Earth Sciences, Geography & Environment Books

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Book SynopsisFINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE IN GENERAL NONFICTIONWINNER OF THE NATIONAL OUTDOOR BOOK AWARDA CHICAGO TRIBUNE TOP TEN BOOK OF 2018A GUARDIAN, NPR’s SCIENCE FRIDAY, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, AND LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2018Hailed as “deeply felt” (New York Times), “a revelation” (Pacific Standard), and “the book on climate change and sea levels that was missing” (Chicago Tribune), Rising is both a highly original work of lyric reportage and a haunting meditation on how to let go of the places we love.With every passing day, and every record-breaking hurricane, it grows clearer that climate change is neither imagined nor distant—and that rising seas are transforming the coastline of the United States in irrevocable ways. In Rising, Elizabeth Rush guides readers through some of the places where this change has been most dramatic, from the Gulf Coast to Miami, and from New York City to the Bay Area. For many of the plants, animals, and humans in these places, the options are stark: retreat or perish in place.Weaving firsthand testimonials from those facing this choice—a Staten Islander who lost her father during Sandy, the remaining holdouts of a Native American community on a drowning Isle de Jean Charles, a neighborhood in Pensacola settled by escaped slaves hundreds of years ago—with profiles of wildlife biologists, activists, and other members of these vulnerable communities, Rising privileges the voices of those too often kept at the margins.In a new afterword for the paperback edition, Rush highlights questions of storytelling, adaptability, and how to powerfully shift conversation around ongoing climate change—including the storms of 2017 and 2018: Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, Irma, Florence, and Michael.Trade ReviewPraise for Elizabeth Rush’s Rising “A rigorously reported story about American vulnerability to rising seas, particularly disenfranchised people with limited access to the tools of rebuilding.”―Jury Citation, Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction “Deeply felt . . . Rush captures nature with precise words that almost amount to poetry; the book is further enriched with illuminating detail from the lives of those people inhabiting today’s coasts. . . . Elegies like this one will play an important role as people continue to confront a transformed, perhaps unnatural world.”―New York Times “The book on climate change and sea levels that was missing. Rush travels from vanishing shorelines in New England to hurting fishing communities to retracting islands and, with empathy and elegance, conveys what it means to lose a world in slow motion. Picture the working-class empathy of Studs Terkel paired with the heartbreak of a poet.”—Chicago Tribune (Best Ten Books of 2018) “Sea level rise is not some distant problem in a distant place. As Rush shows, it’s affecting real people right now. Rising is a compelling piece of reporting, by turns bleak and beautiful.”—Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction “A smart, lyrical testament to change and uncertainty. Rush listens to both the vulnerability and resiliency of communities facing the shifting shorelines of extreme weather. These are the stories we need to hear in order to survive and live more consciously with a sharp-edged determination to face our future with empathy and resolve. Rising illustrates how climate change is a relentless truth and real people in real places know it by name, storm by flood by fire.”—Terry Tempest Williams, author of The Hour of Land “Lovely and thoughtful . . . Reading [Rush's] book is like learning ecology at the feet of a poet.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “With tasteful and dynamic didactic language, [Rush] informs the layperson about the imminent threat of climate change while grounding the massive scope of the problem on heartfelt human and interspecies connection.”—Los Angeles Review of Books “Moving and urgent . . . Rush’s Rising is a revelation. . . . The project of Rising, like the project of Matthew Desmond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, is to draw attention to ongoing material crisis through the stories of the people who are surviving within it. Rising is a clarion call. The idea isn’t merely that climate change is here and scary. There’s a more important message: There are people out here who need help.”—Pacific Standard “Timely and urgent, this report on how climate change is affecting American shorelines provides critical evidence of the devastating changes already faced by some coastal dwellers. Rush masterfully presents firsthand accounts of these changes, acknowledging her own privileged position in comparison to most of her interviewees and the heavy responsibility involved in relaying their experiences to an audience. . . . In the midst of a highly politicized debate on climate change and how to deal with its far-reaching effects, this book deserves to be read by all.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Rush traffics only sparingly in doomsday statistics. For Rush, the devastating impact of rising sea levels, especially on vulnerable communities, is more compellingly found in the details. From Louisiana to Staten Island to the Bay Area, Rush’s lyrical, deeply reported essays challenge us to accept the uncertainty of our present climate and to consider more just ways of dealing with the immense challenges ahead.”—The Nation “A strange new kind of travel guide, Rising is a journey through the turbulent forefront of climate change—the coastal communities, rich and poor, human and nonhuman, that are already feeling the first effects of our rising seas. Rush sets out to put a face on a subject that is all too often depicted in abstract graphs and statistics, and gives us a group portrait of the men and women who are fighting, fleeing, and adapting to the terrible disappearance of the land they live on.”—Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 “In this moving and memorable book, the voice of the author mingles with the voices of people in coastal communities all over the country—Maine, Rhode Island, Louisiana, Florida, New York, California—to offer testimony: The water is rising. Some have already lost their homes; some will lose them soon; others are studying or watching or grieving. Though they haven’t met each other, their commonality forms a circle into which we are inexorably pulled by Rush’s powerful words.”—Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down “A poetic meditation on the nature of change, on how people can make peace with a changing world and our agency in it . . . Rising [offers] pulsing, gleaming prose and a stubborn search for, if not hope, then peace in the face of disaster.”—Shelf Awareness “Rush rises. She brings stories out of the woodwork, revealing the true effect of sea level rise on the land, on the sea, and on people. She writes from a generation not asking if climate change is true or not, but how to live in the face of it, how we adapt, lose, or gain. Logging the finest, most intuitive details, Rush holds her subjects in tight focus, each coastline conveyed down to its grains of sand and inflections in the tides. Her writing is present among relocations and dying swamps, conveying the intricate nature of sea level rise. How do levees work? What does saltwater do to a freshwater aquifer? What voices are coming out of the wrack line, and what does it sound like as a coast is rewritten? Rush makes real a monolithic subject often too large to digest. You can taste the coming salt.”—Craig Childs, author of The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild “Rising is not just a book about rising sea levels and the lost habitats and homes—it’s also a moving rumination on the rise of women as investigative reporters, the rise of tangible solutions, the rise of human endeavor and flexibility. It is also a rising of unheard voices; one of the eloquent beauties of this book is the inclusion of various stories, Studs Terkel-style, of those affected most by our changing shoreline. A beautiful and tender account of what’s happening—and what’s in store.”—Laura Pritchett, author of Stars Go Blue “From the edges of our continent, where sea level rise is already well underway, Rush lays bare the often hidden effects of climate change—lost homes, lost habitats, broken family ties, chronic fear and worry—and shows us how those effects ripple toward us all. With elegance, intelligence, and guts, she guides us through one of the most frightening and complex issues of our time.”—Michelle NijhuisTable of ContentsCONTENTS The Password Jacob’s Point, Rhode Island RAMPIKES Persimmons Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana On Gratitude Laura Sewall: Small Point, Maine The Marsh at the End of the World Phippsburg, Maine Pulse South Florida On Reckoning Dan Kipnis: Miami Beach, Florida RHIZOMES On Storms Nicole Montalto: Oakwood Beach, Staten Island Divining Rod Oakwood Beach, Staten Island On Vulnerability Marilynn Wiggins: Pensacola, Florida Risk Pensacola, Florida On Opportunity Chris Brunet: Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana Goodbye Cloud Reflections in the Bay Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana RISING Connecting the Dots H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon On Restoration Richard Santos: Alviso, California Looking Backward and Forward in Time San Francisco Bay, California Afterword: Listening at the Water’s Edge Acknowledgments Notes

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Book SynopsisIn this powerful and passionate critique of the 'war on terror' in Afghanistan and its extensions into Palestine and Iraq, Derek Gregory traces the long history of British and American involvements in the Middle East and shows how colonial power continues to cast long shadows over our own present. Argues the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11 activated a series of political and cultural responses that were profoundly colonial in nature. The first analysis of the “war on terror” to connect events in Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq. Traces the connections between geopolitics and the lives of ordinary people. Richly illustrated and packed with empirical detail. Trade Review“This is a great book. 'Gregory has written a book entwining global geography with social danger. The Colonial Present takes us through the contemporary wars in Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories and Iraq as connected projects of imperial ambition... The Colonial Present is a refreshingly angry book, with all the geographical and historical scholarship to buttress its indictment of American, Israeli and British behavior around the world. It is exquisitely written... This book's screaming truths are must-read heresy." Neil Smith, Los Angeles Times "An impassioned plea by one of the world’s most eminent geographers to displace the distorted imaginative geographies that have so corrupted our representations of the Islamic world with a geographical imagination that enlarges and enhances our understandings. The long historical geography of the colonial encounter in the Middle East is here laid bare in all its twisted detail in order to comprehend the fractures underpinning contemporary political impasses in Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The Colonial Present is a ‘must read’ for all those concerned for peace and justice in our time.” David Harvey, author of The New Imperialism "The originality and profundity of Derek Gregory's The Colonial Present puts it at the top of my list." Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law and Practice at Princeton; author most recently of The Great Terror War (2003) “Brilliantly condenses the multiple geographies of colonialism ... so that their contemporary entanglements with the flexings of modern imperial power crackle with intensity. Using September 11 2001 as a political fulcrum, Gregory traces the searing effects of fluid but durable cartographies of violence in the intersecting wars in Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq.” Cindi Katz, Graduate Centre, CityUniversity of New York “Powerfully and persuasively argued. Passionately written. A daring, brilliant analysis … Quite simply the most significant book written by a geographer in some time.” Allan Pred, University of California, Berkeley “The Colonial Present marshals concepts of imaginative geography and insight from the spatialisation of cultural and social theory developed in the past thirty years … An impassioned but theoretically rich critique of the ‘war on terror’ and the wider Zeitgeist that it shapes and embodies … Crucially, the book is a compelling critique of and American Empire … This is a significant book … Vintage Gregory again; enticing and provoking his audience … There is no doubting that The Colonial Present sets both standards and agendas.” Environment and Planning D "The Colonial Present is an important and politiclly engaged book." AreaTable of ContentsList of Figures xi Preface xiii Acknowledgments xvi 1 The Colonial Present 1 Foucault’s Laughter 1 The Present Tense 5 2 Architectures of Enmity 17 Imaginative Geographies 17 “Why do they hate us?” 20 September 11 24 3 “The Land where Red Tulips Grew” 30 Great Games 30 Uncivil Wars and Transnational Terrorism 36 The Sorcerer’s Apprentices 44 4 “Civilization” and “Barbarism” 47 The Visible and the Invisible 47 Territorialization, Targets, and Technoculture 49 Deadly Messengers 56 Spaces of the Exception 62 Deconstruction 72 5 Barbed Boundaries 76 America’s Israel 76 Diaspora, Dispossession, and Disaster 78 Occupation, Coercion, and Colonization 89 Compliant Cartographies 95 Camp David and Goliath 102 6 Defiled Cities 107 Ground Zeros 107 Besieging Cartographies 117 Identities and Oppositions 138 7 The Tyranny of Strangers 144 “Not as conquerors or enemies . . .” 145 Coups and Conflicts 151 Desert Storms and Urban Nightmares 156 8 Boundless War 180 Black September 180 Killing Grounds 197 The Cutting-Room War 214 9 Gravity’s Rainbows 248 Connective Dissonance 248 The Colonial Present and Cultures of Travel 256 Pandora’s Spaces 258 Notes 263 Guide to Further Reading 352 Index 359

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Book Synopsis“An eye-opening guide on how to lessen one’s dependence on plastics. . . . This is a clarion, convincing wake-up call to the scope of the global plastic problem and what readers can do about it. —Publishers Weekly Embrace a plastic-free lifestyle with more than 100 simple, stylish swaps for everything from pens and toothbrushes to disposable bottles and the 5 trillion plastic bags we use—and throw out—every year. ·Use a natural loofah, not a synthetic sponge ·Buy milk in glass bottles or make homemade nut milk ·Opt for a waste-free shampoo bar ·Skip the printed receipt and opt for an email instead ·Wrap gifts beautifully with clothOrganized into five sections—At Home, Food & Drink, Health & Beauty, On the Go, and Special Occasions—Living Without Plastic is a cover-to-cover collection of doable, differencemaking solutions, including a 30-Day Plastic Detox Program.Trade Review“An eye-opening guide on how to lessen one’s dependence on plastics. The authors make a strong case that consumers can’t recycle their way out of plastic’s deleterious effects on the environment, so a total rethink of habits is necessary. They offer substitutions for almost every type of plastic one can think of—and some plastics that one may not think about at all, such as Scotch tape and chewing gum, in place of which rubber adhesive and cellulose can be used. Among the alternatives are recipes for hair spray, water filters, and watercolors alongside photos of ingredients and creations made from all-natural products. . . . This is a clarion, convincing wake-up call to the scope of the global plastic problem and what readers can do about it.”—Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisWilderness First Aid covers simple techniques to treat common injuries and sickness in a wilderness situation. This waterproof, folding guide includes great tips and techniques to help you be more comfortable while awaiting rescue or keep you mobile enough to effect self-rescue if required. Be smart, be safe, be skilled. Developed by noted survival expert and master woodsman Dave Canterbury, this is one of a 10-part series on survival skills. Made in the USA.

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Book SynopsisIn this original book, Dennis Klocek considers climate to be an expression of Gaia, and presents climate as the soul of Earth within which human beings live and develop. The cosmic destiny of Earth, he argues, is intimately connected with human destiny.He explores Earth's complex climate system, taking the reader through various climate and weather patterns, using case studies of recent events. He explains terms and phenomena and describes the earthly and extra-earthly forces behind weather patterns such as droughts, floods and hurricanes.This is a highly readable, exciting account of a key element of our world which unites lands and humans in one organism.

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Book SynopsisExplore and master another dimension.Spatial information that is inherently 3D, like buildings, topography, and subsurface geology, can be displayed in a way that is both intuitive and measurable. What’s more, 3D representations can be used to model structures before they are built, identifying potential problems.Mapping with Altitude: Designing 3D Maps helps you deliver clear, compelling cartographic representations in 3D that are both eye-catching and informative. Understand scale, surfaces, base heights, texturing, and lighting models. Discover new twists on well-defined 2D cartographic principles, such as size, color, and text. Consider ways to convey time.Mapping with Altitude focuses on the decisions you’ll make and the specific techniques you can use as you delve into the world of 3D map authoring.Table of Contents Why 3D? Anatomy of a 3D scene Authoring for specific scales Delivery format Using surfaces Displaying draped content Displaying features: Geometry types, base-heights, and anchor points Displaying features: Shape, rotation, and scaling Displaying features: Textures and materials Displaying features: Animated symbols Displaying text and labels Temporal content in 3D Configuring the scene Exploring the scene 3D cartography call to action

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Book SynopsisFirst place winner in Educational Products at the 2021 International Cartographic Conference Maps are ubiquitous, yet maps are not made equally, nor are they read equally. Every map is a product of its maker and its reader, and maps are rarely right or wrong but simply different versions of the truth. The meaning you see in a map can reinforce or challenge your understanding of the theme it represents, and you are much more likely to believe a map if it presents a version of the truth that you believe in already. But how do you decide what map you want to make? How do you understand the way in which different maps can be used in different ways to tell a story? How do you design a map to be read in a particular way? Thematic Mapping: 101 Inspiring Ways to Visualise Empirical Data answers these questions, and more. Using 101 maps, graphs, charts, and plots of the 2016 United States presidential election data, Thematic Mapping explores the rich diversity of thematic mapping and the visual representation of data. It details well-known techniques and demonstrates how to design effective maps and graphics. Each map illustrates a different approach to the same data, and all lead to different maps and different ways of seeing different shades of truth. Thematic Mapping examines the innovative and fascinating alternative ways of making maps of data which you can use in your own work. Which will speak to your truth?Trade Review"This book is amazing!" * R.J. Andrews, Info We Trust *"This book's focus on one consequential dataset can teach you to read and make maps more carefully. * Amy Griffin, RMIT University *"An excellent book, and one that will be equally useful for journalists and political junkies alike." * Anthony C. Robinson, Penn State University *"An excellent overview of thematic mapping. May it lead to a better understanding of the ways to visualise and interpret maps." * Lauren Tierney, Washington Post *"So good! This book ought to be a bestseller." * Alberto Cairo, Knight Chair in Visual Journalism, University of Miami *"A really great and exhaustive (in a good way!) way to explore one dataset." * Rosemary Wardley, National Geographic *"Ken’s first book set the stage for better cartography. This book will undoubtedly take you to the next step to better mapmaking and truth telling." * Jon Schwabish, PolicyViz and Urban Institute *

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Book SynopsisDiscover the stories behind Jane Goodall’s visionary approach to community-led conservation. You know of Jane Goodall’s work with wild chimpanzees and her lifelong career advocating for environmental justice. But just as transformative is her work empowering local communities that live on the edge of human settlement to act to protect their natural resources—or to risk losing them forever. Local Voices, Local Choices: The Tacare Approach to Community-Led Conservation is the story of the Jane Goodall Institute’s holistic approach to conservation, which puts the local people in charge of preserving their surrounding ecosystems. Rather than conservationists leading the effort and imposing their solutions, local communities that live in the affected regions make their own decisions. Working with science and technology and with the support of conservationists, these communities grow to understand their human impact on the environment. By choosing to adopt sustainable livelihoods, they decide their own path into the future, finding ways to balance their environmental impact with their communities’ needs. Story by story, Local Voices, Local Choices brings readers into the diverse perspectives behind this approach to community-driven conservation—not only those of JGI staff and program partners but also, and equally, those of the local people who lead these initiatives. Read about: The origins of the Tacare approach, originally designed as a 1994 reforestation project with an abbreviation pronounced “ta-CAR-reh” A retired village member keeping the knowledge of medicinal plants alive in his community Spiritual and cultural story-holders who are vital to the recording and preservation of their traditional ecological knowledge Local people participating as forest monitors, village health workers, beekeepers, small-business owners, and educators of the next generation Former poachers turned advocates for sustainable land management Written for conservationists, fans of Jane Goodall, and readers interested in environmental issues, Local Voices, Local Choices is a vibrant expression of Jane Goodall’s vision and her hope that the Tacare approach will be understood and adopted wherever there is a need for genuine community-driven conservation. Local voices matter, and their choices can make all the difference for generations to come.Table of ContentsForeword by Jack Dangermond Introduction: The birth of Tacare by Jane Goodall The Jane Goodall Institute’s method of community-led conservation. 1 The human-made island: Mzee Jumanne Kikwale meets Jane Goodall at an impressionable age. Dr. Anthony Collins arrives to study Gombe’s baboons. 2 Paradigms and problems: Mzee Jumanne Kikwale moves back to Kigoma to teach the next generation about trees. Dr. Anthony Collins recalls Tacare’s earliest steps — and missteps. 3 1994: Understanding deforestation: George Strunden and the genesis of TACARE. 4 1994: The forester: Mzee Aristides Kashula sees both the forests and the trees. 5 Cultivating a holistic approach: Mzee Emmanuel Mtiti dances with donors. 6 Creating a common language: Dr. Lilian Pintea uses mapping technologies to develop a dialogue between communities and conservationists. 7 Local ambassadors: Learning from and speaking for the chimps: Gabo Paulo, Eslom Mpongo, Hamisi Mkono, Fatuma Kifumu, and Yahaya Almas reflect on decades of chimp observation at Gombe. 8 A confluence of disciplines: Dr. Shadrack Kamenya explains why indigenous researchers are essential to outreach efforts. Dr. Deus Mjungu dedicates his career to creating habitat corridors for endangered wildlife. 9 The cycles of old and new: Japhet Mwanang’ombe educates and inspires the younger generation. Hamisi Matama preserves the traditional ecological knowledge his mother taught him. 10 Seeking homeostasis: KANYACODA, VHTs, PFOs, KIKACODA: Working toward human and ecological health in Uganda. 11 The fatal interface KACODA, Uganda: Finding successful strategies to reduce human/chimp conflict. 12 From the cloud to the ground: Ugandan Wildlife Authority: Obed Kareebi, Frank Sarube, and Philemon Tumwebaze on poverty, technology, and conservation. 13 Outreach through fire: Dario Merlo hears Jane’s words of hope as bombs fall on Goma. 14 The banks and the bees: Phoebe Samwel links microcredit to women’s empowerment Kapeeka Integrated Community Development Association (KICODA) harvests honey — and venom. 15 Changing the retirement plan: Mama Sonja manages difficult conversations about choice. 16 Of women champions: Alice Macharia paves the way for African women in conservation. Yakaka Saweya explains why so many village girls don’t complete their education. 17 The cycle of regeneration: Alice Macharia is in it for the long term — and the short term. 18 A “talking office” with maps: Joseline Nyangoma, Hoima district natural resources officer, wants science to tell a story. 19 People, pixels, and puff adders: Dr. Lilian Pintea contemplates different ways of knowing. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisDiscover a geographic approach to resilience strategies for wildland fire. Wildfires claim lives, destroy structures, and devastate communities and landscapes. The increasing areas where development meets natureand more days of hot and dry weather have magnified the impact of wildfires from Canada to Australia and around the world. The response to and recovery from increasingly complex firestorms stress budgets, economies, communities, and environments. Increasingly, responders use the latest tools of geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze wildfires through data that can be modeled to visualize threats in real time. Prepa

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Book SynopsisThe Great Global Warming Blunder unveils new evidence from major scientific findings that explode the conventional wisdom on climate change and reshape the global warming debate as we know it. Roy W. Spencer, a former senior NASA climatologist, reveals how climate researchers have mistaken cause and effect when analyzing cloud behavior and have been duped by Mother Nature into believing the Earth's climate system is far more sensitive to human activities and carbon dioxide than it really is. In fact, Spencer presents astonishing new evidence that recent warming is not the fault of humans, but the result of chaotic, internal natural cycles that have been causing periods of warming and cooling for millennia. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not necessarily to be feared; The Great Global Warming Blunder explains that burning of fossil fuels may actually be beneficial for life on Earth. As group-think behavior and misguided global warming policy proposals threaten the lives of millions of the world's poorest, most vulnerable citizens, The Great Global Warming Blunder is a scintillating expose and much-needed call for debate.

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Book SynopsisIn its first edition, this book helped to define the emerging field of ecological economics. This new edition surveys the field today. It incorporates all of the latest research findings and grounds economic inquiry in a more robust understanding of human needs and behavior. Humans and ecological systems, it argues, are inextricably bound together in complex and long-misunderstood ways. According to ecological economists, conventional economics does not reflect adequately the value of essential factors like clean air and water, species diversity, and social and generational equity. By excluding biophysical and social systems from their analyses, many conventional economists have overlooked problems of the increasing scale of human impacts and the inequitable distribution of resources. This introductory-level textbook is designed specifically to address this significant flaw in economic thought. The book describes a relatively new 'transdiscipline' that incorporates insights from the biological, physical, and social sciences. It provides students with a foundation in traditional neoclassical economic thought, but places that foundation within an interdisciplinary framework that embraces the linkages among economic growth, environmental degradation, and social inequity. In doing so, it presents a revolutionary way of viewing the world. The second edition of "Ecological Economics" provides a clear, readable, and easy-to-understand overview of a field of study that continues to grow in importance. It remains the only stand-alone textbook that offers a complete explanation of theory and practice in the discipline.

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Book SynopsisWhat would it be like to live in a world with no predators roaming our landscapes? Would their elimination, which humans have sought with ever greater urgency in recent times, bring about a pastoral, peaceful human civilization? Or in fact is their existence critical to our own, and do we need to be doing more to assure their health and the health of the landscapes they need to thrive? In The Carnivore Way, Cristina Eisenberg argues compellingly for the necessity of top predators in. large, undisturbed landscapes, and how a continental-Iong corridor - a "carnivore way" - provides the room they need to roam and connected landscapes that allow them to disperse. Eisenberg follows the footsteps of six large carnivores - wolves, grizzly bears, lynx, jaguars, wolverines, and cougars - on a 7,500-mile wildlife corridor from Alaska to Mexico along the Rocky Mountains. Backed by robust science, she shows how their well-being is a critical factor in sustaining healthy landscapes and how it is possible for humans and large carnivores to coexist peacefully and even to thrive. University students in natural resource science programs, resource managers, conservation organisations, and anyone curious about carnivore ecology and management in a changing world will find a thoughtful guide to large carnivore conservation that dispels long-held myths about their ecology and contributions to healthy, resilient landscapes.

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Book SynopsisIn Cows Save the Planet, journalist Judith D. Schwartz looks at soil as a crucible for our many overlapping environmental, economic, and social crises. Schwartz reveals that for many of these problems—climate change, desertification, biodiversity loss, droughts, floods, wildfires, rural poverty, malnutrition, and obesity—there are positive, alternative scenarios to the degradation and devastation we face. In each case, our ability to turn these crises into opportunities depends on how we treat the soil. Drawing on the work of thinkers and doers, renegade scientists and institutional whistleblowers from around the world, Schwartz challenges much of the conventional thinking about global warming and other problems. For example, land can suffer from undergrazing as well as overgrazing, since certain landscapes, such as grasslands, require the disturbance from livestock to thrive. Regarding climate, when we focus on carbon dioxide, we neglect the central role of water in soil—"green water"—in temperature regulation. And much of the carbon dioxide that burdens the atmosphere is not the result of fuel emissions, but from agriculture; returning carbon to the soil not only reduces carbon dioxide levels but also enhances soil fertility. Cows Save the Planet is at once a primer on soil's pivotal role in our ecology and economy, a call to action, and an antidote to the despair that environmental news so often leaves us with.Trade ReviewPermaculture- Cows Save The Planet is a wonderfully comprehensive book, challenging some of the current popular theory relating to climate change and the mending of our damaged planet. Judith D.Schwartz has travelled to meet and interview an impressive mix of people, some well known names from around the world (Allan Savory, Christine Jones for example), and many who I have never heard of prior to reading her book. All, however, in some way, are undertaking a wealth of inspirational and essential work relating to healing the world's soil. At its core, Schwartz's work provides us with solutions and hope, for spiraling environmental and social destruction, through the rehabilitation of the earth beneath our feet. Each chapter of the book is a work in itself but there is also a natural flow and progression in the writing as Schwartz invites us to witness her journey, addressing climate change, loss of biodiversity, desertification, droughts, floods and human health. The new thinking and new understanding you gain from reading and then rereading Schwartz's work gives us motivation and determination to want to make some very real positive changes in our communities and lands. I can recommend it to all.""Here's a secret climate-change activists and energy-efficiency and renewable-energy promoters neglect: Nature is designed to be self-healing, and her most profound 'tool' is photosynthesis. 'Free' sunlight is the best energy source to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while also producing organic matter and oxygen—and a by-product is healthier soil, forests, wetlands, and ecosystems. When politicians, policy leaders, and activists get serious about cost-effective solutions to climate change, then a top priority will be ecological restoration to harvest and store carbon naturally, and Judith Schwartz's new book will provide a destination and map."--Will Raap, founder, Gardener's Supply and Intervale CenterForeWord Reviews- "Could it really be this easy? Improve soil fertility, preserve biodiversity, reduce obesity, and halt climate change by having more cows graze more land to help 'fix' more carbon into the soil? Well, solving the world’s problems may not be quite that easy, but journalist Judith Schwartz raises these and many equally intriguing questions in Cows Save the Planet: And Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth. Her book focuses on sustaining and improving the quality of soil, as well as the economic, environmental, and societal benefits we could realize by making that change. Around the globe, topsoil is lost at an alarming rate: up to 40 times faster than we’re generating it (in China and India, particularly). The consequences include a rapid increase in deserts, droughts, floods, and wildfires, not to mention a loss in the fertility of soil and the nutritional quality of food. The losses occur rapidly, but the solutions can work almost as quickly. The soil can be rebuilt from the bottom up, and nature can heal itself with surprising efficiency. For instance, undergrazing can damage the soil as much as overgrazing. study the historical movements of herds of grazing animals over the grasslands and plains of much of the globe, and adjust livestock and land management principles accordingly, the author suggests. Allow for the organic material, natural microbes, and insect life that facilitate plant diversity and soil enrichment. The resulting impact will be far-reaching and transformational on the land, climate, and crops. Schwartz refers frequently to the holistic management principles outlined by agriculturist Allan Savory, views that some consider controversial. Schwartz does not attempt to bridge the gap between these holistic ideals and current practices in the industrial food complex but instead grounds her view in narratives of earnest farmers and ranchers from Australia to Vermont who put these soil management principles into practice. A journalist who has written on marriage, therapy, and other diverse topics, Schwartz tackles complex topics such as the chemistry of the carbon cycle and photosynthesis and counters the myths about cows and methane with an accessible, conversational voice. Her study is lucid, enlightening, and often surprising. It is also an enjoyable, compelling read that will appeal to a wide audience, offering hopeful and creative solutions to some of the most daunting questions of our day."Booklist- "The earth beneath our feet is something most of us acknowledge is important for raising crops and nourishing lawns, yet few of us realize just how vital it is to our planet's overall health. Inviting readers to roll up their pant legs and wade with her into the dirt, veteran journalist [Judith] Schwartz reveals a wealth of detail about soil's beneficial properties and presents a compelling case that proper soil management can end escalating worldwide desertification and slow, or even arrest, global warming. While these assertions may sound surprising, Schwartz collects abundant testimony from leading-edge soil scientists and activists, such as noted Zimbabwe biologist and rancher Allan Savory, whose sophisticated sheep- and cow-herding methods in several countries have completely restored arid grasslands in less than a decade. She also highlights evidence from little-known studies demonstrating that soil restoration techniques can sequester about a billion tons of atmospheric carbon per year, potentially neutralizing damaging greenhouse gases. A well-written and persuasive manifesto for healing earth's environmental woes with one of its most underappreciated resources."“Judith Schwartz’s book gives us not just hope but also a sense that we humans—serial destroyers that we are—can actually turn the climate crisis around. This amazing book, wide-reaching in its research, offers nothing less than solutions for healing the planet.”--Gretel Ehrlich, from the foreword“Judith Schwartz takes a fascinating look at the world right beneath our feet. Cows Save the Planet is a surprising, informative, and ultimately hopeful book.”--Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change“In Cows Save the Planet, Judith Schwartz takes us on a fascinating, John McPhee-style journey into the world of soil rehabilitation. The eclectic group of farmers, ranchers, researchers, and environmentalists she visits have one thing in common: they all believe in the importance of organic matter in the soil for solving our most pressing environmental issues. Some of the innovative techniques they use to increase the vitality of their soil include no-tillage, using deep-rooted perennial grasses, cover crops, mulching, and, surprisingly, grazing large herds of animals according to a program called 'holistic management.' Imagine, a book about soil that’s a real page turner!”--Larry Korn, editor of The One-Straw Revolution and Sowing Seeds in the Desert, by Masanobu Fukuoka“Judith Schwartz reminds us that sustainable range management is as much about the microbes in the soil and their feedback loops with cattle as it is about the cattle themselves. When I finally go home on the range to be composted, I want to be part of the miraculous cycle of rangeland renewal that is managed in the way that Schwartz describes so well.”--Gary Nabhan, author of Desert Terroir, Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems, University of Arizona

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Book SynopsisAdvocates and teachers often find it difficult to communicate the complexities of climate change, because the people they are trying to reach hold so many mistaken assumptions. They assume, for example, that when climate change becomes an obvious threat to our everyday lives, there will still be time enough to make changes that will avoid disaster. Yet at that point it will be too late. Or they assume we can use our current paradigms and policy tools to find solutions. Yet the approaches that caused damage in the first place will cause even more damage in the future. Even the increasingly dire warnings from scientists haven’t shaken such assumptions. Is there another way to reach people? The simple, interactive exercises in The Climate Change Playbook can help citizens better understand climate change, diagnose its causes, anticipate its future consequences, and effect constructive change. Adapted from The Systems Thinking Playbook, the twenty-two games are now specifically relevant to climate-change communications and crafted for use by experts, advocates, and educators. Illustrated guidelines walk leaders through setting each game up, facilitating it, and debriefing participants. Users will find games that are suitable for a variety of audiences—whether large and seated, as in a conference room, or smaller and mobile, as in a workshop, seminar, or meeting. Designed by leading thinkers in systems, communications, and sustainability, the games focus on learning by doing.Trade Review“Climate change, sadly, is no game—but these games will help you think more constructively about the scale and shape of the solutions we need!”--Bill McKibben, founder, 350.org “I have lectured and consulted in many dozens of nations, trying to help people understand carrying capacity and its relevance for their communities. Often, I have called upon the teaching tools now shared in The Climate Change Playbook in trainings, with staff, in workshops, and in my own presentations. This book is a treasure trove: It is a practical tool kit for any public policy practitioners who want to engage their counterparts and accelerate learning.”--Mathis Wackernagel, founder and CEO of Global Footprint Network“Many of us experience the problems of climate change as so overwhelming and beyond our control that we don’t know where to start to solve them. This book does the reverse: It makes the issues so palpable that it not only motivates us to do more but also gives us 22 tools we can easily use to mobilize others. If you believe that experience is the best teacher and that we have precious little time to influence changes that have serious long-term consequences for everyone on the planet, this book is an invaluable asset.”--David Peter Stroh, author of Systems Thinking for Social Change: A Practical Guide for Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results“Using a game to exemplify a point made in a lecture makes all the difference: The audience, large or small, is eager to participate and remembers the message. The beauty of the games in the Playbook is their simplicity and flexibility. They can be used with school children, university professors, politicians, and business people, and they lend themselves to debriefing that might consist of a just few sentences or an elaborate discussion. I have become a games enthusiast. The Playbook also inspires the creation of variations and even new games to meet specific purposes. We need games to get these vital messages across!”--Helga Kromp-Kolb, head, Center for Global Change and Sustainability, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria“Thousands of government and corporate officials have participated in training programs that I organize in Japan to convey principles related to environment, climate, food, and energy. I have become a fan of the exercises in the Playbook. They are easy to learn and quick to use. They are incredibly effective teaching tools, and they work with participants that do not have English as their first language.”--Riichiro Oda, president and CEO, Change Agent Inc.“Few subjects are more crucial, more discussed, and more poorly understood than climate change. This is a tragedy because there are a few simple, intuitive insights that can be understood by all and could form a consensual foundation that would allow us to focus more clearly on the complex tradeoffs and choices obscured by our misunderstandings. The Climate Change Playbook is a great way to understand and more importantly help others understand these insights.”--Peter M. Senge, senior lecturer, MIT; founding chair, Academy for Systemic Change; author of The Fifth Discipline“One of the major obstacles we face in addressing the climate crisis is the general lack of understanding of the climate system, and complex systems in general. The Climate Change Playbook provides a novel approach to overcoming this barrier through creative and engaging activities that help move the climate crisis from an abstract threat to a clear and present reality that we can and must act upon today.”--Asher Miller, executive director, Post Carbon Institute “The effort to secure a livable planet for future generations just got a little bit easier thanks to The Climate Change Playbook. Whether you are working to educate and empower an audience of students, business leaders, or policy makers, the Playbookwill help you add interactive learning exercises to your teaching and outreach. With clear and detailed instructions, it is a great resource for anyone working to build sound understanding and a collective will to act on climate change.”--Elizabeth Sawin, codirector, Climate Interactive“In my current work as an environmental scholar and my former work heading the UN-affiliated University for Peace and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, my major goal has always been to help others understand the crucial causes and consequences of environmental issues. These authors are masters of using simple exercises to convey complex issues, and this new book compiles many of their best tools."--Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies“How can we learn about tough problems like climate change? The research shows that showing people the research doesn’t work. To learn, people need to interact, experiment, play. The Climate Change Playbook encourages just that through a diverse set of interactive games. Useful with all ages and in groups large and small, these games help us learn critical lessons about difficult topics—and they are a load of fun.”--John Sterman, professor, MIT Sloan School of Management; author of Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World“Climate change, like most of our global problems, is a systemic problem—a web of interconnected issues that is difficult to analyze with conventional linear thinking. This book offers a playful, nonlinear, and largely nonverbal, method for learning how to think systemically—in other words, in terms of relationships, patterns, and context. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to experience systemic thinking firsthand.”--Fritjof Capra, author of The Web of Life; coauthor of The Systems View of Life

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Book SynopsisThe Dark Mountain Project began with a manifesto published in 2009 by two English writers—Dougald Hine and Paul Kingsnorth—who felt that literature was not responding honestly to the crises of our time. In a world in which the climate is being altered by human activities; in which global ecosystems are being destroyed by the advance of industrial civilisation; and in which the dominant economic and cultural assumptions of the West are visibly crumbling, Dark Mountain asked: where are the writers and the artists? Why are the mainstream cultural forms of our society still behaving as if this were the twentieth century—or even the nineteenth? Dark Mountain’s call for writers, thinkers and artists willing to face the depth of the mess we are in has made it a gathering point for a growing international network. Rooted in place, time and nature, their work finds a home in the pages of the Dark Mountain books, with two new volumes published every year. Walking on Lava brings together the best of the first ten volumes, along with the original manifesto. This collection of essays, fiction, poetry, interviews and artwork introduces The Dark Mountain Project’s groundbreaking work to a wider audience in search of ‘the hope beyond hope, the paths which lead to the unknown world ahead of us.’Trade Review“In a world of disintegrating certainties, the vacuum left behind is terrifying. Yet the Dark Mountain Project insists on exploring this space, which the mainstream bids us ignore. For that alone it is invaluable. And when we are brave enough to open our eyes, Walking on Lava reveals that we are not alone. What new stories might we tell, together?”—Shaun Chamberlin, author of The Transition Timeline; editor of Lean Logic and Surviving the Future“The Dark Mountain Project has at last arrived in the United States with this splendidly ecological book, one to which Rachel Carson, Ed Abbey, and Aldo Leopold would have been proud to contribute. Urgently recommended!”—Lawrence Millman, author of At the End of the World“It’s wonderful that with this book an outsider can finally see all the things the Dark Mountain Project has been doing all these years. Probably won’t avert civilization’s collapse, but it’s good to have.”—Kirkpatrick Sale, author of Human Scale Revisited“In a culture killing the planet, and in a culture based on denial, I am grateful that the authors in this volume acknowledge the horrors we face. I hope that people will read this book, and armed with its important analysis, they will then act decisively to protect the planet that is our only home.”—Derrick Jensen, author of A Language Older Than Words, The Culture of Make Believe, Endgame, and many other books“This medley of entrancing, soul-enhancing, exciting stories will stir your creaturely blood from the very depths of our sainted Earth. You will feel enlivened in ways you had forgotten; you will breathe in the wildness of the world; a holy wind will heal you. You will journey to your wider Self—to Great Gaia, Mother of All. This Dark Mountain book will do all this for you, and more. When you’ve read it, its words coursing through your veins, more animal now, more alive—go and do something wholesome for the more-than-youness that you’ve discovered, and, at last, come home.”—Dr. Stephan Harding, resident ecologist, Schumacher College; author of Animate Earth“Dark Mountain’s call to uncivilisation is not about unravelling the survival structures of our society. It is something much deeper, putting new survival structures in place by calling back the soul. I hope that this anthology will thrill you on that journey.”—Alastair McIntosh, PhD, author of Spiritual Activism and Poacher’s Pilgrimage“A collection by turns magical, brave, earnest, and mournful but truthful throughout. The authors point the way down a faint but still visible trail beyond domination and back to our once and future place as humble animals in love with our world.”—Lierre Keith, author of The Vegetarian Myth; coauthor of Deep Green Resistance“We humans are in trouble, and because of us, most of our fellow species are also in trouble. All of the planet’s life-support systems are under stress or collapsing because of our unchecked appetites and swelling population. To find our way through the ruins and beyond, we need more than clever technology and magical markets. We need an alternative to the industrial mindset, which views Earth as raw material for human consumption and as a dump for our waste. We need the kind of diverse, clear-eyed, ecologically wise imagining gathered in this book. A bow of gratitude to the denizens of Dark Mountain.”—Scott Russell Sanders, author of Dancing in Dreamtime“This book changed my life. It puts into words the sense of utter hopelessness I feel about the fate of the world as we have known it. And yet, miraculously, it gives me ‘hope beyond hope’ for what lies ahead. The Dark Mountaineers are blazing new trails into, and through, the hot lava of our uncertain future.”—Eric Utne, founder of Utne Reader“Don’t read this book if you’re not willing to be shaken and unsettled. Unflinching and unafraid!”—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2021 WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 'Compelling, fascinating, sometimes unexpectedly moving, this vitally important book is, above all, a springboard for hope and transformation.' –Isabella Tree, author of Wilding 'Do your imagination, your activism, your sense of what’s possible a favour, and swim in this book.' –Rob Hopkins, author of From What Is to What If In a time of uncertainty about our environmental future—an eye-opening global tour of some of the most wounded places on earth, and stories of how a passionate group of eco-restorers is leading the way to their revitalisation. Award-winning science journalist Judith D. Schwartz takes us first to China’s Loess Plateau, where a landmark project has successfully restored a blighted region the size of Belgium, lifting millions of people out of poverty. She journeys on to Norway, where a young indigenous reindeer herder challenges the most powerful orthodoxies of conservation—and his own government. And in the Middle East, she follows the visionary work of an ambitious young American as he attempts to re-engineer the desert ecosystem, using plants as his most sophisticated technology. Schwartz explores regenerative solutions across a range of landscapes: deserts, grasslands, tropics, tundra, Mediterranean. She also highlights various human landscapes, the legacy of colonialism and industrial agriculture, and the endurance of indigenous knowledge. The Reindeer Chronicles demonstrates how solutions to seemingly intractable problems can come from the unlikeliest of places, and how the restoration of local water, carbon, nutrient, and energy cycles can play a dramatic role in stabilizing the global climate. Ultimately, it reveals how much is in our hands if we can find a way to work together and follow nature’s lead.Trade ReviewShelf Awareness— “This book provides hope that devastated ecosystems can be revived, and that it requires doing more than just letting nature take its course. . . . Very much worth reading for anyone who cares about the state of the planet."Publishers Weekly— “In this worthwhile look at conservation, journalist Schwartz sheds light on a global and ‘growing cohort of scientists, mavericks, and young people’ engaged in the ‘participatory sport’ of land restoration.”"A lucid and compelling look at the global movement of ecological rehabilitation."—The Boston Globe“Thoughtful and thought-provoking, Judith Schwartz’s world tour of environmental solutions shows how nature itself can heal the wounds we have inflicted on our planet. Compelling, fascinating, sometimes unexpectedly moving, this vitally important book is, above all, a springboard for hope and transformation.”—Isabella Tree, author of Wilding“In The Reindeer Chronicles, Judith Schwartz proves, once again, that she is one of ecology’s most indispensable writers. Like her last two books, Cows Save the Planet and Water in Plain Sight, her new work is an insightful, globe-trotting exploration of promising techniques for restoring our soil, water, agricultural systems, and wildlife. The Reindeer Chronicles is at once visionary and pragmatic—clear-eyed about the immense planetary challenges we face, yet unfailingly hopeful about our ability to forge a new relationship with nature. This book shows us what Aldo Leopold’s land ethic looks like in the twenty-first century.”—Ben Goldfarb, PEN America Literary Award-winning author of Eager“This book shows us again and again, across the globe, the abundant future that is possible if we work with nature. Stunning stories of re-greening landscapes, restoring carbon and water cycles, and repairing weather. It is a balm and a guide, a wellspring of grounded hope.”—Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, PhD, founder of Urban Ocean Lab and of Ocean Collectiv“Judith Schwartz unlocks yet one more door in our minds about what’s possible when we work with nature’s cycles rather than try to push her around. Through this book and her prior ones, you can practically see, taste, and smell a healing earth that includes humans as stewards, not ravaging locusts. If you want practical hope, this is it. If you want a place to dig in and make change, regeneration is the key. These are stories of people who work both intimately and at scale—and with love—to restore life to the land we all walk on, our beautiful home, the earth.”—Vicki Robin, coauthor of Your Money or Your Life and author of Blessing the Hands that Feed Us“A tale of people restoring nature and their communities. These deeply optimistic dispatches from around the world show us that the key to restoring land is how we see it—the change begins in us.”—David R. Montgomery, author of Growing A Revolution“As the regenerative agriculture movement grows worldwide, Judith Schwartz has emerged as a leading tracker and interpreter of its progress, challenges, and wins. The value of Schwartz’s multifaceted work and engaging first-person style is that a broader and deeper canvas emerges. “Schwartz’s descriptions and analyses are not rosy-eyed, but instead comprise a balanced, warts-and-all approach mixed with extraordinary tales of transformation of vast and small ecosystems, landscapes and farms, societies and communities; of food systems; and of human physical and mental health. As she says, ‘earth repair is a participatory sport,’ and ‘restoration can begin anywhere.’ “This is an excellent read for expert and newcomer alike, and an important contribution to a growing canon now offering some of the very best solutions to the onrushing Anthropocene crisis.”—Charles Massy, author of Call of the Reed Warbler“These are times that call for us to reimagine everything. That imaginative capacity depends on the stories, the possibilities, the experiences we have in our memory and our ability to reassemble them in new and unique ways. If you want to be part of that reimagining, you need the beautiful, patient, humbling stories in these pages. Their implications are staggering, and also suggest that sometimes we save the world by doing less rather than more. Do your imagination, your activism, your sense of what’s possible a favor, and swim in this book.”—Rob Hopkins, author of From What Is to What If

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Book Synopsis“Shows us that guiding natural processes rather than fighting them is the key to creating healthier landscapes and happier gardeners.” —Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home Larry Weaner is an icon in the world of ecological landscape design, and now his revolutionary approach is available to home gardeners. Garden Revolution shows how an ecological approach to planting can lead to beautiful gardens that buck much of conventional gardening’s counter-productive, time-consuming practices. Instead of picking the wrong plant and then weeding, irrigating, and fertilizing, Weaner advocates for choosing plants that are adapted to the soil and climate of a specific site and letting them naturally evolve over time. This lushly-photographed reference is for anyone looking for a better, smarter way to garden.

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Book SynopsisClimate change, visualized. Climate change, shrinking wildlife habitats, rising sea levels, and vanishing species. These are big, important ideas that deserve a proper exploration—just the type of revealing journey you will experience in The Atlas of a Changing Climate. Ecologist Brian Buma helps us envision—both literally and figuratively—the history, present, and possible futures of the imperiled ecosystems directly influencing our lives. By presenting the forces driving Earth’s changes through illuminating maps, charts, and infographics, he proves the depth of our connectivity to our planet, revealing both the vulnerability—and hope—intrinsic in that link.

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Book SynopsisThe bestselling textbook for undergraduate ecology courses, Ecology is an easy-to-read and well-organized text for instructors and students to explore the basics of the field. Bowman and Hacker motivate students with an engaging case study-driven, conceptual approach that highlights relevant applications and data-driven examples.Trade ReviewEcology is a well-structured and sufficiently detailed introductory exposure to the field of ecology, with excellent supporting materials to enable a quantitative understanding of the fundamentals of ecology. * Brian Benscoter, Florida Atlantic University *A great ecology text with all the major concepts introduced and clear examples needed to give undergraduates a solid background in ecology. * Stephen Conrad, Indiana Wesleyan University *Ecology is an easy-to-ready text that is engaging for students and has broad coverage of the topics that are central to ecology. * Blaine Griffen, Brigham Young University *Ecology presents material in a very effective way, while also bringing in lots of real world literature and captivating examples. * Patrick Cain, George Gwinnett College *Table of Contents1. The Web of Life Unit 1: Organisms and Their Environment 2. The Physical Environment 3. The Biosphere 4. Coping with Environmental Variation: Temperature and Water 5. Coping with Environmental Variation: Energy Unit 2: Evolutionary Ecology 6. Evolution and Ecology 7. Life History 8. Behavioral Ecology Unit 3: Populations 9. Population Distribution and Abundance 10. Population Dynamics 11. Population Growth and Regulation Unit 4: Species Interactions 12. Predation 13. Parasitism 14. Competition 15. Mutualism and Commensalism Unit 5: Communities 16. The Nature of Communities 17. Change in Communities 18. Biogeography 19. Species Diversity in Communities Unit 6: Ecosystems 20. Production 21. Energy Flow and Food Webs 22. Nutrient Supply and Cycling Unit 7: Applied and Large-Scale Ecology 23. Conservation Biology 24. Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Management 25. Global Ecology Appendix: Some Metric Measurements Used in Ecology

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Book SynopsisMuch has changed with Iowa’s wildlife in the years 1990 to 2020. Some species such as Canada goose, wild turkey, and white-tailed deer that once were rare in Iowa are now common, and others like sandhill crane, river otter, and trumpeter swan are becoming increasingly abundant. Iowa’s Changing Wildlife provides an up-to-date, scientifically based summary of changes in the distribution, status, conservation needs, and future prospects of about sixty species of Iowa’s birds and mammals whose populations have increased or decreased in the past three decades. Readers will learn more about familiar species, become acquainted with the status of less familiar species, and find out how many of the species around them have fared during this era of transformation.Trade ReviewTwo of Iowa’s greatest authorities on wildlife from two generations, who saw remarkable changes, report on the state of Iowa’s wildlife in this wonderful book. It is essential reading for Iowa’s wildlife enthusiasts of today and will be an invaluable resource for Iowa’s wildlife enthusiasts of the future." - Adam Janke, Iowa State University"Since Iowa is one of Earth’s most modified landscapes, it’s critically important to examine how native animals have changed in response. Here the Dinsmores provide well-synthesized wildlife records, as well as rich, historically accurate stories about Iowa’s remaining birds and mammals. This book opens the door to understanding the diverse and fascinating lives that still abound around us." - Cornelia F. Mutel, author, A Sugar Creek Chronicle: Observing Climate Change from a Midwestern Woodland"For wildlife enthusiasts, this book is the perfect companion to A Country So Full of Game, the 1994 volume that traced the history of Iowa wildlife since European settlement of the Midwest. This book traces the efforts and successes in recovery of many wildlife species since that time and the quiet disappearance of some others. Their collective future, as the Dinsmores make clear, is up to us." - Jim Pease, retired Iowa State University extension wildlife specialist

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Book SynopsisThe coming of the railways in the 1830s killed off the stage-coach trade; almost all rural roads reverted to low-level local use. Cyclists were the first group in a generation to use roads and were the first to push for high-quality leadership for roads. They were also the first promoters of motoring; the first motoring journalists had first been cycling journalists; and there was a transfer of technology from cycling to motoring without which cars as we know them wouldn't exist! 64 car marques, including Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC, had bicycling beginnings. Roads Were Not Built for Cars is a history book, focussing on a time when cyclists had political clout, in Britain and especially in America. The book researches the Roads Improvement Association - a lobbying group created by the Cyclists' Touring Club in 1886 - and the Good Roads movement organised by the League of American Wheelmen in the same period.Trade Review"This fascinating insight into the origin of roads will break down some road ownership issues, and help promote harmony for all road users whether on four wheels or two." - Edmund King, President, Automobile Association. "...closely argued, meticulously researched [this] book is also a treasure trove of curious trivia and arcane detail. [The] iPad edition puts [publishing] professionals to shame, featuring lovely use of video, a wealth of images, clever 30 models, and even a 19th-century ditty about speeding cyclists." - The Guardian.

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Book SynopsisStreets make up more than 80 percent of all public space in cities, yet street space is often underutilised or disproportionately allocated to the movement of private motor vehicles. Excess impervious surface contributes to stormwater runoff, posing a threat to the environment and human health, and often overwhelming sewer systems. This excess asphalt also poses a threat to public safety, encouraging faster speeds and dangerous conditions for people walking and biking. The Urban Street Stormwater Guide begins from the principle that street design can support, or degrade, the urban area's overall environmental health. By incorporating Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) into the right-of-way, cities can manage stormwater and reap the public health, environmental, and aesthetic benefits of street trees, planters, and greenery in the public realm. With thoughtful design, GSI can bolster strategies to provide a safe and pleasant walking and cycling experience, efficient and reliable transit service, and safer streets for all users.Building on the successful NACTO urban street guides, the Urban Street Stormwater Guide provides the best practices for the design of GSI along transportation corridors. The authors consider context-sensitive design elements related to street design, character and use, zoning, posted speed, traffic volumes, and impacts to non-motorised and vehicular access. The Guide documents and synthesizes current practices being developed by individual agencies and recommends design guidance for implementation, as well as explores innovative new strategies being tested in cities nationwide. The guidance will focus on providing safe, functioning and maintainable infrastructure that meets the unique needs and requirements of the transportation corridors and its various uses and users. The state-of-the-art solutions in this guide will assist urban planners and designers, transportation engineers, city officials, ecologists, public works officials, and others interested in the role of the built urban landscape in protecting the climate, water quality, and natural environment.

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Book Synopsis"Frightening...Firestorm comes alive when Struzik discusses the work of offbeat scientists." --New York Times Book Review "Comprehensive and compelling." --Booklist "A powerful message." --Kirkus "Should be required reading." --Library Journal For two months in the spring of 2016, the world watched as wildfire ravaged the Canadian town of Fort McMurray. Firefighters named the fire "the Beast." It acted like a mythical animal, alive with destructive energy, and they hoped never to see anything like it again. Yet it's not a stretch to imagine we will all soon live in a world in which fires like the Beast are commonplace. A glance at international headlines shows a remarkable increase in higher temperatures, stronger winds, and drier lands- a trifecta for igniting wildfires like we've rarely seen before. This change is particularly noticeable in the northern forests of the United States and Canada. These forests require fire to maintain healthy ecosystems, but as the human population grows, and as changes in climate, animal and insect species, and disease cause further destabilization, wildfires have turned into a potentially uncontrollable threat to human lives and livelihoods. Our understanding of the role fire plays in healthy forests has come a long way in the past century. Despite this, we are not prepared to deal with an escalation of fire during periods of intense drought and shorter winters, earlier springs, potentially more lightning strikes and hotter summers. There is too much fuel on the ground, too many people and assets to protect, and no plan in place to deal with these challenges. In Firestorm, journalist Edward Struzik visits scorched earth from Alaska to Maine, and introduces the scientists, firefighters, and resource managers making the case for a radically different approach to managing wildfire in the 21st century. Wildfires can no longer be treated as avoidable events because the risk and dangers are becoming too great and costly. Struzik weaves a heart-pumping narrative of science, economics, politics, and human determination and points to the ways that we, and the wilder inhabitants of the forests around our cities and towns, might yet flourish in an age of growing megafires.

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Book SynopsisA History of Ecology and Environmentalism in Spanish American Literature undertakes a comprehensive ecocritical examination of the region’s literature from the foundational texts of the nineteenth century to the most recent fiction. The book begins with a consideration of the way in which Argentine Domingo Faustino Sarmiento’s views of nature through the lens of the categories of “civilization” and “barbarity” from Facundo (1845) are systematically challenged and revised in the rest of the century. Subsequently, this book develops the argument that a vital part of the cultural critique and aesthetic innovations of Spanish American modernismo involve an ecological challenge to deepening discourses of untamed development from Europe and the United States. In other chapters, many of the well-established titles of regional and indigenista literature are contrasted to counter-traditions within those genres that express aspects of environmental justice, “deep ecology,” the relational role of emotion in nature protectionism and conservationism, even the rights of non-human nature. Finally, the concluding chapters find that the articulation of ecological advocacy in recent fiction is both more explicit than what came before but also impacts the formal elements of literature in unique ways. Textual conventions such as language, imagery, focalization, narrative sequence, metafiction, satire, and parody represent innovations of form that proceed directly from the ethical advocacy of environmentalism. The book concludes with comments about what must follow as a result of the analysis including the revision of canon, the development of literary criticism from novel approaches such as critical animal studies, and the advent of a critical dialogue within the bounds of Spanish American environmentalist literature. A History of Ecology and Environmentalism in Spanish American Literature attempts to develop a sense of the way in which ecological ideas have developed over time in the literature, particularly the way in which many Spanish American texts anticipate several of the ecological discourses that have recently become so central to global culture, current environmentalist thought, and the future of humankind.Trade Review[R]eaders will find that DeVries possesses a thorough understanding of ecological criticism and environmentalism, exemplified by the book's introduction, where he establishes the theoretical framework for his study. For the benefit of those readers who do not have advanced proficiency in reading Spanish he provides an English translation of all Spanish quotations, including definitions of commonly employed Spanish American cultural and literary terminology. Readers who are unacquainted with Spanish American literature, beyond internationally known giants such as Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, or Pablo Neruda, will appreciate the sweeping scope of the author's work. DeVries has managed to deal in a cohesive fashion with a two-hundred year period—the post-independence literary production of the nineteen countries of the western hemisphere in which Spanish is an official language—unfolding 'the tradition of an ecological literature from Mexico to Patagonia and from Puerto Rico to Easter Island'. Those who are already familiar with Spanish American literature will value his insights into ecocriticism as well as his examination of the canon from a fresh perspective. As is the case with most groundbreaking studies, DeVries's work suggests myriad possibilities for future scholarship. * ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Part One: Foundations, Aesthetics, Ecology One: Foundations of Environment: Literary Political Ecologies of 19th Century Southern Cone Literature Two: Foundations from Topography: Literary Political Ecologies of 19th Century Andean, Amazonian, Caribbean, and Central American Literature Three: Green Modernism Part Two: Land, People, Ecology Four: Swallowed: Environmentalism in the Spanish American novela de la selva Five: Other Lands: Ecology in the Spanish American novela de la tierra Six: Ruin: The Precedents of Ecological Destruction in Early and Canonical indigenista Novels Seven: Indigenous Land: Place, then Space Part Three: Literature, Environmentalism, Ecology Eight: Nature after the “Boom”: Ecology and Environmentalism in Late 20th Century Spanish American Fiction Nine: Eco-Satire: Green Humor, Contaminated Imagery, and Environmental Language in Recent Spanish American Fiction Ten: Paradise Trashed: Utopian and Dystopian Ecological Scenarios in Gioconda Belli’s Waslala and Fernando Raga’s Gaia Trilogy Conclusions Bibliography Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisCome along with David Hinton on a series of walks through the wild beauty of Hunger Mountain, near his home in Vermont?excursions informed by the worldview he?s imbibed from his many years translating the classics of Chinese poetry and philosophy. His broad-ranging discussion offers insight on everything from the mountain landscape to the origins of consciousness and the Cosmos, from geology to Chinese landscape painting, from parenting to pictographic oracle-bone script, to a family chutney recipe. It?s a spiritual ecology that is profoundly ancient and at the same time resoundingly contemporary. Your view of the landscape?and of your place in it?may never be the same.

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Book SynopsisFor America’s rural and suburban areas, new challenges demand new solutions. Author Randall Arendt meets them in an entirely new edition of Rural by Design. When this planning classic first appeared 20 years ago, it showed how creative, practical land-use planning can preserve open space and keep community character intact. The second edition shifts the focus toward infilling neighborhoods, strengthening town centers, and moving development closer to schools, shops, and jobs. New chapters cover form-based codes, visioning, sustainability, low-impact development, green infrastructure, and more, while 70 case studies show how these ideas play out in the real world. Readers —rural or not—will find practical advice about planning for the way we live now.Trade Review"It has been a decade since I read the first edition, and I was struck by how useful the information is to rural and urban alike. In many ways the title of the book is a misnomer, because this book is a great tool for new urbanists, small town enthusiasts and those that want to preserve and enhance the open space we all need."Christopher Parker, Assistant City Manager: Director of Planning and Strategic Initiatives, City of Dover, NH"The second edition of Rural by Design is worth the 20 years necessary for its update. Arendt's latest work is thorough and well researched.. This is a must -have book for every planner's library. The concepts are transferable and clear, and the rationale is directly on point and understandable to all audiences."Rick Bernhardt, FAICP, Executive Director, Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Planning Department"Randall Arendt has managed to take a great book and make it even better. This newest version has been expanded to make it even richer in content, including nearly doubling the number of case studies and graphics. It has also evolved to remain relevant to current planning philosophies." Philip Walker, AICP, Principal, The Walker Collaborative, Nashville, TN "Rural by Design is not just for practitioners in small cities and suburbanizing towns. New Urbanists will also profit from an array of strategies and examples for concentrating development and minimizing impacts. Most of all, it provides professors in planning and landscape architecture a text for their most important task: training students to apply ideals and principles in practice."Bruce Stephenson, Professor of Environmental Studies, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL"As a professor of urban planning, I have found the second edition of Randall Arendt’s Rural by Design an indispensable text for students pursuing sustainable urban planning and design. The book takes townscape planning to the next level with practical approaches that develop vacant land, redevelop existing neighborhoods and integrate the built with the natural environment. Transect planning, form-based codes, green infrastructure and conservation subdivision design are among many contemporary approaches illustrated in this updated edition. The book is easy to grasp, clearly written and illustrated with artful color graphics. The book’s appendix also features 84 case studies that reinforce townscape planning concepts serving as material for class exercises. In the process, Arendt persuasively demonstrates how townscape planning strategies can effectively implement sustainable development principles and practices. Rural by Design remains an essential resource for students and practitioners of urban planning and design."Russell J. Fricano, Ph.D, AICP, Assistant Professor, Urban and Regional Studies Institute, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN"The new edition of Rural by Design is an important addition to my undergraduate environmental planning courses and is a valuable follow up to the original classic text that became a driving force in the conservation design movement in the US. It builds on the original concepts while including broader coverage of non-residential development. As with the first, this edition includes a sequential topical format, thoughtful and concise interpretations, applicable case studies and excellent supporting graphics. It's a great achievement and will have a lasting impact on development here and abroad."Eric Sanden, Professor of Conservation and Environmental Planning, University of Wisconsin-River Falls"This updated version of the 20-year-old classic is a how-to guide to creating walkable towns in rural and urbanizing suburban North America, bursting with examples, many not yet built when the original book was written. It also shows how metropolitan residents can have a connection to nature that is so crucial for human settlements no matter the density. We are witnessing the end of sprawl, and this book provides the blueprint for how it is being replaced by environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and economically successful ways of building the country. The book is truly a masterpiece."Christopher B. Leinberger, Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution and Charles Bendit Distinguished Scholar and Research Professor of Urban Real Estate Chair, Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis, George Washington University School of Business, Washington, DC"Rural by Design represents a lifetime of experience and wisdom. Randall Arendt is a passionate proponent of the value of good design for planning more humane and healthy communities. His grasp of the history of planning new communities — and his deep personal involvement in making numerous plans across the United States — inform Rural by Design. This expanded edition includes considerable new information, notably concerning sustainability. Arendt's clear and informative writing make Rural by Design an invaluable resource for practitioners, educators, and students in planning, landscape architecture, architecture, civil engineering, law, and real estate."Frederick Steiner, Dean and Paley Professor for the University of Pennsylvania School of Design"The new edition of Rural by Design is a definitive text. In 1994 Randall Arendt offered an important template to counter suburban sprawl. Centered on the conservation subdivision, Rural by Design enlightened policy and regulations were recalibrated. In the past two decades, conservation subdivisions have protected 180,000 acres of natural and rural land. At the same time, Arendt was updating his repertoire. His new book is thoughtful and richly illustrated. Mitigating sprawl is still at the forefront, but it also addresses the growing focus on infill development. Analyses of pocket neighborhoods, complete streets, waterway daylighting, and habitat restoration reveal how sustainable human environments can be crafted in an urban setting. Arendt is at his best in a chapter devoted to greenways. Mixing historic principle and innovation, he presents a series of projects that guide development on lines of ecology, health, equity, and profit. Town planning is rooted in landscape architecture, a fact foreign to too many practitioners. Fortunately, Arendt celebrates this history. Like the early stalwarts of the profession—the Olmsted Brothers and John Nolen—he offers a pragmatic vision to protect nature and promote urbanism. Henry David Thoreau's adage "in wildness is the preservation of the world," inspired earlier generations, but Arendt is a visionary who sees livable cities as the key to the preservation of the world. This endeavor will define landscape architecture, and we are lucky to have Rural by Design as a guide. Rural by Design is not just for practitioners in small cities and suburbanizing towns. New Urbanists will also profit from an array of strategies and examples for concentrating development and minimizing impacts. Most of all, Rural by Design provides professors in planning and landscape architecture a text for their most important task: training students to apply ideals and principles in practice."Bruce Stephenson, Professor of Environmental Studies, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida Table of ContentsForeword: Broadly Defining ‘Rural’IntroductionPart One: The Character of Towns1. The Common Qualities of Traditional Towns2. Changes in the Pattern 3. Future Prospects: Choosing Among Alternative Patterns4. The Aesthetics of Form in Community Planning5. Sustainability, Best Practices, and Visionary Planning6. Vision Plans, Downzoning, and Municipal BalkanizationPart Two: Design Approaches7. Form-Based Coding and Standards for Performance and Design8. Blending New Urbanism With Greenway Planning and Conservation DesignPart Three: Implementation Techniques9. Broadening Housing Choices10. Strengthening Town Centers11. Transforming Gateways and Highway CorridorsPart Four: Designing Man-Made Infrastructure12. Designing Better Streets13. Low-Impact Development: A Greener Approach to Stormwater14. Sewage Treatment AlternativesPart Five: Protecting the Natural Infrastructure15. Greenways: A Healthy Community Builder16. Protecting and Restoring the Green Infrastructure Network17. Retaining Farmland and Farmers18. Transfer of Development Rights in Small Communities19. Designing Subdivisions to Save LandPart Six: Case Examples20. In-Town Residential Examples21. Rural Residential Examples22. Large-Scale Mixed Use Examples23. Downtown Commercial and Mixed Use Examples24. Commercial Corridor Mixed Use Examples25. Greenways and Greenway Development ExamplesBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisAre you facing drought or water shortages? Gardening with Less Water offers simple, inexpensive, low-tech techniques for watering your garden much more efficiently — using up to 90 percent less water for the same results. With illustrated step-by-step instructions, David Bainbridge shows you how to install buried clay pots and pipes, wicking systems, and other porous containers that deliver water directly to a plant’s roots with little to no evaporation. These systems are available at hardware stores and garden centers; are easy to set up and use; and work for garden beds, container gardens, and trees.

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Book SynopsisThe international bee crisis is threatening our global food supply, but this user-friendly field guide shows what you can do to help protect our pollinators. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation offers browsable profiles of 100 common flowers, herbs, shrubs, and trees that support bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. The recommendations are simple: pick the right plants for pollinators, protect them from pesticides, and provide abundant blooms throughout the growing season by mixing perennials with herbs and annuals! 100 Plants to Feed the Bees will empower homeowners, landscapers, apartment dwellers — anyone with a scrap of yard or a window box — to protect our pollinators.

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Book SynopsisRoot Shock examines 3 different U.S. cities to unmask the crippling results of decades-old disinvestment in communities of color and the urban renewal practices that ultimately destroyed these neighborhoods for the advantage of developers and the elite. Like a sequel to the prescient warnings of urbanist Jane Jacobs, Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove reveals the disturbing effects of decades of insensitive urban renewal projects on communities of color. For those whose homes and neighborhoods were bulldozed, the urban modernization projects that swept America starting in 1949 were nothing short of an assault. Vibrant city blocks - places rich in culture - were torn apart by freeways and other invasive development, devastating the lives of poor residents. Fullilove passionately describes the profound traumatic stress- the "root shock"that results when a neighborhood is demolished. She estimates that federal and state urban renewal programs, spearheaded by business and real estate interests, destroyed 1,600 African American districts in cities across the United States. But urban renewal didn't just disrupt black communities: it ruined their economic health and social cohesion, stripping displaced residents of their sense of place as well. It also left big gashes in the centers of cities that are only now slowly being repaired. Focusing on the Hill District of Pittsburgh, the Central Ward in Newark, and the small Virginia city of Roanoke, Dr. Fullilove argues powerfully against policies of displacement. Understanding the damage caused by root shock is crucial to coping with its human toll and helping cities become whole. Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, is a research psychiatrist at New York State Psychiatric Institute and professor of clinical psychiatry and public health at Columbia University. She is the author of five books, including Urban Alchemy.Trade Review"“By practicing good science in a fallow field, Fullilove illuminates her chosen subject and also transcends it”" -- Jane Jacobs * author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities *"“Fullilove puts forth an aesthetic of true ‘urban renewal’ from which urban planners and thinking citizens can draw inspiration” " * Booklist *"“Engagingly written”" * Publisher’s Weekly *""This powerfully imaginative work by a leading social psychiatrist offers original ideas that sponsor not just a critique but ways to respond and prevent a major source of social and health problems in our time. A book of real importance.” " -- Arthur Kleinman * Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University *""[Fullilove throws] light on the problem...with authority and passion”" * The Washington Post *"“Fullilove...will open eyes"" * The New York Times *

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Book SynopsisAn illustrated, essential guide to engaging children and youth in the process of urban design From a history of children’s rights to case studies discussing international initiatives that aim to create child-friendly cities, Placemaking with Children and Youth offers comprehensive guidance in how to engage children and youth in the planning and design of local environments. It explains the importance of children’s active participation in their societies and presents ways to bring all generations together to plan cities with a high quality of life for people of all ages. Not only does it delineate best practices in establishing programs and partnerships, it also provides principles for working ethically with children, youth, and families, paying particular attention to the inclusion of marginalized populations. Drawing on case studies from around the world—in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, Puerto Rico, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States—Placemaking with Children and Youth showcases children’s global participation in community design and illustrates how a variety of methods can be combined in initiatives to achieve meaningful change. The book features more than 200 visuals and detailed, thoughtful guidelines for facilitating a multiplicity of participatory processes that include drawing, photography, interviews, surveys, discussion groups, role playing, mapping, murals, model making, city tours, and much more. Whether seeking information on individual methods and project planning, interpreting and analyzing results, or establishing and evaluating a sustained program, readers can find practical ideas and inspiration from six continents to connect learning to the realities of students’ lives and to create better cities for all ages.Trade ReviewFrom the forward-thinking mind-set of creating sustainable future cities, this practical guide outlines how to engage youth in local research and action for environmental planning and design. Including case studies on child-friendly city initiatives, this title shares best practices for working ethically with children, and proposes cross-generational engagement, with attention to equity. * Public Art Review *This wonderful book recognizes that sustainable development calls for highly participatory local communities, including children and youth, who can cooperatively plan for and flexibly respond to environmental change. Based on this engaged view of citizenship, it offers a comprehensive range of practical methods for everyone. -- Roger Hart, Professor, Graduate Center of the City University of New YorkWhat an inspiring, fresh addition to the hallowed library of human habitat design! I am so grateful that this book has been written, with its guidance on how to engage kids, how to work in diverse urban environments, and its numerous case studies that can be replicated. Now, many more children can be assisted to grow into their full potential as community leaders and changemakers! * Mark Lakeman, Founder, The City Repair Project *Placemaking with Children and Youth makes a valuable contribution to the growing body of literature that focuses on the practice of place-based education. Even novices to this approach will find simple and straightforward tools capable of opening up the world of local inquiry and action to both themselves and their students. * Gregory A. Smith, Professor Emeritus, Lewis & Clark College *

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Book SynopsisA beautiful and engaging guide to global warming’s impacts around the world Our planet is in peril. Seas are rising, oceans are acidifying, ice is melting, coasts are flooding, species are dying, and communities are faltering. Despite these dire circumstances, most of us don’t have a clear sense of how the interconnected crises in our ocean are affecting the climate system, food webs, coastal cities, and biodiversity, and which solutions can help us co-create a better future. Through a rich combination of place-based storytelling, clear explanations of climate science and policy, and beautifully rendered maps that use a unique ink-on-dried-seaweed technique, The Atlas of Disappearing Places depicts twenty locations across the globe, from Shanghai and Antarctica to Houston and the Cook Islands. The authors describe four climate change impacts—changing chemistry, warming waters, strengthening storms, and rising seas—using the metaphor of the ocean as a body to draw parallels between natural systems and human systems. Each chapter paints a portrait of an existential threat in a particular place, detailing what will be lost if we do not take bold action now. Weaving together contemporary stories and speculative “future histories” for each place, this work considers both the serious consequences if we continue to pursue business as usual, and what we can do—from government policies to grassroots activism—to write a different, more hopeful story. A beautiful work of art and an indispensable resource to learn more about the devastating consequences of the climate crisis—as well as possibilities for individual and collective action—The Atlas of Disappearing Places will engage and inspire readers on the most pressing issue of our time.Trade ReviewPraise for The Atlas of Disappearing Places:“A colorful global tour filled with artistic maps and imagined views from a 2050 when many problems have been addressed.”—Bloomberg “After delving into Christina Conklin and Marina Psaros’ engaging and sometimes enraging The Atlas of Disappearing Places: Our Coasts and Oceans in the Climate Crisis, you may find it difficult to remain passive about climate change for a whole lot longer.”—San Francisco Chronicle “The rare coffee table book that’s also a call to arms.”—Chicago Review of Books “Painted with water-soluble inks on sheets of dried seaweed, the book’s maps are textured, attractive, and informative. . . . Climate change is not just about melting ice caps and starving polar bears, and The Atlas of Disappearing Places brings that reality home.”—Foreword Reviews “A striking and deeply researched work of art and environmental activism.”—BookPage“A beautiful work of art and an indispensable resource to learn more about the devastating consequences of the climate crisis, The Atlas of Disappearing Places will engage and inspire readers on the most pressing issue of our time.”—Yale Climate Connections“A treat for anyone up for a systematic exploration of climate change’s effects on coastal communities around the world.”—The Provincetown Independent“Beautiful maps and hopeful vignettes about the future temper this important book about climate change in our world.”—Library Journal “An extraordinary journey on the frontiers of scientific understanding into life’s exquisitely complex interdependence communicated by master storytellers. At once captivating and deeply informative. Terrifying and hopeful, a must-read for all who care.”—David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, and Change the Story, Change the Future: A Living Economy for a Living Earth “An atlas of places that are likely to be transformed beyond recovery over the next decades may seem like a sad theme for a book. Yet Christina Conklin and Marina Psaros have produced a thing of beauty, a testament as gorgeous as the places it sears into our memory. If we do not care, we will not make the effort to save our world. Readers will find themselves caring deeply, and that at least is a first step.”—Richard Heinberg, senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute “The Atlas of Disappearing Places grasps the depth and breadth of change taking place. Creative, informative, and provocative, it presents us with artful surprises, poignant anecdotes, and memorable facts. I highly recommend it.”—John Englander, oceanographer, author of Moving to Higher Ground: Rising Sea Level and the Path Forward “You are holding a surprising, enlightening, hopeful book. Readers visit twenty places, immersed in the authors’ deeply researched reporting; the most heartening stories are the authors’ views of the next few decades, showing that positive change is easy to envision and realistic. The art alone speaks volumes about what is possible: for the human heart-mind to envision and pursue a beautiful way through this crisis, out to a more humane and life-affirming future.”—Carl Safina, author of Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace “A deeply researched, artistic, heartfelt introspection of our intimate connection to Earth, and industrialized humans’ catastrophic impact upon Her. Illuminating how every decision we make impacts the planet, and thus ourselves, this rare work articulates a stark view of where we are heading, alongside possible mitigation avenues if we are to heed these blaring alarms from the front lines.”—Dahr Jamail, author of The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption “The Atlas of Disappearing Places offers warnings no one wants to hear, though now we ignore them at our peril. Readable, informative, and terrifying, this important book is simultaneously global and local, affecting every aspect of our lives, inland as well as on the coasts. Read it . . . and weep . . . and act. As the seas rise, so must we.”—Lucy R. Lippard, curator of Weather Report: Art and Climate Change “The Atlas of Disappearing Places is a story told through art and science that takes us on a journey across the planet through the throwaway culture of plastic waste and the toxic culture of fertilisers and pesticides and dead zones. It is not just a story of climate change. It is also a story of extinction. A must-read for anyone who cares about the future of the planet and people.”—Vandana Shiva

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Book SynopsisThe progressive economics writer redefines the national conversation about American freedom “Mike Konczal [is] one of our most powerful advocates of financial reform‚ [a] heroic critic of austerity‚ and a huge resource for progressives.”—Paul KrugmanHealth insurance, student loan debt, retirement security, child care, work-life balance, access to home ownership—these are the issues driving America’s current political debates. And they are all linked, as this brilliant and timely book reveals, by a single question: should we allow the free market to determine our lives? In the tradition of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, noted economic commentator Mike Konczal answers this question with a resounding no. Freedom from the Market blends passionate political argument and a bold new take on American history to reveal that, from the earliest days of the republic, Americans have defined freedom as what we keep free from the control of the market. With chapters on the history of the Homestead Act and land ownership, the eight-hour work day and free time, social insurance and Social Security, World War II day cares, Medicare and desegregation, free public colleges, intellectual property, and the public corporation, Konczal shows how citizens have fought to ensure that everyone has access to the conditions that make us free. At a time when millions of Americans—and more and more politicians—are questioning the unregulated free market, Freedom from the Market offers a new narrative, and new intellectual ammunition, for the fight that lies ahead.Trade ReviewPraise for Freedom from the Market:“The Roosevelt Institute’s Konczal is one of the warriors in this fight, arguing fiercely for the need to set much narrower limits on what is left to markets than has been the case in recent decades. A powerful polemic.”—Martin Wolf, Financial Times“Freedom from the Market arrives at a moment when, as Konczal observes, millions of Americans are recovering a legacy of fighting market rule.”—Los Angeles Review of Books“Freedom from the Market has the potential to be a very important book, focusing attention on the contested, messy but crucially important intersection between social movements and the state. It provides a set of ideas that people on both sides of that divide can learn from, and a lively alternative foundation to the deracinated technocratic notions of politics, in which good policy would somehow, magically, be politically self supporting, that has prevailed up until quite recently. Strongly recommended.”—Crooked Timber“Invaluable, thoughtful and thought-provoking.”—Midwest Book Review“By identifying an alternative grammar, one that is grounded in the American past, Freedom from the Market provides a way out of the political cul-de-sac created by the failure of the market to deliver on its promises of ‘freedom.’”—Democracy: A Journal of Ideas“With carefully selected examples and lucid prose, Konczal makes a convincing case that the American project has long depended on rigorous regulation of capitalism. Progressive voters and policy makers will find plenty of ammunition for their arguments in this cogent history.”—Publishers Weekly“An economic manifesto on behalf of the 99% poorly served by the present economy.”—Kirkus Reviews“Providing solid cases where government regulations helped to give Americans a better life, this will appeal to progressives looking for a history of their movement.”—Library Journal “Freedom from the Market is an impressive book, easily one of the best I’ve read in the past several years. I cannot recommend it highly enough.”—Matt Mazewski, Commonweal “Markets will set us free—except when they won’t, don’t, can’t. In this deeply researched yet eminently readable book, Mike Konczal tells the powerful forgotten story of how American democracy once tamed markets to advance our freedom, and shows us how it could do so once again.”—Jacob Hacker, professor of political science, Yale University, and New York Times bestselling author of Winner-Take-All Politics and American Amnesia “Konczal’s analysis brilliantly dismantles the false illusions of market freedom in every sector, including finance, health care, and labor. This book explains how Americans have been hoodwinked into a coercive economy even as we were promised the opposite.”—Mehrsa Baradaran, professor of law, UC Irvine, and author of The Color of Money and How the Other Half Banks “Mike Konczal is that rare economics commentator who thinks the economy should serve people, not the other way around. Freedom from the Market reclaims from the dustbin of history the Americans who dreamed of a vastly different kind of freedom than the one we’re now taught to revere.”—Sarah Jaffe, author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt and Work Won’t Love You Back “Mike Konczal’s powerful historical study links political struggles over land, time, care, and education around the idea of freedom, reclaiming this familiar watchword and asking readers to think anew about its real meaning.”—Kimberly Philips-Fein, associate professor, New York University, and author of Fear City and Invisible Hands

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Book SynopsisFinalist for the 2020 PEN / E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing AwardAcclaimed on its hardcover publication, a global journey that reminds us of how magical the planet we''re about to lose really is (Bill McKibben)With a new epilogue by the authorAfter nearly a decade overseas as a war reporter, the acclaimed journalist Dahr Jamail returned to America to renew his passion for mountaineering, only to find that the slopes he had once climbed have been irrevocably changed by climate disruption. In response, Jamail embarks on a journey to the geographical front lines of this crisisfrom Alaska to Australia''s Great Barrier Reef, via the Amazon rainforestin order to discover the consequences to nature and to humans of the loss of ice.In The End of Ice, we follow Jamail as he scales Denali, the highest peak in North America, dives in the warm crystal waters of the Pacific only to find ghostly coral ree

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Book SynopsisAtlas Obscura says this lushly illustrated New York Times bestselling guide to dozens of dangerous, eerie, and infamous locations is the perfect gift for "those who believe the world is still full of mysteries to investigate."Pick up the acclaimed Atlas of Cursed Places and visit the world's most nerve-wracking locations. With pithy historical profiles, vintage full-color maps, and haunting tales that will color your perspective (and send tingles down your spine), this is a clever gift for the intrepid traveler or armchair adventurer who wants to explore destinations both remarkable and daunting. Visit:- a coal town where the ground is constantly on fire- a Zambian national park where more than 8 million bats darken the skies- the infamous suicide location of Aokigahara Forest near Mount Fuji- the lesser-known Nevada triangle, in which dozens of aircraft have inexplicably disappearedBeautifully packaged and written with a twisty sense of humor, Atlas of Cursed Places puts your quirky side on the map.

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of Junkyard Planet, "an anthem to decluttering, recycling, making better quality goods and living a simpler life with less stuff." -Associated PressDownsizing. Decluttering. Discarding. Sooner or later, all of us are faced with things we no longer need or want. But when we drop our old clothes and other items off at a local donation center, where do they go? Sometimes across the country-or even halfway across the world-to people and places who find value in what we leave behind.In Secondhand, journalist Adam Minter takes us on an unexpected adventure into the often-hidden, multibillion-dollar industry of reuse: thrift stores in the American Southwest to vintage shops in Tokyo, flea markets in Southeast Asia to used-goods enterprises in Ghana, and more. Along the way, Minter meets the fascinating people who handle-and profit from-our rising tide of discarded stuff, and asks a pressing question: In a world that craves shiny and new, is there room for it all?Secondhand offers hopeful answers and hard truths. A history of the stuff we''ve used and a contemplation of why we keep buying more, it also reveals the marketing practices, design failures, and racial prejudices that push used items into landfills instead of new homes. Secondhand shows us that it doesn''t have to be this way, and what really needs to change to build a sustainable future free of excess stuff."Minter is a superb storyteller . . . [Secondhand is] a book I''d recommend buying now instead of waiting for it to show up at your local thrift store."-NPR "Revelatory, terrifying, but, ultimately, hopeful." -Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of THE SIXTH EXTINCTION

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Book SynopsisFrom an expert who understands both sides of one of the world's most complex, controversial conflicts, a modern-day Guide for the Perplexeda primer on Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian issue.*Finalist for the 2021 National Jewish Book Award*"Can't you just explain the Israel situation to me? In, like, 10 minutes or less?" This is the question Daniel Sokatch is used to answering on an almost daily basis as the head of the New Israel Fund, an organization dedicated to equality and democracy for all Israelis, not just Jews. Can We Talk About Israel? is the story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, grappling with a century-long struggle between two peoples that both perceive themselves as (and indeed are) victims. And it''s an attempt to explain why Israel (and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) inspires such extreme feelingswhy it seems like Israel is the answer to "what is wrong with the world" for half the people in it, and "what is right with the world" for the other half. As Sokatch asks, is there any other topic about which so many intelligent, educated, and sophisticated people express such strongly and passionately held convictions, and about which they actually know so little? Complete with engaging illustrations by Christopher Noxon, Can We Talk About Israel? is an easy-to-read yet penetrating and original look at the history and basic contours of one of the most complicated conflicts in the world.

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Book SynopsisA vital journey to the frontlines of our fight against climate change and the bold scientific and technological innovations that will revolutionize our world There’s finally reason to hope. Climate change is the existential threat of our time, but incredible new advancements in science and engineering can allow us to avoid the worst repercussions of global warming as we work to reverse it over time. In Our Livable World, research specialist and author Marc Schaus leads readers in an exploration of new and upcoming innovations in green technology poised to prevent the climate apocalypse—and usher in a sustainable, livable world. To beat a challenge the size of climate change, our solutions will have to be ambitious: solar thermal cells capable of storing energy long after the sun goes down, “smart highways” designed to charge your vehicle as you drive, indoor vertical farms automated to maximize crop growth with no pesticides, bioluminescent vines ready to one day replace our streetlights, jet fuel created from landfill trash—and next-generation carbon capture techniques to remove the emissions we have already released over the past several decades. Far from the geoengineering schemes of cli-fi action thrillers, real solutions are being developed, right this moment. Our Livable World features interviews with the innovators, real talk on the revolutionary technology, and a clear picture of a cleaner planet in the future. Though climate change is arguably the biggest threat humankind has ever faced, this book proves that our ability to fight this change is limited only by the scope of our imagination and the power of our will. Trade Review“Our Livable World provides a much-needed glimpse of a future Earth and its citizens, who have learned that to destroy is just one option and to create, and to create green, is equally in our grasp. Oh, that we put the most biological and human of the ideas here into practice, and that we do so soon.” —Professor Daniel Kammen, University of California, Berkeley, and Former Science Envoy for the US State Department “We don’t need to accept a story of doom for the planet’s future. With vision, imagination, and innovation, we can re-engineer a new world. Our Livable World is an important book that shows the dawn of a new kind of environmental movement—an age where we invest in deeply creative and fascinating technical solutions that work in harmony with the Earth. Marc Schaus lays out the exciting future of environmental innovation before us.” —Katie Patrick, Environmental engineer, designer, and author of How to Save the World “In an era of pervasive gloom engendered by climate disruption, mass extinction, and the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a breath of fresh air to learn about the exciting possibilities for a better world that are described in compelling fashion by Marc Schaus. We have the technology, brilliantly explained in Our Livable World. This book is a gift to anyone thirsty for hope.” —David R. Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, and author of The Optimistic Environmentalist

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