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The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden and America
by H. Bruce FranklinIn this brilliant portrait of the oceans' unlikely hero, H. Bruce Franklin shows how menhaden have shaped America's national--and natural--history, and why reckless overfishing now threatens their place in both. Since Native Americans began using menhaden as fertilizer, this amazing fish has greased the wheels of U.S. agriculture and industry. By the mid-1870s, menhaden had replaced whales as a principal source of industrial lubricant, with hundreds of ships and dozens of factories along the eastern seaboard working feverishly to produce fish oil. Since the Civil War, menhaden have provided the largest catch of any American fishery. Today, one company--Omega Protein--has a monopoly on the menhaden "reduction industry." Every year it sweeps billions of fish from the sea, grinds them up, and turns them into animal feed, fertilizer, and oil used in everything from linoleum to health-food supplements. The massive harvest wouldn't be such a problem if menhaden were only good for making lipstick and soap. But they are crucial to the diet of bigger fish and they filter the waters of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, playing an essential dual role in marine ecology perhaps unmatched anywhere on the planet. As their numbers have plummeted, fish and birds dependent on them have been decimatedand toxic algae have begun to choke our bays and seas. In Franklin's vibrant prose, the decline of a once ubiquitous fish becomes an adventure story, an exploration of the U.S. political economy, a groundbreaking history of America's emerging ecological consciousness, and an inspiring vision of a growing alliance between environmentalists and recreational anglers.
Making Collaboration Work: Lessons From Innovation In Natural Resource Management
by Julia M. Wondolleck Steven Lewis YaffeeAcross the United States, diverse groups are turning away from confrontation and toward collaboration in an attempt to tackle some of our nation's most intractable environmental problems. Government agencies, community groups, businesses, and private individuals have begun working together to solve common problems, resolve conflicts, and develop forward-thinking strategies for moving in a more sustainable direction.Making Collaboration Work examines those promising efforts. With a decade of research behind them, the authors offer an invaluable set of lessons on the role of collaboration in natural resource management and how to make it work. The book: explains why collaboration is an essential component of resource management describes barriers that must be understood and overcome presents eight themes that characterize successful efforts details the specific ways that groups can use those themes to achieve success provides advice on how to ensure accountability Drawing on lessons from nearly two hundred cases from around the country, the authors describe the experience in practical terms and offer specific advice for agencies and individuals interested in pursuing a collaborative approach. The images of success offered can provide ideas to those mired in traditional management styles and empower those seeking new approaches. While many of the examples involve natural resource professionals, the lessons hold true in a variety of public policy settings including public health, social services, and environmental protection, among others.Making Collaboration Work will be an invaluable source of ideas and inspiration for policy makers, managers and staff of government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, and community groups searching for more productive modes of interaction.
Nature and the Marketplace: Capturing The Value Of Ecosystem Services
by Geoffrey HealIn recent years, scientists have begun to focus on the idea that healthy, functioning ecosystems provide essential services to human populations, ranging from water purification to food and medicine to climate regulation. Lacking a healthy environment, these services would have to be provided through mechanical means, at a tremendous economic and social cost.Nature and the Marketplace examines the controversial proposition that markets should be designed to capture the value of those services. Written by an economist with a background in business, it evaluates the real prospects for various of nature's marketable services to "turn profits" at levels that exceed the profits expected from alternative, ecologically destructive, business activities. The author: describes the infrastructure that natural systems provide, how we depend on it, and how we are affecting it explains the market mechanism and how it can lead to more efficient resource use looks at key economic activities -- such as ecotourism, bioprospecting, and carbon sequestration -- where market forces can provide incentives for conservation examines policy options other than the market, such as pollution credits and mitigation banking considers the issue of sustainability and equity between generations .Nature and the Marketplace presents an accessible introduction to the concept of ecosystem services and the economics of the environment. It offers a clear assessment of how market approaches can be used to protect the environment, and illustrates that with a number of cases in which the value of ecosystems has actually been captured by markets.The book offers a straightforward business economic analysis of conservation issues, eschewing romantic notions about ecosystem preservation in favor of real-world economic solutions. It will be an eye-opening work for professionals, students, and scholars in conservation biology, ecology, environmental economics, environmental policy, and related fields.
The New Agrarianism: Land, Culture, and the Community of Life
by Eric T. FreyfogleThe engaging writings gathered in this new book explore an important but little-publicized movement in American culture -- the marked resurgence of agrarian practices and values in rural areas, suburbs, and even cities. It is a movement that in widely varied ways is attempting to strengthen society's roots in the land while bringing greater health to families, neighborhoods, and communities. The New Agrarianism vividly displays the movement's breadth and vigor, with selections by such award-winning writers as Wendell Berry, William Kittredge, Stephanie Mills, David Orr, Scott Russell Sanders, and Donald Worster. As editor Eric Freyfogle observes in his introduction, agrarianism is properly conceived in broad terms, as reaching beyond food production to include a wide constellation of ideals, loyalties, sentiments, and hopes. It is a temperament and a moral orientation as well as a suite of diverse economic practices -- all based on the insistent truth that people everywhere are part of the land community, as dependent as other life on its fertility and just as shaped by its mysteries and possibilities. The writings included here have been chosen for their engaging narratives as well as their depiction of the New Agrarianism's broad scope. Many of the selections illustrate agrarian practitioners in action, while other selections offer pointed critiques of contemporary American culture and its market-driven, resource-depleting competitiveness. Together, they reveal what Freyfogle identifies as the heart and soul of the New Agrarianism: its yearning to regain society's connections to the land and its quest to help craft a more land-based and enduring set of shared values. The New Agrarianism offers a compelling vision of this hopeful new way of living. It is an essential book for social critics, community activists, organic gardeners, conservationists, and all those seeking to forge sustaining ties with the entire community of life.
Human Well-Being and Economic Goals (Frontier Issues in Economic Thought #3)
by Kevin Gallagher Jonathan Harris Neva R. Goodwin David Kiron Frank Ackerman Kenneth ArrowWhat are the ends of economic activity? According to neoclassical theory, efficient interaction of the profit-maximizing "ideal producer" and the utility-maximizing "ideal consumer" will eventually lead to some sort of social optimum. But is that social optimum the same as human well-being? Human Well-Being and Economic Goals addresses that issue, considering such questions as: *Does the maximization of individual welfare really lead to social welfare? *How can we deal with questions of relative welfare and of equity? *How do we define, or at least understand, individual and social welfare? *And how can these things be measured, or even assessed? Human Well-Being and Economic Goals brings together more than 75 concise summaries of the most significant literature in the field that consider issues of present and future individual and social welfare, national development, consumption, and equity. Like its predecessors in the Frontier Issues in Economic Thought series, it takes a multidisciplinary approach to economic concerns, examining their sociological, philosophical, and psychological aspects and implications as well as their economic underpinnings. Human Well-Being and Economic Goals provides a powerful introduction to the current and historical writings that examine the concept of human well-being in ways that can help us to set goals for economic activity and judge its success. It is a valuable summary and overview for students, economists, and social scientists concerned with these issues.
A New Century for Natural Resources Management
by Robert Costanza Sarah F. Bates Vawter Parker Richard L. Knight Steward Pickett Peter BerckThis book explores the changes that are leading to a new century of natural resources management. It places the current situation in historical perspective, analyzes the forces that are propelling change, and describes and examines the specific changes in goals, policy, and practice that are transforming all aspects of natural resources management.The book is an important overview for wildlife biologists, foresters, and others working for public land agencies; professors and students of natural resources; and all those whose livelihood depends on the use of public natural resources.
Sprawl Costs: Economic Impacts of Unchecked Development (Report/transit Cooperative Research Program Ser.)
by Anthony Downs Sahan Mukherji Barbara Mccann Robert BurchellThe environmental impacts of sprawling development have been well documented, but few comprehensive studies have examined its economic costs. In 1996, a team of experts undertook a multi-year study designed to provide quantitative measures of the costs and benefits of different forms of growth. Sprawl Costs presents a concise and readable summary of the results of that study. The authors analyze the extent of sprawl, define an alternative, more compact form of growth, project the magnitude and location of future growth, and compare what the total costs of those two forms of growth would be if each was applied throughout the nation. They analyze the likely effects of continued sprawl, consider policy options, and discuss examples of how more compact growth would compare with sprawl in particular regions. Finally, they evaluate whether compact growth is likely to produce the benefits claimed by its advocates. The book represents a comprehensive and objective analysis of the costs and benefits of different approaches to growth, and gives decision-makers and others concerned with planning and land use realistic and useful data on the implications of various options and policies.
Marine Reserves: A Guide to Science, Design, and Use
by Jack Sobel Craig DahlgrenMarine Reserves represents an invaluable guide for fishery managers and marine protected area managers in creating and implementing effective marine reserves, and an accessible reference for environmentalists and others concerned with the conservation of marine resources. It will also be useful in undergraduate and graduate courses in marine ecology, fisheries, marine policy, and related fields.
The World's Water 2004-2005: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources (The World's Water)
by Peter H. Gleick Pacific Institute Catherine Hunt Dana Haasz Nicholas L. Cain Christine Henges-JeckThe quality and availability of fresh water are of critical importance to human and ecosystem health. Given its central role in the functioning of all living systems, water is arguably the most important of all natural resources. Produced biennially, The World's Water provides a timely examination of the key issues surrounding freshwater resources and their use. Each new volume identifies and explains the most significant current trends worldwide, and offers the best data available on a variety of water-related topics. This 2004-2005 edition of The World's Water features overview chapters on: conservation and efficiency as key tools for meeting freshwater needs; bottled water quality, costs, and trends; United Nations millennium development goals; groundwater issues; case studies of water privatization; the economic value of water; California water policy and climate change. The World's Water is the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of information and analysis on freshwater resources and the political, economic, scientific, and technological issues associated with them. It is an essential reference for water resource professionals in government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, researchers, students, and anyone concerned with water and its use.
Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision Making
by Jody Butterfield Allan SavoryHolistic Management has been practiced by thousands of people around the world to profitably restore and promote the health of their land through practices that mimic nature, and by many others who have sought a more rewarding personal or family life. This book is an essential handbook for anyone involved with land management and stewardship.
Across the Great Divide: Explorations In Collaborative Conservation And The American West
by Daniel Kemmis Sarah F. Bates Philip Brick Donald SnowAmid the policy gridlock that characterizes most environmental debates, a new conservation movement has emerged. Known as "collaborative conservation," it emphasizes local participation, sustainability, and inclusion of the disempowered, and focuses on voluntary compliance and consent rather than legal and regulatory enforcement. Encompassing a wide range of local partnerships and initiatives, it is changing the face of resource management throughout the western United States.Across the Great Divide presents a thoughtful exploration of this new movement, bringing together writing, reporting, and analysis of collaborative conservation from those directly involved in developing and implementing the approach. Contributors examine: the failure of traditional policy approaches recent economic and demographic changes that serve as a backdrop for the emergence of the movement the merits of, and drawbacks to, collaborative decision-making the challenges involved with integrating diverse voices and bringing all sectors of society into the movement .In addition, the book offers in-depth stories of eight noteworthy collaborative initiatives -- including the Quincy Library Group, Montana's Clark Fork River, the Applegate Partnership, and the Malpai Borderlands -- that explore how different groups have organized and acted to implement their goals.Among the contributors are Ed Marston, George Cameron Coggins, David Getches, Andy Stahl, Maria Varela, Luther Propst, Shirley Solomon, William Riebsame, Cassandra Moseley, Lynn Jungwirth, and others. Across the Great Divide is an important work for anyone involved with collaborative conservation or the larger environmental movement, and for all those who care about the future of resource management in the West.
Ghost Bears: Exploring The Biodiversity Crisis
by R. Edward Grumbine Michael E. SouléIn Ghost Bears, R. Edward Grumbine looks at the implications of the widespread loss of biological diversity, and explains why our species-centered approach to environmental protection will ultimately fail. Using the fate of the endangered grizzly bear -- the "ghost bear" -- to explore the causes and effects of species loss and habitat destruction, Grumbine presents a clear and inviting introduction to the biodiversity crisis and to the new science of conservation biology.
Large Mammal Restoration: Ecological And Sociological Challenges In The 21St Century
by David Maehr Jeffery L. Larkin Melvin E. Sunquist Reed F. NossEvidence is mounting that top carnivores and other large mammals play a pivotal role in regulating ecosystem health and function, yet those are the species that are most likely to have been eliminated by past human activities. In recent decades, numerous efforts have been undertaken to return some of the species that were previously extirpated on local or regional scales.Large Mammal Restoration brings together for the first time detailed case studies of those efforts, from restoring elk in Appalachia to returning bison herds to the Great Plains to the much-publicized effort to bring back the gray wolf to Yellowstone National Park. Together these case studies offer important lessons and new ways of thinking for wildlife managers and conservation biologists involved with restoration programs. Sections examine: approaches to determining the feasibility of a restoration program critical hands-on aspects of restoring large mammals obtaining public input into the process and gaining community support for programs the potential of some species to return without direct human intervention, and what can be done to facilitate that natural colonization An introductory chapter by Reed F. Noss explores some of the reasons for restoring large mammals, as well as some of the ecological and social complications, and a concluding overview by David S. Maehr discusses the evolutionary importance of large mammal restoration. Contributors include Paul C. Paquet, Barbara Dugelby, Steven H. Fritts, Paul R. Krausman, Larry D. Harris, Johnna Roy, and many others. Large Mammal Restoration brings together in a single volume essential information on the lessons learned from previous efforts, providing an invaluable resource for researchers and students of conservation biology and wildlife management as well as for policymakers, restoration advocates, and others involved with the planning or execution of a restoration program.
Protecting the Commons: A Framework For Resource Management In The Americas
by Joanna Burger Elinor Ostrom Bernard D. Goldstein David Policansky Richard NorgaardCommons -- lands, waters, and resources that are not legally owned and controlled by a single private entity, such as ocean and coastal areas, the atmosphere, public lands, freshwater aquifers, and migratory species -- are an increasingly contentious issue in resource management and international affairs.Protecting the Commons provides an important analytical framework for understanding commons issues and for designing policies to deal with them. The product of a symposium convened by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) to mark the 30th anniversary of Garrett Hardin's seminal essay "The Tragedy of the Commons" the book brings together leading scholars and researchers on commons issues to offer both conceptual background and analysis of the evolving scientific understanding on commons resources. The book: gives a concise update on commons use and scholarship offers eleven case studies of commons, examined through the lens provided by leading commons theorist Elinor Ostrom provides a review of tools such as Geographic Information Systems that are useful for decision-making examines environmental justice issues relevant to commons .Contributors include Alpina Begossi, William Blomquist, Joanna Burger, Tim Clark, Clark Gibson, Michael Gelobter, Michael Gochfeld, Bonnie McCay, Pamela Matson, Richard Norgaard, Elinor Ostrom, David Policansky, Jeffrey Richey, Jose Sarukhan, and Edella Schlager.Protecting the Commons represents a landmark study of commons issues that offers analysis and background from economic, legal, social, political, geological, and biological perspectives. It will be essential reading for anyone concerned with commons and commons resources, including students and scholars of environmental policy and economics, public health, international affairs, and related fields.
Invasive Alien Species: A New Synthesis (SCOPE Series #63)
by Harold A. Mooney Laurie E. Neville Jeffrey A. Mcneely Richard Mack Jeffrey K. Waage Peter Johan ScheiInvasive alien species are among today's most daunting environmental threats, costing billions of dollars in economic damages and wreaking havoc on ecosystems around the world. In 1997, a consortium of scientific organizations including SCOPE, IUCN, and CABI developed the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) with the explicit objective of providing new tools for understanding and coping with invasive alien species.Invasive Alien Species is the final report of GISP's first phase of operation, 1997-2000, in which authorities from more than thirty countries worked to examine invasions as a worldwide environmental hazard. The book brings together the world's leading scientists and researchers involved with invasive alien species to offer a comprehensive summary and synthesis of the current state of knowledge on the subject. Invasive alien species represent a critical threat to natural ecosystems and native biodiversity, as well as to human economic vitality and health. The knowledge gained to date in understanding and combating invasive alien species can form a useful basis on which to build strategies for controlling or minimizing the effects in the future. Invasive Alien Species is an essential reference for the international community of investigators concerned with biological invasions.
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.
Great Basin Riparian Ecosystems: Ecology, Management, and Restoration (Science Practice Ecological Restoration #4)
by James A. Macmahon Jerry R. Miller Jeanne C. ChambersEstablished by the USDA Forest Service in 1993, the Great Basin Ecosystem Management Project for Restoring and Maintaining Sustainable Riparian Ecosystems is a large-scale research study that uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine the effects of climate change and human disturbance on riparian areas. Structured as a collaborative effort between management and research, the project focuses on understanding the geomorphic, hydrologic, and biotic processes that underlie riparian structure and function and the interrelated responses of those processes to disturbances, both natural and anthropogenic.Great Basin Riparian Ecosystems, edited by Jeanne C. Chambers and Jerry R. Miller, presents the approach used by the researchers to study and understand riparian areas in the Great Basin region. It summarizes the current state of knowledge about those areas and provides insights into the use of the information generated by the project for the restor-ation and management of riparian ecosystems. Because semi-arid ecosystems like the Great Basin are highly sensitive to climate change, the study considered how key processes are affected by past and present climate. Great Basin Riparian Ecosystems also examined the processes over a continuum of temporal and spatial scales. Great Basin Riparian Ecosystems addresses restoration over a variety of scales and integrates work from multiple disciplines, including riparian ecology, paleoecology, geomorphology, and hydrology. While the focus is on the Great Basin, the general approach is widely applicable, as it describes a promising new strategy for developing restoration and management plans, one based on sound principles derived from attention to natural systems.
Ecological Restoration of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests (Science Practice Ecological Restoration #2)
by Gary Paul Nabhan Peter Friederici Peter Ecological Restoration InstituteEcological Restoration of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests brings together practitioners and thinkers from a variety of fields--including forestry, biology, philosophy, ecology, political science, archaeology, botany, and geography--to synthesize what is known about ecological restoration in ponderosa pine forests and to consider the factors involved in developing and implementing a successful restoration effort. The book examines:* the overall context for restoration--ecological, social, economic, political, and philosophical* how ecosystem processes such as fire, hydrology, and nutrient cycling are affected by restoration activities* treatment effects on specific ecosystem components such as trees, understory plants, animals, and rare or invasive species* the details of implementing restoration projects, including smoke management, the protection of cultural resources, and monitoringEach section is introduced with a case study that demonstrates some of the promise and pitfalls of restoration projects.Ecological Restoration of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests is the second book in the series The Science and Practice of Ecological Restoration from the Society for Ecological Restoration International and Island Press.
The Kruger Experience: Ecology And Management Of Savanna Heterogeneity
by Brian Walker Anthony R.E. Sinclair Kevin H. Rogers Johan T. du Toit Harry C. BiggsThe Kruger Experience is an invaluable new resource for scientists and managers involved with large, conserved ecosystems as well as for conservation practitioners and others with interests in adaptive management, the societal context of conservation, links between research and management in parks, and parks/academic partnerships.
The Whaling Season: An Inside Account Of The Struggle To Stop Commercial Whaling
by Kieran MulvaneyDespite a decades-long international moratorium on commercial whaling, one fleet has continued to hunt and kill whales in the waters surrounding Antarctica. Refusing to let this defiance go unchallenged, the environmental organization Greenpeace began dispatching expeditions to the region in an effort to intercept the whalers and use nonviolent means to stop their lethal practice.Over the past decade, Kieran Mulvaney led four such expeditions as a campaigner and coordinator. In The Whaling Season, he recounts those voyages in all their drama, disappointments, strain, and elation, giving readers a behind-the-scenes look at the hazards and triumphs of life as an environmental activist on the high seas. The author also explores the larger struggles underlying the expeditions, drawing on the history of commercial whaling and Antarctic exploration, the development of Greenpeace, and broader scientific and political efforts to conserve marine life. He presents a rich portrait of the current struggles and makes an impassioned plea for protection of some of the world's most spectacular creatures.For armchair adventurers, polar enthusiasts, and anyone concerned about marine conservation and continued hunting of the world's whales, The Whaling Season is an engrossing and informative tale of adventure set in one of the Earth's last great wilderness areas."
Bronx Ecology: Blueprint for a New Environmentalism
by Maya Lin Allen HershkowitzIn Bronx Ecology, Hershkowitz tells the story of the Bronx Community Paper Company from its earliest inception to its final demise nearly ten years later.
No Place Distant: Roads and Motorized Recreation on America's Public Lands
by Michael P. Dombeck David HavlickWhile many of the roads on public lands provide a great service with relatively little harm, others create significant problems -- from habitat fragmentation to noise pollution to increased animal mortality -- with little or no benefit.In No Place Distant, author David Havlick presents for the first time a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the more than 550,000 miles of roads that crisscross our national parks, national forests, Bureau of Land Management lands, and wildlife refuges, considering how they came to be; their ecological, financial, and societal costs; and what can be done to ensure that those roads are as environmentally benign and cost-effective as possible, while remaining functional and accessible. The book: places the profusion of roads on our public lands in historical context offers an overview of the ecological effects of roads explores the policies, politics, and economics that have fostered road-building on public lands considers the contentious topic of motorized recreation examines efforts to remove roads and restore degraded lands to healthBringing together an impressive range and depth of information along with a thoughtful analysis of the issues, No Place Distant offers a definitive look at the debate over roads on public lands. With its well-crafted prose and extensive documentation, it is an unparalleled resource for anyone concerned with the health or management of public lands in the United States.
Measures of Success: Designing, Managing, and Monitoring Conservation and Development Projects
by Nick Salafsky Anna Balla Richard A. MargoluisMeasures of Success is a practical, hands-on guide to designing, managing, and measuring the impacts of community-oriented conservation and development projects. It presents a simple, clear, logical, and yet comprehensive approach to developing and implementing effective programs, and can help conservation and development practitioners use principles of adaptive management to test assumptions about their projects and learn from the results.The book presents a systematic approach to improving the focus, effectiveness, and efficiency of projects, with specific guidelines and advice on:designing a realistic conceptual framework based on local site conditions developing clearly defined goals, objectives, and activities creating a monitoring plan that can be used to assess whether goals and objectives are being met integrating social and biological science techniques to collect the most relevant and useful data in the most cost-effective way using the information obtained through the monitoring plan to modify the project and learn from the resultThe text is developed in eight chapters that follow the structure of a planning process from conception to completion, with the chapters linked by four scenarios that serve as teaching case studies throughout the book. Examples from these scenarios illustrate the processes and tools discussed, and each scenario case study is presented in its entirety in an appendix to the volume. The approach has been developed and field tested by practitioners working in many different projects in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and their experience and input ensure that the guide is both practical and useful.Measures of Success is the only work of its kind currently available, and represents an invaluable resource for field-based practitioners, project managers, and local community leaders, as well as for international NGO staff, college and university teachers and students, researchers, and government officials.
Bedside Essays for Lovers (Island Press E-ssentials)
by Daniel SolomonIn this provocative collection of essays, renowned architect Daniel Solomon delves into the complexities of what makes a city vibrant. Acknowledging that a city is not a static thing, he argues we need to pay more attention to nurturing what he calls "continuous cities." In such a city, he says, "new buildings, new institutions, and new technologies don't rip apart the old and wreck it. They accommodate, they act with respect, and they add vibrant new chapters to history without eradicating it." Continuity, he explains, is the way to promote sustainability-- and contrary to what the advocates of "modern architecture" claim, he insists that honoring the traditional ways of city building still provides a solid foundation for places to grow, evolve, be modern. However fond you are of your city, or however much you feel it needs improvement, this short collection of essays offers an enticing vision of the future. All of our cities have a past worth examining, a richness of experience that can shape the future in wonderful, surprising ways. Solomon's prose is thought-provoking and inspiring, well worth keeping close by wherever you do your reading--be it your bedside, couch, a park, or on the metro.
Where Our Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine
by Gary Paul NabhanThe future of our food depends on tiny seeds in orchards and fields the world over. In 1943, one of the first to recognize this fact, the great botanist Nikolay Vavilov, lay dying of starvation in a Soviet prison. But in the years before Stalin jailed him as a scapegoat for the country's famines, Vavilov had traveled over five continents, collecting hundreds of thousands of seeds in an effort to outline the ancient centers of agricultural diversity and guard against widespread hunger. Now, another remarkable scientist--and vivid storyteller--has retraced his footsteps. In Where Our Food Comes From, Gary Paul Nabhan weaves together Vavilov's extraordinary story with his own expeditions to Earth's richest agricultural landscapes and the cultures that tend them. Retracing Vavilov's path from Mexico and the Colombian Amazon to the glaciers of the Pamirs in Tajikistan, he draws a vibrant portrait of changes that have occurred since Vavilov's time and why they matter. In his travels, Nabhan shows how climate change, free trade policies, genetic engineering, and loss of traditional knowledge are threatening our food supply. Through discussions with local farmers, visits to local outdoor markets, and comparison of his own observations in eleven countries to those recorded in Vavilov's journals and photos, Nabhan reveals just how much diversity has already been lost. But he also shows what resilient farmers and scientists in many regions are doing to save the remaining living riches of our world. It is a cruel irony that Vavilov, a man who spent his life working to foster nutrition, ultimately died from lack of it. In telling his story, Where Our Food Comes From brings to life the intricate relationships among culture, politics, the land, and the future of the world's food.