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Health in Megacities and Urban Areas
by Alexander Krämer Mobarak Hossain Khan Frauke KraasDiverse driving forces, processes and actors are responsible for different trends in the development of megacities and large urban areas. Under the dynamics of global change, megacities are themselves changing: On the one hand they are prone to increasing socio-economic vulnerability due to pronounced poverty, socio-spatial and political fragmentation, sometimes with extreme forms of segregation, disparities and conflicts. On the other hand megacities offer positive potential for global transformation, e.g. minimisation of space consumption, highly effective use of resources, efficient disaster prevention and health care options - if good strategies were developed. At present in many megacities and urban areas of the developing world and the emerging economies the quality of life is eroding. Most of the megacities have grown to unprecedented size, and the pace of urbanisation has far exceeded the growth of the necessary infrastructure and services. As a result, an increasing number of urban dwellers are left without access to basic amenities like clean drinking water, fresh air and safe food. Additionally, social inequalities lead to subsequent and significant intra-urban health inequalities and unbalanced disease burdens that can trigger conflict and violence between subpopulations. The guiding idea of our book lies in a multi- and interdisciplinary approach to the complex topic of megacities and urban health that can only be adequately understood when different disciplines share their knowledge and methodological tools to work together. We hope that the book will allow readers to deepen their understanding of the complex dynamics of urban and megacity populations through the lens of public health, geographical and other research perspectives.
Health Informatics: Translating Information into Innovation (Translational Systems Sciences #24)
by Hironobu MatsushitaThis book is the first to approach healthcare informatics from the perspective of innovation. Drawing on the unique pairing of information and innovation, it offers an analysis to help readers rethink information technology, knowledge management, interprofessional collaboration and the generation of wisdom in the context of healthcare.The concept of “translational” research stems from the medical and health sciences, and features bidirectional and recursive information-generation processes involving bed-to-bench and bench-to-bed approaches. Based partly on this, translational systems science has become a new trend within systems sciences, motivated by the need for practical applications that help people by offering holistic systems solutions for complex ideas. Today, numerous innovations are emerging in diversified clinical practices, and there has been a remarkable convergence of new technologies in disciplines like genome therapy, immunotherapy, iPS cells, imaging diagnosis, personalized medicine, molecular targeted drugs, surgical robots, and remote nursing. Innovation is also occurring in health management fields, including health records, insurance reimbursement methods, quality control, and safety. In these areas, big data and machine learning are accelerating innovation. Behind these innovations are the creation, sharing, bridging, and translation of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom, and as such health informatics is critical in promoting health innovations.The book explores the horizons of health informatics, introducing cutting-edge practical cases and theoretical frameworks, including but not limited to fields such as big data, machine learning, drug discovery, interprofessional collaboration, electronic health records, robotics, telenursing, quality improvement, and safety.
Health of Antarctic Wildlife
by Martin Riddle Knowles R. KerryThis book provides a broad assessment of the health of Antarctica's and seals. It is set against the background of available scientific and environmental information and the political and administrative processes in place. 17 chapters are presented in two parts: "Wildlife Disease" consists of reviews, case studies and health assessments. "External Factors" covers the environmental, administrative and legal aspects. The term health is used in its widest sense to encompass the normal state and those factors which detract from it including both infectious and non-infectious causes. A must for veterinary and biological scientists, policy makers and administrators whose job it is to protect Antarctica's wildlife against the introduction or spread of diseases by human activities.
Health of People, Health of Planet and Our Responsibility: Climate Change, Air Pollution and Health
by Wael K. Al-Delaimy Veerabhadran Ramanathan Marcelo Sánchez SorondoThis open access book not only describes the challenges of climate disruption, but also presents solutions. The challenges described include air pollution, climate change, extreme weather, and related health impacts that range from heat stress, vector-borne diseases, food and water insecurity and chronic diseases to malnutrition and mental well-being.The influence of humans on climate change has been established through extensive published evidence and reports. However, the connections between climate change, the health of the planet and the impact on human health have not received the same level of attention. Therefore, the global focus on the public health impacts of climate change is a relatively recent area of interest. This focus is timely since scientists have concluded that changes in climate have led to new weather extremes such as floods, storms, heat waves, droughts and fires, in turn leading to more than 600,000 deaths and the displacement of nearly 4 billion people in the last 20 years. Previous work on the health impacts of climate change was limited mostly to epidemiologic approaches and outcomes and focused less on multidisciplinary, multi-faceted collaborations between physical scientists, public health researchers and policy makers. Further, there was little attention paid to faith-based and ethical approaches to the problem. The solutions and actions we explore in this book engage diverse sectors of civil society, faith leadership, and political leadership, all oriented by ethics, advocacy, and policy with a special focus on poor and vulnerable populations. The book highlights areas we think will resonate broadly with the public, faith leaders, researchers and students across disciplines including the humanities, and policy makers.
The Health Practitioner's Guide to Climate Change: Diagnosis and Cure
by Jenny Griffiths Mala Rao Fiona Adshead Allison ThorpeHighly commended in the Public Health category, BMA Medical Awards 2010 There are enormous health benefits from tackling climate change. This is the first book to set out what health practitioners can do to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, to make health services sustainable, and to design healthy, sustainable communities. The book: - provides an introduction for health practitioners and students to climate change and its current and future health impacts - describes the relationship between health and the environment - gives facts and figures on greenhouse gas emissions - sets out the huge benefits to health of acting on climate change - explains what health practitioners can do - at home, at work and in their organizations, and - shows how you can support action in communities, nationally and globally. Essential reading for: - health professionals, local government, built environment professionals - students across all sectors of health, medicine and public administration - community and voluntary sector, NGOs - the business community involved in private healthcare. The Health Practitioner's Guide to Climate Change is written by an authoritative group of authors from key organisations in the field, including the Met Office, the Faculty of Public Health, Natural England, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Climate and Health Council, the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, the Health Protection Agency, the University of the West of England, Sustrans and the National Social Marketing Centre. Sponsored by The National Heart Forum and the National Social Marketing Centre. Foreword by Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Health, Wellbeing and Community Recovery in Fukushima (Routledge Studies in Hazards, Disaster Risk and Climate Change)
by Sudeepa Abeysinghe, Claire Leppold, Akihiko Ozaki and Alison Lloyd Williams Alison Lloyd WilliamsThis book examines the issue of disaster recovery in relation to community wellbeing and resilience, exploring the social, political, demographic and environmental changes in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The contributors reflect on the Fukushima disaster of earthquake, tsunami and radiation contamination and its impacts on society from an interdisciplinary perspective of the social sciences, critical public health, and the humanities. It focuses on four aspects, which form the sections of the work: Living with Risk and Uncertainty Vulnerability and Inequality Community Action, Engagement and Wellbeing Notes from the Field The first three sections present research on the long-term consequences of the disaster on community health and wellbeing. These findings are enhanced and developed in the ‘Notes from the Field’ section where local practitioners from medicine and community recovery reflect on their experiences in relation to concepts developed in the previous sections. This work significantly extends the literature on long-term wellbeing following disaster. The case study of Fukushima is a multi-faceted process that illuminates wider issues around post-disaster regeneration in Fukushima. This problem takes on new importance in the context of Covid-19, including direct parallels in the issues of risk measurement, social inequality, and wider wellbeing impacts, which public health disciplines can draw from.
Health, Wellbeing and Sustainability in the Mediterranean City: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Routledge Studies in Urbanism and the City)
by Antonio Jiménez-Delgado Jaime LloretThis book provides a model for the creation of sustainable and healthy cities in the Mediterranean region. It uses the coastal city of L’Alfàs del Pi in Spain as an example for designing renewable and innovative urban models that offer high standards of living, wellbeing and eco-friendly advantages. Quantitative and qualitative analyses are presented by scholars in a wide variety of fields to provide a thorough understanding of the social, cultural, economic, political, physical, environmental and public health influences, through the case study of L'Alfàs del Pi. L’Alfàs del Pi has a geographically unique population made of a mixture of local inhabitants and Northern European residents attracted by the weather conditions and the sea. The chapters in this book explore a series of innovative proposals for addressing concerns in the area, including historic preservation, sustainable transportation, promoting health and physical activity and water conservation. The methodology establishes a strategic approach that serves as a useful reference point for coastal cities, particularly in Mediterranean countries, in the creation of sustainable and healthy cities. This book will appeal to researchers across the disciplines of tourism, planning, health geography, architecture and urban studies.
Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity
by Joseph G. Allen John D. Macomber“This book should be essential reading for all who commission, design, manage, and use buildings—indeed anyone who is interested in a healthy environment.” —Norman Foster A forensic investigator of “sick buildings” and Director of Harvard’s Healthy Buildings Program teams up with a CEO-turned–Harvard Business School professor to reveal the secrets of a healthy building—and unlock one of the greatest business opportunities of our time. By the time you reach eighty, you will have spent seventy-two years of your life indoors. Like it or not, humans have become an indoor species. This means that the people who design, build, and maintain our buildings can have a major impact on our health. Ever feel tired during a meeting? That’s because most offices and conference rooms are not bringing in enough fresh air. When that door opens, it literally breathes life back into the room. But there is a lot more acting on your body that you can’t feel or see. From our offices and homes to our schools and hospitals, the indoor spaces where we work, learn, play, eat, and heal have an outsized influence on our performance and wellbeing. They affect our creativity, focus, and problem-solving ability and can make us sick—dragging down profits in the process. Charismatic pioneers of the healthy building movement who have paired up to combine the cutting-edge science of Harvard’s School of Public Health with the financial know-how of the Harvard Business School, Joseph Allen and John Macomber lay out the science of healthy buildings and make the business case for owners, developers, and CEOs. They reveal the 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building, and show how tracking health performance indicators with smart technology can boost performance and create economic value. While the “green” building movement tackled energy, waste, and water, the new healthy building movement focuses on the most important (and expensive) asset of any business: its people.
Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Can Make You Sick—or Keep You Well
by Joseph G. Allen John D. MacomberA revised and updated edition of the landmark work the New York Times hailed as “a call to action for every developer, building owner, shareholder, chief executive, manager, teacher, worker and parent to start demanding healthy buildings with cleaner indoor air.”For too long we’ve designed buildings that haven’t focused on the people inside—their health, their ability to work effectively, and what that means for the bottom line. An authoritative introduction to a movement whose vital importance is now all too clear, Healthy Buildings breaks down the science and makes a compelling business case for creating healthier offices, schools, and homes.As the COVID-19 crisis brought into sharp focus, indoor spaces can make you sick—or keep you healthy. Fortunately, we now have the know-how and technology to keep people safe indoors. But there is more to securing your office, school, or home than wiping down surfaces. Levels of carbon dioxide, particulates, humidity, pollution, and a toxic soup of volatile organic compounds from everyday products can influence our health in ways people aren’t always aware of.This landmark book, revised and updated with the latest research since the COVID-19 pandemic, lays out a compelling case for more environmentally friendly and less toxic offices, schools, and homes. It features a concise explanation of disease transmission indoors, and provides tips for making buildings the first line of defense. Joe Allen and John Macomber dispel the myth that we can’t have both energy-efficient buildings and good indoor air quality. We can—and must—have both. At the center of the great convergence of green, smart, and safe buildings, healthy buildings are vital to the push for more sustainable urbanization that will shape our future.
The Healthy PC: Preventive Care and Home Remedies for Your Computer
by Robert J. Shimonski Carey HolzmanLearn routine maintenance as well as desktop basics, hard drive care and defragmentation, and plenty more to make your PC more efficient and keep it running smoothly. Learn software management, tame the Internet, secure your machine, deal with downloads, and much more.
Healthy Urban Environments: More-than-Human Theories (Routledge Studies in Environment and Health)
by Cecily MallerSet in the ‘human–environment’ interaction space, this book applies new theoretical and practical insights to understanding what makes healthy urban environments. It stems from recognition that the world is rapidly urbanising and the international concern with how to create healthy settings and liveable cities in the context of a rapidly changing planet. A key argument is that usual attempts to make healthy cities are limited by human-centrism and bifurcated, western thinking about cities, health and nature. Drawing on the innovative ‘more-than-human’ scholarship from a range of disciplines, it presents a synthesis of the main contributions, and how they can be used to rethink what healthy urban environments are, and who they are for. In particular, the book turns its attention to urban biodiversity and the many non-human species that live in, make and share cities with humans. The book will be of interest to scholars and students in human geography, health sociology, environmental humanities, public health, health promotion, planning and urban design, as well as policymakers and professionals working in these fields.
The Healthy Vegetable Garden: A natural, chemical-free approach to soil, biodiversity and managing pests and diseases
by Sally MorganWhether you’re an experienced gardener, homesteader, or market farmer, this A–Z, soil-to-table guide shows you how to reduce chemical inputs; naturally enrich your growing ecology; and create a hardy, nutrient-dense, and delicious crop. "There are few gardeners (or farmers) I know who wouldn’t benefit from reading Sally Morgan’s new book. . . . The Healthy Vegetable Garden is a detailed and indispensable resource."—Hobby Farms In The Healthy Vegetable Garden, expert organic gardener Sally Morgan explains how to use natural approaches to cope with the challenges of a changing climate through principles from regenerative gardening, agroecology, and permaculture—all to help your green space thrive. The Healthy Vegetable Garden shows you how to: Combat disease and keep pests at bay with natural predators, companion planting, and trap and barrier crops Choose the right plants to attract pollinators and pest predators Build a healthy soil full of organic matter, earthworms, and mycorrhizal fungi Regenerate soil through no-dig practices, composting, cover crops, and mulching Boost biodiversity through the use of crop rotations and polyculture Rewild your garden by creating a range of habitats, making use of walls and fences, log piles, water features, and wild corners Understand plant defenses and use biocontrols Make natural barriers, traps, and lures A healthy, productive garden should work in harmony with nature to produce and protect delicious fruits and vegetables and build a rich soil that is full of life. With The Healthy Vegetable Garden, growers of all levels will start reducing incidents of pests and diseases while creating a verdant habitat—all without the need for fertilizers, pesticides, or weedkillers.
Hear Where We Are: Sound, Ecology, and Sense of Place
by Michael StockerThroughout history, hearing and sound perception have been typically framed in the context of how sound conveys information and how that information influences the listener. "Hear Where We Are" inverts this premise and examines how humans and other hearing animals use sound to establish acoustical relationships with their surroundings. This simple inversion reveals a panoply of possibilities by which we can re-evaluate how hearing animals use, produce, and perceive sound. Nuance in vocalizations become signals of enticement or boundary setting; silence becomes a field ripe in auditory possibilities; predator/prey relationships are infused with acoustic deception, and sounds that have been considered territorial cues become the fabric of cooperative acoustical communities. This inversion also expands the context of sound perception into a larger perspective that centers on biological adaptation within acoustic habitats. Here, the rapid synchronized flight patterns of flocking birds and the tight maneuvering of schooling fish becomes an acoustic engagement. Likewise, when stridulating crickets synchronize their summer evening chirrups, it has more to do with the 'cricket community' monitoring their collective boundaries rather than individual crickets establishing 'personal' territory or breeding fitness. In "Hear Where We Are" the author continuously challenges many of the bio-acoustic orthodoxies, reframing the entire inquiry into sound perception and communication. By moving beyond our common assumptions, many of the mysteries of acoustical behavior become revealed, exposing a fresh and fertile panorama of acoustical experience and adaptation.
Hearsay Is Not Excluded: A History of Natural History (Yale Agrarian Studies Series)
by Michael R. DoveThis chronicle of natural history argues that the modern environmental crisis and rise in science skepticism codeveloped with the rise of ever narrower scientific disciplines For millennia, the field of natural history promoted a knowledgeable and unifying view of the world. In contrast, the modern rise of narrow scientific disciplines has promoted a dichotomy between nature and culture on the one hand and between scientific and folk knowledge on the other. Drawing on the fields of anthropology, history, and environmental science, Michael R. Dove argues that the loss of this historic holistic vision of the world is partly to blame for contemporary environmental degradation and science skepticism. Dove bases this thesis on a study of four pioneering natural historians across four centuries: Georg Eberhard Rumphius (seventeenth century), Carl Linnaeus (eighteenth century), Alfred Russel Wallace (nineteenth century), and Harold C. Conklin (twentieth century). Dove studies their field craft and writing; the political, cultural, and environmental circumstances in which they worked; the sources of their insight; and the implications of their work for modern society. Most of all, the book seeks to discover what enabled those natural historians to straddle boundaries that today seem impassable and to distill that wisdom for a modern world greatly in need of a holistic vision of people and environment.
Heart Like Water: Surviving Katrina and Life In Its Disaster
by Joshua ClarkTry it. Right now. Picture the lights going off in the room you're sitting in. The computer, the air conditioning, phones, everything. Then the people, every last person in your building, on the street outside, the entire neighborhood, vanished. With them go all noises: chitchat, coughs, cars, and that wordless, almost impalpable hum of a city. And animals: no dogs, no birds, not even a cricket's legs rubbing together, not even a smell. Now bump it up to 95 degrees. Turn your radio on and listen to 80 percent of your city drowning. You're almost there. Only twenty-eight days to go. Joshua Clark never left New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, choosing instead to band together with fellow holdouts in the French Quarter, pooling resources and volunteering energy in an effort to save the city they loved. When Katrina hit, Clark, a key correspondent for National Public Radio during the storm, immediately began to record hundreds of hours of conversations with its victims, not only in the city but throughout the Gulf: the devastated poor and rich alike; rescue workers from around the country; reporters; local characters who could exist nowhere else but New Orleans; politicians; the woman Clark loved, in a relationship ravaged by the storm. Their voices resound throughout this memoir of a unique and little-known moment of anarchy and chaos, of heartbreaking kindness and incomprehensible anguish, of mercy and madness as only America could deliver it. Paying homage to the emotional power of Joan Didion, the journalistic authority of Norman Mailer, and the gonzo irreverence of Tom Wolfe, Joshua Clark takes us through the experiences of loss and renewal, resilience and hope, in a city unlike any other. With lyrical sympathy, humility, and humor, Heart Like Water marks an astonishing and important national debut. A portion of the author's royalties from this book will go to the Katrina Arts Relief and Emergency Support (KARES) fund, which supports New Orleans-area writers affected by the storm.Visit www.NewOrleansLiteraryInstitute.com to find out how to make a direct and positive impact on the region.
The Heart of Sustainability: Ecological Balance from the Inside Out
by Andres R. EdwardsAmidst the doom and gloom that dominates the headlines, a different kind of story is unfolding. The players are activists, visionaries and cultural innovators, the backdrop is the tipping point of our global and environmental challenges, and the narrative is the molding of a new paradigm to shape our collective future. <P><P> The Heart of Sustainability delves into the human dimension of this burgeoning international movement to build a better world. Author Andres Edwards frames the conversation about consciousness and sustainability by: <P> Explaining how self-development is a key driver for planetary change. Describing how the confluence of the consciousness and technological revolutions provide unique opportunities for balance and fulfillment. Exploring how we can move forward individually and collectively to create a thriving, livable future from the inside out. <P> This landmark work illustrates the integration of the four Es: ecology, economy, equity, and education— the bedrock of the current sustainability framework—with the four Cs: conscious, creative, compassionate and connected. Focusing on specific examples and concrete initiatives from around the world, it shows us how to reconnect with ourselves, each other, and nature in order to tackle the challenges we face as a global community.
The Heart of the City: Creating Vibrant Downtowns for a New Century
by Alexander GarvinDowntowns are more than economic engines: they are repositories of knowledge and culture and generators of new ideas, technology, and ventures. They are the heart of the city that drives its future. If we are to have healthy downtowns, we need to understand what downtown is all about; how and why some American downtowns never stopped thriving (such as San Jose and Houston), some have been in decline for half a century (including Detroit and St. Louis), and still others are resurging after temporary decline (many, including Lower Manhattan and Los Angeles). The downtowns that are prospering are those that more easily adapt to changing needs and lifestyles.In The Heart of the City, distinguished urban planner Alexander Garvin shares lessons on how to plan for a mix of housing, businesses, and attractions; enhance the public realm; improve mobility; and successfully manage downtown services. Garvin opens the book with diagnoses of downtowns across the United States, including the people, businesses, institutions, and public agencies implementing changes. In a review of prescriptions and treatments for any downtown, Garvin shares brief accounts—of both successes and failures—of what individuals with very different objectives have done to change their downtowns. The final chapters look at what is possible for downtowns in the future, closing with suggested national, state, and local legislation to create standard downtown business improvement districts to better manage downtowns.This book will help public officials, civic organizations, downtown business property owners, and people who care about cities learn from successful recent actions in downtowns across the country, and expand opportunities facing their downtown. Garvin provides recommendations for continuing actions to help any downtown thrive, ensuring a prosperous and thrilling future for the 21st-century American city.
The Heart of the Wild: Essays on Nature, Conservation, and the Human Future
by Bill Adams Joel Berger Susan Clayton Eileen Crist Martha L. Crump Thomas Lowe Fleischner Harry W. Greene Hal Herzog Emma Marris Kathleen Dean Moore Gary Paul Nabhan Peter H. Raven Christopher J. Schell Richard Shine Kyle WhyteTimely and provocative reflections on the future of the wild in an increasingly human worldThe Heart of the Wild brings together some of today&’s leading scientists, humanists, and nature writers to offer a thought-provoking meditation on the urgency of learning about and experiencing our wild places in an age of rapidly expanding human impacts.These engaging essays present nuanced and often surprising perspectives on the meaning and value of &“wildness&” amid the realities of the Anthropocene. They consider the trends and forces—from the cultural and conceptual to the ecological and technological—that are transforming our relationship with the natural world and sometimes seem only to be pulling us farther away from wild places and species with each passing day. The contributors make impassioned defenses of naturalism, natural history, and nature education in helping us to rediscover a love for the wild at a time when our connections with it have frayed or been lost altogether.Charting a new path forward in an era of ecological uncertainty, The Heart of the Wild reframes our understanding of nature and our responsibility to learn from and sustain it as the human footprint sinks ever deeper into the landscapes around us.With contributions by Bill Adams, Joel Berger, Susan Clayton, Eileen Crist, Martha L. Crump, Thomas Lowe Fleischner, Harry W. Greene, Hal Herzog, Jonathan B. Losos, Emma Marris, Ben A. Minteer, Kathleen Dean Moore, Gary Paul Nabhan, Peter H. Raven, Christopher J. Schell, Richard Shine, and Kyle Whyte.
Heart to Heart: A Conversation on Love and Hope for Our Precious Planet
by Dalai Lama Patrick McDonnellFrom His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Mutt’s cartoonist and award-winning author Patrick McDonnell comes a powerful and timely gem of a book on how to heal our relationship with the planet and each other.At the Dalai Lama’s residence in Dharamsala, India, an unusual visitor has arrived. His Holiness interrupts his morning meditation to greet a troubled Giant Panda who has travelled many miles to see him. Welcoming him as a friend, His Holiness invites the Panda on a walk through a cedar forest. There in the shadow of the Himalayas, surrounded by beauty, they discuss matters great and small . . .With a galvanizing message about the future of our planet—text by His Holiness accompanied by McDonnell’s masterful illustrations—Heart to Heart calls for a Compassionate Revolution, reminding us that “we are indeed all members of a single family, sharing one little house.” Told with whimsy, wisdom, and warmth, this beautiful book is deceptively simple in its approach and all the more powerful for it, as it elegantly and decisively conveys a message of joy, hope and change.“There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday, and one is called Tomorrow.”
Heartbeats in the Muck: The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor, Revised Edition
by John WaldmanHeartbeats in the Muck traces the incredible arc of New York Harbor’s environmental history. Once a pristine estuary bristling with oysters and striped bass and visited by sharks, porpoises, and seals, the harbor has been marked by centuries of rampant industrialization and degradation of its natural environment. Garbage dumping, oil spills, sewage sludge, pesticides, heavy metals, poisonous PCBs, landfills, and dredging greatly diminished life in the harbor, in some places to nil. Now, forty years after the Clean Water Act began to resurrect New York Harbor, John Waldman delivers a new edition of his New York Society Library Award–winning book. Heartbeats in the Muck is a lively, accessible narrative of the animals, water quality, and habitats of the harbor. It includes captivating personal accounts of the author’s explorations of its farthest and most noteworthy reaches, treating readers to an intimate environmental tour of a shad camp near the George Washington Bridge, the Arthur Kill (home of the resurgent heron colonies), the Hackensack Meadowlands, the darkness under a giant Manhattan pier, and the famously polluted Gowanus Canal. A new epilogue details some of the remarkable changes that have come upon New York Harbor in recent years. Waldman’s prognosis is a good one: Ultimately, environmental awareness and action has allowed the harbor to begin cleaning itself. Although it will never regain its native biological glory, the return of oysters, herons, and a host of other creatures is an indication of New York Harbor’s rebirth. This excellent, engaging introduction to the ecological issues surrounding New York Harbor will appeal to students and general readers alike. Heartbeats in the Muck is a must-read for anyone who likes probing the wilds, whether country or city, and natural history books such as Beautiful Swimmers and Mannahatta.
The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit, and Desire
by Tom ZoellnerAn American Library Association Notable Book. When he proposed to his girlfriend, Tom Zoellner gave what is expected of every American man--a diamond engagement ring. But when the relationship broke apart, he was left with a used diamond that began to haunt him. His obsession carried him around the globe; from the "blood diamond" rings of Africa; to the sweltering polishing factories of India; to mines above the Arctic Circ to illegal diggings in Brazil; to the London headquarters of De Beers, the secretive global colossus that has dominated the industry for more than a century and permanently carved the phrase "A diamond is forever" on the psyche. An adventure story in the tradition of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, The Heartless Stone is a voyage into the cold heart of the world's most unyielding gem.
Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning
by George MonbiotToday virtually none of us ask, “Is climate change actually happening?” Only one question is worth asking, “Can it be stopped?” George Monbiot thinks it can. And with Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning, he offers us a book that just might save our world. For the first time, Heat demonstrates that we can achieve the necessary cut—a 90 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030—without bringing civilization to an end. Though writing with a “spirit of optimism,” Monbiot does not pretend it will be easy. Our response will have to be immediate, and it will have to be decisive. With dazzling intellect and ample wit, Monbiot supports his proposals with a rigorous investigation into what works, what doesn’t, how much it costs, and what the problems might be. And he is not afraid to attack anyone—friend or foe—whose claims are false or whose figures have been fudged. There is no time to waste, Monbiot observes, “We are the last generation that can make this happen, and this is the last possible moment at which we can make it happen.” George Monbiot is one of the world’s most influential thinkers. Nelson Mandela presented Monbiot with a United Nations Global 500 Award for outstanding environmental achievement. He is a weekly columnist for the Guardian.
Heat, a History: Lessons from the Middle East for a Warming Planet
by On BarakShifts the conversation from abstract "global warming" to the deeply human impacts of heat—and how our efforts to keep cool have made the problem worse. Despite the flames of record-breaking temperatures licking at our feet, most people fail to fully grasp the gravity of environmental overheating. What acquired habits and conveniences allow us to turn a blind eye with an air of detachment? Using examples from the hottest places on earth, Heat, a History shows how scientific methods of accounting for heat and modern forms of acclimatization have desensitized us to climate change. Ubiquitous air conditioning, shifts in urban planning, and changes in mobility have served as temporary remedies for escaping the heat in hotspots such as the twentieth-century Middle East. However, all of these measures have ultimately fueled not only greenhouse gas emissions but also a collective myopia regarding the impact of rising temperatures. Identifying the scientific, economic, and cultural forces that have numbed our responses, this book charts a way out of short-term thinking and towards meaningful action.
Heat Carriers in Liquids: An Introduction (SpringerBriefs in Physics)
by Jaeyun MoonThis book provides a succinct overview of recent progress in characterization of heat carriers describing atomic motion in liquids. Unlike solids and gases where heat carriers are typically described by phonons and real atomic particles, the nature of effective heat carriers in liquids is still elusive. The emphasis is on two widely used spectral methods to describe heat carriers: instantaneous normal modes and velocity autocorrelation functions. Various bulk materials properties from a bottom-up perspective using these spectra are presented in detail. This book is an ideal introduction to the field for graduate students and young researchers.
Heat Kernel on Lie Groups and Maximally Symmetric Spaces (Frontiers in Mathematics)
by Ivan G. AvramidiThis monograph studies the heat kernel for the spin-tensor Laplacians on Lie groups and maximally symmetric spaces. It introduces many original ideas, methods, and tools developed by the author and provides a list of all known exact results in explicit form – and derives them – for the heat kernel on spheres and hyperbolic spaces. Part I considers the geometry of simple Lie groups and maximally symmetric spaces in detail, and Part II discusses the calculation of the heat kernel for scalar, spinor, and generic Laplacians on spheres and hyperbolic spaces in various dimensions. This text will be a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students working in various areas of mathematics – such as global analysis, spectral geometry, stochastic processes, and financial mathematics – as well in areas of mathematical and theoretical physics – including quantum field theory, quantum gravity, string theory, and statistical physics.