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Practical Panarchy for Adaptive Water Governance
by Barbara Cosens Lance GundersonThis book presents the results of an interdisciplinary project that examined how law, policy and ecological dynamics influence the governance of regional scale water based social-ecological systems in the United States and Australia. The volume explores the obstacles and opportunities for governance that is capable of management, adaptation, and transformation in these regional social-ecological systems as they respond to accelerating environmental change. With the onset of the Anthropocene, global and regional changes in biophysical inputs to these systems will challenge their capacity to respond while maintaining functions of water supply, flood control, hydropower production, water quality, and biodiversity. Governance lies at the heart of the capacity of these systems to meet these challenges. Assessment of water basins in the United States and Australia indicates that state-centric governance of these complex and dynamic social-environmental systems is evolving to a more complex, diverse, and complex array public and private arrangements. In this process, three challenges emerge for water governance to become adaptive to environmental change. First, is the need for legal reform to remove barriers to adaptive governance by authorizing government agencies to prepare for windows of opportunity through adaptive planning, and to institutionalize the results of innovative solutions that arise once a window opens. Second, is the need for legal reform to give government agencies the authority to facilitate and participate in adaptive management and governance. This must be accompanied by parallel legal reform to assure that engagement of private and economic actors and the increase in governmental flexibility does not destabilize basin economies or come at the expense of legitimacy, accountability, equity, and justice. Third, development of means to continually assess thresholds and resilience of social-ecological systems and the adaptive capacity of their current governance to structure actions at multiple scales. The massive investment in water infrastructure on the river basins studied has improved the agricultural, urban and economic sectors, largely at the cost of other social and environmental values. Today the infrastructure is aging and in need of substantial investment for those benefits to continue and adapt to ongoing environmental changes. The renewal of institutions and heavily engineered water systems also presents the opportunity to modernize these systems to address inequity and align with the values and objectives of the 21st century. Creative approaches are needed to transform and modernize water governance that increases the capacity of these water-based social-ecological systems to innovate, adapt, and learn, will provide the tools needed to navigate an uncertain future.
Practical Pistol
by Ben StoegerA Straightforward, No-nonsense Instructional Guidebook on Pistol Shooting Practical Pistol holds nothing back, sharing the knowledge collected from a plethora of expert sources. Top shooters such as Bob Vogel, Dave Sevigny, and Matt Mink collaborated with Ben Stoeger to compile the so-called &“Grand Master Secrets&” into one easy-to-read location. This book answers the "how to" questions about shooting technique. How do you hold the gun? How do you shoot fast? The knowledge in Practical Pistol answers these questions and many more, spanning from marksmanship fundamentals to shooting on the move and competition skills such as stage breakdown and managing match pressure. Finally, this book contains many little tips, drills, and exercises to help improve any shooter&’s ability.
Practical Sustainability: A Guide to a More Sustainable Life
by Robert BrinkmannThis book will teach you everything you need to know about sustainable living—from reducing your greenhouse gas footprint to making sure that you are part of the green economy. Along the way, readers will learn about the field of sustainability and the “three E’s” of sustainable living—environment, economy, and equity. We are in the midst of great environmental change and all of us need to do everything we can to try to live more gently on the planet. Robert Brinkmann provides a range of options for readers as to what they can do to try to make a difference. Some involve simple lifestyle changes - but he also challenges all of us to commit to make more difficult and more meaningful changes to create a greener, more sustainable world. The book also delves into how we can create more sustainable communities, schools, and organizations. It showcases many examples of people and organizations that are making significant contributions to improving our planet’s sustainability that serve as inspiration and guidance for all of us trying to live more sustainably.
Practice Resurrection: And Other Essays
by Erik Reece"Erik Reece is obviously a writer to be reckoned with."—Bill McKibben, author of The End of NatureIn Erik Reece's stunning collection of essays, ideas are the main characters. Written over a period of ten years, and revealing Reece's continued obsession with religion, family, and the natural world, in many ways these essays represent a sequel to his stirring memoir, An American Gospel. In that book, Reece intimitately describes his conflicted relationship with Christianity in the context of the death of his father, and Reece's own journey since then to find meaning and balance in the material and spiritual worlds. Practice Resurrection continues that exploration through essays that take the reader to Norway, New England, London, the Adirondacks, Appalachia, and back to Reece's native Kentucky River. "With his singular wit and pith, environmental writer Reece explores issues such as God, Christianity, the environment (of course), and his father's suicide in essays rife with sentient turns of phrase and exceptionally insightful passages . . . Few are better than [Reece] is at discussing a personal crisis of faith." —Booklist (starred review)
Practice of Sustainable Community Development
by R. Warren FlintOrdinary people, community leaders, and even organizations and corporations still do not fully comprehend the interconnected, "big picture" dynamics of sustainability theory and action. In exploring means to become more sustainable, individuals and groups need a reference in which to frame discussions so they will be relevant, educational, and successful when implemented. This book puts ideas on sustainable communities into a conceptual framework that will promote striking, transformational effects on decision-making. In this book practitioners and community leaders will find effective, comprehensive tools and resources at their finger-tips to facilitate sustainable community development (SCD). The book content examines a diverse range of SCD methods; assessing community needs and resources; creating community visions; promoting stakeholder interest and participation; analyzing community problems; designing and facilitating strategic planning; carrying out interventions to improve
Practices and Trends in Ground Improvement Techniques (Developments in Geotechnical Engineering)
by Hemanta Hazarika Juichi Nakazawa Iwao NakaharaThis book focuses on case studies from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and the USA in various ground improvement projects. It highlights new applications and trends in ground improvement geo-system including recycling, geo-environmental consideration and preservation of world cultural heritage. The contents will be useful for researchers and engineers to understand how the principles of ground improvement methods are executed in the site, basis of selection of a particular ground improvement technique in a project, cost-benefits of such methods, etc. This volume will also be a useful guide for beginners and intermediate-level practitioners dealing with geotechnical construction projects or who have interest in the development and practical application of ground improvement techniques. Engineers and researchers will find it helpful in developing, advancing and applying their techniques in the field.
Practicing Sustainability
by David Green Barbara Oakley Penny Low Guru Madhavan David KoonSustainability applies to everybody. But everybody applies it differently, by defining and shaping it differently--much as water is edged and shaped by its container. It is conceived in absolute terms but underpinned by a great diversity of relatively "green"--and sometimes contradictory--practices that can each make society only more or less sustainable. In Practicing Sustainability, chefs, poets, music directors, evangelical pastors, skyscraper architects, artists, filmmakers, as well as scientific leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, business executives, policy makers, and the contrarians, shed light on our understanding of sustainability and the role that each of us can play. Each contributor addresses what sustainability means, what is most appealing about the concept, and what they would like to change to improve the perception and practice of sustainability. What emerges from their essays is a wide spectrum of views that confirm an important insight: Sustainability is pursued in different ways not only due to different interpretations, but also because of varying incentives, trade-offs, and altruistic motives. Practicing and achieving sustainability starts with a willingness to look critically at the concept. It also means enabling rich and vigorous discussion based on pragmatism and common sense to determine a framework for best ideas and practices. With time and the much needed critical thinking, sustainable development will become a more integral part of our culture. By sharing experiences and crisp insights from today's savants, Practicing Sustainability serves as a stepping stone to the future.
Pragmatic Justifications for the Sustainable City: Acting in the common place (Routledge Equity, Justice and the Sustainable City series)
by Meg HoldenWhat can justice and sustainability mean, pragmatically speaking, in today’s cities? Can justice be the basis on which the practices of city building rely? Can this recognition constitute sustainability in city building, from a pragmatic perspective? Today, we are faced with a mountain of reasons to lose hope in any prospect of moving closer to justice and sustainability from our present position in civilization. Pragmatic Justifications for the Sustainable City: Acting in the Common Place offers a critical and philosophical approach to revaluating the way in which we think and talk about the "sustainable city" to ensure that we neither lose the thread of our urban history, nor the means to live well amidst diversity of all kinds. By building and rebuilding better habits of urban thinking, this book promotes the reconstruction of moral thinking, paving the way for a new urban sustainability model of justice. Utilizing multidisciplinary case studies and building upon anti-foundationalist principles, this book offers a pragmatic interpretation of sustainable development concepts within our emerging global urban context and will be a valuable resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as academics and professionals in the areas of urban and planning policy, sociology, and urban and environmental geography.
Prairie
by Candace SavageThorough, detailed, and scientifically up-to-date, Prairies: A Natural History provides a comprehensive nontechnical guide to the biology and ecology of the prairies, or the Great Plains grasslands of North America, offering a view of the past, a vision for the future, and a clear focus on the present. With a total area of more than 3.5 million square kilometers (500,000 in Canada and the remainder in the United States), the prairies occupy the heartland of the continent, a vast, windswept plain that flows from Alberta south to Texas and from the Rockies east to the Mississippi River. This is big sky country-the largest ecosystem in North America and, until recently, one of the richest and most magnificent natural grasslands in the world. Today, however, the North American prairies are among the most altered environments on Earth.
Prairie Dog Song: The Key to Saving North America's Grasslands
by Susan L. Roth Cindy TrumboreFocusing on the role of prairie dogs as a keystone species, this book tells the connected histories of the North American grassland prairies and current efforts to preserve and recover the Janos grasslands in northern Mexico.For thousands of years, green and gold grasses covered North America from Canada to Mexico. The prairie and desert grasslands were home to a variety of animals, from small prairie dogs to huge bison. But in the nineteenth century, ranching and farming took hold in the grasslands, and over time many of the animals and plants vanished. Then, in the late 1980s, scientists discovered a region in Mexico where green and gold grasses still waved and prairie dogs still barked. The scientists understood the importance of this grassland ecosystem and the prairie dogs' key role in it. Could they now preserve the area and bring back its lost animals and plants? This moving nonfiction tale of environmental recovery builds on the success of the acclaimed Parrots Over Puerto Rico and The Mangrove Tree. Cumulative song text plus prose passages combine to celebrate North America's grasslands, their iconic prairie dogs, and the dedicated scientists who work to make the grasslands healthy again.
Prairie Dogs (Animals)
by Mari SchuhHave you ever seen a hole in the ground and wondered what's beneath it? It could be a prairie dog! These cute little mammals build communities of underground tunnels. Get all the facts about prairie dogs, and find out what's going on beneath the surface.
Prairie Ghost
by Bart W O'Gara Richard E Mccabe Henry M ReevesIn this lavishly illustrated volume, Richard E. McCabe, Bart W. O'Gara and Henry M. Reeves explore the fascinating relationship of pronghorn with people in early America, from prehistoric evidence through the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. The only one of fourteen pronghorn-like genera to survive the great extinction brought on by human migration into North America, the pronghorn has a long and unique history of interaction with humans on the continent, a history that until now has largely remained unwritten. With nearly 150 black-and-white photographs, 16 pages of color illustrations, plus original artwork by Daniel P. Metz, Prairie Ghost: Pronghorn and Human Interaction in Early America tells the intriguing story of humans and these elusive big game mammals in an informative and entertaining fashion that will appeal to historians, biologists, sportsmen and the general reader alike.
Prairie Ghost: Pronghorn and Human Interaction in Early America (G - Reference, Information And Interdisciplinary Subjects Ser.)
by Richard E. McCabe Henry M. Reeves Bart W. O'GaraA Wildlife Management Institute Book In this lavishly illustrated volume Richard E. McCabe, Bart W. O'Gara and Henry M. Reeves explore the fascinating relationship of pronghorn with people in early America, from prehistoric evidence through the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. The only one of fourteen pronghorn-like genera to survive the great extinction brought on by human migration into North America, the pronghorn has a long and unique history of interaction with humans on the continent, a history that until now has largely remained unwritten. With nearly 150 black-and-white photographs, 16 pages of color illustrations, plus original artwork by Daniel P. Metz, Prairie Ghost: Pronghorn and Human Interaction in Early America tells the intriguing story of humans and these elusive big game mammals in an informative and entertaining fashion that will appeal to historians, biologists, sportsmen and the general reader alike. Winner of the Wildlife Society's Outstanding Book Award for 2005
Prairie School
by Lois LenskiIt&’s the worst blizzard in fifty years! Delores is very ill, but there&’s no way to get through the snow. How long will she be stranded at school?Out on the South Dakota prairie, the winters are fierce. This storm is the worst one yet: It&’s below freezing outside, and the winds are howling. All of the other kids have gone home, but Delores&’s family can&’t get to her, so she has to stay at the school. Between a fuel shortage and having to boil snow for drinking water, it&’s been hard for both Delores and her teacher, Miss Martin. Now Delores is very ill. How will Miss Martin get her to the doctor in all this snow? Prairie School was inspired by letters from children at a real South Dakota prairie school, which Lenski then visited during the severe blizzards of the winter of 1950. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lois Lenski including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author&’s estate.
Prairie Spring: A Journey Into the Heart of a Season
by Pete DunneA grasslands nature trek that &“weaves together spiritual insight, plant biology, geology lessons and American history—and a plethora of bird sightings&” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). A nature writer and avid birder offers a portrait of a season in the heartland of North America as he and his wife travel through the country and share stories of all that they encounter: people putting their lives back in place after a tornado, volunteers giving their time to conservation efforts, and the drive of all species to move their genes to the next generation, which manifests itself so abundantly in spring. &“Their journey begins in New Jersey and continues to Nebraska, their arrival timed to witness the annual migration of half a million northbound sandhill cranes. Next come Colorado and a primer on how homesteading sodbusters transformed an ocean of vibrant prairie grasses into a devastating dustbowl; New Mexico and the Sixth Annual High Plains Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival; back through Colorado and the Pawnee National Grasslands for a glimpse of the threatened prairie dog, once (along with bison) among the environmental engineers of the 19th century Western plains; and into South Dakota, home to between 800 and 1,400 free-ranging bison. Dunne&’s melodic prose and rhapsodic connection with the natural world brilliantly entice an estranged audience to explore a . . . now alien environment.&” —Publishers Weekly, starred review &“Although a theme of humanity&’s effects on the prairie runs as an undercurrent throughout the narrative, it never overwhelms the sense of awe and wonder at the natural beauty of the grasslands and their inhabitants.&” —Booklist
Prairie Town
by Bonnie GeisertDuring the early 1900s, railroad companies laid tracks across America's open land. In fields of grass beside the new tracks prairie towns grew. The towns prospered amid the golden wheat fields, and grain elevators dominated the skyline. Bonnie Geisert's clear text explores the social and economic life of one of these towns, while the dramas of everyday life can be experienced in Arthur Geisert's panoramic hand-colored etchings. Here is a fascinating view of life in a thriving midwestern town, told with respect and affection for the resilient townspeople, as they work and play, their lives directly affected by the changing seasons.
Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design
by Benjamin VogtLandscaping with native plants has encouraged gardeners from the Midwest and beyond to embark on a profound scientific, ecological, and emotional partnership with nature. Benjamin Vogt shares his expertise with prairie plants in a richly photographed guide aimed at gardeners and homeowners, making big ideas about design approachable and actionable. Step-by-step blueprints point readers to plant communities that not only support wildlife and please the eye but that rethink traditional planting and maintenance. Additionally, Vogt provides insider information on plant sourcing, garden tools, and working with city ordinances. This book will be an invaluable reference in sustainable garden design for those wanting both beautiful and functional landscapes. Easy to use and illustrated with over 150 color photos, Prairie Up is a practical guide to artfully reviving diversity and wildness in our communities.
Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design
by Benjamin VogtConnecting to nature with native plants Landscaping with native plants has encouraged gardeners from the Midwest and beyond to embark on a profound scientific, ecological, and emotional partnership with nature. Benjamin Vogt shares his expertise with prairie plants in a richly photographed guide aimed at gardeners and homeowners, making big ideas about design approachable and actionable. Step-by-step blueprints point readers to plant communities that not only support wildlife and please the eye but that rethink traditional planting and maintenance. Additionally, Vogt provides insider information on plant sourcing, garden tools, and working with city ordinances. This book will be an invaluable reference in sustainable garden design for those wanting both beautiful and functional landscapes. Easy to use and illustrated with over 150 color photos, Prairie Up is a practical guide to artfully reviving diversity and wildness in our communities.
PrairyErth: A Deep Map
by William Least Heat-Moon(from flaps) PrairyErth is a vigorous and exalted evocation of the American land, its people, its past, its hopes. The very word "prairyerth," an old geologic term for the soils of our central grasslands, captures the essence of the American tall- grass country. Only a writer of William Least Heat-Moon's gifts could find in a single Kansas county the narrative of an epic, the nonfiction equivalent of the great American novel. Robert Penn Warren pronounced Heat-Moon's Blue Highways "a masterpiece ... a magnificent and unique tour." That best-selling book described a 13,000-mile, 38-state automobile journey into America. Now Heat-Moon has pulled to the side of the road and set off on foot. Instead of traveling endless miles, he takes us on an exploration of time and space, landscape and history, in one fragment of the Great Plains. Most American readers know three things about Kansas: it is flat, it has something to do with The Wizard of Oz, and the events of In Cold Blood took place there. Three illusions: the first is a lie, the second a fairy tale, the third a nightmare. Chase County is, however, a sparsely populated tract in the Flint Hills of central Kansas, "the last remaining grand expanse of tallgrass prairie in America," and PrairyErth lovingly details its 744 square miles and 3,000 souls till it looms as large as the universe while remaining as intimate as a village. PrairyErth is rich with Chase County's voices past and present, and is filled with anecdotes, gossip from its bars and cafes, Native American lore, and rueful tales of man's inhumanity to man and nature and of nature's indifference to humanity. Heat-Moon recounts the story of a farm couple swept aloft "by a tornado; reveals an Indian recipe to avert lightning; unearths a century-old unsolved murder; interviews a retired postmistress, a cowboy, a quarryman, a coyote hunter, a young feminist rancher. PrairyErth sets the story of a nineteenth- century tycoon, who dreamed of building a rail line to China through the county, against the memories of a retired Mexican railroad worker who can still recall every tie he spiked for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe. It speaks of the passion of the slavery wars of Bleeding Kansas and the sad fate of the Kaw tribe, and gives us a hundred new ways to see stones, creeks, grasses, birds, beasts, and weather. Each of the book's vivid and evocative chapters is totally unexpected, yet "unexpected Kansas must be sought in its remoteness, a place you find only with effort." The millions who have read Blue Highway,), and those who have yet to encounter the genius of William Least Heat-Moon's writing, will find that he is one of those rare modern writers who can change forever the way we see ourselves and our country.
PrairyErth: A Deep Map
by William Least Heat-MoonThis New York Times bestseller by the author of Blue Highways is &“a majestic survey of land and time and people in a single county of the Kansas plains&” (Hungry Mind Review). William Least Heat-Moon travels by car and on foot into the core of our continent, focusing on the landscape and history of Chase County—a sparsely populated tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills of central Kansas—exploring its land, plants, animals, and people until this small place feels as large as the universe. Called a &“modern-day Walden&” by the Chicago Sun-Times, PrairyErth is a journey through a place, through time, and into the human mind from the acclaimed author of Here, There, Elsewhere: Stories from the Road. &“A sense of the American grain that will give [PrairyErth] a permanent place in the literature of our country.&” —Paul Theroux, The New York Times
Praxisleitfaden Amphibien- und Reptilienschutz: Schnell - Präzise - Hilfreich
by Martin Lay Dieter GlandtMit diesem handlichen Band werden Ihnen schnelle und zuverlässige Informationen in knapper übersichtlicher Form über alle mitteleuropäischen Amphibien- und Reptilienarten geboten.Frösche, Kröten, Unken, Molche, Salamander, Echsen und Schlangen in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz werden behandelt. Dabei wird der Schwerpunkt auf die Gefährdung der Arten, deren Ursachen und besonders auf praktische Schutz- und Hilfsmaßnahmen gelegt.Studierende, freiberufliche Biologen, Landschaftsplaner und Naturschützer werden mit Gewinn dieses Nachschlagewerk bei Ihrer Arbeit nutzen. Interessierte Laien werden es gern in die Hand nehmen. Ziel der Maßnahmen soll sein, ein intaktes Netz in Verbindung stehender Populationen aufrecht zu halten oder dort, wo dies nicht der Fall ist, aufzubauen.Der Amphibien- und Reptilienschutz wird eingebettet in den Gesamtkomplex Naturschutz, wozu ein vorangestelltes allgemeines Kapitel dient. Verdeutlicht wird auch, dass diese Tiere einen wichtigen Stellenwert im Naturhaushalt (Stoffkreislauf) haben.
Praying and Campaigning with Environmental Christians
by Maria NitaThis book presents an ethnographic study of environmental Christian networks involved in the climate and transition towns movements. Maria Nita examines the ways in which green Christians engage with their communities and networks, as well as other activist networks in the broader green movement. The book interrogates key categories in the field of religious studies which intersect activist concerns, including spirituality, community, and ritual. In this sociological exploration the author uses existing research tools, such as discourse analysis, and proposes new theoretical models for the investigation of network expansion, religious identity, and relationality through ritual. Nita examines the mechanisms underlying the greening of religion and thus offers an in-depth analysis of prayers, rituals, and religious practices, such as praying through painting, fasting for the planet, and sharing the green Eucharist in or with nature.
Precious
by Carlos AponteThe heartwarming story of a boy, all the things he holds dear, and the song that inspires him when he needs it mostSometimes hearing a song gives you all the courage you need for a day. That&’s what happens to Pedrito after a hurricane howls through his neighborhood and he has to give up his rescue dog. The moment his big brother starts strumming &“Preciosa,&” a beautiful song about his beautiful island, Pedrito knows that somehow everything will be okay. . . .Pura Belpré Honor winner Carlos Aponte&’s love for Puerto Rico shines through his vibrant illustrations and touching story, which show the power of music and community to comfort and give strength.
Precipitation Partitioning by Vegetation: A Global Synthesis
by A. Bagus TyassetaThis book presents research on precipitation partitioning processes in vegetated ecosystems, putting them into a global context. It describes the processes by which meteoric water comes into contact with the vegetation's canopy, typically the first surface contact of precipitation on land. It also discusses how precipitation partitioning by vegetation impacts the amount, patterning, and chemistry of water reaching the surface, as well as the amount and timing of evaporative return to the atmosphere. Although this process has been extensively studied, this is the first review of the global literature on the partitioning of precipitation by forests, shrubs, crops, grasslands and other less-studies plant types. The authors offer global contextualization combined with a detailed discussion of the impacts for the climate and terrestrial ecohydrological systems. As such, this comprehensive overview is a valuable reference tool for a wide range of specialists and students in the fields of geoscience and the environment.
Precision Agriculture for Sustainability and Environmental Protection (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by Margaret A. Oliver Thomas F. A. Bishop Ben P. MarchantPrecision agriculture (PA) involves the application of technologies and agronomic principles to manage spatial and temporal variation associated with all aspects of agricultural production in order to improve crop performance and environmental quality. The focus of this book is to introduce a non-specialist audience to the the role of PA in food security, environmental protection, and sustainable use of natural resources, as well as its economic benefits. The technologies covered include yield monitors and remote sensing, and the key agronomic principles addressed are the optimal delivery of fertilizers, water and pesticides to crops only when and where these are required. As a result, it is shown that both food production and resource efficiency can be maximized, without waste or damage to the environment, such as can occur from excessive fertilizer or pesticide applications. The authors of necessity describe some technicalities about PA, but the overall aim is to introduce readers who are unfamiliar with PA to this very broad subject and to demonstrate the potential impact of PA on the environment and economy. Chapter 3 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9780415504409_oaChapter_3.pdf