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Soils, Plants and Clay Minerals
by Pierre Barré Pierre VeldeThis book considers the inter-relations between plants and minerals in an entirely new way, in that it introduces the notion of eco-engineering: i.e. the manipulation of the mineral world by the living world to the ends of the living world. These inter-relations are the basis for traditional agriculture and should be the basis for new, ecologically oriented land management disciplines, including agriculture itself. These relations also have an impact on surface geochemistry and determine pollution problems. A better understanding of this concept will lead to a renewed consideration of surface environmental problems.
SOS Adventure: Fire Storm
by Colin BatemanMichael and Katya have travelled with the SOS team to bring fresh water to a small island in the Phillipines. But a series of small earthquakes bring warning that the long-dormant volcano that dominates the island is about to explode back into life. Michael and Katya are in for the most thrilling adventure of their lives ...
SOS Adventure: Icequake
by Colin BatemanBaring Island, the Canadian Arctic.Michael and Katya are alone, in the middle of a blizzard.There are wolves snapping at their heels, and somewhere ahead of them, a gigantic polar bear with the taste for human blood.They've come with the SOS team in search of a missing satellite, but now they're just struggling to stay alive.
SOS Adventure: Tusk
by Colin BatemanDeep in Africa, Michael and Katya are in desperate danger. The SOS team is having a spot of rest and relaxation - all except its two newest members. Michael and Katya are on a trek through the jungle, where they are threatened by lions, elephants, ivory poachers ... and someone much more unexpected.
Soul of a Lion: One Woman's Quest to Rescue Africa's Wildlife Refugees
by Barbara BennettIt chronicles the unique Harnas Wildlife Foundation in Namibia, where Marieta van der Merwe and her family, former wealthy cattle farmers, have sold land to buy and care for embattled wildlife.
The Sound Of A Wild Snail Eating
by Elisabeth Tova BaileyIn a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, Elisabeth Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her uncommon encounter with a Neohelix albolabris --a common woodland snail. <P><P> While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. As a result, she discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this mysterious creature brings and comes to a greater under standing of her own confined place in the world. <P> Intrigued by the snail's molluscan anatomy, cryptic defenses, clear decision making, hydraulic locomotion, and mysterious courtship activities, Bailey becomes an astute and amused observer, providing a candid and engaging look into the curious life of this underappreciated small animal. <P> Told with wit and grace, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a remarkable journey of survival and resilience, showing us how a small part of the natural world illuminates our own human existence and provides an appreciation of what it means to be fully alive.
Sparking a Worldwide Energy Revolution
by Kolya AbramskyAs the earth's carrying capacity continues to be stressed, the question of renewable energies is no longer whether, but when and by whom. Climate change and peak oil have hit the mainstream. Kolya Abramsky's collection maps the world's energy sector and shows how addressing these challenges necessitates an analysis of our economic priorities. Solutions must include massive shifts in our use of technologies and, most importantly, a democratization of the economic landscape based on broad new coalitions.With four distinct sections-Oil Makes the World Go 'Round; From Petrol to Renewable Energies; Struggle Over Choice of Energy Sources and Technologies; and Possible Futures-and over fifty essays from approximately twenty countries, there's nothing like Sparking a Worldwide Energy Revolution to address our global energy crisis.The different chapters bring together a wealth of organizational and analytical experience from across the different branches of the energy sector, both conventional and renewable. Contributors include the following organizations and individuals: China Labour Bulletin (Hong Kong/China), Energy Watch Group (Germany), Focus on the Global South (Thailand), Integrated Sustainable Energy and Ecological Development (India), Public Services International Research Unit (United Kingdom), World Information Service on Energy (Netherlands), Preben Maegaard, and Hermann Scheer.Kolya Abramsky is a former secretariat of the World Wind Energy Institute, based in Denmark, a pioneering country in renewable energy. He is currently a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society in Austria, and is pursuing a PhD in sociology at State University of New York, Binghamton.
Spring Surprises (Step into Reading)
by Anna Jane Hays Hala Swearingen WittwerSay goodbye to winter and celebrate all the fun and exciting surprises springtime offers—like flying kites, making mud pies, watching new baby animals take their first steps, and dancing among the raindrops! This joyful ode to all things spring is filled with easy-to-decode rhymed text and bright, inviting art. Spring Surprises includes two sheets of stickers.
State of the Wild 2010-2011: A Global Portrait (State of the Wild #3)
by Eva Fearn Ward WoodsState of the Wild is a biennial series that brings together international conservation experts and writers to discuss emerging issues in the conservation of wildlife and wild places. Each volume in the series combines evocative writings with a fascinating tour of conservation news highlights and vital statistics from around the world. One-third of each volume focuses on a topic of particular concern to conservationists. This 2010-2011 edition considers how destabilization and war affect wildlife and wild places. Only recently has the international community begun to appreciate the cost of conflict--simmering tension, war, and reconstruction--on the natural world. This special section examines the role that conservation plays in the context of human conflict considering issues such as, Can the work of saving wildlife and wild places help ameliorate tensions? Can conservation deepen political understanding? Can conservation help in post-conflict situations? The book's twenty essays are intermixed with poetry and beautiful photos that capture our connection to the wild. State of the Wild's accessible approach educates a wide range of audiences while at the same time presenting leading-edge scientific overviews of hot topics in conservation. Uniquely structured with magazine-like features up front, conservation news in the middle, and essays from eminent authors and experienced scientists throughout, this landmark series is an essential addition to any environmental bookshelf.
State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures From Consumerism to Sustainability (State of the World)
by The Worldwatch InstituteLike a tsunami, consumerism has engulfed human cultures and Earth's ecosystems. Left unaddressed, we risk global disaster. But if we channel this wave, intentionally transforming our cultures to center on sustainability, we will not only prevent catastrophe, but may usher in an era of sustainability--one that allows all people to thrive while protecting, even restoring, Earth. In State of the World 2010, sixty renowned researchers and practitioners describe how we can harness the world's leading institutions--education, the media, business, governments, traditions, and social movements--to reorient cultures toward sustainability.
Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)
by Diana Secker TesdellA gathering of the best maritime fiction from the last two hundred years: tales of shipwrecks and storms at sea, of creatures from the deep, of voyages that test human limits on the wild and limitless waters. <p><p> Classic adventures stories by Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, Stephen Crane, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jack London mix with marvelously imaginative tales by Isak Dinesen, Patricia Highsmith, and J. G. Ballard. Robert Olen Butler explores the memories of a Titanic victim who has become part of the sea that swallowed him; Ray Bradbury’s “The Fog Horn” summons something primeval and lonely from the ocean depths; John Updike’s vacationing lovers retrace the route of Homer’s Odyssey on a cruise ship. From Edgar Allan Poe’s dramatic “A Descent into the Maelstrom” to Ernest Hemingway’s chilling “After the Storm” to Mark Helprin’s heartbreaking “Sail Shining in White,” the stories here are as wide-ranging and entrancing as the sea itself.
Storm Below
by Hugh Garner Paul StueweOriginally published in 1949, Storm Below tells the story of a fictional Royal Canadian Navy ship and its crew. The adventure unfolds over six days of an escort run across the Atlantic Ocean to Newfoundland during the Second World War. The ship, the HMCS Riverford, is a composite of the vessels, mostly corvettes, that author Hugh Garner served on during his time in the Canadian navy, and the Canadian sailors whose experiences he relates are masterfully drawn from the crewmen he knew during his months at sea. In his preface to Storm Below, his first novel, Garner says: "It takes all kinds to make a world, and it also takes all kinds to make a war – or fight one after some of the others make it…. They [his characters] are not even ’typical’ sailors, if such exist. All I can say to justify them is that they are drawn in the image of hundreds who made up the Royal Canadian Navy. They do not need an apology – they were out there, and we won."
The Stormchasers
by Jenna BlumTwins are forced to confront a violent secret from their past in Jenna Blum's first novel since her runaway bestseller, Those Who Save Us. How far would you go to protect a sibling - and at what cost to yourself? In Those Who Save Us, Jenna Blum proved herself a master storyteller with brilliant insight into the spectrum of human emotion. Now, Blum turns her sights to the most intimate and mysterious of family relationships - that between twins - in her powerful and provocative second novel. As a teenager, Karena Jorge had always been the one to look out for her twin brother Charles, who suffers from bipolar disorder. But as Charles begins to refuse medication and his manic tendencies worsen, Karena finds herself caught between her loyalty to her brother and her fear for his life. Always obsessed with the weather - enraptured by its magical unpredictability that seemed to mirror his own impulses - Charles starts chasing storms, and his behavior grows increasingly erratic. . . until a terrifying storm chase with Karena ends with deadly consequences, tearing the twins apart and changing both of their lives forever. Two decades later, Karena gets a call from a psychiatric ward in Wichita, Kansas, to come pick up her brother, whom she hasn't seen or spoken to for twenty years. She soon discovers that Charles has lied to the doctors, taken medication that could make him dangerously manic, and disappeared again. Having exhausted every resource to try and track him down, Karena realizes she has only one last chance of finding him: the storms. Wherever the tornadoes are, that's where he'll be. Karena joins a team of professional stormchasers - passionate adventurers who will transform her life and give her a chance at love and redemption - and embarks on an odyssey to find her brother before he reveals the violent secret from their past and does more damage to himself. . . or to someone else.
The Story of Brutus: My Life with Brutus the Bear and the Grizzlies of North America
by Casey AndersonThe heart-warming story of the incredible friendship between National Geographic star Casey Anderson and an 800-pound grizzly bear named Brutus. Casey Anderson, the host of National Geographic's Expedition Grizzly, met a month-old bear cub in a wildlife preserve in 2002, whom he affectionately named Brutus. Little Brutus was destined to remain in captivity or, more likely, even euthanized due to overpopulation at the preserve. Anderson, already an expert in animal rescue and rehabilitation, just could not let that happen to Brutus, who looked like a "fuzzy Twinkie." From the beginning it was clear something special existed between the two. And so, Anderson built the Montana grizzly encounter in Bozeman, Montana, especially for Brutus, so that he, and others like him, could grow up "being a bear." And so the love story began. When together, Anderson and Brutus will wrestle, swim, play, and continue to act as advocates for grizzly protection and education, be it through documentaries like Expedition Grizzly, appearances on Oprah or Good Morning America, or in this inspiring book, which promises to be an intimate look into Anderson's relationship with Brutus and a call to action to protect these glorious animals and the natural world they live in. The Story of Brutus proves that love and friendship knows no bounds and that every care must be taken to protect one of nature's noblest creatures.
The Story of Stuff: The Impact of Overconsumption on the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health—and How We Can Make It Better
by Annie LeonardA classic exposé in company with An Inconvenient Truth and Silent Spring, The Story of Stuff expands on the celebrated documentary exploring the threat of overconsumption on the environment, economy, and our health. Leonard examines the &“stuff&” we use everyday, offering a galvanizing critique and steps for a changed planet.The Story of Stuff was received with widespread enthusiasm in hardcover, by everyone from Stephen Colbert to Tavis Smiley to George Stephanopolous on Good Morning America, as well as far-reaching print and blog coverage. Uncovering and communicating a critically important idea—that there is an intentional system behind our patterns of consumption and disposal—Annie Leonard transforms how we think about our lives and our relationship to the planet.From sneaking into factories and dumps around the world to visiting textile workers in Haiti and children mining coltan for cell phones in the Congo, Leonard, named one of Time magazine’s 100 environmental heroes of 2009, highlights each step of the materials economy and its actual effect on the earth and the people who live near sites like these.With curiosity, compassion, and humor, Leonard shares concrete steps for taking action at the individual and political level that will bring about sustainability, community health, and economic justice. Embraced by teachers, parents, churches, community centers, activists, and everyday readers, The Story of Stuff will be a long-lived classic.
The Struggle for Sustainability in Rural China: Environmental Values and Civil Society
by Bryan TiltThough China's economy is projected to become the world's largest within the next twenty years, industrial pollution threatens both the health of the country's citizens and the natural resources on which their economy depends. Capturing the consequences of this reality, Bryan Tilt conducts an in-depth, ethnographic study of Futian Township, a rural community reeling from pollution. The industrial township is located in the populous southwestern province of Sichuan. Three local factories-a zinc smelter, a coking plant, and a coal-washing plant-produce air and water pollution that far exceeds the standards set by the World Health Organization and China's Ministry of Environmental Protection. Interviewing state and company officials, factory workers, farmers, and scientists, Tilt shows how residents cope with this pollution and how they view its effects on health and economic growth. Striking at the heart of the community's environmental values, he explores the intersection between civil society and environmental policy, weighing the tradeoffs between protection and economic growth. Tilt ultimately finds that the residents are quite concerned about pollution, and he investigates the various strategies they use to fight it. His study unravels the complexity of sustainable development within a rapidly changing nation.
Succulent Container Gardens: Design Eye-Catching Displays with 350 Easy-Care Plants
by Debra Lee BaldwinDefine your individual style. With their colorful leaves, sculptural shapes, and simple care, succulents are beautiful yet forgiving plants for pots. If grown in containers, these dry-climate jewels—which include but are not limited to cacti—can be brought indoors in winter and so can thrive anywhere in the world. In this inspiring compendium, the popular author of Designing with Succulents provides everything beginners and experienced gardeners need to know to create stunning container displays of exceptionally waterwise plants. The extensive palette includes delicate sedums, frilly echeverias, cascading senecios, edgy agaves, and fat-trunked beaucarneas, to name just a few. Easy-to-follow, expert tips explain soil mixes, overwintering, propagation, and more.
Summer According to Humphrey (According to Humphrey #6)
by Betty G. BirneyIn his sixth adventure, Humphrey heads off for the great outdoors. <P> When Humphrey hears that school is ending, he panics. School ends? What's a classroom hamster to do if he's not in school? <P><P>But as it turns out, there's something thrilling in store for Humphrey and Og the frog: going to Camp Happy Hollow with Ms. Mac and lots of the kids from Room 26! <P>Camper Humphrey meets a friendly wild mouse, tracks down Og when he gets lost by the lake, and uses his wily charm to help kids adjust to cabin life and make new friends. <P>There are many fun things to do at the end of the story. Everyone's favorite classroom pet keeps entertaining kids across the nation, and his books have won eight state awards and were nominated for fourteen others.
The Summer Vacation from the Black Lagoon (Black Lagoon Adventures)
by Mike ThalerAfter getting so bundled up that he can hardly move, Hubie tries to enjoy his snow day off from school.
The Summit
by Eric AlexanderIt's one of the greatest challenges one can face on Earth: an ascent to the top of the world on the slopes of Mount Everest. Eric Alexander experienced grace and a faith-empowering journey he will never forget as part of a record-setting team in May 2001, scaling the heights of Everest with his friend, blind climber Erik Weihenmayer. Experience some of the most dangerous locations in the world, including abject terror on Ama Dablam, a blind ski descent of Russia's Mount Elbrus, and up Kilimanjaro in Africa with four blind teens Gain wisdom in the application of trust, courage, innovation, teamwork, leadership, and integrity to overcome your own Everests. Discover practical faith lessons learned on the highest peaks of six continents. Here is the powerful story of Eric Alexander and his unique life journey of guiding people with disabilities as they overcome the most perilous places of the world. Follow in their footsteps, and learn about faith, trust, prayer, depending on God, as well as the perseverance needed in your own life. Be inspired and motivated by Eric's insight, not simply to survive but to thrive every day in God's grace.
Swan
by Mary OliverWidely regarded as the "rock star" of American poetry, Mary Oliver is a writer whose words have long had the power to move countless readers. Regularly topping the national poetry best-seller list and drawing thousands to her sold-out readings across the coutnry, Oliver is unparalleled in her impact. As noted in the Los Angeles Times, so many "go to her for solace, regeneration and inspiration" that it is not surprising Vice President Joe Biden chose to read one of her poems during the 9/11 remembrance at Ground Zero. Few poets express the complexities of human experience as skillfully as Mary Oliver. This volume, Oliver's twenty-first book of poetry, contains all new poems on her classic themes. Here, readers will find the deep spiritual sustenance that imbues her writing on nature, love, mortality, and grief. As always, Oliver is an accomplished guide to the rarest and most exquisite insights of the natural world. Ranking "among the finest poets the English language has ever produced," according to the Weekly Standard, Oliver offers us lyrics of great depth and beauty that continue her lifelong work of loving the world.
Systems Practice: How to Act
by Ray IsonIt is now accepted that humans are changing the climate of the Earth and this is the most compelling amongst a long litany of reasons as to why, collectively, we have to change our ways of thinking and acting. Most people now recognise that we have to be capable of adapting quickly as new and uncertain circumstances emerge: this capability will need to exist at personal, group, community, regional, national and international levels, all at the same time. Systems Practice is structured into four parts. Part I introduces the societal need to move towards a more systemic and adaptive governance against the backdrop of human-induced climate change. Part II unpacks what is involved in systems practice by means of a juggler metaphor; examining situations where systems thinking offers useful understanding and opportunities for change. Part III identifies the main factors that constrain the uptake of systems practice and makes the case for innovation in practice by means of systemic inquiry, systemic action research and systemic intervention. The book concludes with Part IV, which critically examines how systems practice is, or might be, utilised at different levels from the personal to the societal. The development of our capabilities to think and act systemically is an urgent priority and Systems Practice aims to show how to do systems thinking and translate that thinking into praxis (theory informed practical action) which will be welcomed by those managing in situations of complexity and uncertainty across all domains of professional and personal concern.
Taking Back Eden: Eight Environmental Cases that Changed the World
by Oliver A. HouckTaking Back Eden is the gripping tale of an idea--that ordinary people have the right to go to court to defend their environment--told through the stories of lawsuits brought in eight countries around the world. Starting in the United States in the l960's, this idea is now traveling the planet, with impacts not just on imperiled environments but on systems of justice and democracy. It has brought people back into the question of governing the quality of their lives. Author Oliver Houck describes the sites under contention in their place and time, the people who rose up, their lawyers, strategies, obstacles, setbacks and victories. Written for general readers, students, and lawyers alike, Taking Back Eden tells the stories of a lone fisherman intent on protecting the Hudson River, a Philippine lawyer boarding illegal logging ships from the air, the Cree Indian Nation battling for its hunting grounds, and a civil rights attorney who set out to save the Taj Mahal. The cases turn on Shinto and Hindu religions, dictatorships in Greece and Chile, regime changes in Russia, and on a remarkable set of judges who saw a crisis and stepped up to meet it in similar ways. Spontaneously, without communication among each other, their protagonists created a new brand of law and hope for a more sustainable world.
Taking Stock of Nature: Participatory Biodiversity Assessment for Policy, Planning and Practice
by Anna LawrenceIn a world of increasing demands for biodiversity information, participatory biodiversity assessment and monitoring is becoming more significant. Whilst other books have focused on methods, or links to conservation or development, this book is written particularly for policy makers and planners. Introductory chapters analyze the challenges of the approach, the global legislation context, and the significance of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Specially commissioned case studies provide evidence from 17 countries, by 50 authors with expertise in both biological and social sciences. Ranging from community conservation projects in developing countries to amateur birdwatching in the UK, they describe the context, objectives, stakeholders and processes, and reflect on the success of outcomes. Rather than advocating any particular approach, the book takes a constructively critical look at the motives, experiences and outcomes of such approaches, with cross-cutting lessons to inform planning and interpretation of future participatory projects and their contribution to policy objectives.
Tales from a Bondi Vet
by Chris BrownCurrently starring in CBS's hit series Dr Chris: Pet Vet in the US and delighting audiences in Australia as the host of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, Chris Brown is a man of many talents but one thing will always stay constant in his life; his love of animals. For this son of a country vet, animals have been a part of Dr Chris Brown's life for as long as he can remember - so it's not surprising that he has followed in his father's veterinary footsteps. But Chris's life has one twist his dad never had to deal with ... a TV camera crew following him around to capture the day-to-day life of an urban vet. Tales from a Bondi Vet is based on the hit Australian television show Bondi Vet, which has become enormously popular around the world and made Dr Chris Australia's best loved vet. It tells his story along with the funny, strange and sometimes heartbreaking tales of his patients and their owners.From the moment a trembling Rottweiler called Zenna is brought into his clinic we follow the progress of Chris's many patients as he treats anything from poisoning, snake bite, near-drowning and trauma to cosmetic surgery, and love gone wrong. On call twenty-four hours a day, anything can happen ... and often does