an optical fibre that does not allow light to pass through a density jump. The book also discusses propagation in the nonlinear regime, which is characterized by a specific waveform and amplitude, to demonstrate so-called solitonic behaviour. In this case, a wave may be strongly localized, and propagates with a weak change in shape. In the waveguide case there are additional contributions of dispersion originating from boundary or asymptotic conditions.Offering concrete guidance on solving application problems, this essentially (more than twice) expanded second edition includes various aspects of guided propagation of nonlinear waves as well as new topics like solitonic behaviour of one-mode and multi-mode excitation and propagation and plasma waveguides, propagation peculiarities of electromagnetic waves in metamaterials, new types of dispersion, dissipation, electromagnetic waveguides, planetary waves and plasma waves interaction.The key feature of the solitonic behaviour is based on Coupled KdV and Coupled NS systems. The systems are derived in this book and solved numerically with the proof of stability and convergence. The domain wall dynamics of ferromagnetic microwaveguides and Bloch waves in nano-waveguides are also included with some problems of magnetic momentum and charge transport.
Wavelet Analysis in Civil Engineering
by Pranesh ChatterjeeWavelets as a Powerful Signal Processing ToolThe principles of wavelets can be applied to a range of problems in civil engineering structures, such as earthquake-induced vibration analysis, bridge vibrations, and damage identification. This book is particularly useful for graduate students and researchers in vibration analysis, especially those dealing with random vibrations. Wavelet Analysis in Civil Engineering explains the importance of wavelets in analyzing nonstationarities in ground motions. The example of a tank is considered to develop the problem and the model (based on linear assumptions) and several case studies are explored—fixed base, flexible base, lateral and rocking motions of foundations, with and without fluid—to explain how to account for ground motion nonstationarities. Bridge vibrations caused by vehicle passage are explored, as is structural damage identification. Wavelet analytic techniques starting from single degree of freedom systems to multiple degree of freedom systems are set out and detailed solutions of more complicated problems involving soil and fluid interactions are presented. Separate chapters have been devoted to explaining the basic principles of the wavelet-based random nonstationary vibration analysis of nonlinear systems, including probabilistic analysis. Comprised of seven chapters, this text: Introduces the concept and utility of wavelet transform Describes the discretization of ground motions using wavelet coefficients Explains how to characterize nonstationary ground motions using statistical functionals of wavelet coefficients of seismic accelerations Develops the formulation of a linear single-degree-of-freedom system Shows stepwise development of the formulation of a structure idealized as a linear multi-degree-of-freedom system in terms of wavelet coefficients Defines wavelet domain formulation of a nonlinear single-degree-of-freedom system Introduces the concept of probability in wavelet-based theoretical formulation of a nonlinear two-degree-of-freedom system Covers a variety of case studies highlighting diverse applications Wavelet Analysis in Civil Engineering explains the importance of wavelets in terms of non-stationarities of ground motions, explores the application of wavelet analytic techniques, and is an excellentresource for users addressing wavelets for the first time.
Wavelets and Fractals in Earth System Sciences
by V. P. Dimri E. Chandrasekhar V. M. GadreThe subject of wavelet analysis and fractal analysis is fast developing and has drawn a great deal of attention in varied disciplines of science and engineering. Over the past couple of decades, wavelets, multiresolution, and multifractal analyses have been formalized into a thorough mathematical framework and have found a variety of applications w
Waves
by Fredric RaichlenSitting on the beach on a sunny summer day, we enjoy the steady advance and retreat of the waves. In the water, enthusiastic waders jump and shriek with pleasure when a wave hits them. But where do these waves come from? How are they formed and why do they break on the shore? In Waves, Fredric Raichlen traces the evolution of waves, from their generation in the deep ocean to their effects on the coast. He explains, in a way that is readily understandable to nonscientists, both the science of waves themselves and the technology that can be used to protect us against their more extreme forms, including hurricanes and tsunamis. After offering a basic definition of waves and explaining the mechanics of wind-wave generation, Raichlen describes how waves travel, how they shoal (rise), how they break, and how they transform in other ways. He goes on to describe, among other things, the complicated sun-Earth-moon combinations that create astronomical tides (the high and low tides that occur daily and predictably); the effects of waves on the beach, including rip currents and beach erosion, and on harbors and shipping; and the building of breakwaters to protect harbors and bays. He discusses hurricanes, storm surges, and hurricane-generated waves. He offers a brief history of tsunamis, including Sumatra's in 2004 and Japan's in 2011, and explains the mechanisms that generate them (including earthquakes, landslides, and volcanoes). Waves can be little ripples that lap peacefully at the shore or monstrous tsunamis that destroy everything in their paths. Describing the science underlying this astonishing variety, Waves offers a different kind of beach reading.
Waves
by Herbert S. ZimThis book talks about anything you ever wanted to know about waves, from how they are formed, explaining simple vocabulary about waves, how they travel across the oceans, how they can be destructive, and how they can be useful too. Although this book was published in 1967 I found it had some excellent information on a topic not often talked about, Ocean waves. Good read in my opinion.
Waves in Oceanic and Coastal Waters
by Leo H. HolthuijsenWaves in Oceanic and Coastal Waters describes the observation, analysis and prediction of wind-generated waves in the open ocean, in shelf seas, and in coastal regions with islands, channels, tidal flats and inlets, estuaries, fjords and lagoons. Most of this richly illustrated book is devoted to the physical aspects of waves. After introducing observation techniques for waves, both at sea and from space, the book defines the parameters that characterise waves. Using basic statistical and physical concepts, the author discusses the prediction of waves in oceanic and coastal waters, first in terms of generalised observations, and then in terms of the more theoretical framework of the spectral energy balance. He gives the results of established theories and also the direction in which research is developing. The book ends with a description of SWAN (Simulating Waves Nearshore), the preferred computer model of the engineering community for predicting waves in coastal waters.
Waves, Particles and Fields: Introducing Quantum Field Theory
by Anthony C. Fischer-CrippsChoice Outstanding Title, September 2020This book fills a gap in the middle ground between quantum mechanics of a single electron to the concept of a quantum field. In doing so, the book is divided into two parts; the first provides the necessary background to quantum theory extending from Planck’s formulation of black body radiation to Schrodinger’s equation; and the second part explores Dirac’s relativistic electron to quantum fields, finishing with an description of Feynman diagrams and their meaning. Much more than a popular account, yet not too heavy so as to be inaccessible, this book assumes no prior knowledge of quantum physics or field theory and provides the necessary foundations for readers to then progress to more advanced texts on quantum field theory. It will be of interest to undergraduate students in physics and mathematics, in addition to an interested, general audience.Features: Provides an extensive yet accessible background to the concepts Contains numerous, illustrative diagrams Presents in-depth explanations of difficult subjects
Ways Out of the Climate Catastrophe: Ingredients for a Sustainable Energy and Climate Policy
by Lars JaegerFloods, species extinction, migration, droughts, super tornadoes - climate change is no longer a threat looming on the horizon but has long since become part of our everyday lives. Limiting the emerging and worsening climate changes is one of the most important challenges of our time.All human induced climate impacts can be traced back to a single factor: Energy. This book provides a comprehensive and readable introduction to the interplay between energy and climate, which also includes the fields of technology, economics, and politics. At the same time, the issue is highly complex and can only be understood in all its details by expert scientists, meaning that the facts are often poorly presented in the political discussion about climate. To put it simply: If we want to stop and even reverse the current climate trends, we need to find answers to the following three questions: · How exactly does our existing way of consuming energy affect the climate? · What options are there for generating energy without negative climate effects, and what do these mean for our lives? · What technological advances will directly help us to achieve this in future? In a non-alarmist yet entertaining manner, the book highlights the key determinants of global energy supply. Readers will come to appreciate the crucial facts about "energy and climate", will be up to date with the latest scientific and technological knowledge, and will understand the global political and economic framework that we need to consider when designing an appropriate future energy and climate policy. At the same time, the author conveys a clear and optimistic message: We already have the technical capabilities (which will be further enhanced in the future) to reverse the devastating climate trends without significantly limiting prosperity. The obstacles lie primarily in economic and political "constraints" and particular conflicts of interest. “A very important book that explains one of the most essential questions of our time - how we can master climate change by an energy transition - with scientific precision and clear words.” Georg Kell, founder and former Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact
Ways of Greening: Using Plants and Gardens for Healthy Work and Living Surroundings
by Stevie FamulariThis book focuses on rethinking working and living spaces and understanding how "greening" can make them healthier and their occupants happier. It teaches how to see unique ideas for spaces and some of the materials needed to create the designs. Inspired by a study that states that 8% of a space needs to have plants in order to positively affect the air quality of the space, this book explores what that minimum would look like in spaces and how it can be done to existing spaces as well as to new site designs, greening both interiors and exteriors. Using the mathematical amount of 10% per square foot, the illustrations start at that quantity of greening and show how it can look. The sites selected are both public and private sites, as well as interior and exterior. As there are more modalities, needs, and locations where people now work, making sure that multiple types of spaces are designed for people’s success is more relevant than ever. This includes designs for more traditional offices, open-air offices, commercial spaces, homes, studios, and more. Ways of Greening: using Plans and Gardens for Healthy Work and Living Surroundings gives readers a way to not only understand greening but to understand how to see greening applied to their place. The two basic ways to see the spaces selected are existing spaces to which greening design is applied afterward and upcoming spaces in which greening design can be built directly into the space. The first type of retrofitting greening into existing spaces can also be combined with the second type of space (new designs). There are examples of both types throughout the book. Essentially, this book addresses ways in which business owners, residents, developers, architects, agencies, and others can integrate greening to improve the air quality and the quality of life with a green solution.
We Alone: How Humans Have Conquered the Planet and Can Also Save It
by David WesternA thoughtful exploration of how humans have endangered the Earth but can pull it back from the brink, as told by a renowned conservationist This personal and thoughtful book by renowned Kenya conservationist David Western traces our global conquest from Maasai herders battling droughts in Africa to the technological frontiers of California. Western draws on a half century of research in the savannas and his own life’s journey to argue that conservation is not a modern invention. The success of all societies past and present lies in conservation practices, breaking biological barriers and learning to live in large cooperative groups able to sustain a healthy environment. Our ecological emancipation from nature enabled us to expand our horizons from conserving food and water for survival to saving whales, elephants, and our cultural heritage. In the Anthropocene, our scientific knowledge and modern sensibilities offer hope for combating global warming and creating a planet able to sustain the wealth of life, but only if we use our unique cultural capacity of cooperation to plan our future.
We Are All Greta: Be Inspired By Greta Thunberg To Save The World
by Valentina Giannella"Humans are very adaptable: We can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today. We have no more excuses" GRETA THUNBERGFollow in the footsteps of the Swedish teenage activist and Nobel Peace Prize candidate in We Are All Greta and join the global mission to save our planet from climate change. Greta Thunberg, author of No One is too Small to Make a Difference, has directed the attention of adults and her peers alike to issues crucial to the future of the planet, and the heads of even the youngest children have been filled with questions. GLOBAL WARMING, THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT, FOSSIL FUELS - what do they all mean? What are biodiversity and sustainable development? Who is studying the changes that are taking place here on Earth? Which sources are reliable? What action can I take?We Are All Greta sets out the basic ideas required to understand climate change, explained in a scientific and accessible way and drawn from the most authoritative sources. With a chapter on key words and sites to help you understand the climate challenge and a list of websites to visit for further information, this is a book for young people, for parents, for grandparents and anyone having to answer direct and urgent questions about what must be done to protect our world.WHAT EARLY READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT WE ARE ALL GRETA"Very good for young & older readers. This applies to every one of us on this planet!""Since we have only about 12 years before climate change is irreversible, this is a very timely book. Highly recommended.""It is suitable for children and adults alike and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about global warming.""Definitely a good place to start when teaching kids about the environment."
We Are All Greta: Be Inspired to Save the World
by Valentina GiannellaHumans are very adaptable: We can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today. We have no more excuses'GRETA THUNBERGFollow in the footsteps of the Swedish teenage activist and Nobel Peace Prize candidate in We Are All Greta and join the global mission to save our planet from climate change.Greta Thunberg, author of No One is too Small to Make a Difference, has directed the attention of adults and her peers alike to issues crucial to the future of the planet, and the heads of even the youngest children have been filled with questions. GLOBAL WARMING, THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT, FOSSIL FUELS - what do they all mean? What are biodiversity and sustainable development? Who is studying the changes that are taking place here on Earth? Which sources are reliable? What action can I take?We Are All Greta sets out the basic ideas required to understand climate change, explained in a scientific and accessible way and drawn from the most authoritative sources. With a chapter on key words and sites to help you understand the climate challenge and a list of websites to visit for further information, this is a book for young people, for parents, for grandparents and anyone having to answer direct and urgent questions about what must be done to protect our world.WHAT EARLY READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT WE ARE ALL GRETA'Will enable readers to understand the climate emergency and learn what can be done to help. Highly illustrated, and with clear, in-depth text and data, it will answer young readers' questions on what climate change means, what its consequences will be, and what must be done to protect our world'LOVEREADING4KIDS BOOK OF THE MONTH'A must-read book for all the citizens of Earth! You want to save Earth and all in it, stop complaining and start saving''A really informative and helpful book that is suitable for both adults and older kids. It was the perfect length and took the time it needed to get the message across without bogging us down''Managed to explore a lot of issues in an accessible way, with a great glossary at the end, and also managed to make points without being too scary, preachy or didactic - no mean feat in this field'
We Are All Greta: Be Inspired to Save the World
by Valentina GiannellaHumans are very adaptable: We can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today. We have no more excuses'GRETA THUNBERGFollow in the footsteps of the Swedish teenage activist and Nobel Peace Prize candidate in We Are All Greta and join the global mission to save our planet from climate change.Greta Thunberg, author of No One is too Small to Make a Difference, has directed the attention of adults and her peers alike to issues crucial to the future of the planet, and the heads of even the youngest children have been filled with questions. GLOBAL WARMING, THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT, FOSSIL FUELS - what do they all mean? What are biodiversity and sustainable development? Who is studying the changes that are taking place here on Earth? Which sources are reliable? What action can I take?We Are All Greta sets out the basic ideas required to understand climate change, explained in a scientific and accessible way and drawn from the most authoritative sources. With a chapter on key words and sites to help you understand the climate challenge and a list of websites to visit for further information, this is a book for young people, for parents, for grandparents and anyone having to answer direct and urgent questions about what must be done to protect our world.WHAT EARLY READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT WE ARE ALL GRETA'Will enable readers to understand the climate emergency and learn what can be done to help. Highly illustrated, and with clear, in-depth text and data, it will answer young readers' questions on what climate change means, what its consequences will be, and what must be done to protect our world'LOVEREADING4KIDS BOOK OF THE MONTH'A must-read book for all the citizens of Earth! You want to save Earth and all in it, stop complaining and start saving''A really informative and helpful book that is suitable for both adults and older kids. It was the perfect length and took the time it needed to get the message across without bogging us down''Managed to explore a lot of issues in an accessible way, with a great glossary at the end, and also managed to make points without being too scary, preachy or didactic - no mean feat in this field
We Are All Greta: Be Inspired to Save the World
by Valentina GiannellaHumans are very adaptable: We can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today. We have no more excuses'GRETA THUNBERGFollow in the footsteps of the Swedish teenage activist and Nobel Peace Prize candidate in We Are All Greta and join the global mission to save our planet from climate change.Greta Thunberg, author of No One is too Small to Make a Difference, has directed the attention of adults and her peers alike to issues crucial to the future of the planet, and the heads of even the youngest children have been filled with questions. GLOBAL WARMING, THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT, FOSSIL FUELS - what do they all mean? What are biodiversity and sustainable development? Who is studying the changes that are taking place here on Earth? Which sources are reliable? What action can I take?We Are All Greta sets out the basic ideas required to understand climate change, explained in a scientific and accessible way and drawn from the most authoritative sources. With a chapter on key words and sites to help you understand the climate challenge and a list of websites to visit for further information, this is a book for young people, for parents, for grandparents and anyone having to answer direct and urgent questions about what must be done to protect our world.WHAT EARLY READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT WE ARE ALL GRETA'Will enable readers to understand the climate emergency and learn what can be done to help. Highly illustrated, and with clear, in-depth text and data, it will answer young readers' questions on what climate change means, what its consequences will be, and what must be done to protect our world'LOVEREADING4KIDS BOOK OF THE MONTH'A must-read book for all the citizens of Earth! You want to save Earth and all in it, stop complaining and start saving''A really informative and helpful book that is suitable for both adults and older kids. It was the perfect length and took the time it needed to get the message across without bogging us down''Managed to explore a lot of issues in an accessible way, with a great glossary at the end, and also managed to make points without being too scary, preachy or didactic - no mean feat in this field'
We Are All Survivors: Verbal, Ritual, and Material Ways of Narrating Disaster and Recovery
by Carl Lindahl, Michael Dylan Foster and Kate Parker HoriganWhat is the role of folklore in the discussion of catastrophe and trauma? How do disaster survivors use language, ritual, and the material world to articulate their experiences? What insights and tools can the field of folkloristics offer survivors for navigating and narrating disaster and its aftermath? Can folklorists contribute to broader understandings of empathy and the roles of listening in ethnographic work?We Are All Survivors is a collection of essays exploring the role of folklore in the wake of disaster. Contributors include scholars from the United States and Japan who have long worked with disaster-stricken communities or are disaster survivors themselves; individual chapters address Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Maria, and two earthquakes in Japan, including the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster of 2011. Adapted from a 2017 special issue of Fabula (from the International Society for Folk Narrative Research), the book includes a revised introduction, an additional chapter with original illustrations, and a new conclusion considering how folklorists are documenting the COVID-19 pandemic.We Are All Survivors bears witness to survivors' expressions of remembrance, grieving, and healing.
We Are Better Together
by Bill McKibbenFrom environmentalist and bestselling author Bill McKibben comes a hopeful, inspiring picture book celebrating the power of human cooperation and the beauty of life on Earth, beautifully illustrated by artist Stevie Lewis. When we work together, we humans can do incredible things. We share the responsibility to address climate change and our changing planet. It is critical that we act collectively to protect our beautiful, fragile world. Renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben and the incredibly talented artist Stevie Lewis team up to bring this gorgeous picture book to life. Celebrating the amazing things people can do, it’s an inspiring message of hope.
We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate
by Michael GrunwaldFrom the author of New York Times bestseller The New New Deal, a groundbreaking piece of reportage from the trenches of the next climate war: the fight to fix our food system.Humanity has cleared a land mass the size of Asia plus Europe to grow food, and our food system generates a third of our carbon emissions. By 2050, we&’re going to need a lot more calories to fill nearly 10 billion bellies, but we can&’t feed the world without frying it if we keep tearing down an acre of rainforest every six seconds. We are eating the earth, and the greatest challenge facing our species will be to slow our relentless expansion of farmland into nature. Even if we quit fossil fuels, we&’ll keep hurtling towards climate chaos if we don&’t solve our food and land problems. In this rollicking, shocking narrative, Grunwald shows how the world, after decades of ignoring the climate problem at the center of our plates, has pivoted to making it worse, embracing solutions that sound sustainable but could make it even harder to grow more food with less land. But he also tells the stories of the dynamic scientists and entrepreneurs pursuing real solutions, from a jungle-tough miracle crop called pongamia to genetically-edited cattle embryos, from Impossible Whoppers to a non-polluting pesticide that uses the technology behind the COVID vaccines to constipate beetles to death. It&’s an often infuriating saga of lobbyists, politicians, and even the scientific establishment making terrible choices for humanity, but it&’s also a hopeful account of the people figuring out what needs to be done—and trying to do it. Michael Grunwald, bestselling author of The Swamp and The New New Deal, builds his narrative around a brilliant, relentless, unforgettable food and land expert named Tim Searchinger. He chronicles Searchinger&’s uphill battles against bad science and bad politics, both driven by the overwhelming influence of agricultural interests. And he illuminates a path that could save our planetary home for ourselves and future generations—through better policy, technology, and behavior, as well as a new land ethic recognizing that every acre matters.
We Are The Weather Makers: The History Of Climate Change
by Tim Flannery Sally M. WalkerFirst published for an adult readership, The Weather Makers got kudos for its solid science and powerful message. This accessible edition speaks directly to young adults, offering a clear look at the history of climate change, how matters will unfold over the next century, and what we can do to prevent a cataclysmic future. Featured are twenty-five practical tips for living a greener lifestyle—at home, in school, in the community, and ultimately, on Earth.
We Are the ARK: Returning Our Gardens to Their True Nature Through Acts of Restorative Kindness
by Mary Reynolds&“Reynolds gives us a much-needed reason for hope. The gardener, the conservationist, the city planner, and the nature lover will all be inspired for this wonderful book shows how thousands of even small wildlife friendly gardens can provide habitat for embattled wildlife around the world.&” —Jane Goodall, Phd, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace Individuals can&’t save the world alone. But if millions of us work together to save our own patch of earth—then we really have a shot. How do we do it? With Acts of Restorative Kindness (ARK). An ARK is a restored, native ecosystem. It&’s a thriving patch of native plants and creatures that have been allowed and supported to re-establish in the earth's intelligent, successional process of natural restoration. Over time, this becomes a pantry and a habitat for our pollinators and wild creatures who are in desperate need of support. These ARKs will become the seeding grounds for our planet&’s new story. They will be sanctuaries for our shared kin—the rooted and unrooted—and safe havens for the magic and abundance of the natural world. Most importantly, the ARK-building actions are within our control and laid out here in We Are the ARK. In these inspiring pages, discover how one person&’s actions can effect big change in this world. Even the tiniest postage stamp patch of land matters! Together we are building a patchwork quilt of life that will wrap its way around this planet.
We Are the Economy: The Buddhist Way of Work, Consumption, and Money
by Kai RomhardtA no-nonsense Zen approach to our economic realities can change everything and help us regain our freedom. Is it possible to be personally fulfilled, and also make a difference within our current financial system? If you're skeptical, business coach and Zen practitioner Kai Romhardt proposes a minimalist, awareness-based strategy that totally reconfigures our core economic relationships: work, consumption, and money.How do we do that? We need to pause, breathe, and get in touch with our true intentions. Too often, we think of the economy as something outside of us, as beyond the scope of our individual choices. We're unhappy with how things are going, with unthinking growth that polarizes our world and condenses wealth at the top, but we don't know what to do. Romhardt argues that individuals who wield a sharp Buddhist mindset can, in fact, create change through personal decisions: when we can see in to society, and in to our constructs, we become empowered to choose deeply real and purposeful lives.
We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast
by Jonathan Safran FoerIn We Are the Weather, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the central global dilemma of our time in a surprising, deeply personal, and urgent new way. Some people reject the fact, overwhelmingly supported by scientists, that our planet is warming because of human activity. But do those of us who accept the reality of human-caused climate change truly believe it? If we did, surely we would be roused to act on what we know. Will future generations distinguish between those who didn’t believe in the science of global warming and those who said they accepted the science but failed to change their lives in response?The task of saving the planet will involve a great reckoning with ourselves—with our all-too-human reluctance to sacrifice immediate comfort for the sake of the future. We have, he reveals, turned our planet into a farm for growing animal products, and the consequences are catastrophic. Only collective action will save our home and way of life. And it all starts with what we eat—and don’t eat—for breakfast.
We Belong to Gaia (Green Ideas)
by James LovelockIn twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement.James Lovelock's We Belong to Gaia draws on decades of wisdom to lay out the history of our remarkable planet, to show that it is not ours to be exploited - and warns us that it is fighting back.Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.
We Eat the Mines and the Mines Eat us: Dependency and Exploitation in Bolivian Tin Mines
by June NashIn this powerful anthropological study of a Bolivian tin mining town, Nash explores the influence of modern industrialization on the traditional culture of Quechua-and-Aymara-speaking Indians.
We Gather Together
by Wendy PfefferThe fall equinox signals the time of year when we gather our harvests and give thanks for their bounty. With accessible, lyrical prose and vibrant illustrations, this nonfiction picture book explains the science behind autumn and the social history of harvest-time celebrations. We Gather Together presents a remarkable range of cultural traditions throughout the ages and the world, many of which have influenced our contemporary Thanksgiving holiday. Simple science activities, ideas for celebrating in school and at home, and a further reading list are included in the back of the book.
We Loved It All: A Memory of Life
by Lydia MilletA Time Must-Read Book of 2024 • A Booklist Editors' Choice • A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2024 "A rigorous, evocative, brilliant bow to life." —Terry Tempest Williams, author of Erosion: Essays of Undoing This lucent anti-memoir from celebrated novelist Lydia Millet explores the pain and joy of being a parent, child, and human at a moment when the richness of the planet’s life is deeply threatened. Across more than a dozen acclaimed works of fiction, readers have become intimate with Lydia Millet’s distinctive voice and sly wit. We Loved It All, her first nonfiction book, combines the precision of fact with the power of narrative to evoke our enmeshment with the more-than-human world. Emerging from Millet’s quarter century of wildlife and climate advocacy, We Loved it All marries scenes from her life with moments of nearness to “the others”— the animals and plants with whom we share the earth. Accounts of fears and failures, jobs and friendships, childhood and motherhood are interspersed with exquisite accounts of nonhumans and arresting meditations on the power of story to shape the future. Seeking to understand why we immerse ourselves in the domestic and immediate, turning away from more sweeping views, she examines how grand cultural myths can deny our longing for the company of nature and deprive us of its charisma and inspiration. In a thrilling distillation of experience and emotion, she evinces the familiar sense of feeling both well-meaning and powerless—a creature subject to forces that are baffling in their immensity. The fear and grief of extinction and climate change, Millet suggests, are forms of love that might be turned to resistance. We Loved It All shimmers with curiosity and laconic humor yet addresses with reverence the most urgent crises of our day. An incantatory, bewitching devotional to the vast and precious bestiary of the earth, it asks that we extend to other living beings the protection they deserve—the simple grace of continued existence.