Social impact of environmental issues Books

Book SynopsisA dramatic account of the rate of language extinction, and how it endangers the future of biodiversityFew people know that nearly 100 native languages once spoken in what is now California are near extinction, or that most of Australia''s 250 aboriginal languages have vanished. In fact, at least half of the world''s languages may die out in the next century. What has happened to these voices? Should we be alarmed about the disappearance of linguistic diversity?The authors of Vanishing Voices assert that this trend is far more than simply disturbing. Making explicit the link between language survival and environmental issues, they argue that the extinction of languages is part of the larger picture of near-total collapse of the worldwide ecosystem. Indeed, the authors contend that the struggle to preserve precious environmental resources-such as the rainforest-cannot be separated from the struggle to maintain diverse cultures, and that the causes of language death, like that of ecological destruction, lie at the intersection of ecology and politics.And while Nettle and Romaine defend the world''s endangered languages, they also pay homage to the last speakers of dying tongues, such as Red Thundercloud, a Native American in South Carolina, Ned Mandrell, with whom the Manx language passed away in 1974, and Arthur Bennett, an Australian, the last person to know more than a few words of Mbabaram. In our languages lies the accumulated knowledge of humanity. Indeed, each language is a unique window on experience. Vanishing Voices is a call to preserve this resource, before it is too late.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition "[A] superb study of endangered languages.... The tapestry of supporting detail is every bit as compelling as the central thesis-- from an examination of how indigenous languages function as museums of local culture to a history of the way in which dominant languages like English,Mandarin, and Spanish have vanquished more vulnerable tongues." * The New Yorker *"Language extinction is a great tragedy for human culture and for scholarship on all things human. This fascinating book is the latest word on this important issue, containing a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. If we have the good sense to rescue the priceless legacy of linguistic diversity before it vanishes forever, Vanishing Voices will surely deserve a good part of the credit." * Steven Pinker, author of The Language Instinct and Words and Rules *". . . this clear, cogent and immensely knowledgeable book. . . . Vanishing Voices is a book that needs to be chain-read, therefore: read it, then tell someone else to." * Prof David Crystal, THES *"Vanishing Voices is an urgent call to arms about the impending loss of one of our great resources. Nettle and Romaine paint a breathtaking landscape that shows why so many of the world's languages are disappearing and more importantly, why it matters. They put the problem of linguistic diversity into the wider context of global biodiversity, and propose the revolutionary idea that saving endangered languages is not about dictionaries and educational programs, but about preserving the cultures and habitats of the people who speak them. Along the way it's also a fascinating introduction to how language works: how languages are born, how they die, and how we can prevent their death." * Deborah Tannen, Georgetown University *a "splendid and disturbing book." * The Irish Times (Dublin) *Table of Contents1. Where have All the Languages Gone ; 2. A World of Diversity ; 3. Lost Words / Lost Worlds ; 4. The Ecology of Language ; 5. The Biological Wave ; 6. The Economic Wave ; 7. Why Something Should be Done ; 8. Sustainable Futures ; References and Further Reading ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe environmental movement has often been accused of being overly negative--trying to stop progress. The Nature of Design, on the other hand, is about starting things, specifically an ecological design revolution that changes how we provide food, shelter, energy, materials, and livelihood, and how we deal with waste. Ecological design is an emerging field that aims to recalibrate what humans do in the world according to how the world works as a biophysical system. Design in this sense is a large concept having to do as much with politics and ethics as with buildings and technology. The book begins by describing the scope of design, comparing it to the Enlightenment of the 18th century. Subsequent chapters describe barriers to a design revolution inherent in our misuse of language, the clockspeed of technological society, and shortsighted politics. Orr goes on to describe the critical role educational institutions might play in fostering design intelligence and what he calls a higher Trade Review"David Orr backs his talk with tactics and deeds that include his own actions. He convinced Oberlin College to construct a science building that 'did not impair human or ecological health somewhere else or at some later time.' That was a big order and not easily done, but he attracted and organized the multi-talented team that did it.... The chapter labeled 'Education, Careers, and Callings' is particularly fine, and presents...solid suggestions for doable changes in education that will be considered radical by many ecologically illiterate educators, but are certainly the way to go. Good stuff, easily read." --J. Baldwin, Whole Earth, Fall 2002"The creativity of thought displayed is refreshing when compared to the hundreds of texts that criticise current practice without offering substitutes. And Orr's understanding of the role pysical surroundings play in human thinking inspires a vital alternative to the technological fundamentalism constricting so much current thought."--EcologistTable of ContentsI. THE PROBLEM OF ECOLOGICAL DESIGN ; II. PATHOLOGIES AND BARRIERS ; III. THE POLITICS OF DESIGN ; IV. DESIGN AS PEDAGOGY ; V. CHARITY, WILDNESS, AND CHILDREN

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Book SynopsisHuman health and wellbeing is inextricably linked to nature; our connection to the natural world is part of our biological inheritance. In this book, a pioneer in the field of biophilia - the study of human beings' inherent affinity for nature - sets forth the first full account of nature's powerful influence on the quality of our lives.Trade Review"'Kellert challenges our 'adversarial' approach to nature with an exploration of eight ways in which we derive meaning from it, from attraction to exploitation... This is a nuanced analysis punctuated with insightful personal narratives.' (Nature) 'This is a very thought-provoking book... Kellert draws both on his personal opinions/observations as well as published peer-review literature. And it's his personal interjections that infuse this book with a sense of wonderment and respect for the natural world.' (T. DeLene Beeland, Wild Muse)"

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Book SynopsisThis book addresses the climate change crisis through scientific, historical, and spiritual lenses. Using Bernard Lonergan's functional specialization method, developed to facilitate collaboration among specialists, Raymaker and Durrani not only analyze data and rebut the claims of climate change deniers, but also look for inspiration to motivate and coordinate needed action by persons, groups, and nations. The book is wide-ranging in its historical examination of leaders who have shown us ways to work together constructively in finding solutions to problems. Lonergan's method helps us study the past with a view to change the future. To do so, we must first reform ourselves.Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: Putting Climate Change Issues and Lonergan’s Method in Perspective Bernard Lonergan’s Approach to Collaborative Networking: Universal Values in the Face of Our Environmental and Other Crises; Toward Possible Solutions Historical Background to Insight’s Cognitional Theory: Its Originality and Importance Method in Theology’s Eight Functional Specialties (FS) and Its Two Phases How MiT’s Diphase Eight FS Can Open Up New Horizons in Climate Studies Rationale behind Method in Theology’s Eight FS Being Treated within the Two Phases Part II: Analyzing Our Present Climate Crises with a View to Sketch a Remedy First Functional Specialty: Research and Gathering Relevant Data on Climate Change Second Functional Specialty: Analyzing and Interpreting the Data on Climate Changes Third Functional Specialty: Historical Perspectives on Climate Changes: Some Implications Fourth Functional Specialty: Dealing with the Implications of Climate Changes: The Strategic Roles of Operators, Dialectic, Wisdom, and Ethics The Pivotal Notion of “Complementarity” in Lonergan: Transition to Part III Part III: Seeking Effective Ways to Remedy Impending Disasters Caused by Climate Changes (By Way of the Mediated Phase’s Last Four Functional Specialties) Monstrous Storms and a Need for Far-Reaching Remedies: A GEM-FS Key Fifth Functional Specialty: Reinstating the Foundations Neglected by Many Sixth Functional Specialty: Policies for Implementing Universal Values Today Seventh Functional Specialty: Dealing with Systemic Shortcomings in Caring for Our Climates Climate Changes and Conflicts If the Changes Become Too Great to Reverse—Some Proposals Eighth Functional Specialty: Sharing Human Universal Values across the Divides Postscript Appendix I: GEM Conjugates: How They Rethink Galileo Appendix II: GEM Conjugates: How They Rethink Aristotle Appendix III: The Notion of Judgment in Newman and Lonergan Appendix IV: How Monsanto Is Planning to Profit from Climate Changes Appendix V: Summarizing Notions of the Cosmic Common Good in Aquinas and Scheid Appendix VI: Multinational Corporations (MNC’s) Appendix VII: Monsanto and Reaching Climate Danger Threshold by 2036 Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThis work focuses on a particular place and time to explore how environment and human culture transform each other. It shows how each successive community on the Georgia coast forged unique relationships with the environment, which in turn created unique landscapes.

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Book SynopsisIntends to locate justice in a workable and sustainable way within the community, introducing 'Sustainable Justice' as a key concept. This title examines three key concepts which need to be understood for the management of flexible and fluid society, namely Sustainability, Justice and Community.Table of ContentsAbout the Authors. Introduction. Chapter 1 Understanding sustainable justice. Chapter 2 The theories of justice. Chapter 3 Restoring justice to the community. Chapter 4 Sustainable political economy. Conclusion. References. Subject Index. Advances in Ecopolitics. Advances in Ecopolitics. Copyright page.

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Book SynopsisTony Fry is Director of the sustainment consultancy Team D/E/S and Professor of Design, Griffith University, Queensland College of Art. He is also author of Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Berg, 2008) and Design as Politics (Berg, 2010).Table of ContentsPreface Introduction Part One: First Pass End of the Story Start of a Story Proximity: A Question of Distances Part Two: Emergence Over Origin - A Relational Account Coming into Being via Natural Selection Coming into Being via Un-natural Selection Coming into Being via Design Part Three: The Leap Why Make the Leap The Passage from 'Here and Now to Then' Part Four: From 'Where We Where' to 'Where We Are' World-in-Being Imagination in a Blink of an Eye On the Subject of the Subject Part Five: Now-ings Living in Darkness Post-Political Prospects The Rise of Another Other Last Words Notes Selective Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisVandana Shiva is the author of the much-acclaimed Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development. Physicist, philosopher and feminist, she is Director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, Dehradun. She is active in citizens' action against environmental destruction, including the Chipko Movement. She is also the Science and Environment Advisor of the Third World Network.Trade Review'One of the world's most prominent radical scientists' The Guardian'Shiva has devoted her life to fighting for the rights of ordinary people in India. Her fierce intellect and her disarmingly friendly, accessible manner have made her a valuable advocate for people all over the developing world.' Ms Magazine'The South's best known environmentalist.' New Internationalist'Shiva is a burst of creative energy, an intellectual power.' The ProgressiveTable of Contents Introduction 1. Science and Politics in the Green Revolution 2. 'Miracle Seeds' and the Destruction of Genetic Diversity 3. Chemical Fertilizers and Soil Fertility 4. Intensive Irrigation, Large Dams and Water Conflicts 5. The political and Cultural Costs of the Green Revolution 6. Pepsico for peace? The Ecological and Political Risks of the Biotechnology Revolution 7. The Seed and the Spinning Wheel: The Political Ecology of Technological Change

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Book SynopsisThe Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch marking humanity''s alteration of the Earth: its rock structure, environments, atmosphere. The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Anthropocene offers the most comprehensive survey yet of how literature can address the social, cultural, and philosophical questions posed by the Anthropocene. This volume addresses the old and new literary forms - from novels, plays, poetry, and essays to exciting and evolving genres such as ''cli-fi'', experimental poetry, interspecies design, gaming, weird, ecotopian and petro-fiction, and ''new'' nature writing. Studies range from the United States to India, from Palestine to Scotland, while addressing numerous global signifiers or consequences of the Anthropocene: catastrophe, extinction, ''fossil capital'', warming, politics, ethics, interspecies relations, deep time, and Earth. This unique Companion offers a compelling account of how to read literature through the Anthropocene and of how literature might yet help us imagine a better world.Trade Review'Recommended.' J. Bilbro, Choice MagazineTable of ContentsIntroduction: With or Without Us: Literature and the Anthropocene John Parham; Prologue: Earth, Anthropocene, Literary Form; 1. Earth Laura Dassow Walls; 2.Data/Anecdote Sean Cubitt; Part I. Anthropocene Form: 3. Poetry Mandy Bloomfield; 4. The Novel Astrid Bracke; 5. Popular Fiction Saba Pirzadeh; 6. The Essay Byron Caminero-Santangelo; 7. Theatre and Performance Sabine Wilke; 8. Interspecies Design Stanislav Roudavski; 9. Digital Games Alenda Y. Chang; Part II. Anthropocene Themes: 10. Catastrophe David Higgins and Tess Somervell; 11. Animals Eileen Crist; 12. Humans Hannes Bergthaller; 13. Fossil Fuel Sam Solnick; 14. Warming Andreas Malm; 15. Ethics Zainor Izat Zainal; 16. Interspecies Heather Alberro; 17. Deep Time Visible Pippa Marland.

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Book SynopsisFreedom in the Anthropocene illuminates the Anthropocene from the perspective of critical theory. The authors contextualize our current ecological predicament by focusing on the issues of history and freedom and how they relate to our present inability to render environmental threats and degradation recognizable and surmountable.Trade Review"Freedom in the Anthropocene is a very sharply perceptive book. The authors' clear and well-constructed argument provides just what a contemporary critical theory should. Their fresh way of understanding the Anthropocene should be read by anyone interested in opposing the juggernaut of the Great Acceleration, and particularly those who think that 'environmentalism' is sufficient to that task." - Andrew Biro, Acadia University, Canada, author of Denaturalizing Ecological Politics (2005) and editor of Critical Ecologies: The Frankfurt School and Contemporary Environmental Crises (2011) "Stoner and Melathopoulos's book highlights the urgent need to situate climate change and related environmental issues and phenomena in the context of rigorous critical social theory. The challenge of ethically sound action geared towards 'saving the planet' (and, by implication, humanity) must be understood in light of and in relation to structural circumstances that thwart solutions to problems identified in the debate about the Anthropocene, on the basis of conscientious individual actions and decisions." - Harry F. Dahms, University of Tennessee Knoxville, USA, author of The Vitality of Critical Theory (2011)Table of ContentsPrologue: The Elusive Clarity of the Anthropocene Introduction: What is the Meaning of Freedom in the Anthropocene 1. Georg Lukács (1885-1971) and the Critique of Reification: On the Dialectical Genesis of the Great Acceleration 2. Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) and the Critique of Identity Thinking: The Great Acceleration as Historical Sedimentation 3. Moishe Postone (1942 - ) and the Critique of Traditional Marxism: Helplessness and the Present Moment of the Great Acceleration Conclusion: Contemporary Environmental Politics and the Necessity of Critical Theory References

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Book SynopsisWritten and edited by an authoritative team of internationally known experts in environmental impact assessment (EIA), this is the first book to present in a coherent manner the theory and practice of EIA and strategic environmental assessment (SEA) follow-up. Without some form of follow-up, the consequences of impact assessments and the environmental outcomes of development projects will remain unknown. Assessing Impact examines both EIA follow-up and the emerging practice of SEA follow-up, and showcases follow-up procedures in various countries throughout Europe, North America and Australasia. Theoretical and legislative perspectives are examined in the light of detailed case study examples, and the authors present a micro-, macro- and meta scale analysis of EIA practice ranging from individual plan and project level through to the jurisdictional level, as well as an analysis of the concept of EIA. Full coverage is given to the roles of proponents, both private and governmental, EIA regulators and the affected public in designing and executing follow-up programmes. This book is the must-have tool for impact assessment professionals, academics, regulators and proponents working on projects of all scales in all jurisdictions.Trade Review'This book will prove to be an invaluable reference and guide for EIA practitioners in industry, consultancies and regulatory agencies, as well as in the education and training sector' Paula Caldwell, Director General, Environmental Protection Service, Environment Canada 'This book is a must-have tool for impact assessment professionals, academics, regulators and proponents working on projects of all scales in all jurisdictions' MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY 'This edited text is a valuable addition to the rapidly growing guidance documentation on environmental impact assessment (EIA) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA)... the balanced approach adopted by the authors means that the text is likely to be of interest to a mixed readership. The authors successfully achieve the somewhat daunting task of providing specialist technical insight whilst at the same time establishing clear linkages with broader environmental planning debates.' Adam Barker, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Vol. 49, No. 3, 471 - 474, May 2006 'Assessing Impact is written for the practitioner. I expect that it ill be read eagerly by those who want to make sure that EIA and SEA make substantial contributions to ESD.' Ian Thomas, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Journal of Environmental management, March 2005Table of ContentsIntroduction to EIA Follow-up * Theoretical Perspectives on EIA and Follow-up * A Practical Framework for EIA Follow-up * Designing for EIA Follow-up: Experiences from the Netherlands * Appraising Effects of Mitigation Measures: The Grand Coulee Dam's Impacts on Fisheries * Can Industry Benefit from Participation in EIA-follow-up? The Scottish Experience * EIA Follow-up and Adaptive Management * The Independent Environmental Watchdog: A Canadian Experiment in EIA Follow-up * Learning by Doing: EIA Follow-up in Hong Kong * Follow-up in Current SEA Understanding * On Evaluating the Success of EIA and SEAL * Lessons for EIA Follow-up * Appendix 1: Framework for EIA Follow-up and Effectiveness and Performance Review (Adapted from Sadler, 1996) * Index

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Book SynopsisBiotechnology is the single most powerful bundle of new technologies currently under development. It is also the most intrusive and determinative technology relating to nature generally and the human body specifically. This Reader brings together some of the most important work from feminists and environmentalists critical of the headlong rush into what is likely to prove a technological minefield. As such it will be essential reading for students, scholars and activists in social studies of science, women‘s studies, development and environmental studies.Table of Contents Foreword Preface List of Contributors 1. Introduction: Mobilizing Critical Communities and Discourses on Modern Biotechnology - Ingunn Moser Part I: Biotechnology as Culture: (Re)constructions of Biology and Nature 2. Human Nature - Ruth Hubbard 3. Genes as Causes - Ruth Hubbard 4. Fractured Images of Science, Language and Power: A Post-Modern Optic, or Just Bad Eyesight? - Evelyn Fox Keller 5. Otherworldly Conversations, Terrain Topics, Local Terms - Donna Haraway Part II: Biohazards: Risk in Context 6. The Limits of Experimental Knowledge: A Feminist Perspective on the Ecological Risks of Genetic Engineering - Regine Kollek 7. Error-Friendliness and the Evolutionary Impact of Deliberate Release of GMOs - Christine von Weizsacker 8. The Greening of Biotechnology: GMOs as Environment-Friendly Products - Les Levidow and Joyce Tait Part III: Bioethics, Knowledge, and Ethics as Politics 9. Biosemiotics and Ethics - Jesper Hoffmeyer 10. A 'Genethics' that Makes Sense - Rosalyn Diprose 11. Whose Ethics for Agricultural Biotechnology? - Les Levidow Part IV: Biopolitics: The Political Ecology of Biotechnology 12. Biotechnological Development and the Conservation of Biodiversity - Vandana Shiva 13. Biotechnology, Patents and the Third World - Cary Fowler 14. Biotechnology and the Future of Agriculture - Nicanor Perlas 16. Epilogue: Beyond Redcutionism - Vandana Shiva Glossary A Select Guide to Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisWhen Richard Ryder coined the term 'speciesism' over two decades ago, the issue of animal rights was very much a minority concern that had associations with crankiness. Today, the animal rights movement is well-established across the globe and continues to gain momentum, with animal experimentation for medical research high on the agenda and very much in the news. This pioneering book - an historical survey of the relationship between humans and non-humans - paved the way for these developments. Revised, updated to include the movement's recent history and available in paperback for the first time, and now introducing Ryder's concept of 'painism', Animal Revolution is essential reading for anyone who cares about animals or humanity. Dr Richard D. Ryder is a psychologist, ethicist, historian and political campaigner. He is also a past chairman of the RSPCA. His other books include Victims of Science: The Use of Animals in Research, The Political Animal: The Conquest of Speciesism and Animal Welfare and the Environment (editor). As Mellon Professor, he taught Animal Welfare at Tulane University.Trade Review'A fascinating account of how animals have been regarded and treated from ancient times to the present day ... Buy this book for the history and the campaigning ... buy it for the psychology and the ideas too. Even if you don't agree with him, Ryder is never less than stimulating.' International Society for Applied Ethology Newsletter 'It would be difficult to find a text that provides a more comprehensive history of man's changing use and relationship to non-human animals.' 'A book full of valuable observations and insights? This book has something important to say and Richard Ryder knows how to say it.' Freethinker (2000) Richard Ryder analyses such springs of human conduct as machismo, stoicism and squeamishness. He has never been afraid to court controversy or to unleash uncomfortable new ideas. This is a bracing book. Times Literary Supplement As an introduction to the history of human exploitation of animals, and the increasingly effective attempts by the enlightened to make amends, this book cannot be bettered. Dr. Robert Garner - University of Leicester

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Book SynopsisJean Russell's inspiring and visionary new book challenges the 'breakdown thinking' that focuses only on defensive reactions to the economic, social, political, and environmental crises we face. In its place she proposes 'breakthrough thinking': an approach that recognizes the gritty reality we face but enables us to envision and co-create a world of wellbeing and health. Part I - Perceiving - looks at the stories we tell about our world and our limited ways of perceiving it. It shows how we can look at the bigger picture, recognise our blinkers/blinders and introduces the key ideas of systems and complexity thinking in this area. Part II - Understanding - outlines new tools for understanding ourselves and the social and data revolutions we are part of. It looks in particular at behavioural economics, human irrationality, leadership, organisational and social structures and data metrics. Part III - Doing - sets out ways we can take action together to create the world of the possible, a thriving world, a world that works. This section focuses on creativity, game dynamics (how to gamify the tasks we need to accomplish as individuals and as a society) and the Action Spectrum - a way of understanding how we can most effectively make interventions in any situation. The book is peppered with references, practical questions and exercises to bring thriving to your organization and way of life.Trade Review"This is a game changing book, literally - it moves us from a finite game world to an infinite game world. Jean Russell offers an inspiring and energizing call to action - daring us all to become thrivability agents. Her book shows us the profound limitations of threat-based narratives and calls all of us to collaboratively construct a new and powerful opportunity based narrative . Thrivability pulls us to work (and play) together in ways that generate exciting new possibilities and potential." John Hagel, Co-Chairman of the Center for the Edge and co-author of The Power of PullTable of ContentsIntroduction Thrivability Movements Part I: Perceiving Chapter 1: The Great Unfolding: Crisis and Opportunities The Economic Reality The Political Reality The Social Reality The Environmental Reality Chapter 2: Stories Perspectives Challenging Breakdown Thinking Stories That Inspire Greatness The Human Condition Chapter 3: How to See a Very Big Picture Zooming Context Cultivate Multiple Perspectives Time, Focus, and Values Chapter 4: Interconnected Systems and Patterns The Cynefin Framework Emergence Power Laws Part II: Understanding Chapter 5: Irrational People Care Refreshing our Models Behavioral Economics Positive Psychology Predictors Multiple Intelligences Chapter 6: Social Revolutions Communication Revolution Social Business Leading and Leaderless Organisms Network Organisms Diversity Governance in an Era of Connectivity Education in a Social World Chapter 7: Metrics and Data Evolutions Feedback Loops Data Collection Data Formats Data Presentation and Visualization The New Panopticon Part III: Doing Chapter 8: Creativity Serendipity Play Randomness Trust and Safety Chapter 9: Creating Together With Games Zero-Sum Games and Non-Zero-Sum Games Partially Rival Goods Game Dynamics Data Design and Incentives Chapter 10: Action Spectrum Limits to Causation The Action Spectrum Model

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Book SynopsisThe building of railways has had a profound but largely ignored physical impact on Britain's coasts. This book explores the coming of railways to the edge of Britain, the ruthlessness of the companies involved and the transformation of our coasts through the destruction or damage to the environment.Table of ContentsPreface; Chapter 1 Cometh the Railway; Chapter 2 Over the Edge; Chapter 3 The Edge of Collapse; Chapter 4 Across Salt Marsh, Mudflat, Slob and Sleech; Chapter 5 Removing Shingle from the Beach is Prohibited; Chapter 6 A Little Exercise of Observation and Reflection.

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Book SynopsisWhy is it that food prices are so high that millions of South African families go hungry, while the prices paid to farmers for that same food are so low that many cannot stay in business? Why are the people who produce food – farmworkers - among the most insecure of all? An Empty Plate analyses the state of the South African agri-food system.

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Book SynopsisEvery four days there are a million more people on the planet. More people and fewer resources. In this timely work, Alan Weisman examines how we can shrink our collective human footprint so that we don''t stomp any more species - including our own - out of existence. The answer: reducing gradually and non-violently the number of humans on the planet whose activities, industries and lifestyles are damaging the Earth. Defining an optimum human population for the Earth is an explosive concept. Weisman, one of the most brilliant environmental writers, will travel the globe, from the settlements of Israel and the plains of Mexico to the bustling streets of Pakistan and the teeming cities of the UK. In his search for answers, he will speak to religious leaders, demographers, ecologists, economists, engineers and agriculturalists in what promises to be an international classic.

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Book SynopsisA beautifully-written, fresh and creative guide to our ecological crisis bringing stories and ideas together from all over the globe.

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Book SynopsisThis unique and insightful text offers an exploration of the origins and subsequent development of the concept of just sustainability. Introducing Just Sustainabilities discusses key topics, such as food justice, sovereignty and urban agriculture; community, space, place(making) and spatial justice; the democratization of our streets and public spaces; how to create culturally inclusive spaces; intercultural cities and social inclusion; green-collar jobs and the just transition; and alternative economic models, such as co-production. With a specific focus on solutions-oriented policy and planning initiatives that specifically address issues of equity and justice within the context of developing sustainable communities, this is the essential introduction to just sustainabilities.Trade ReviewJulian Agyeman has produced a powerful new statement of the need to integrate justice and sustainability. Building on his own ground-breaking work, he analyses the key themes of food, space, place, and culture, showing how equity, justice and inclusion are fundamental to any enduring practical expression of sustainability. * Andrew Dobson, Professor of Politics, Keele University, and author of Citizenship and the Environment *In this beautifully written book, Julian Agyeman builds on his groundbreaking concept of just sustainabilities to include an exploration of how food, space, place, and culture shape our capacities to imagine and pursue a world of possibilities. From Bogota to Boston, he always asks the right questions and makes sure to consider the real world applications and implications of just sustainability. Agyeman also offers a bold and refreshing critique of reformist approaches to sustainability and social change. He presents a clear agenda for policy, planning, and practical pathways to co-produce societies in which we all are recognized and respected. * David Naguib Pellow, Don A. Martindale Professor of Sociology, University of Minnesota, and author of Resisting Global Toxics *Julian Agyeman has done more than any other scholar to emphasise the potential in the relationship between environmental justice and ecological sustainability. In this book, he explores the evolution and recent development of the crucial concept of just sustainability, in particular how it manifests itself in various aspects of our everyday lives. In doing so, Ageyman makes both the idea and practice of just sustainability more inclusive and salient to a new generation of students, activists, policy-makers, and environmental practitioners. * David Schlosberg, Professor of Environmental Politics, The University of Sydney *There’s lots to think about if we want to build cities that are culturally-inclusive and sustainable in the most comprehensive sense of that term. Julian Agyeman brings great passion, intelligence, and imagination to the task, and nicely primes the pump for the rest of us. * Dean Saitta, University of Denver *With this excellent book, Agyeman both consolidates and advances his ground-breaking work on just sustainabilities. Readers looking for a clear and concise review of the concept and underpinning ideas, as well as those wanting compelling examples of its practical application will be more than satisfied. * Professor Gordon Walker, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University *With Just Sustainabilities, Julian Agyeman again demonstrates why he is considered one of the world's foremost modern thinkers on the relationship between humanity and nature. By eloquently making the case that the loss of human potential is as detrimental to our future as the loss of environmental potential, Agyeman shows that we need to transform the way we treat each other as well as the planet. * Professor Mark Roseland, Director, Centre for Sustainable Community Development, Simon Fraser University, and author of Toward Sustainable Communities: Solutions for Citizens and Their Governments *Agyeman presents the issues involved in the movement, specifically as to how they relate to other social justice movements more focused on race and class. In the process, he provides an important, essential and convincing challenge to modern sustainablity movements and their approach to questions of race and class. It is to his further credit that he presents this challenge in a manner likely to move efforts inside those movements toward a synthesis that encompasses the intent of the movements while expanding the breadth of their base. * Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch *Agyeman's engaging analysis brings the concept of 'just sustainabilities' to the centre of the stage, right where it deserves to be. In this essential book, he brings together the literature on sustainability, particularly environmental sustainability, with that of environmental justice, illuminating the discussion throughout with cases where communities are striving to achieve just sustainability on the ground. Agyeman makes very clear the importance of cultural diversity and paying attention to the needs of situated identities. * Yvonne Rydin, Chair of Planning, Environment and Public Policy, and Director of the Environment Institute, University College London *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Introducing just sustainabilities 2. Food 3. Space and place 4. Culture Conclusions

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Book SynopsisZeno Hintermeier is a scientist working as a travel guide on an Antarctic cruise ship, encouraging the wealthy to marvel at the least explored continent and to open their eyes to its rapid degradation. It is a troubling turn in the life of an idealistic glaciologist. Now in his early sixties, Zeno bewails the loss of his beloved glaciers, the disintegration of his marriage, and the foundering of his increasingly irrelevant career. Troubled in conscience and goaded by the smug complacency of the passengers in his charge, he starts to plan a desperate gesture that will send a wake-up call to an overheating world.The Lamentations of Zeno is an extraordinary evocation of the fragile and majestic wonders to be found at a far corner of the globe, written by a novelist who is a renowned travel writer. Poignant and playful, the novel recalls the experimentation of high-modernist fiction without compromising a limpid sense of place or the pace of its narrative. It is a portrait of a man in extremis, a haunting and at times irreverent tale that approaches the greatest challenge of our age-perhaps of our entire history as a species-from an impassioned human angle.Trade ReviewThe best thing one could say of an author: he enriches us. -- Günter GrassThrilling, nuanced, and chillingly meditative . Ilija Trojanow has written a modern fable tinged with absurd humor, dramatizing the high stakes of our current climate gamble. -- Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World SpinThis is like the stream of consciousness of our planet's unraveling lifeworld, as channeled through its melting ice and a cruise ship naturalist in love with his doomed subject. Quick, dense, jagged, beautiful. -- Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the Mars TrilogyThe Lamentations of Zeno is electric, irresistible, well written and movingly topical. Ilija Trojanow, with several masterpieces to his name, never puts a foot wrong. He is as important a writer in this day and age as Günter Grass was for his-a joy to read. -- Nuruddin Farah, author of Hiding in Plain SightPerfectly paced, keenly insightful and wickedly funny, The Lamentations of Zeno is at once a much-needed indictment of the global climate crisis and a brilliant portrait of middle life. The Antarctic antics of Where'd You Go, Bernadette? meet the wit and wisdom of Herzog, with the politics ofFlight Behavior sprinkled on top: a treat! -- Taiye Selasi, author of Ghana Must GoThere is little that a novelist can tell us on the subject that we do not already know, but Trojanow gives the statistics and prognoses a human dimension . one of Europe's most original contemporary writers. * Times Literary Supplement *Trojanow harnesses his lyrical skill and wows the reader when he focuses on describing Zeno's exploration of the seemingly monochromatic yet thrilling landscape. The book is a sophisticated drama about a scientist's love for a continent that eludes his slippery hold. * Publishers Weekly *A topical polemic about global warming and climate change... The Lamentations of Zeno is half the length and twice as good [as Ian McEwan]. Trojanow has set out on a particular expedition: to unsettle. This wise, cunning book, which does indeed possess the complex depths of an iceberg, achieves exactly that. * Irish Times *The Lamentations of Zeno is a novel of existential dread... in contemplating the already accomplished destruction of habitats, the consumerism that marks nearly every human activity and the digital onslaught that has colonised our minds, the reader may discover that Zeno's soul-sickness speaks to some disquiet in his or her own battered soul. * Financial Times *Short, sharp, bitter, and very funny. -- Nicola Twilley * New Yorker *With a sharp ear for pop song lyrics and a love of glaciers, our antihero seems to be fighting a losing battle against climate change and the clueless humans who foster it. -- Jay Trachtenberg * Austin Chronicle *

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Book SynopsisThis book tells stories of how ordinary people in their everyday lives have responded to the challenges of living more sustainably. In these difficult times, we need stories that engage, enchant and inspire. Most of all, we need stories of practical changes, of community action, of changing hearts and minds.This is a book that takes the question, "What can I do?" and sets out to find some answers using one of our species' most vital skills: the ability to tell stories in which to spread knowledge, ideas, inspiration and hope.Read about the transformation of wasteland and the installation of water power, stories about reducing consumption and creating sustainable business, stories from people changing how they live their lives and the inner transformations this demands.Trade ReviewHistory tells us about our past. Stories tell us about our future. These very human testimonies from ordinary yet extraordinary people will help to chart the paths. -- Alastair McIntosh, author of Soil & SoulA treasure of transformative tales told by grass roots activists. -- Satish Kumar, editor of Resurgence & Ecologist magazineAll sorts of people from a rich variety of faiths and philosophies, have collaborated in this beautifully written anthology of prose and poetry to tell their inspiring stories of revolution: a turning away from a society dominated by the quest for economic growth, to one committed to justice and sustainability, a turning towards human flourishing and the well-being of all God's earth, a turning from a tired and destructive way of living to an unknown, but exciting and collaborative future. -- David Atkinson, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Southwark, formerly Bishop of ThetfordThe Great Turning ... is the essential adventure of our time. -- Joanna Macy, author, Coming Back to LifeThe story behind this inspirational book is itself an interesting story. It developed partly out of a lecture given by Joanna Macy at the University of Bath in which she had spoken about ways in which we could participate in the Great Turning away from the Industrial Growth Society. Joanna contributes the foreword, outlining five principles that form guidelines for the book: come with gratitude, don't be afraid of the dark, dare to vision, link arms with others, and act your age, stepping forward on behalf of the Earth. After trawling through various networks, potential contributors were invited to two writing workshops, which I am sure must have significantly influenced the quality of the writing, a striking aspect of this collection. The editors were looking for practical stories to engage, enchant and inspire. They have certainly succeeded in this quest, and any one of the stories could be used as an example. At the end, they reflect on the contributions in the light of Joanna Macy's principles outlined above. The honesty and integrity of the contributors shines through, and they have made challenging decisions that many of us might have avoided. One of the most engaging stories is of a couple deciding to move smallholding in Cornwall as a way of devising a more sustainable livelihood. They undergo many trials and tribulations, mainly connected with their livestock, but all this is recounted with delightful humour. Another story relates the persistence required to create a community garden and get past the regulations involved. Still others find themselves changing identity and career in order to be true to themselves. In every case, an inner transformation precedes the outer manifestation in action. The book shows that we can do something significant if we choose. -- David Lorimer, Scientific and Medical Network ReviewTable of ContentsForeword. Joanna Macy. Introduction. Peter Reason & Melanie Newman. 1. What Place is This? Story of a Garden. Annie Davy. 2. Finding My Place in the Great Turning. Kirsti Norris. 3. How to Build a Lifeboat. Celia Sousek. 4. Knickers to That!. Emma Kidd. 5. Material Girl Sees the Flaw. Christine Bone. 6. I Don't Want to be a Passenger in Life. Johannes Moeller. 7. A Journey to the Heart. Patrick Andrews. 8. The Truth Mandala. Claire Power. 9. Leaping Aboard: Onshore Volunteer Work with Sea Shepherd. Elizabeth Claire Alberts. 10. Water Power. Gil Chambers. 11. The Web of Life Community Art Project. Helen Moore. 12. Discovering that We Live in an Ancient and Beautiful Universe. Helena Kettleborough & Nora Kettleborough. 13. Cabbages & Cranes: Weaving Together People and Possibility. Jane Riddiford & Global Generation. 14. The Dignity of Difference. June Boyce-Tillman. 15. Lost in Transition. Nathan Baranowski & Iva Carrdus. 16. Ghdamajori: Migration, Work and our Horizons of Care. Rupesh Shah. Drawing Out Some Threads. Peter Reason & Melanie Newman.

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Book SynopsisIf you are a decent human being who believes in science, then IFLScience! How to F***ing Save the Planet is an absolutely essential read. It is easy to become overwhelmed by the bleak reality of impending climate crisis. However, this book is an irreverent guide to the difficulties that face us – and the steps that we can take to overcome them. Without flinching away from the hard science, IFLScience! How to F***ing Save the Planet explores all aspects of our environmental challenges. From an introduction to climate science and the history of the human carbon footprint, to descriptions of the systemic issues that our planet and its inhabitants are facing, this book cuts down absurd climate change myths and proposes real solutions that will cheer up even the gloomiest climate activist. Table of ContentsThe book includes rigorous scientific details to explain the issues that we face, while brightening the mood with humorous quotes, photos and illustrations, as well as IFLScience's irreverent style. The book covers all aspects of the climate issues that we face, explaining the science behind the problems and proposing solutions on both a macro and micro level.

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Book SynopsisAn attack on the idea that nature and society are impossible to distinguish from each otherIn a world careening towards climate chaos, nature is dead. It can no longer be separated from society. Everything is a blur of hybrids, where humans possess no exceptional agency to set them apart from dead matter. But is it really so? In this blistering polemic and theoretical manifesto, Andreas Malm develops a counterargument: in a warming world, nature comes roaring back, and it is more important than ever to distinguish between the natural and the social. Only with a unique agency attributed to humans can resistance become conceivable.Trade ReviewAndreas Malm's new masterpiece The Progress of This Storm fills an urgent need, as did his seminal Fossil Capital in 2016. In his earlier book, he demonstrated that the fossil capitalism was not preordained by God or Nature or Technology, and that the answer is system change not climate change. In his new study, he teaches us how we can transcend those fashionable, ecological philosophies, clouding our understanding, that stand in the way of the unity of environmental theory and practice. No more definitive work of its kind exists today. -- John Bellamy Foster, editor of Monthly Review, author of Marx’s EcologyAs the global crisis grows, it is more important than ever to understand the complex relationship between society and nature, but much of what passes for environmental theory generates more confusion than insight. Andreas Malm has written another essential contribution to ecological Marxism, a brilliant and clearly written polemic that demolishes constructionism, hybridism, postmodernism and related academic fads, and defends historical materialism as the only credible alternative -- Ian Angus, author of Facing the Anthropocene[The Progress of This Storm] is a major contribution to ecological Marxism, and, more broadly, to the development of a climate map that shows both the direction of the storm and the paths we must take to escape it. -- Ian Angus * Climate & Capitalism *The Progress of This Storm is a furious defense of dialectical thought, and of historical materialism as the theoretical lens appropriate for viewing global warming in all its social and natural complexity. -- Michael Robbins * Bookforum *The Progress of This Storm issues a welcome call to get serious about political agency. -- Alyssa Battistoni * Nation *Andreas Malm has a deep understanding of climate change, writes clearly, and presents a useful overview of environmental thought. He also introduces some compelling concepts of his own, with provocative implications for political struggle ... [The Progress of This Storm] is genuinely stirring in his militant calls to action. -- Dayton Martindale * Boston Review *Malm argues with impressive rigour and skill. * New Socialist *A powerful sketch of a political theory for a time of climate change. -- David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth

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Book SynopsisWhat were Socialist Spaces? The Eastern Bloc produced distinctive spaces, some of which were fashioned from ideological templates, such as the monumental parade grounds and Red Squares where communist leaders could receive tributes, or new factory cities with towering chimneys and glittering palaces of culture. But what of the grimy toilet in the communal apartment or the forlorn ruins left after the Second World War?This book explores the representation, meanings and uses of space in the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union between 1947 and 1991. The essays - written from different disciplinary perspectives - investigate the extent to which actual spaces conformed to the dominant political order in the region. Should, for instance, the creation of private spaces, such as the Russian dacha and the Czech chata, be understood as acts of appropriation in which lives were fashioned against the collective or, alternatively, as 'gifts' given by the State in return for quiescence? Whilst monuments and public spaces were designed to relay official ideology, one of the most notable features of the events that marked the end of the Bloc was the way that they became sites of dissent. Examining the myriad ways in which space was used and conceived within socialist society, this book makes an essential contribution to Eastern European and Soviet Studies and provides significant new angles on the factors that underpinned socialism's eventual downfall.Table of ContentsContents Notes on Contributors 1. Socialist Spaces: Sites of Everyday Life in the Eastern Bloc, David Crowley and Susan E. Reid 2. Accommodation and Agitation in Sevastopol: Redefining Socialist Space in the Postwar 'City of Glory', Karl D. Qualls 3. Living in the Russian Present with a German Past: The Problems of Identity in the City of Kaliningrad, Olga Sezneva 4. The Role of Monumental Sculpture in the Construction of Socialist Space in Stalinist Hungary, Reuben Fowkes 5. Wandering the Streets of Socialism: A Discussion of the Street Photography of Arno Fischer and Ursula Arnold, Astrid Ihle 6. Soviet Exurbia: Dachas in Postwar Russia, Stephen Lovell 7. Weekend Getaways: the Chata, the Tramp and the Politics of Private Life in post-1968 Czechoslovakia, Paulina Bren 8. Khrushchev's Children's Paradise: The Pioneer Palace, Moscow, 1958@62, Susan E. Reid 9. Warsaw Interiors: The Public Life of Private Spaces, 1949@65, David Crowley 10. Public Privacy in the Soviet Communal Apartment, Katerina Gerasimova 11. Curtains: Decor for the End of Empire, Mark A. Svede Notes on Contributors Paulina Bren Paulina Bren, doctoral candidate at New York University, is currently working on a cultural history of post-Prague Spring Czechoslovakia. She has written extensively on the politics of popular and material culture and its intersections with late communism and ideology in East-Central Europe. David Crowley David Crowley teaches the history of design at the Royal College of Art, London. He is the author of various books including National Style and Nation-state. Design in Poland from the Vernacular Revival (MUP, 1992) and is co-editor, with Susan Reid, of Style and Socialism: Modernity and Material Culture in Postwar Eastern Europe (Berg, 2000). Moving Warsaw, a book on the reconstruction of the Polish capital, will be published by Reaktion Books in 2003. Reuben Fowkes Reuben Fowkes is a doctoral candidate at Essex University, and currently working on art and politics in postwar Eastern Europe. He has written widely on communist-era monumental sculpture in relation to war memorials, the cult of Stalin and the New Man and Woman of the socialist utopia. Katerina Gerasimova Katerina Gerasimova received her candidate degree in sociology from the European University at St Petersburg and is an associated researcher at the European University and researcher in the Centre for Independent Social Research in St Petersburg. She is the author of 'Soviet communal apartment' in J. Smith, ed., Beyond the Limits: The Concept of Space in Russian History and Culture (Helsinki: Studia Historica (62), 1999) and several articles on the history and sociology of housing in St Petersburg in Russian- language journals. Astrid Ihle Astrid Ihle is currently completing her Ph.D. on 'GDR Women Photographers. 1949@1961' at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, England. She worked as assistant to the director of the gallery EIGEN + ART in Berlin from 1995 to 1998. She was curator of Louise Bourgeois. Drawings and Sculptures at the Paula Bottcher Gallery, Berlin, 1999, and is curating an exhibition of photographs by Evelyn Richter at the Goethe-Institut in New York (autumn 2002). Stephen Lovell Stephen Lovell is a lecturer in European history at King's College London. He is the author of The Russian Reading Revolution: Print Culture in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Eras (2000), and of Summerfolk: A History of the Dacha, 1710-2000 (Cornell University Press, forthcoming). Karl D. Qualls Karl D. Qualls received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University and is assistant professor of history at Dickinson College. He is the author of 'Local-Outsider Negotiations in Sevastopol's Postwar Reconstruction, 1944@53', in P

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Book SynopsisLand Art and Climate Action: Designing the 21st Century City Park highlights regenerative artworks that respond to this pivotal moment in human history and inspire viewers to embrace the beauty, abundance, and cultural vibrancy of a world that has left fossil fuels behind. Featuring three hundred color images, the book includes essays by Robert Ferry, Peter Kurz, Elizabeth Monoian, Alessandra Scognamiglio, and Sven Stremke to bring attention to design projects and landscape architecture where environmentalism is part of the concept, not an afterthought.

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Book SynopsisThis book presents an archaeological case of prehistoric human environmental impact: a study of ecological and cultural change from the arid south coast of Peru, beginning around 750 BC and culminating in a collapse during the Middle Horizon, around AD 900. Its focus is the lower Ica Valley - today depopulated and bereft of cultivation and yet with archaeological remains attesting to substantial prehistoric occupations - thereby presenting a prima facie case for changed environmental conditions. Previous archaeological interpretations of cultural changes in the region rely heavily on climatic factors such as El Niño floods and long droughts. While the archaeological, geomorphological and archaeobotanical records presented here do indeed include new evidence of huge ancient flood events, they also demonstrate the significance of more gradual, human-induced destruction of Prosopis pallida (huarango) riparian dry-forest. The huarango is a remarkable leguminous hardwood that lives for overTable of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. The South Coast Desert ; 3. A Lost Landscape - Ancient Settlement of Ullujaya and Samaca ; 4. Tracing Landscape Change - The Geomorphological Record ; 5. Tracing Human Ecology - The Archaeobotanical and Malacological Record ; 6. Deforestation ; 7. The Huarango - The Genus Prosopis on the South Coast ; 8. The Huarango in Desert Riparian and Agricultural Ecosystems ; 9. The Sonoran Desert - An Ethnoecological Analogue ; 10. Putting the Tree Back into the Landscape

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Book SynopsisDepicts in nontechnical terms the root causes and global environmental effects of human behavior. This title describes trends in population growth, resource use, and global environmental impacts such as greenhouse effects, ozone depletion, water pollution, and species extinctions and introductions.Trade ReviewA useful volume in the ongoing dialogue about humankind's impact on ecosystems and worldwide environmental problems... Recommended. ChoiceTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments 1. Collision Course: An Expanding Appetite for Resources Coupled with Population Growth on a Finite Planet 2. The Insidious Explosion: Global Trends in Population Growth and Resource Use Expand Our Footprint 3. Shock Wave from the Insidious Explosion: Momentum of the Human Footprint on Our Planet 4. Weeds and Shrinking Violets: Pests on the Move and the Ecological Holocaust 5. Survival on a Finite Earth: The Ultimate Game, or Why Human Nature Destines Us to Use More Than Our Share 6. Why Humans Foul the Nest: Cultural and Genetic Roots Run Deep 7. Searching for Answers: Can We Achieve Sustainability, or Are We Screwed? 8. No More Business as Usual: Transcendence, Enlightenment, Rationalization, Hope, and Action 9. Consilience: Socioenvironmental Restoration and Sustainable Inhabitation of Earth Appendix 1. Data Sources Used to Make Graphs Appendix 2. Reading the Graphs in This Book Appendix 3. Putting Global Environmental Impact into a Quantitative Framework That Links Impact and Behavior Appendix 4. Some Charitable Organizations Involved with Global Environmental Issues Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThomas Berry (1914–2009) was one of the twentieth century’s most prescient and profound thinkers. The first biography of Berry, this book illuminates his remarkable vision and its continuing relevance for achieving transformative social change and environmental renewal.Trade ReviewA warm celebration of an environmentalist whose ideas are increasingly relevant. * Kirkus Reviews *A truly magisterial work and magnificent book. -- Ursula King * Times Higher Education *I urge you to pick up this book and read it cover to cover. -- Thomas Crowe * Smoky Mountain News *Thomas Berry: A Biography is essential reading. -- J. Milburn Thompson * Today's American Catholic *Senior authored by two of his graduate students, the volume thoroughly documents Berry’s sources, experiences, and philosophical positions. -- Susan P. Bratton, Environmental Science, Baylor University, Waco, Texas * Quarterly Review of Biology *A tour de force biography: Thomas Berry was one of the most important thinkers on humanity and our trajectory on this wondrous living planet—and indeed in the journey of the universe. This is a book written with love and clarity that belongs on everyone’s required reading list. Read it and you will understand one of the most inspiring persons of our time—and it will change how you think about the future. -- Thomas E. Lovejoy, University Professor, George Mason UniversityThis is a book one has waited impatiently for: some of our finest environmental historians of religion telling the epic intellectual and human story of Thomas Berry. Most biographies illuminate the past, but this one helps chart the course for our future. -- Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?To a bewildered world, Thomas Berry offers a moral compass. To a fragmented world, he offers the convergence of scientific and spiritual worldviews in a new story of the evolutionary unity of humans and the cosmos. For a despairing world, he offers meaning and hope in lives of Great Work. For a suffering world, he offers a new jurisprudence of Earth rights. As Thomas Berry was a brilliant, erudite, joyous person who changed the world, so this biography is a brilliant, erudite, joyous book that will change your life. -- Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Great Tide Rising: Towards Clarity and Moral Courage in a Time of Planetary ChangeIn this new biography of Thomas Berry, the authors provide a rich, comprehensive narrative of one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century . . . This is an important book at a time when climate change remains politically divisive and global warming continues unabated. -- Ilia Delio, OSF, Villanova University * American Catholic Studies *To read this magnificent biography is to encounter the evolution of greatness, for Thomas Berry was truly one of the remarkable people of the twentieth century. The distinguished authors chronicle his early life to his study of the world’s religions, to the tragedy of ecological loss and the story of the unfolding universe. This is followed by a series of fascinating essays probing Berry's large intellectual legacy. Throughout, Berry's decency and humanity, as well as his courage, are vividly displayed. I found this book to be a joy and an inspiration. -- James Gustave Speth, cofounder of the Natural Resources Defense Council and former administrator of the United Nations Development ProgrammeIn my first meeting with Thomas Berry, I sensed a depth of wisdom that was comprehensive and unique. This initial intuition only deepened as we worked together over decades. There is no better pathway into his vision than this profound biography. -- Brian Thomas Swimme, coauthor, with Thomas Berry, of The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era—A Celebration of the Unfolding of the CosmosThis book gives tribute to an important thinker who influenced and shaped the fields of cross-cultural studies, religion, and ecology in the twentieth century. The intellectual endeavor of Thomas Berry articulates the failings of the Eurocentric nation-state model and urges listening to the unintended consequences of human hegemony over the natural order of the world. -- Christopher Key Chapple, Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology, Loyola Marymount UniversityEvery now and again a book comes along that I simply can't put down and one that I've just read through and through is titled Thomas Berry: A Biography. -- Marc Bekoff Ph.D. * Psychology Today Animal Emotions Blog *This biography beautifully shows us the unfolding life of a great religious, philosophical and ecological teacher, one who was also - as I know from direct experience - immensely kind, humorous and generous. * Paradigm Explorer *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Thomas Berry and the Arc of History1. An Independent Youth2. The Call to Contemplation3. Studying History and Living History4. The Struggle to Teach5. From Human History to Earth History6. From New Story to Universe Story7. Evoking the Great Work8. Coming HomeInterlude: The Arc of a Life9. Narratives of Time10. Teilhard and the Zest for Life11. Confucian Integration of Cosmos, Earth, and Humans12. Indigenous Traditions of the Giving EarthEpilogueAppendix: Thomas Berry Timeline, 1914–2009NotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe first study of social processes in contemporary highland Maya communities to encompass a regional view of the highlands of Chiapas as a system.Table of Contents Preface 1. Introduction 2. Forms of Land Utilization 3. Land and the Family 4. Land Inheritance in Apas 5. Soil Erosion in Chamula 6. Marginality 7. Ethnicity 8. The Refuge-Region Hypothesis 9. National Indianism and Indian Nationalism 10. Conclusion Appendix: Methodology Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAs human activity and environmental change come to be increasingly recognized as intertwined phenomena on a rapidly urbanizing planet, the field of urban ecology has risen to offer useful ways of thinking about coupled human and natural systems.On the forefront of this discipline is Marina Alberti, whose innovative work offers a conceptual framework for uncovering fundamental laws that govern the complexity and resilience of cities, which she sees as key to understanding and responding to planetary change and the evolution of Earth. Bridging the fields of urban planning and ecology, Alberti describes a science of cities that work on a planetary scale and that links unpredictable dynamics to the potential for innovation. It is a science that considers interactions - at all scales - between people and built environments and between cities and their larger environments.Cities That Think like Planets advances strategies for planning a future that may look very

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[An] intellectually adventurous, wide-ranging, and boldly integrative study." * Foreign Affairs *

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Book SynopsisOffers a broad understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by scientists, managers, and conservationists in the northern portion of the North Pacific rainforestTrade Review"The book is well written, thoroughly researched, and balanced in its approach to conservation and responsible forest management . . .I highly recommend this book." -- Dominick A. DellaSala * Artic *"[North Pacific temperate rainforests] comprehensively examines the ecosystems that hug the West Coast of North America. The editors and contributors provide a multidisciplinary overview of what they argue are key issues associated with conservation and management of this economically, social, and spiritually important biome. . . . Summing Up: Recommended." * Choice *Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments / Gordon Orians and John Schoen 1. Introduction / Gordon H. Orians, John W. Schoen, Jerry F. Franklin, and Andy MacKinnon 2. Island Life: Coming to Grips with the Insular Nature of Southeast Alaska and Adjoining Coastal British Columbia / Joseph A. Cook and Stephen O. MacDonald 3. Riparian Ecology, Climate Change, and Management in North Pacific Coastal Rainforests / Rick T. Edwards, David V. D'Amore, Erik Norberg, and Frances Biles 4. Natural Disturbance Patterns in the Temperate Rainforests of Southeast Alaska and Adjacent British Columbia / Paul Alaback, Gregory Nowacki, and Sari Saunders 5. Indigenous and Commercial Uses of the Natural Resources of the North Pacific Rainforest with a Focus on Southeast Alaska and Haida Gwaii / Lisa K. Crone and Joe R. Mehrkens Photo Gallery 6. Succession Debt and Roads: Short- and Long-Term Effects of Timber Harvest on a Large-Mammal Predator-Prey Community in Southeast Alaska / David K. Person and Todd J. Brinkman 7. Concepts of Conservation Biology Applied to Wildlife in Old-Forest Ecosystems, with Special Reference to Southeast Alaska and Northern Coastal British Columbia / Bruce G. Marcot 8. Why Watersheds: Evaluating the Protection of Undeveloped Watersheds as a Conservation Strategy in Northwestern North America / Ken Lertzman and Andy MacKinnon 9. Variable Retention Harvesting in North Pacific Temperate Rainforests / William J. Beese 10. Synthesis / Gordon H. Orians, John W. Schoen, Jerry F. Franklin, and Andy MacKinnon Literature Cited Author Biographies Index

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