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Retrofitting the Built Environment
by William Swan Philip BrownThe physical upgrading of the existing domestic and industrial building stock to improve energy performance is an essential part of a transition to a low carbon society. Successfully retrofitting buildings to improve energy performance is not simply a technological challenge, it is a complex socio-technical problem that needs to be addressed in a co-ordinated way, utilising skills and knowledge from a range of industrial and academic backgrounds. Within both the academic and practitioner communities there is a growing understanding of the scale and nature of the problem, one which encompasses issues such as policy and regulation, people and behaviour, supply chain and process, as well as issues of technology. Retrofitting the Built Environment discusses the factors that impact on the retrofit problem, providing a clear analysis of the main issues that the academic and industrial communities must engage with to resolve the problems of domestic energy and retrofit. The book is divided into four broad sections: Understanding the Problem Policy and Regulation Implementing and Evaluating Retrofit People and Communities Academic and industrial researchers, policy makers and industry practitioners will find each section covers a mix of policy, technical and social science issues, presented by both academic and industry authors, giving a wide and detailed perspective of the issue. The Editors Will Swan is a Senior Lecturer in Buildings Retrofit in the School of the Built Environment at the University of Salford. He leads a number of projects in the field of sustainable retrofit, covering a number of topics including monitoring, behaviour and retrofit project delivery, as part of Salford’s Applied Energy and Buildings Research Group. He sits on the Greater Manchester Buildings Group and also is Chair of the Retrofit Innovation Group. Philip Brown is Director and Senior Research Fellow at the Salford Housing & Urban Studies Unit (SHUSU) at the University of Salford. He is the lead academic on end-use energy demand within the Applied Energy and Buildings Research Group, and sits on Greater Manchester’s Low Carbon Economic Area group for Customer Engagement.
Return Migration of the Next Generations: 21st Century Transnational Mobility
by Dennis ConwayThere is renewed interest in return migration among researchers of global movement patterns. Until recently, it was overlooked, regarded as the result of failure by emigrants, or related to the return of retired, elderly migrants. This important study looks at the one-and-a-half and second generation migrants, the youthful contract workers and the 'prolonged sojourners' and the consequences of their return to source communities.
Return from Extinction: The Triumph of the Elephant Seal (Orca Wild #5)
by Linda L. RichardsLess than 100 years ago, the northern elephant seal was thought to be extinct. Today more than 250,000 elephant seals swim in the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to Mexico. In Return from Extinction: The Triumph of the Elephant Seal Linda L. Richards tells the story of their dramatic recovery. Elephant seals were hunted to near extinction for their precious oil before the Mexican government stepped in to protect them. Many people thought it was too late. Even though the life of the elephant seal is difficult and only 20 percent of pups born will make it to adulthood, the species adapted and came back from the brink. They are a true conservation success story.
Return of the Wild: 20 of Nature's Greatest Success Stories
by Helen ScalesDiscover the extraordinary ways nature has come back from the brink in this collection of 20 environmental success stories from around the world, written by Dr Helen Scales and beautifully illustrated by Good Wives and Warriors. From humpback whale populations thriving again in the freezing seas of Alaska and the recovery of kiwi populations in New Zealand, to the setting up of tiger sanctuaries and reserves in India and return of elephant seals from 'extinction', this book plants a message of hope and shows children that positive change is possible.As well as the 20 recovery stories, Return of the Wild teaches children about the different habitats that animals and plants around the world call home - oceans, forests, deserts and more - and introduces them to the real people supporting endangered species. Finishing off with small tips on what children at home can do to help the wild world, from wearing eco-friendly suncream while swimming in the sea to using less single use plastic, this book reassures children that there are many ways to protect and save our planet from environmental harm.
Return to Nature: The New Science of How Natural Landscapes Restore Us
by Emma LoeweDiscover the new science and ancient wisdom on why nature makes us healthier and happier in body and soul from the co-author of The Spirit Almanac and mindbodygreen’s Senior Sustainability Editor.For centuries, we have known that getting outside is good for us. Yet we have become increasingly disconnected from the earth that nourishes us, with most of us spending 87% of our days indoors. In response, writer and environmentalist Emma Loewe demonstrates the power of nature’s healing properties in a guidebook organized by eight landscapes. In each chapter, you'll find research-backed ways to explore that landscape right now and protect it in the future, so that it can be healthy and nurturing for generations to come. Drawing off modern science and innate wisdom, she uncovers: Why being by the ocean makes you measurably happierHow living near greenery helps you lives longerThe staggering, illuminating statistic that forests can make you more relaxed within 90 seconds of walking among trees.Alongside beautiful four-color illustrations that inspire us all to get outside in big and small ways, this stunning book—more urgent than ever—will appeal to anyone looking to connect with the world around them, whether in their neighborhood park or on a backpacking getaway.
Return to Wild America: A Yearlong Search for the Continent's Natural Soul
by Scott WeidensaulIn 1953, birding guru Roger Tory Peterson and noted British naturalist James Fisher set out on what became a legendary journey-a one hundred day trek over 30,000 miles around North America. They traveled from Newfoundland to Florida, deep into the heart of Mexico, through the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, and into Alaska's Pribilof Islands. Two years later, Wild America, their classic account of the trip, was published. On the eve of that book's fiftieth anniversary, naturalist Scott Weidensaul retraces Peterson and Fisher's steps to tell the story of wild America today. How has the continent's natural landscape changed over the past fifty years? How have the wildlife, the rivers, and the rugged, untouched terrain fared? The journey takes Weidensaul to the coastal communities of Newfoundland, where he examines the devastating impact of the Atlantic cod fishery's collapse on the ecosystem; to Florida, where he charts the virtual extinction of the great wading bird colonies that Peterson and Fisher once documented; to the Mexican tropics of Xilitla, which have become a growing center of ecotourism since Fisher and Peterson's exposition. And perhaps most surprising of all, Weidensaul finds that much of what Peterson and Fisher discovered remains untouched by the industrial developments of the last fifty years. Poised to become a classic in its own right, Return to Wild America is a sweeping survey of the natural soul of North America today.
Return to the Sky: The Surprising Story of How One Woman and Seven Eaglets Helped Restore the Bald Eagle
by Tina Morris&“Three cheers for this splendid, surprising, inspiring book!&”—Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an OctopusAlone in a vast wildlife refuge with little direction and no experience, a Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology student found herself responsible for a project of historical importance—to bring the Bald Eagle back from near extinction.In Return to the Sky, Tina Morris, one of the first women to engage in a raptor reintroduction program, shares her remarkable story that is as much about the human spirit as it is about birds of prey.In the spring of 1975, on the eve of the US Bicentennial, Tina was selected to reintroduce Bald Eagles into New York State in the hope that the species could eventually repopulate eastern North America. Young and female in a male-dominated field, Tina was handed an assignment to rehabilitate a population that had been devastated by the effects of DDT. The challenges were prodigious—there was no model to emulate for a bird of the eagle&’s size, for one—but Tina soon found that her own path to self-discovery and confidence-building was deeply connected with the survival of the species she was chosen to protect.Ultimately, Tina spent two years playing &“mother&” to seven eaglets at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, east of Seneca Falls in New York. Driven by her passion, she discovered unknown reserves of patience, determination, and grit.At a time when the mass extinction of bird species is a critical global topic, Return to the Sky reminds us how, with a mix of common sense, resilience, and resolve, humans can be effective stewards of the natural world.&“Inspiring . . . [and] proof that one determined person can still make a difference. At a time when the mass extinction of bird species is a critically important global topic, Dr Morris reminds us that humans can still be effective guardians of the natural world.&”—Forbes&“Emotional and inspiring proof that one person can make a difference.&”—Kirkus Reviews&“Inspiring . . . the writing is clear and eloquent . . . Morris expertly blends moving memoir and scientific research in this remarkable and affecting story.&”—Booklist
Return: A Journey Back to Living Wild
by Lynx VildenIn this stunning memoir, beloved internationally acclaimed earth advocate chronicles her journey to reconnect with the earth, offering a model for how we all can nurture the wild around and inside ourselves.In 1991, twenty-four-year-old Lynx Vilden crawled out of a sweat lodge covered in mud, her face streaked with tears, and whispered a promise to the earth: “I will love you and cherish you, I will learn how to live and share what you teach me.” That promise became Vilden’s life purpose: to return to the ways of our oldest ancestors, to a simpler life, and to listen deeply to Earth and what she has to say. Over the next thirty years, Vilden’s mission would lead her far from the city streets and punk bands of London and Amsterdam where she was raised, on a long and winding journey spanning continents and seasons, and filled with indigenous wisdom, Stone Age hunting skills, and important lessons from nature.In this illuminating memoir, Vilden shares the joys that await all of us when we reconnect with the earth, when we recognize what has been lost, and understand what we gain by meaningfully returning to our roots and become rewilded. Return is a glimpse into her extraordinary world—from stories about mentoring Silicon Valley millennials at her Stone Age immersion in rural Washington State to adventures traveling among Sami reindeer herders in Arctic Sweden to detailing the intricacies of just how to pursue and survive a wild lifestyle inspired by Stone Age humans.This extraordinary debut ultimately invigorates our hunger to renew our bonds with the earth and awaken our wildest, most primal selves.
Returning North with the Spring
by John R HarrisAt winter's end in 1947, driven by the devastating loss of a son killed in World War II, naturalist Edwin Way Teale followed the dawning spring season northward in an amazing 17,000-mile odyssey from the Everglades to Maine. He wrote about the adventure in North with the Spring. Its sequel Wandering Through Winter won the Pulitzer Prize.Retracing Teale's route, writer John Harris reveals a vastly changed natural world. In Returning North with the Spring, he stops at the very places where Teale once stood, trekking through the Okefenokee wetland, the Great Smoky Mountains, the Great Dismal Swamp, the New Jersey Pine Barrens, and Cape Cod. He is stunned to see how climate change, invasive species, and other factors have affected the landscapes and wildlife. Yet he also discovers that many of the sites Teale described have been newly "rewilded" or permanently protected by the government.Homage to the past, report on the present, glimpse into the future--this book honors what has been lost in the years since Teale's famous journey and finds hope in the small tenacities of nature.
Reuniting Economy and Ecology in Sustainable Development (Sustainable Community Development Ser. #7)
by Charles R. BeatonReuniting Economy and Ecology in Sustainable Development is part of a series on the various aspects of sustainable development, where "community" focuses on the primacy and quality of relationships among people sharing a particular place and between people and their environment. "Development" means personal and social transformation to a higher level of consciousness and a greater responsibility to be one anothers keepers, and "sustainability" is the act whereby one generation saves options by passing them to the next generation, which saves options by passing them onto the next and so on. The vision put forth in this book is one of melding ecology and economy into a unifying concept of social-environmental sustainability. The author suggests that dividing ecology and economy conceptually will destroy society as we know it. Our task as adults is to repair the environment for the children who must inherit it.The link between economics and ecology and the immense potential of that connection to influence the process of change within communities is the focus of this book. The authors theorize that in a healthy, future-oriented community there is a dominant role for sustainability. Each of these four concepts - economics, ecology, community and sustainability - are intimidating on their own. There has been volumes written on each topic separately but very little written on how they are connected in relation to the environment. Reuniting Economy and Ecology makes those connections and provides a base for finding solutions to achieving sustainable communities.
Reuse It! (Saving Our Planet)
by Mary BooneIntroduces early readers to environmentalist concepts including single-use plastics and upcycling, and what they can do to help the environment. Real-life examples of kids who have made a difference are featured.
Reuse of Materials and Byproducts in Construction
by Alan RichardsonThe construction industry is the largest single waste producing industry in the UK. Ensuring a supply chain of recycled materials affords many potential gains, achieved through: reducing the material volume transported to already over-burdened landfill sites, possible cost reductions to the contractor/client when considering the landfill tax saved and the potential for lower cost material replacements, a reduction in the environmental impact of quarrying and the saving of depleting natural material resources. Reuse of Materials and Byproducts in Construction: Waste Minimization and Recycling addresses use of waste and by products in the construction industry. An over view of new "green" design guides to encourage best practice will be examined and current legislation that channels on site practices, such as site waste management plans. Fundamental individual construction materials are discussed and the process of reforming by products and waste products into new construction materials is investigated, examining the material performance, energy required to convert waste into new products and viability of recycling. The main range of constructional materials will be examined. Aimed at postgraduate students, lecturers and researchers in construction and civil engineering, the book will also be of interest to professional design practices.
Reusing Things (Making a Difference)
by Sue BarracloughDiscover how to make a difference to the planet by reusing things, reducing garbage, recycling materials, and respecting our world. Find out how you can play an active part, from repairing things, to giving unwanted items away.
Revaluing Horticultural Skills: The Knowledge and Labour of Growing Food (Critical Food Studies)
by Hannah PittThis book highlights the value and skill of horticultural work through stories of food cultivation. It examines the difficulties that arise from the perception that this type of activity is unskilled and the importance of acknowledging the expertise involved in growing food.The book provides a rare focus on horticulture as a vital part of agri-food systems, offering a social science perspective on the sector’s current and past characteristics. It presents new primary research into horticultural work and workers across UK food growing, using close attention to their abilities to highlight the depth of their knowledge and learning. This is set in the context of global agri-food regimes which press producers to seek ever more precarious labour, undermining food justice. By examining these in the context of internationally connected supply chains, it characterises injustices which recur globally and across food system labour. The conceptual argument starts from an ecological definition of skill as a social practice embedded within its socio-economic landscape, developing this perspective beyond its association with artisanal contexts. Together the empirical and conceptual materials highlight the fallacy of discourse which tends to individualise skill and the challenges around recruitment into food production. To counter this, the book proposes a more collective approach to fostering healthy skills ecosystems, reaching towards commoning through examples of horticultural communities seeking this in the meantime.It will appeal to postgraduates, researchers and professionals interested in food systems, their workers and related topics of horticultural education, training and human resources, labour, migration and politics of injustice. It draws on perspectives from rural studies, human geography and sociology and connects with international debates in these fields. Food focused scholars and activists will find data and insights to support calls for better work in food systems.
Revealing the Invisible Mine: Social Complexities of an Undeveloped Mining Project (Pacific Perspectives: Studies of the European Society for Oceanists #8)
by Emilia SkrzypekExploring the social complexities of the Frieda River Project in Papua New Guinea, this book tells the story of local stakeholder strategies on the eve of industrial development, told largely from the perspective of the Paiyamo - one of the project’s so-called ‘impact communities’. Engaging ideas of knowledge, belief and personhood, it explains how fifty years of encounters with exploration companies shaped the Paiyamo’s aspirations, made them revisit and re-examine their past, and develop new strategies to move towards a better, more prosperous future.
Revenant Ecologies: Defying the Violence of Extinction and Conservation
by Audra MitchellEngaging a broad spectrum of ecological thought to articulate the ethical scale of global extinction As global rates of plant and animal extinctions mount, anxieties about the future of the earth&’s ecosystems are fueling ever more ambitious efforts at conservation, which draw on Western scientific principles to manage species and biodiversity. In Revenant Ecologies, Audra Mitchell argues that these responses not only ignore but also magnify powerful forms of structural violence like colonialism, racism, genocide, extractivism, ableism, and heteronormativity, ultimately contributing to the destruction of unique life forms and ecosystems. Critiquing the Western discourse of global extinction and biodiversity through the lens of diverse Indigenous philosophies and other marginalized knowledge systems, Revenant Ecologies promotes new ways of articulating the ethical enormity of global extinction. Mitchell offers an ambitious framework—(bio)plurality—that focuses on nurturing unique, irreplaceable worlds, relations, and ecosystems, aiming to transform global ecological–political relations, including through processes of land return and critically confronting discourses on &“human extinction.&” Highlighting the deep violence that underpins ideas of &“extinction,&” &“conservation,&” and &“biodiversity,&” Revenant Ecologies fuses political ecology, global ethics, and violence studies to offer concrete, practical alternatives. It also foregrounds the ways that multi-life-form worlds are actively defying the forms of violence that drive extinction—and that shape global efforts to manage it. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.
Reversing Deforestation: How Market Forces and Local Ownership Are Saving Forests in Latin America
by Douglas Southgate Brent SohngenDire reports of surging deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon appear often in international headlines, with commentators decrying the destruction of tree-covered habitats as an act of environmental vandalism. Although forest losses are alarming, broader trends are bending in the direction of forest recovery. In this book, Brent Sohngen and Douglas Southgate address the long-term recovery of forests in Latin America. The authors synthesize trends in demography, agricultural development, and technological change, and argue that slower population growth and increasing crop and tree yields—in conjunction with protecting local ownership of natural resources—have encouraged forest transition. This book explores how market forces, ownership arrangements, and the enforcement of property rights have influenced this shift from net deforestation to net afforestation. Forest transitions have happened before, such as the recovery of tree-covered habitats in Europe and the United States. Signs of a similar transformation in land use are now present in Latin America. Ending deforestation requires a strengthening of forest dwellers' property rights while ensuring that biodiversity conservation is no longer treated as a value-less externality. The resulting forest landscape, actively managed for ecosystem services, will be more resilient, as is needed to overcome climate change.
Review Criteria for Successful Treatment of Hydrolysate at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant
by Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plants Committee on Review Criteria for Successful Treatment of Hydrolysate at the PuebloIn 1993, the United States signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), an international treaty outlawing the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons. The chemical weapons stockpiles at five of the U. S. chemical weapons storage sites have now been destroyed. At those sites, the munitions were robotically opened and the chemical agent was removed, collected, and incinerated. One of the remaining sites with chemical weapons stockpiles is the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Kentucky. In this case, caustic hydrolysis will be used to destroy the agents and energetics, resulting in a secondary waste stream known as hydrolysate. "Review Criteria for Successful Treatment of Hydrolysate at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant" develops criteria for successfully treating the hydrolysate, identifies systemization data that should factor into the criteria/decision process, suggests potential modifications to suggested treatment that would allow continued onsite processing, and assesses waste disposal procedures. This study further examines the possibility of delay or failure of the existing technology and examines possible alternatives to onsite treatment.
Review Of Ccsp Draft Synthesis And Assessment Product 5.3: Decision-support Experiments And Evaluations Using Seasonal To Interannual Forecasts And Observational Data
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesThis study offered an independent peer review for a synthetic document being produced for the CCSP. It found the draft document to be in a fairly early stage of development and noted several issues needing attention in the revision. The draft was inconsistent across sections with respect to whether or not it accepted two assumptions: that more skillful forecasts necessarily have greater value, and that the most useful form of information is a projected future value of an outcome parameter with an uncertainty distribution. Available scientific evidence gives reason to question these assumptions, and the draft did not discuss the evidence. Among other issues needing attention, the review called for the revised draft to do more to substantiate its claims of the potential benefits of knowledge-action networks and to give more careful consideration to the appropriate balance of roles between governmental and private efforts.
Review Of Earthscope Integrated Science
by Committee on the Review of EarthScope Science Objectives Implementation PlanningThe National Academies Press (NAP)--publisher for the National Academies--publishes more than 200 books a year offering the most authoritative views, definitive information, and groundbreaking recommendations on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and health. Our books are unique in that they are authored by the nation's leading experts in every scientific field.
Review Of Noaa's National Geophysical Data Center
by Committee to Review NOAA's National Geophysical Data CenterThe report reviews the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) and assesses how well the center is managing its holdings, serving its users, and supporting NOAA's mission. It concludes that NGDC is the natural place within NOAA and the nation for stewardship and dissemination of data related to the solid Earth and space environment. These subject areas are also relevant to NOAA’s new priority on integrated environmental approaches. For NGDC to fulfill its potential, however, it must first rearticulate its mission and overcome some solvable problems, including obtaining effective feedback from its users and organizing the center to eliminate parallel activities and reduce scientific isolation among the divisions.
Review Of The Gapp Science And Implementation Plan
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesWater managers rely on predicting changes in the hydrologic cycle on seasonal-to-interannual time frames to prepare for water resource needs. Seasonal to interannual predictability of the hydrologic cycle is related to local and remote influences involving land processes and ocean processes, such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation. Although advances in understanding land-surface processes show promise in improving climate prediction, incorporating this information into water management decision processes remains a challenge since current models provide only limited information for predictions on seasonal and longer time scales. To address these needs, the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Americas Prediction Project (GAPP) was established in 2001 to improve how changes in water resources are predicted on intraseasonal-to-interannual time scales for the continental United States. The GAPP program has developed a science and implementation plan to guide its science activities, which describes strategies for improving prediction and decision support in the hydrologic sciences. This report by the National Research Council provides a review of the GAPP Science and Implementation Plan, outlining suggestions to strengthen the plan and the GAPP program overall.
Review Of The Narsto Draft Report: Narsto Assessment Of The Atmospheric Science On Particulate Matter
by Committee to Review NARSTO's Scientific Assessment of Airborne Particulate MatterThe report reviews NARSTO's recent report on atmospheric science issues associated with management of airborne particulate matter (PM) to achieve air quality standards. NARSTO is a public-private partnership with members from government, utilities, industry, and academe in Canada, Mexico and the United States that coordinates ozone-related atmospheric science research and assessment.
Review Of The U.s. Clivar Project Office
by Committee to Review the U.S. Climate Variability Predictability (CLIVAR) Project OfficeA growing appreciation for how variations in climate affect society and the environment has increased the demand for fast and accurate predictions of climate variability. The Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) program, established internationally in 1995 and expanded to include a U.S. component in 1998, focuses on improving understanding and skill in predicting climate variability on seasonal to centennial time scales. This report evaluates the performance of the U.S. CLIVAR Project Office (PO) in fulfilling its charge from supporting agencies. The report concludes that the project office is vital for coordinating US CLIVAR activities and is effective despite limited resources. It also provides suggestions for enhancing the communications from and visibility of US CLIVAR activities and for developing strategic directions for the future.
Review Of The U.s. Geological Suruey's Volcano Hazards Program
by Committee on the Review of the USGS Volcano Hazards ProgramFederal and state government agencies in the US rely primarily on the Program to keep track of the status of all domestic volcanoes. The review committee concludes that it must either increase the size of its staff significantly; partner with other programs or organizations; or scale back its mission and retrain its staff to focus on monitoring and crisis response, thus relegating fundamental research, hazard assessment, and outreach to subsidiary roles. There is no index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)