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Nature's Mountain Mansion: Wonder, Wrangles, Bloodshed, and Bellyaching from Nineteenth-Century Yosemite
by Gary NoyNature&’s Mountain Mansion is the first anthology on Yosemite that focuses exclusively on the nineteenth century, the critical period in which Yosemite was &“discovered&” by an expanding nation and transformed into one of the country&’s most visited national parks. While there are volumes that provide readings about Yosemite in the nineteenth century, few provide critical—sometimes even disparaging—eyewitness reflections on the Yosemite experience, and none include excerpts from the government documents that defined the future of the park, such as the Yosemite Valley Grant Act of 1864. This anthology collects selections from fiction, nonfiction, and government documents that demonstrate the glory, the brutality, and the controversies surrounding this extraordinary and much-loved landscape. Some selections have not appeared in print since their original publication, while others have not been republished or excerpted for decades.
Nature's Mutiny: How The Little Ice Age Of The Long Seventeenth Century Transformed The West And Shaped The Present
by Philipp BlomAn illuminating work of environmental history that chronicles the great climate crisis of the 1600s, which transformed the social and political fabric of Europe. <P><P> Although hints of a crisis appeared as early as the 1570s, the temperature by the end of the sixteenth century plummeted so drastically that Mediterranean harbors were covered with ice, birds literally dropped out of the sky, and “frost fairs” were erected on a frozen Thames—with kiosks, taverns, and even brothels that become a semi-permanent part of the city. <P><P> Recounting the deep legacy and far-ranging consequences of this “Little Ice Age,” acclaimed historian Philipp Blom reveals how the European landscape had suddenly, but ineradicably, changed by the mid-seventeenth century. While apocalyptic weather patterns destroyed entire harvests and incited mass migrations, they gave rise to the growth of European cities, the emergence of early capitalism, and the vigorous stirrings of the Enlightenment. A timely examination of how a society responds to profound and unexpected change, Nature’s Mutiny will transform the way we think about climate change in the twenty-first century and beyond.
Nature's Operating Instructions
by Paul Hawken Kenny Ausubel J. P. HarpigniesArchiving ancient corn strains to guard against genetic pollution? Coating chainsaw blades with mushroom spores to speed forest regeneration? Growing crops that literally suck heavy metals out of damaged soil? These are not utopian fantasies but proven strategies developed by experts who understand that working with living systems, rather than suppressing them, is the key to creating a sustainable future.For this second volume in Sierra Club Books' Bioneers Series, Bioneers founder Kenny Ausubel has gathered reports from scientific innovators in fields such as biomimicry (mimicking nature to restore environments and transform production processes); "living technologies" that break down toxics biologically; and ecologically sound design for industries and buildings. These are set alongside essays by visionaries like Paul Hawken, Terry Tempest Williams, and Michael Pollan that underscore the urgent need for working in harmony with nature's intelligent design. Unlike the corporatized genetics that claims the name "biotechnology," the true biotechnologies surveyed here illuminate a future of hope by "wedding human ingenuity with the wisdom of the wild," in the words of contributor John Todd. Sector by sector-from energy and agriculture to transportation and land management-this book shows how we can emulate and adapt nature's operating instructions to the benefit of all life on Earth.
Nature's Patchwork Quilt: Understanding Habitats
by Mary Miché Consie PowellJust imagine all of nature - mountains, prairies, oceans, and all - lying on your bed as a patchwork quilt! Take flora and fauna in their unique habitats, fold them up and you have a book, this book. Earth's major habitats are spread before you, ready to be examined. Here in this beautiful package are revealed the key concepts of natural science. This patchwork quilt of nature covers the whole Earth, your home - yours to learn about, to enjoy, to care for, and to love.
Nature's Patchwork Quilt: Understanding Habitats (Into Reading, Read Aloud Module 9 #1)
by Mary Miché Consie PowellNIMAC-sourced textbook <p><p> Just imagine all of nature— mountains, prairies, oceans, and all—lying on your bed as a patchwork quilt! Take flora and fauna in their unique habitats, fold them up and you have a book, this book. Earth's major habitats are spread before you, ready to be examined. Here in this beautiful package are revealed the key concepts of natural science. This patchwork quilt of nature covers the whole Earth, your home—yours to learn about, to enjoy, to care for, and to love.
Nature's Place: Conservation Sites and Countryside Change (Routledge Revivals)
by William M. AdamsNature conservation has become increasingly important in Britain over the last three decades. This title, first published in 1986, deals with the critical issues surrounding nature conservation and wildlife protection. The book is broad in scope, with a focus on the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act and its provisions for the protection of wildlife habitats in Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). This follows an historical account of habitat loss over the past 200 years and the origins of conservation and site-protection policy. This reissue will be of particular value to professionals, voluntary workers and students with an interest in the origins, developments and practice of nature conservation.
Nature's Restoration: People and Places on the Front Lines of Conservation
by Peter FriedericiAcross America and around the world, people areworking to help nature heal itself. In Bermuda, a mansingle-handedly grows thousands of trees on a smallisland to restore nesting habitat for a rare seabird. InIllinois, legions of volunteers replant prairies in theshadows of freeways. In Virginia, a farmer works tobring back the mighty American chestnut.What drives these individuals? How did their passionscome about, and what are the implications forrestoring the environment? Nature"s Restoration: People and Places on theFront Lines of Conservation is a lyrical look at these and other examplesof ordinary citizens aiming to return sizable tracts of the Americanlandscape to nature, and to health. They"ve found success in preservingrare species, reversing negative ecological trends, and promotinggreater intimacy with nature.Yet the work is far from simple. Restoration projects are often in thenews not only because of the promise they hold, but also because ofthe controversy they provoke. Based on detailed reporting and numerousinterviews, Nature"s Restoration puts us on the front lines ofrestoration to learn how this burgeoning national movement shapesboth places and people.
Nature's Saviours: Celebrity Conservationists in the Television Age
by Graham HugganToday's celebrity conservationists, many of whom made their reputations through television and other visual media, play a major role in drawing public attention to an increasingly threatened world. This book, one of the first to address this contribution, focuses on five key figures: the English naturalist David Attenborough, the French marine adventurer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the American primatologist Dian Fossey, the Canadian scientist-broadcaster-activist David Suzuki, and the Australian 'crocodile hunter' Steve Irwin. Some of the issues the author addresses include: What is the changing relationship between western conservation and celebrity? How has the spread of television helped shape and mediate this relationship? To what extent can celebrity conservation be seen as part of a global system in which conservation, like celebrity, is big business? The book critically examines the heroic status accorded to the five figures mentioned above, taking in the various discourses – around nature, science, nation, gender – through which they and their work have been presented to us. In doing so, it fills in the cultural, historical and ideological background behind contemporary celebrity conservationism as a popular expression of a chronically endangered world.
Nature's Sculptures (Into Reading, Level O #25)
by Margaret FettyNIMAC-sourced textbook <p><p> You might not know it, but wind, water, and ice can change the shape of the land. These forces may work for millions of years to create nature's sculptures. Find out how they work and what amazing shapes they have formed.
Nature's Second Chance: Restoring the Ecology of Stone Prairie Farm
by Steven I. ApfelbaumRenowned conservationist Aldo Leopold once wrote, "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it does otherwise. "Few have taken Leopold’s vision more to heart than Steven I. Apfelbaum, who has, over the last thirty years, transformed his eighty-acre Stone Prairie Farm in Wisconsin into a biologically diverse ecosystem of prairie, wetland, spring-fed brook, and savanna. In healing his land, Apfelbaum demonstrates how humans might play a starring role in healing the planet.
Nature's Services: Societal Dependence On Natural Ecosystems
by Stephen Carpenter Gretchen Daily Les Kaufman Kamaljit Bawa Charles H. Peterson Sandra PostelLife itself as well as the entire human economy depends on goods and services provided by earth's natural systems. The processes of cleansing, recycling, and renewal, along with goods such as seafood, forage, and timber, are worth many trillions of dollars annually, and nothing could live without them. Yet growing human impacts on the environment are profoundly disrupting the functioning of natural systems and imperiling the delivery of these services.Nature's Services brings together world-renowned scientists from a variety of disciplines to examine the character and value of ecosystem services, the damage that has been done to them, and the consequent implications for human society. Contributors including Paul R. Ehrlich, Donald Kennedy, Pamela A. Matson, Robert Costanza, Gary Paul Nabhan, Jane Lubchenco, Sandra Postel, and Norman Myers present a detailed synthesis of our current understanding of a suite of ecosystem services and a preliminary assessment of their economic value. Chapters consider: major services including climate regulation, soil fertility, pollination, and pest control philosophical and economic issues of valuation case studies of specific ecosystems and services implication of recent findings and steps that must be taken to address the most pressing concerns Nature's Services represents one of the first efforts by scientists to provide an overview of the many benefits and services that nature offers to people and the extent to which we are all vitally dependent on those services. The book enhances our understanding of the value of the natural systems that surround us and can play an essential role in encouraging greater efforts to protect the earth's basic life-support systems before it is too late.
Nature's Spectacle: The World's First National Parks and Protected Places
by John SheailNational parks have always been an emotive and iconic symbol, ever since the first parks of the modern era were created in the mid-nineteenth century. This book, based on original research, delves deeply into their character and significance, and the larger context in which they developed. The book celebrates the deserved attractiveness of the parks as wilderness or 'spectacle' to millions of visitors, but also emphasises how there was nothing inevitable, self-sustaining or without cost in their magnificence and accessibility. Those early parks were a powerful unifying force as national 'playgrounds', especially as motor transport democratised their use. However they also provoked bitter conflict in their dispossession of local communities and perhaps deliberate segregation of people from scenery and wildlife. That first century of national parks, which concluded with the significant break of the Second World War and the subsequent development of more international approaches to conservation, left an uncertain legacy. It was a fragile foundation from which to build what became an integral part of today's conservation movement.
Nature's Temples: A Natural History of Old-Growth Forests Revised and Expanded
by Joan MaloofAn impassioned case for the importance of ancient forests and their preservationStanding in an old-growth forest, you can instinctively sense the ways it is different from forests shaped by humans. These ancient, undisturbed ecosystems are increasingly rare and largely misunderstood. Nature’s Temples explores the science and alchemy of old-growth forests and makes a compelling case for their protection.Many foresters are proponents of forest management, while ecologists and conservation biologists believe that the healthiest forests are those we leave alone. Joan Maloof brings together the scientific data we have about old-growth forests, drawing on diverse fields of study to explain the ecological differences among forests of various ages. She describes the life forms and relationships that make old-growth forests unique—from salamanders and micro-snails to plants that communicate through fungi—and reveals why human attempts to manage forests can never replicate nature’s sublime handiwork. This revised and expanded edition also sheds new light on the special role forests play in removing carbon from the atmosphere and shares what we know about the interplay between wildfires and ancient forests.With drawings by Andrew Joslin that illustrate scientific concepts and capture the remarkable beauty of ancient trees, Nature’s Temples invites you to discover the power of these fragile realms that are so inextricably connected to our planet, our fellow species, and our spirits.
Nature's Temples: The Complex World of Old-Growth Forests
by Joan Maloof“Maloof eloquently urges us to cherish the wildness of what little old-growth woodlands we have left. . . . Not only are they home to the richest diversity of creatures, but they work hard for humans too.” —New York Times Book Review An old-growth forest is one that has formed naturally over a long period of time with little or no disturbance from humankind. They are increasingly rare and largely misunderstood. In Nature’s Temples, Joan Maloof, the director of the Old-Growth Forest Network, makes a heartfelt and passionate case for their importance. This evocative and accessible narrative defines old-growth and provides a brief history of forests. It offers a rare view into how the life-forms in an ancient, undisturbed forest—including not only its majestic trees but also its insects, plant life, fungi, and mammals—differ from the life-forms in a forest manipulated by humans. What emerges is a portrait of a beautiful, intricate, and fragile ecosystem that now exists only in scattered fragments. Black-and-white illustrations by Andrew Joslin help clarify scientific concepts and capture the beauty of ancient trees.
Nature's Treasures
by Jane Morris UdovicA young girl learns about the wonders of nature in this rhyming poem.
Nature's Trust
by Mary Christina WoodEnvironmental law has failed in its most basic purpose. Even as ecosystems collapse across the globe and climate crisis intensifies, environmental agencies worldwide use their authority to permit the very harm that statutes were passed to prevent. This book exposes the dysfunction of environmental law and offers a transformative approach based on the public trust doctrine. An ancient and enduring principle, the public trust doctrine empowers citizens to protect their inalienable property rights to crucial resources. It holds government to a fiduciary obligation to protect such natural assets as generational inheritance for all citizens. Although the public trust has long offered a theoretical ideal for environmental law, until now it has lacked the precision necessary for citizens, government employees, legislators, educators, and judges to apply it to a broad realm of issues. This book shows how a trust principle can apply from the local to global level to protect the planet.
Nature's Wealth
by Pieter J. H. van Beukering Elissaios Papyrakis Jetske Bouma Roy Brouwer Pieter J. H. van Beukering Elissaios Papyrakis Jetske BoumaIncreasing pressure from economic development and population growth has resulted in the degradation of ecosystems around the world and the loss of the essential services that they provide. Understanding the linkages between ecosystem service provisioning and human well-being is crucial for the establishment of effective environmental and economic development policy. Presenting new insights into the relationship between ecosystem services and livelihoods in developing countries, this book takes up the challenge of assessing these links to demonstrate their importance in policy development. It pays special attention to innovative management opportunities that improve local livelihoods and alleviate poverty while enhancing ecosystem protection. Based on eighteen studies in more than twenty developing countries, the authors explore the role of biodiversity-, marine-, forest-, water- and land-related ecosystem services, making this an invaluable contribution to research on the role of ecosystems in supporting the livelihoods of the poor around the world.
Nature's Wonderland: Animals and Plants from the US and Canada
by DKGo on a thrilling adventure and discover the amazing natural landmarks and diverse wildlife of Canada and the USA. There&’s nowhere on Earth like North America… From scorching deserts to frozen tundra, dense rainforests to coral reefs—this continent has it all! In this captivating nature book, children can take a tour of the most amazing environments across Canada and the US, the two biggest countries in North America.Children aged 7-9 can learn all about incredible natural features like Niagara Falls — and find out which North American waterfall is actually higher! Get to know the unique animals that live only in southern Florida. Find out which species can survive in Death Valley, the hottest place in the world. Full of amazing photographs and charming illustrations, this fascinating nature book is your ultimate guide to the amazing natural wonders, wildlife, and environments of Canada and the USA.This educational book for wildlife lovers features:- More than 200 entries on incredible natural landmarks, plants, and animals from across the USA and Canada- Beautiful illustrations, stunning photography, and engaging text are combined to make dynamic, scrapbook-style collage pages- Chapters each split into broad regions such as western USA, with pages that focus on significant sub-regions within the area, such as the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountain- 30 feature pages that go into detail on key natural features across the regionNature&’s Wonderland is the perfect book for children who are fascinated by nature and curious about North America&’s habitats! With engaging information and absorbing photography, this book is perfect for children to explore by themselves or with an equally curious adult.
Nature's Year in the Kawarthas: A Guide to the Unfolding Seasons
by Drew Monkman Kimberly CaldwellNature’s Year in the Kawarthas is an almanac of key events occurring in the natural world over the course of a year in the Kawartha Lakes district – and in cottage country in general. Covering all areas of our flora and fauna as well as weather and the night sky, the book is a month-by-month chronicle of the mileposts of the passing seasons. From the raucous Spring Peeper chorus of April … through the sweet scent of milkweed blossoms in July … and the early-morning mists of September … to the arrival of the first eagles in December – all are noted for your interest. Whenever you head out on your next walk or look up at the stars, Nature’s Year will be your informative guide. For each month, an introductory essay captures the spirit of the season, while an "at a glance" summary lists the key natural events occurring. Each category in the natural world – from birds to the night sky – is then covered in more detail. Finely detailed drawings complement the text. Author Drew Monkman is a teacher in Peterborough, Ontario. An avid naturalist in the Kawartha Lakes area, he is past president of the Peterborough Field Naturalists.
Nature's Year: Changing Seasons in Central and Eastern Ontario
by Drew MonkmanWhatever your interest may be, this month-by-month guide to the key natural events in Central and Eastern Ontario will let you know exactly what’s happening — and it’s often in your own backyard. Nature’s Year is an almanac of key events in nature occurring in Central and Eastern Ontario, a region that extends from the Bruce Peninsula and Georgian Bay in the west to Ottawa and Cornwall in the east. The book is a chronicle of the passing seasons designed to inform cottagers, gardeners, photographers, suburban backyard birders, and nature enthusiasts alike as to what events in nature to expect each month of the year. Whatever your interest may be – birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, invertebrates, plants, fungi, weather, or the night sky just turn to a given month and you’ll find a list of what’s happening, often right in your own backyard. This book will also provide a reassuring measure of order and predictability to nature and help the reader become more attentive to and appreciative of the many wonders of the natural world that surround us in this exceptional region of Ontario.
Nature, Action and the Future: Political Thought and the Environment
by Katrina Forrester Sophie SmithClimate change is one of the great challenges of modern politics. In this volume, leading political theorists and historians investigate how the history of political ideas can help us make sense of it. The contributors add a historical perspective to contemporary debates in political theory. They also show that the history of political thought offers new directions for thinking about the environment today. By situating the relationship between humans and nature within a wider history of ideas, the essays provide alternative ways of thinking about the most intractable problems of environmental politics - the status of science in modern democracies, problems of collective action, and the challenges of fatalism. This volume will create new avenues of research for scholars and students in the history of political thought. It is essential reading for undergraduate students interested in environmental challenges: both those in politics seeking a historical perspective, and those in history who want to link their studies to the present.
Nature, Choice and Social Power
by Erica SchoenbergerWe are at an environmental impasse. Many blame our personal choices about the things we consume and the way we live. This is only part of the problem. Different forms of social power - political, economic and ideological - structure the choices we have available. This book analyses how we make social and environmental history and why we end up where we do. Using case studies from different environmental domains – earth and water, air and fire – Nature, Choice and Social Power examines the form that social power takes and how it can harm the environment and hinder our efforts to act in our own best interests. The case studies challenge conventional wisdoms about why gold is valuable, why the internal combustion engine triumphed, and when and why suburbs sprawled. The book shows how the power of individuals, the power of classes, the power of the market and the power of the state at different times and in different ways were critical to setting us on a path to environmental degradation. It also challenges conventional wisdoms about what we need to do now. Rather than reducing consumption and shrinking from outcomes we don’t want, it proposes growing towards outcomes we do want. We invested massive resources in creating our problems; it will take equally large investments to fix them. Written in a clear and engaging style, the book is underpinned with a political economy framework and addresses how we should understand our responsibility to the environment and to each other as individuals within a large and impersonal system.
Nature, Culture and Gender: Re-reading the folktale
by P. Mary PorselviFolktales in India have been told, heard, read and celebrated for many centuries. In breaking new ground, Indian folktales have been reread and examined in the light of the Mother Earth discourse as it manifests in the lifeworlds of women, nature and language. The book introduces ecofeminist criticism and situates it within an innovative folktale typology to connect women and environment through folklore. The book proposes an innovative paradigm inspired by the beehive to analyze motifs, relationships, concerns, worldviews and consciousness of indigenous women and men who live close to nature as well as other socially marginalized groups. In the current global context fraught with challenges for ecology and hopes for sustainable development, this book with its interdisciplinary approach will interest scholars and researchers of literature, environmental studies, gender studies and cultural anthropology.
Nature, Culture, and Big Old Trees: Live Oaks and Ceibas in the Landscapes of Louisiana and Guatemala
by Kit AndersonBig old trees inspire our respect and even affection. The poet Walt Whitman celebrated a Louisiana live oak that was solitary "in a wide flat space, / Uttering joyous leaves all its life without a friend a lover near. " Groves and alleys of live oaks remain as distinctive landscape features on Louisiana's antebellum plantations, while massive individuals still cast their shade over churches, graveyards, parks, and roads. Cajuns have adopted the "Evangeline Oak" as one of their symbols. And the attachment that Louisianians feel for live oaks is equaled by that of Guatemalans for ceibas, the national tree of Guatemala. Long before Europeans came to the Americas, the ceiba, tallest of all native species, was the Mayan world tree, the center of the universe. Today, many ceibas remain as centers of Guatemalan towns, spreading their branches over the central plaza and marketplace. In this compelling book, Kit Anderson creates a vibrant portrait of the relationship between people and trees in Louisiana and Guatemala. Traveling in both regions, she examined and photographed many old live oaks and ceibas and collected the stories and symbolism that have grown up around them. She describes who planted the trees and why, how the trees have survived through many human generations, and the rich meanings they hold for people today. Anderson also recounts the natural history of live oaks and ceibas to show what human use of the landscape has meant for the trees. This broad perspective, blending cultural geography and natural history, adds a new dimension to our understanding of how big old trees and the places they help create become deeply meaningful, even sacred, for human beings.
Nature, Economy and Society
by Nilanjan Ghosh Pranab Mukhopadhyay Amita Shah Manoj PandaThis book presents an enquiry into the interface between nature, economy and society, which is still in its early stages, notwithstanding the commendable progress and advances made in the field of environmental and natural resource economics within the ever-expanding boundaries of economics as a discipline. It further delineates the evolution of an inter-disciplinary framework for analyzing the status, the future goals, mechanisms and policy instruments that can help move towards a more ecologically sustainable, economically beneficial and socially just future. A pre-requisite for preparing a comprehensive and coherent framework involves unfolding the multiple layers of interconnectedness between the three systems nature, economy and society, each of which has its own internal consistencies as well as externalities. Against this backdrop, the book presents scholarly contributions that focus on four broadly defined building blocks, namely: i) accounting for ecosystems services for life and human well-being; ii) impacts of economic growth on ecosystems; iii) social norms, equity, and governance; and iv) alternative approaches to green and socio-economic systems. The analyses, presented by some of the most eminent national and international scholars, address the major environmental challenges that nations around the world face today and consider which specific policy directions at the international and national level are needed. In particular, the choices India and South Asia now face, as development and environment both need to be addressed adequately, touch on many of these challenges.