Environmental

Susan Freinkel

Plastic: A Toxic Love Story

Editura: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

Anul aparitiei: 2011

Plastic built the modern world. Where would we be without bike helmets, baggies, toothbrushes, and pacemakers? But a century into our love affair with plastic, we're starting to realize it's not such a healthy relationship. Plastics draw on dwindling fossil fuels, leach harmful chemicals, litter landscapes, and destroy marine life. As journalist Susan Freinkel points out in this engaging and eye-opening book, we're nearing a crisis point. We've produced as much plastic in the past decade as we did in the entire twentieth century. We're drowning in the stuff, and we need to start making some hard choices. Freinkel gives us the tools we need with a blend of lively anecdotes and analysis. She combs through scientific studies and economic data, reporting from China and across the United States to assess the real impact of plastic on our lives. She tells her story through eight familiar plastic objects: comb, chair, Frisbee, IV bag, disposable lighter, grocery bag, soda bottle, and credit card. Her conclusion: we cannot stay on our plastic-paved path. And we don't have to. Plastic points the way toward a new creative partnership with the material we love to hate but can't seem to live ...

DDT, Silent Spring, and the Rise of Environmentalism: Classic Texts

Editura: University of Washington Press

Anul aparitiei: 2008

No single event played a greater role in the birth of modern environmentalism than the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and its assault on insecticides. The documents collected by Thomas Dunlap trace shifting attitudes toward DDT and pesticides in general through a variety of sources: excerpts from scientific studies and government reports, advertisements from industry journals, articles from popular magazines, and the famous "Fable for Tomorrow" from Silent Spring. Beginning with attitudes toward nature at the turn of the twentieth century, the book moves through the use and early regulation of pesticides; the introduction and early success of DDT; the discovery of its environmental effects; and the uproar over Silent Spring. It ends with recent debates about DDT as a potential solution to malaria in Africa.

Peter D. Ward

Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us about Our Future

Editura: Collins

Anul aparitiei: 2008

More than 200 million years ago, a cataclysmic event known as the Permian extinction destroyed more than 90% of all species and nearly 97% of all living things. Its origins have long been a puzzle for paleontologists, and during the 1990s and the early part of this century a great battle was fought between those who thought that death had come from above and those who thought something more complicated was at work. Paleontologist Peter D. Ward, fresh from helping prove that an asteroid had killed the dinosaurs, turned to the Permian problem, and he has come to a stunning conclusion. In his investigations of the fates of several groups of mollusks during those extinctions and others, he discovered that the near-total devastation at the end of the Permian was caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide leading to climate change. But it's not the heat (nor the humidity) that's directly responsible for the extinctions, and the story of the discovery of what is responsible makes for an fascinating, globe-spanning adventure.

Edward Humes

Eco Barons: The New Heroes of Environmental Activism

Editura: Ecco

Anul aparitiei: 2010

"Well written and compelling, Eco Barons gives the reader a first glimpse of the activists, philanthropists and gadflies who may well turn out to be the J.D. Rockefellers and Rachel Carsons of our time." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Humes offers readers an eye-opening look at the remarkable philanthropists and visionaries who are devoting their lives to saving the earth from overdevelopment and destruction. In Eco Barons, Humes, the bestselling author of Mississippi Mud and Monkey Girl, gives us fascinating portraits of extraordinary men and women who are dedicated to humankind's survival--as important a contribution to the environmental cause as Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. As the New York Times points out, "Humes's urgent message is clear: We must all strive to become 'eco barons' in our own right if we are to save Planet Earth."

Alun Anderson

After the Ice: Life, Death, and Geopolitics in the New Arctic

Editura: Smithsonian Books

Anul aparitiei: 2009

Global warming is changing the Arctic faster and more dramatically than any place else on Earth. "After the Ice" presents the winners and losers in this high stakes battle, from nations and native peoples to animals and the very landscape itself.

Thomas M. Kostigen

You Are Here: Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That Does to Our Planet

Editura: HarperOne

Anul aparitiei: 2010

"A passionate and heartfelt call to care." --Bruce Feiler, New York Times bestselling author of Walking the Bible and America 's Prophet In You Are Here, Thomas Kostigen, the New York Times bestselling co-author of The Green Book , takes us to the most extreme environmental areas on the planet to show how what we do from the comfort of our own home affects people, places, and things everywhere. A timely, much-needed alarm that recalls Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth combined with a compelling travel narrative reminiscent of Anthony Bourdain with straight ahead Anderson Cooper-like reporting, You Are Here is "an intriguing and insightful account that deserves to be read by everyone" (Mark Plotkin, Time Magazine Hero for the Planet).

HRH the Prince of Wales

Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World

Editura: Harper

Anul aparitiei: 2010

In this informational, inspirational work, Charles, the Prince of Wales, describes his views on climate change for the first time, presenting a compelling case that the solution to this problem lies in our ability to regain our balance with nature.

Larry Gonick

Cartoon Guide to the Environment

Editura: Collins Reference

Anul aparitiei: 1996

Do you think that the Ozone Hole is a grunge rock club? Or that the Food Web is an on-line restaurant guide? Or that the Green Revolution happened in Greenland? Then you need The Cartoon Guide to the Environment to put you on the road to environmental literacy. The Cartoon Guide to the Environment covers the main topics of environmental science: chemical cycles, life communities, food webs, agriculture, human population growth, sources of energy and raw materials, waste disposal and recycling, cities, pollution, deforestation, ozone depletion, and global warming--and puts them in the context of ecology, with discussions of population dynamics, thermodynamics, and the behavior of complex systems.

Colin Chartres, Samyuktha Varma

Out of Water: From Abundance to Scarcity and How to Solve the World's Water Problems

Editura: FT Press

Anul aparitiei: 2010

From cities to biofuels, competition for water is accelerating. Climate change threatens to intensify the onset and severity of the water crisis in several regions of the developing world: this is already happening throughout much of Asia, the Mediterranean, southwestern Australia, and the southwestern US. Along with water shortages, unsafe water becomes an increasingly widespread problem, too. As water crises trigger food and health crises, billions may slip further into poverty, leading to greater social and political unrest, new wars, and worsening national security. Out of Water doesn't just illuminate the coming global water crisis: it presents innovative solutions in agriculture, engineering, governance, and beyond, including state-of-the art techniques for integrated water management. This book will help raise the level of debate about water to the highest levels of government, and identify workable reforms and incentives to help water users utilize this crucial resource far more efficiently.

Scott Brennan, Jay Withgott

Essential Environment: The Science Behind the Stories [With Access Code]

Editura: Pearson Custom Publishing

Anul aparitiei: 2008

Marc Reisner

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water

Editura: Penguin Books

Anul aparitiei: 1993

"I've been thinking a lot about Cadillac Desert in the past few weeks, as the rain fell and fell and kept falling over California, much of which, despite the pouring heavens, seems likely to remain in the grip of a severe drought. Reisner anticipated this moment. He worried that the West's success with irrigation could be a mirage -- that it took water for granted and didn't appreciate the precariousness of our capacity to control it." - Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times, January 20,2023 "The definitive work on the West's water crisis." --Newsweek The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecological and economic disaster. In his landmark book, Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in the competition to ...

Richard Manning

Grassland: The History, Biology, Politics and Promise of the American Prairie

Editura: Penguin Books

Anul aparitiei: 1997

More than forty percent of our country was once open prairie, grassland that extended from Missouri to Montana. Taking a critical look at this little-understood biome, award-winning journalist Richard Manning urges the reclamation of this land, showing how the grass is not only our last connection to the natural world, but also a vital link to our own prehistoric roots, our history, and our culture. Framing his book with the story of the remarkable elk, whose mysterious wanderings seem to reclaim his ancestral plains, Manning traces the expansion of America into what was then viewed as the American desert and considers our attempts over the last two hundred years to control unpredictable land through plowing, grazing, and landscaping. He introduces botanists and biologists who are restoring native grasses, literally follows the first herd of buffalo restored to the wild prairie, and even visits Ted Turner 's progressive--and controversial--Montana ranch. In an exploration of the grasslands that is both sweeping and intimate, Manning shows us how we can successfully inhabit this and all landscapes.

Lynn Hirshfield

Girls Gone Green

Editura: Puffin Books

Anul aparitiei: 2010

Hayden Panettiere, Mischa Barton, Ellen Pagea everyoneas going green these days, but saving the environment is a large task for anyone to take on, especially a teenager. Yet the everyday green girls profiled here have a passionato do just that. Theyave stepped up, taken the initiative, and made their voices heard, and in doing so, they have helped to effect changeafrom creating a cosmetics line free of toxic chemicals to trying to conquer global warming to encouraging the use of wind power. Filled with stories from real girls who made a difference, plus lots of celebrity green girls who are doing their part to help out, "Girls Gone Green" gives girls everywhere the inspiration to do something to help their world. It doesnat matter how small the change isait only matters that you make the effort to bring about that change.

Paul Hawken

Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World

Editura: Penguin Books

Anul aparitiei: 2008

The New York Times bestselling examination of the worldwide movement for social and environmental change Paul Hawken has spent more than a decade researching organizations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice. From billion-dollar nonprofits to single-person dot.causes, these groups collectively comprise the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader, or location and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the media. Blessed Unrest explores the diversity of the movement, its brilliant ideas, innovative strategies, and centuries of hidden history. A culmination of Hawken's many years of leadership in the environmental and social justice fields, it will inspire all who despair of the world's fate, and its conclusions will surprise even those within the movement itself.

Stewart Brand

Whole Earth Discipline: Why Dense Cities, Nuclear Power, Transgenic Crops, Restored Wildlands, and Geoengineering Are Necessary

Editura: Penguin Books

Anul aparitiei: 2010

"Incredible book . . . Best I've read this year." --Jack Dorsey, via Twitter This eye-opening book by the legendary author of the National Book Award-winning Whole Earth Catalog persuasively details a new approach to our stewardship of the planet. Lifelong ecologist and futurist Stewart Brand relies on scientific rigor to shatter myths concerning nuclear energy, urbanization, genetic engineering, and other controversial subjects, showing exactly where the sources of our dilemmas lie and offering a bold, inventive set of policies and design- based solutions for shaping a more sustainable society. Thought- provoking and passionately argued, this is a pioneering book on one of the hottest issues facing humanity today.

John S. Dryzek

The Politics of the Earth: Environmental Discourses

Editura: Oxford University Press

Anul aparitiei: 2005

The Politics of the Earth provides an excellent and accessible introduction to thinking about the environment by looking at the way people use language on environmental issues. John Dryzek analyzes the various approaches which have dominated environmental issues over the last three decades, and which are likely to be influential in the future. These perspectives range from faith in unlimited economic growth to radical green politics. The history, interplay, and impact of these perspectives are analyzed and assessed, concluding with a plea for ecological democracy.

Charles D. Kolstad

Environmental Economics

Editura: Oxford University Press

Anul aparitiei: 2010

Environmental Economics is the first text to concentrate solely on environmental economics--the problems of earth, air, and water pollution from an economic perspective--with an emphasis on both government regulation and private-sector anti-pollution incentives. With the assumption that readers already have an understanding of intermediate microeconomics, the book reaches into more detail on theory and analysis than most other textbooks in this area. Now fully revised in its second edition, Environmental Economics is divided into four primary sections: the first section defines the field of environmental economics in relation to general economics and to ecological and resource economics; the second section is normative, looking at market failure and asks why, even with apparent environmental protection, the market often fails to work properly; the third section is positive, examining government regulation of pollution using the industrial organization literature; and the final section covers more advanced topics, looking at risk, uncertainty, green accounting, international competition and cooperation and development. Including many international examples, the book places special ...

Benjamin Ross, Steven Amter

The Polluters: The Making of Our Chemically Altered Environment

Editura: Oxford University Press, USA

Anul aparitiei: 2010

The chemical pollution that irrevocably damages today's environment is, although many would like us to believe otherwise, the legacy of conscious choices made long ago. During the years before and just after World War II, discoveries like leaded gasoline and DDT came to market, creating new hazards even as the expansion and mechanization of industry exacerbated old ones. Dangers still felt today--smog, pesticides, lead, chromium, chlorinated solvents, asbestos, even global warming--were already recognized by chemists, engineers, doctors, and business managers of that era. A few courageous individuals spoke out without compromise, but still more ignored scientific truth in pursuit of money and prestige. The Polluters reveals at last the crucial decisions that allowed environmental issues to be trumped by political agendas. It spotlights the leaders of the chemical industry and describes how they applied their economic and political power to prevent the creation of an effective system of environmental regulation. Research was slanted, unwelcome discoveries were suppressed, and friendly experts were placed in positions of influence, as science was subverted to serve the interests of ...

E. C. Pielou

A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic

Editura: University of Chicago Press

Anul aparitiei: 1995

This book is a practical, portable guide to all of the Arctic's natural history-sky, atmosphere, terrain, ice, the sea, plants, birds, mammals, fish, and insects-for those who will experience the Arctic firsthand and for armchair travelers who would just as soon read about its splendors and surprises. It is packed with answers to naturalists' questions and with questions-some of them answered-that naturalists may not even have thought of.

Michael Williams

Deforesting the Earth: From Prehistory to Global Crisis, an Abridgment

Editura: University of Chicago Press

Anul aparitiei: 2006

"Anyone who doubts the power of history to inform the present should read this closely argued and sweeping survey. This is rich, timely, and sobering historical fare written in a measured, non-sensationalist style by a master of his craft. One only hopes (almost certainly vainly) that today's policymakers take its lessons to heart."--Brian Fagan, Los Angeles Times Published in 2002, Deforesting the Earth was a landmark study of the history and geography of deforestation. Now available as an abridgment, this edition retains the breadth of the original while rendering its arguments accessible to a general readership. Deforestation--the thinning, changing, and wholesale clearing of forests for fuel, shelter, and agriculture--is among the most important ways humans have transformed the environment. Surveying ten thousand years to trace human-induced deforestation's effect on economies, societies, and landscapes around the world, Deforesting the Earth is the preeminent history of this process and its consequences. Beginning with the return of the forests after the ice age to Europe, North America, and the tropics, Michael Williams traces the impact of human-set fires for gathering and ...