Air, the Environment and Public Health by
Air, the Environment and Public Health traces the theme of air and health from ancient civilisations onwards. The author explores the changing conceptions of air and health alongside historical developments in public health, and critically examines contemporary problems - conceptual, scientific, philosophical and ethical - in public health theory and practice. The first part surveys air and health in early civilisations, as well as the nineteenth-century debates around miasma and evolution. The second part explores the history of smoke pollution and health. Part three examines philosophical issues around modern air pollution epidemiology, and part four looks at climate change and ethical frameworks in public health. The book is a unique blend of public health science, history of medicine, ethics and philosophy. It will be of interest to those working or studying in public health, environmental health, medicine, history of medicine, environmental philosophy, and medical ethics.
Alternative Ecological Risk Assessment: An Innovative Approach to Understanding Ecological Assessments for Contaminated Sites by
In Alternative Ecological Risk Assessment the author, Lawrence V. Tannenbaum, provides a critical review of current practices in the ecological risk assessment field and proposes alternatives that are supported by established science and keen observation. It is hoped that this approach will pave the way to a greater understanding of what appropriate and useful ecological assessment for contaminated sites should entail. He demonstrates that in most cases current practices do not provide for an assessment of ecological risk, and moreover, that endeavoring to assess ecological risk is actually an unnecessary undertaking at conventional hazardous waste sites. (He states, for example, that the concept of scale is often ignored by practitioners, questions why animals like deer are routinely assessed at 5-acre sites, and challenges the ecotoxicology data currently used.) The book is aimed at students and professionals in the fields of environmental science, ecology, ecotoxicology, and health risk assessment.
American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau by
As America and the world grapple with the consequences of global environmental change, writer and activist Bill McKibben offers this unprecedented, provocative, and timely anthology, gathering the best and most significant American environmental writing from the last two centuries.
Classics of the environmental imagination'the essays of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and John Burroughs; Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac ; Rachel Carson's Silent Spring ?are set against the inspiring story of an emerging activist movement, as revealed by newly uncovered reports of pioneering campaigns for conservation, passages from landmark legal opinions and legislation, and searing protest speeches. Here are some of America's greatest and most impassioned writers, taking a turn toward nature and recognizing the fragility of our situation on earth and the urgency of the search for a sustainable way of life. Thought-provoking essays on overpopulation, consumerism, energy policy, and the nature of ?nature? join ecologists? memoirs and intimate sketches of the habitats of endangered species. The anthology includes a detailed chronology of the environmental movement and American environmental history, as well as an 80-page color portfolio of illustrations.
Cities: an environmental history by
There is increasing concern over the unchecked growth of the worlds cities and the detrimental effect this is having on the worlds ecosystems. This unfettered growth is affecting every ecosystem on Earth, from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains, through both climate change and the lack of food and other resources.
Coyote at the Kitchen Door: living with wildlife in suburbia by
A moose frustrates commuters by wandering onto the highway; a cougar stalks his prey through suburban backyards; an alligator suns himself in a strip mall parking lot. Such stories, which regularly make headline news, highlight the blurred divide that now exists between civilization and wilderness. In Coyote at the Kitchen Door, Stephen DeStefano draws on decades of experience as a biologist and conservationist to examine the interplay between urban sprawl and wayward wildlife. As he explores what our insatiable appetite for real estate means for the health and wellbeing of animals and ourselves, he highlights growing concerns, such as the loss of darkness at night because of light pollution. DeStefano writes movingly about the contrasts between constructed and natural environments and about the sometimes cherished, sometimes feared place that nature holds in our modern lives, as we cluster into cities yet show an increasing interest in the natural world. Woven throughout the book is the story of one of the most successful species in North America: the coyote. Once restricted to the prairies of the West, this adaptable animal now inhabits most of North America-urban and wild alike. DeStefano traces a female coyote's movements along a winding path between landscapes in which her species learned to survive and flourish. Coyote at the Kitchen Door asks us to rethink the meaning of progress and create a new suburban wildlife ethic.
Creating Green Roadways: Integrating Cultural, Natural, and Visual Resources into Transportation by
Roads and parking lots in the United States cover more ground than the entire state of Georgia. And while proponents of sustainable transit often focus on getting people off the roads, they will remain at the heart of our transportation systems for the foreseeable future. In Creating Green Roadways, James and Matthew Sipes demonstrate that roads don't have to be the enemy of sustainability: they can be designed to minimally impact the environment while improving quality of life. The authors examine traditional, utilitarian methods of transportation planning that have resulted in a host of negative impacts: from urban sprawl and congestion to loss of community identity and excess air and water pollution. They offer a better approach--one that blends form and function. Creating Green Roadways covers topics including transportation policy, the basics of green road design, including an examination of complete streets, public involvement, road ecology, and the economics of sustainable roads. Case studies from metropolitan, suburban, and rural transportation projects around the country, along with numerous photographs, illustrate what makes a project successful. The need for this information has never been greater, as more than thirty percent of America's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition, more than a quarter of the nation's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, and congestion in communities of all sizes has never been worse. Creating Green Roadways offers a practical strategy for rethinking how we design, plan, and maintain our transportation infrastructure.
Crimes Against Nature: Illegal Industries and the Global Environment by
This comprehensive analysis of garbage trafficking, wildlife trafficking, illegal fishing, and illegal logging highlights the difficulty in balancing human interests and environmental responsibility.
* Provides a comprehensive overview of environmental damage worldwide from illicit industries
* Includes coverage of key environmental regulations, including the Basel Convention, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and the Lacey Act
* Presents a chronology of the development of illegal industries and the advent of legislation intended to fight these exploitative businesses
* Includes seven tables relevant to garbage trafficking, wildlife trafficking, and illegal fishing
* A bibliography and endnotes with each chapter document the sources used
DDT and the American Century by
Praised for its ability to kill insects effectively and cheaply and reviled as an ecological hazard, DDT continues to engender passion across the political spectrum as one of the world's most controversial chemical pesticides. In DDT and the American Century, David Kinkela chronicles the use of DDT around the world from 1941 to the present with a particular focus on the United States, which has played a critical role in encouraging the global use of the pesticide. Kinkela's study offers a unique approach to understanding both this contentious chemical and modern environmentalism in an international context.
Discerning Experts by
"Discerning Experts assesses the assessments that many governments rely on to help guide environmental policy and action. Through their close look at environmental assessments involving acid rain, ozone depletion, and sea level rise, the authors explore how experts deliberate and decide on the scientific facts about problems like climate change. They also seek to understand how the scientists involved make the judgments they do, how the organization and management of assessment activities affects those judgments, and how expertise is identified and constructed."--cover.
The Ecology Book by
Using a bold, graphic-led approach, The Ecology Book explores and explains over 85 of the key ideas, movements, and acts that have defined ecology and ecological thought. The book has a simple chronological structure, with early chapters ranging from the ideas of classical thinkers to attempts by Enlightenment thinkers to systematically order the natural world. Later chapters trace the evolution of modern thinking, from the ideas of Thomas Malthus, Henry Thoreau, and others, all the way through to the political and scientific developments of the modern era, including the birth of the environmental movement and the Paris Agreement. The ideal introduction to one of the most important subjects of our time.
Encyclopedia of Global Change by
Encompassing tsunamis, elephant conservation, ocean pollution, mining regulation, and permafrost melt, the 300 authoritative articles in this unique and wide-ranging encyclopedia investigate all types of phenomena that change life on Earth. The entries cover a range of general research categories: altered ecosystems, climate change, food and water supply, population, politics and global change, institutions and policies, biographies, and case studies.
Encyclopedia of Global Resources by
Encyclopedia of Global Resources provides a wide variety of perspectives on both traditional and more recent views of Earth's resources. the entries are diverse, with articles covering fisheries, forests, aluminum, the Industrial Revolution, the U.S. Depa
Encyclopedia of Global Resources by 
Enviromedics by
Many of us have concerns about the effects of climate change on Earth, but we often overlook the essential issue of human health. This book addresses that oversight and enlightens readers about the most important aspect of one of the greatest challenges of our time. The global environment is under massive stress from centuries of human industrialization. The projections regarding climate change for the next century and beyond are grim. The impact this will have on human health is tremendous, and we are only just now discovering what the long-term outcomes may be. By weighing in from a physician's perspective, Jay Lemery and Paul Auerbach clarify the science, dispel the myths, and help readers understand the threats of climate change to human health. No better argument exists for persuading people to care about climate change than a close look at its impacts on our physical and emotional well-being. The need has never been greater for a grounded, informative, and accessible discussion about this topic. In this groundbreaking book, the authors not only sound the alarm but address the health issues likely to arise in the coming years.
Environmental Geopolitics by
Introduction to environmental geopolitics -- Population and environment -- Resource conflict and slow violence -- Climate change and security -- Science, imagery, and understanding the environment -- Building from here.
Everyday Lifestyles and Sustainability by
The impact of humanity on the earth overshoots the earth’s bio-capacity to supply humanity’s needs, meaning that people are living off earth’s capital rather than its income. However, not all countries are equal and this book explores why apparently similar patterns of daily living can lead to larger and smaller environmental impacts. The contributors describe daily life in many different places in the world and then calculate the environmental impact of these ways of living from the perspective of ecological and carbon footprints. This leads to comparison and discussion of what living within the limits of the planet might mean. Current footprints for countries are derived from national statistics and these hide the variety of impacts made by individual people and the choices they make in their daily lives. This book takes a ‘bottom-up’ approach by calculating the footprints of daily living. The purpose is to show that small changes in behaviour now could avoid some very challenging problems in the future. Offering a global perspective on the question of sustainable living, this book will be of great interest to anyone with a concern for the future, as well as students and researchers in environmental studies, human geography and development studies.
The Fate of Greenland by
Experts discuss how Greenland's warming climate--seen in its melting ice sheets and retreating glaciers--could affect the rest of the world. Viewed from above, Greenland offers an endless vista of whiteness interrupted only by scattered ponds of azure-colored melt water. Ninety percent of Greenland is covered by ice; its ice sheet, the largest outside Antarctica, stretches almost 1,000 miles from north to south and 600 miles from east to west. But this stark view of ice and snow is changing--and changing rapidly. Greenland's ice sheet is melting; the dazzling, photogenic display of icebergs breaking off Greenland's rapidly melting glaciers has become a tourist attraction. The Fate of Greenland documents Greenland's warming with dramatic color photographs and investigates episodes in Greenland's climate history for clues about what happens when climate change is abrupt rather than gradual. Greenland's climate past and present could presage our climate future. Abrupt climate change would be cataclysmic: the melting of Greenland's ice shelf would cause sea levels to rise twenty-four feet worldwide; lower Manhattan would be underwater and Florida's coastline would recede to Orlando. The planet appears to be in a period of acute climate instability, exacerbated by carbon dioxide we pour into the atmosphere. As this book makes clear, it is in all of our interests to pay attention to Greenland.
Fire in Paradise by
November 8, 2018. Paradise, California, a community of 27,000 souls, was destroyed in a fire that left 86 dead. Gee and Anguiano offer a dramatic narrative the disaster based on hundreds of in-depth interviews with residents and first responders. They also explore the science of wildfires in a time of dramatic climate change, the role of the power company PG&E in the blaze, and the efforts to raise Paradise from the ruins.
The Fracking Debate by
Over roughly the past decade, oil and gas production in the United States has surged dramatically--thanks largely to technological advances such as high-volume hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as "fracking." This rapid increase has generated widespread debate, with proponents touting economic and energy-security benefits and opponents highlighting the environmental and social risks of increased oil and gas production. Despite the heated debate, neither side has a monopoly on the facts. In this book, Daniel Raimi gives a balanced and accessible view of oil and gas development, clearly and thoroughly explaining the key issues surrounding the shale revolution.
The Fracking Debate directly addresses the most common questions and concerns associated with fracking: What is fracking? Does fracking pollute the water supply? Will fracking make the United States energy independent? Does fracking cause earthquakes? How is fracking regulated? Is fracking good for the economy? Coupling a deep understanding of the scholarly research with lessons from his travels to every major U.S. oil- and gas-producing region, Raimi highlights stories of the people and communities affected by the shale revolution, for better and for worse. The Fracking Debate provides the evidence and context that have so frequently been missing from the national discussion of the future of oil and gas production, offering readers the tools to make sense of this critical issue.
The Green Amendment by
The Constitutional Change We Need to Protect Our Priceless Natural Resources
For decades, activists have relied on federal and state legislation to fight for a cleaner environment. And for decades, they've been fighting a losing battle. The sad truth is, our laws are designed to accommodate pollution rather than prevent it. It's no wonder people feel powerless when it comes to preserving the quality of their water, air, public parks, and special natural spaces.
But there is a solution, argues veteran environmentalist Maya K. van Rossum: bypass the laws and turn to the ultimate authority--our state and federal constitutions.
In 2013, van Rossum and her team won a watershed legal victory that not only protected Pennsylvania communities from ruthless frackers but affirmed the constitutional right of people in the state to a clean and healthy environment. Following this victory, van Rossum inaugurated the Green Amendment movement, dedicated to empowering every American community to mobilize for constitutional change.
Now, with The Green Amendment, van Rossum lays out an inspiring new agenda for environmental advocacy, one that will finally empower people, level the playing field, and provide real hope for communities everywhere. Readers will discover:
- how legislative environmentalism has failed communities across America,
- the transformational difference environmental constitutionalism can make,
- the economic imperative of environmental constitutionalism, and
- how to take action in their communities.
We all have the right to pure water, clean air, and a healthy environment. It's time to claim that right--for our own sake and that of future generations.
Green Equilibrium: the vital balance of humans & nature by
In Green Equilibrium, Christopher Wills explains the rules by which ecosystems maintain a diversity of interdependent species, in particular the balance of predators and prey. Wills is both an eminent academic and a hugely experienced field-biologist. In presenting the concept of "greenequilibrium", he draws on a fascinating range of examples, including coral reefs off the densely populated Philippines, the isolated and densely forested valleys of Papua New Guinea, the changing Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and a Californian ranch being allowed to return to a wild state. In eachcase he assesses the impact of modern changes and attempts at conservation on these delicately balanced ecosystems. Wills shows how human populations, too, are an integral part of the picture. We now know from genetic evidence that over the course of history, as humans spread out of Africa, populations adapted as a result of environmental conditions. Striking new evidence indicates that some human populationscarry genes from past encounters with other hominids (Neanderthals and Denisovans), as well as genetic adaptations to local hazards such as malaria. Wills argues that the most effective approaches to conserving green equilibria come out of evolutionary insights, and from close involvement of thelocal communities who have lived and adapted to them.
Greening Death by
We once disposed of our dead in earth-friendly ways--no chemicals, biodegradable containers, dust to dust. But over the last 150 years death care has become a toxic, polluting, and alienating industry in the United States. Today, people are slowly waking up to the possibility of more sustainable and less disaffecting death care, reclaiming old practices in new ways, in a new age. Greening Death traces the philosophical and historical backstory to this awakening, captures the passionate on-the-ground work of the Green Burial Movement, and explores the obstacles and other challenges getting in the way of more robust mobilization. As the movement lays claim to greener, simpler, and more cost-efficient practices, something even more promising is being offered up--a tangible way of restoring our relationship to nature.
The Land Grabbers: the new fight over who owns the Earth by
An unprecedented land grab is taking place around the world. Fearing future food shortages or eager to profit from them, the world's wealthiest and most acquisitive countries, corporations, and individuals have been buying and leasing vast tracts of land around the world. The scale is astounding: parcels the size of small countries are being gobbled up across the plains of Africa, the paddy fields of Southeast Asia, the jungles of South America, and the prairies of Eastern Europe. Veteran science writer Fred Pearce spent a year circling the globe to find out who was doing the buying, whose land was being taken over, and what the effect of these massive land deals seems to be.
The Land Grabbers is a first-of-its-kind exposé that reveals the scale and the human costs of the land grab, one of the most profound ethical, environmental, and economic issues facing the globalized world in the twenty-first century. The corporations, speculators, and governments scooping up land cheap in the developing world claim that industrial-scale farming will help local economies. But Pearce's research reveals a far more troubling reality. While some mega-farms are ethically run, all too often poor farmers and cattle herders are evicted from ancestral lands or cut off from water sources. The good jobs promised by foreign capitalists and home governments alike fail to materialize. Hungry nations are being forced to export their food to the wealthy, and corporate potentates run fiefdoms oblivious to the country beyond their fences.
Pearce's story is populated with larger-than-life characters, from financier George Soros and industry tycoon Richard Branson, to Gulf state sheikhs, Russian oligarchs, British barons, and Burmese generals. We discover why Goldman Sachs is buying up the Chinese poultry industry, what Lord Rothschild and a legendary 1970s asset-stripper are doing in the backwoods of Brazil, and what plans a Saudi oil billionaire has for Ethiopia. Along the way, Pearce introduces us to the people who actually live on, and live off of, the supposedly "empty" land that is being grabbed, from Cambodian peasants, victimized first by the Khmer Rouge and now by crony capitalism, to African pastoralists confined to ever-smaller tracts.
Over the next few decades, land grabbing may matter more, to more of the planet's people, than even climate change. It will affect who eats and who does not, who gets richer and who gets poorer, and whether agrarian societies can exist outside corporate control. It is the new battle over who owns the planet.
Living Downstream: An Ecologist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment by
The first edition of Living Downstream --an exquisite blend of precise science and engaging narrative--set a new standard for scientific writing. Poet, biologist, and cancer survivor, Steingraber uses all three kinds of experience to investigate the links between cancer and environmental toxins.
The updated science in this exciting new edition strengthens the case for banning poisons now pervasive in our air, our food, and our bodies. Because synthetic chemicals linked to cancer come mostly from petroleum and coal, Steingraber shows that investing in green energy also helps prevent cancer. Saving the planet becomes a matter of saving ourselves and an issue of human rights. A documentary film based on the book will coincide with publication.
Making the Most of the Anthropocene by
Ever since Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen coined the term "Anthropocene" to describe our current era--one in which human impact on the environment has pushed Earth into an entirely new geological epoch--arguments for and against the new designation have been raging. Finally, an official working group of scientists was created to determine once and for all whether we humans have tossed one too many plastic bottles out the car window and wrought a change so profound as to be on par with the end of the last ice age. In summer 2016, the answer came back: Yes .
In Making the Most of the Anthropocene , scientist Mark Denny tackles this hard truth head-on and considers burning questions: How did we reach our present technological and ecological state? How are we going to cope with our uncertain future? Will we come out of this, or are we doomed as a species? Is there anything we can do about what happens next? This book
* explains what the Anthropocene is and why it is important
* offers suggestions for minimizing harm instead of fretting about an impending environmental apocalypse
* combines easy-to-grasp scientific, technological, economic, and anthropological analyses
In Making the Most of the Anthopocene , there are no equations, no graphs, and no impenetrable jargon. Instead, you'll find a fascinating cast of characters, including journalists from outer space, peppered moths, and unjustly maligned Polynesians. In his bright, lively voice, Denny envisions a future that balances reaction and reason, one in which humanity emerges bloody but unbowed--and in which those of us who are prepared can make the most of the Anthropocene.
Microremediation, Phytoremediation and Vermiremediation Biotechnologies for Contaminated Lands and Soil by
Bioremediation is a soft bioengineering technique to clean up contaminated lands and soils using microbes, plants and earthworms. It is also a technique to stabilise the eroded lands and prevent soil erosion. Microbes are adapted to thrive in 'adverse conditions' of high acidity, alkalinity, toxicity and high temperature. Under favourable conditions of growth, microbes can biodegrade and biotransform the complex hazardous organic chemicals into simpler and harmless ones. Environmentalists are viewing microbes such as yeast, bacteria, algae, diatoms and actinomycetes as an 'eco-friendly nano-factories' for metal remediation. This book addresses these issues regarding the benefits of microbes, plants and earthworms in bioremediation.
Moby-Duck: the true story of 28,800 bath toys lost at sea, and of the beachcombers, oceanographers, environmentalists, and fools-- including the author-- who went in search of them by
When the author heard of the mysterious loss of thousands of bath toys at sea, he figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, and read up on Arctic science and geography. But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away. His accidental odyssey pulls him into the secretive world of shipping conglomerates, the daring work of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick sailors, and the shadowy world of Chinese toy factories. This work is a journey into the heart of the sea and an adventure through science, myth, the global economy, and some of the worst weather imaginable. With each new discovery, he learns of another loose thread, and with each successive chase, he comes closer to understanding where his castaway quarry comes from and where it goes.
Nature Wars: the incredible story of how wildlife comebacks turned backyards into battlegrounds by
Forest people -- The spruce illusion -- An epidemic of trees -- Sprawl -- Wild beasts -- The fifty pound rodent -- The elegant ungulate -- Lawn carp -- Gobblers -- Teddies -- The denatured life -- Doers to viewers -- Roadkill -- Feathered friends -- Feral felines --
The Oryx Resource Guide to el Niño and la Niña by 
The Princeton Guide to Ecology by
The Princeton Guide to Ecology is a concise, authoritative one-volume reference to the field's major subjects and key concepts. Edited by eminent ecologist Simon Levin, with contributions from an international team of leading ecologists, the book contains more than ninety clear, accurate, and up-to-date articles on the most important topics within seven major areas: autecology, population ecology, communities and ecosystems, landscapes and the biosphere, conservation biology, ecosystem services, and biosphere management. Complete with a glossary of key terms and suggestions for further reading on each topic, this is an essential volume for undergraduate and graduate students, research ecologists, scientists in related fields, policymakers, and anyone else with a serious interest in ecology.
Restorative Commons: Creating Health and Well-Being through Urban Landscapes by
A collection of 18 articles inspired by the Meristem 2007 Forum, "Restorative Commons for Community Health." The articles include interviews, case studies, thought pieces, and interdisciplinary theoretical works that explore the relationship between human health and the urban environment. This volume is a joint endeavor of Meristem and the U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station as they work to strengthen networks of researchers and practitioners to develop new solutions to persistent and emergent challenges to human health, well-being, and potential within the urban environment.
This Green and Growing Land by
From Benjamin Franklin's campaign to combat pollution at the Philadelphia's docks in the 1750s to the movement against climate change today, American environmentalists have sought to protect the natural world and promote a healthy human society. In This Green and Growing Land, historian Kevin Armitage shows how the story of American environmentalism--part philosophy, part social movement--is in no small way a story of America itself, of the way citizens have self-organized, have thought of their communities and their government, and have used their power to protect and enrich the land. Armitage skillfully analyzes the economic and social forces begetting environmental change and emphasizes the responses of a variety of ordinary Americans--as well as a few well-known leaders--to these complex issues. This concise and engaging survey of more than 250 years of activism tells the story of a magnificent American achievement--and the ongoing problems that environmentalism faces.
This Is Our Land: grassroots environmentalism in the late twentieth century by 
This Land by
"The public lands of the western United States comprise some 450 million acres of grassland, steppe land, canyons, forests, and mountains. It's an American commons, and it is under assault as never before. Journalist Christopher Ketcham has been documenting the confluence of commercial exploitation and governmental misconduct in this region for over a decade. His revelatory book takes the reader on a journey across these last wild places, to see how capitalism is killing our great commons. Ketcham begins in Utah, revealing the environmental destruction caused by unregulated public lands livestock grazing, and exposing rampant malfeasance in the federal land management agencies, who have been compromised by the profit-driven livestock and energy interests they are supposed to regulate. He then turns to the broad effects of those corrupt politics on wildlife. He tracks the Department of Interior's failure to implement and enforce the Endangered Species Act -- including its stark betrayal of protections for the grizzly bear and the sage grouse -- and investigates the destructive behavior of U.S. Wildlife Services in their shocking mass slaughter of animals that threaten the livestock industry. Along the way, Ketcham talks with ecologists, biologists, botanists, former government employees, whistleblowers, grassroots environmentalists and other citizens who are fighting to protect the public domain for future generations. This Land is a colorful muckraking journey -- part Edward Abbey, part Upton Sinclair -- exposing the rot in American politics that is rapidly leading to the sell-out of our national heritage."
The Unnatural World by
An environmental journalist examines the world humanity has created through climate change and chronicles the scientists, billionaires, and ordinary people who are working toward saving the planet. "Civilization is in crisis, facing disasters of our own making on the only planet known to bear life in the vast void of the universe. All of our impacts on the planet have ushered in what qualifies as a new geologic epoch, the Anthropocene, thanks to global warming, mass extinction, and such technologies as nuclear weapons and plastics. We have become unwitting gardeners of the Earth, not in control but setting the conditions under which all of life flourishes-or not. The Unnatural World examines the biosphere we have cultivated and uncovers the glimmers of hope emerging from the efforts of incredible individuals seeking to change our future. Truly, it's survival of the innovators, and the band of unlikely heroes introduced here includes a scientist experimenting with ocean fertilization to fight global warming, a pigeon obsessive bent on resurrecting the extinct passenger pigeon, and a low-level government functionary in China cleaning up his industrial city, along with many others. These scientists, billionaires, and ordinary people are all working toward saving the best home humanity is ever likely to have. The Unnatural World is a guidebook to a future in which we become better stewards of the planet, capable of thriving alongside a profusion of plants, animals, and other living things. As Biello shows, if we remake our civilization on a global scale to create a better environment for all, the current era of human influence need not lead to the end of the world--just the end of the world as we know it."--Jacket.
Urban Problems: Methods and Techniques in Urban Engineering by
A series of urban problems such as dwelling deficit, infrastructure problems, inefficient services, environmental pollution, etc. can be observed in many countries. Urban Engineering searches solutions for these problems using a conjoined system of planning, management and technology. A great deal of research is devoted to application of instruments, methodologies and tools for monitoring and acquisition of data, based on the factual experience and computational modeling. The objective of the book was to present works related to urban automation, geographic information systems (GIS), analysis, monitoring and management of urban noise, floods and transports, information technology applied to the cities, tools for urban simulation, social monitoring and control of urban policies, sustainability, etc., demonstrating methods and techniques applied in Urban Engineering. Considering all the interesting information presented, the book can offer some aid in creating new research, as well as incite the interest of people for this area of study, since Urban Engineering is fundamental for city development.
War on the Epa by
Examines the daunting hurdles facing the EPA in its critical roles in drinking water, air and water pollution, climate change, and toxic chemicals. This book takes the reader on a journey into some of today's most pressing environmental problems: toxic "forever chemicals" known as PFAS, pervasive agricultural pollution, dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico, and widespread air and water pollution from use of fossil fuels. Delving into the science, politics, and human dimension of these and other problems, the book illustrates the challenges of regulation, how today's war on science is undermining the scientific foundation upon which the agency's legitimacy rests, and why a strong U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is more important than ever before.
The Ways of the World by
David Harvey is one of most famous Marxist intellectuals in the past half century, as well as one of the world's most cited social scientists. Beginning in the early 1970s with his trenchant and still-relevant book Social Justice and the City and through this day, Harvey has written numerous books and dozens of influential essays and articles on topics across issues in politics, culture, economics, and social justice. In The Ways of the World, Harvey has gathered his most important essays from the past four decades. They form a career-spanning collection that tracks not only the development of Harvey over time as an intellectual, but also a dialectical vision that gradually expanded its reach from the slums of Baltimore to global environmental degradation to the American imperium. While Harvey's coverage is wide-ranging, all of the pieces tackle the core concerns that have always animated his work: capitalism past and present, social change, freedom, class, imperialism, the city, nature, social justice,postmodernity, globalization, and-not least-the crises that inhere in capitalism. A career-defining volume, The Ways of the World will stand as a comprehensive work that presents the trajectory of Harvey's lifelong project in full.
The Wizard and the Prophet by
In forty years, Earth's population will reach ten billion. Can our world support that? What kind of world will it be? Those answering these questions generally fall into two deeply divided groups--Wizards and Prophets, as Charles Mann calls them in this balanced, authoritative, nonpolemical new book. The Prophets, he explains, follow William Vogt, a founding environmentalist who believed that in using more than our planet has to give, our prosperity will lead us to ruin. Cut back ! was his mantra. Otherwise everyone will lose ! The Wizards are the heirs of Norman Borlaug, whose research, in effect, wrangled the world in service to our species to produce modern high-yield crops that then saved millions from starvation. Innovate ! was Borlaug's cry. Only in that way can everyone win ! Mann delves into these diverging viewpoints to assess the four great challenges humanity faces--food, water, energy, climate change--grounding each in historical context and weighing the options for the future. With our civilization on the line, the author's insightful analysis is an essential addition to the urgent conversation about how our children will fare on an increasingly crowded Earth.
Deep Water: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling by 
Oil on the Brain: adventures from the pump to the pipeline by
Oil on the Brain is a smart, surprisingly funny account of the oil industry--the people, economies, and pipelines that bring us petroleum, brilliantly illuminating a world we encounter every day.
Americans buy ten thousand gallons of gasoline a second, without giving it much of a thought. Where does all this gas come from? Lisa Margonelli's desire to learn took her on a one-hundred thousand mile journey from her local gas station to oil fields half a world away. In search of the truth behind the myths, she wriggled her way into some of the most off-limits places on earth: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the New York Mercantile Exchange's crude oil market, oil fields from Venezuela, to Texas, to Chad, and even an Iranian oil platform where the United States fought a forgotten one-day battle.
In a story by turns surreal and alarming, Margonelli meets lonely workers on a Texas drilling rig, an oil analyst who almost gave birth on the NYMEX trading floor, Chadian villagers who are said to wander the oil fields in the guise of lions, a Nigerian warlord who changed the world price of oil with a single cell phone call, and Shanghai bureaucrats who dream of creating a new Detroit.
Deftly piecing together the mammoth economy of oil, Margonelli finds a series of stark warning signs for American drivers.
The Pipeline and the Paradigm: Keystone XL, tar sands, and the battle to defuse the carbon bomb by
This thoroughly researched and wholly engaging book investigates the economic, ecological, political, and psychological issues behind the Keystone XL pipeline--a project so controversial it has inspired the largest expression of civil disobedience since the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. With enough carbon trapped in the Canadian tar sands to plunge the Earth into irreversible climate change, it is the Keystone XL pipeline that will set that carbon free. The debate rages on over whether this 2,100-mile long steel pipeline is a vital piece America's energy future or the conduit for global climate disaster. From the enormous tar sands mines in Alberta to a tree-top blockade in Texas, this book introduces the people and explores the competing interests that power the environmental issue of the current generation.
Planning after Petroleum by
The past decade has been of the most volatile periods in global petroleum markets in living memory, and future oil supply security and price levels remain highly uncertain. This poses many questions for the professional activities of planners and urbanists because contemporary cities are highly dependent on petroleum as a transport fuel. How will oil dependent cities respond, and adapt to, the changing pattern of petroleum supplies? What key strategies should planners and policy makers implement in petroleum vulnerable cities to address the challenges of moving beyond oil? How might a shift away from petroleum, provide opportunities to improve or remake cities for the economic, social and environmental imperatives of twenty-first century sustainability?