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The Plant Messiah: Adventures in Search of the World's Rarest Species
by Carlos MagdalenaAn impassioned memoir of saving extraordinary plants on the brink of extinction, by a scientist who has been called a "codebreaker" (Telegraph) and "an inspiration" (Jane Goodall)Carlos Magdalena is not your average horticulturist. He's a man on a mission to save the world's most endangered plants. First captivated by the flora of his native Spain, he has travelled to the remotest parts of the globe in search of exotic species. Renowned for his pioneering work, he has committed his life to protecting plants from man-made ecological destruction and thieves hunting for wealthy collectors.In The Plant Messiah, Magdalena takes readers from the Amazon to the jungles of Mauritius to deep within the Australian Outback in search of the rare and the vulnerable. Back in the lab, we watch as he develops groundbreaking, left-field techniques for rescuing species from extinction, encouraging them to propagate and thrive once again. Along the way, he offers moving, heartfelt stories about the secrets contained within these incredible organisms. Passionate and absorbing, The Plant Messiah is a tribute to the diversity of life on our planet, and the importance of preserving it.*Featuring 16 pages of color photos*
The Plausible World: A Geocritical Approach to Space, Place, and Maps
by Bertrand WestphalIn The Plausible World , the intersections of literature and cartography enable readers to understand that place is anything but purely geographic: a plausible world is created as a strategy to fill the void. Innovative in his approach, Westphal challenges the view that perceptions and representations of space are stable or straightforward.
The Plot to Save the Planet
by Brian DumaineThe Plot to Save the Planetis an illuminating and inspiring look at the “conspiracy” to make green technology the Silicon Valley of the twenty-first century. How is this new frontier being shaped? Brian Dumaine is your guide in this intriguing look into the very near future. You’ll read about: • The savvy investors: Why Warren Buffett is investing heavily in wind power, and why John Doerr, the venture capitalist and early backer of Google, is saying that “green tech is bigger than the Internet and could be the biggest economic opportunity of the twenty-first century. ” • The cars of the future: The competitively priced plug-in hybrids that will get 60 miles to the gallon, and the battle being waged by fifteen start-ups competing to capture the electric car market. • The fuels without fossils: New sources of energy from plants that could capture a big chunk of the $300 billion U. S. wholesale gasoline market. • The corporate mavericks: Companies such as Duke Energy and GE, who are creating the low-carbon business models of the future, as well as cleaner ways to provide our power needs.
The Plutocene: Blueprints for a Post-Anthropocene Greenhouse Earth
by Andrew Yoram GliksonThis book presents projections and blueprints of the future geologic period, climate and biosphere, based on our current understanding of the Earth’s history and recent developments in the atmosphere-ocean-cryosphere system. By the second decade of the 21st century it has become clear that, rather than channel its efforts into protecting its planetary biosphere and living species, Homo sapiens continues to sink its remaining resources into weapons, including nuclear missiles – thus increasing the risk of intentional or accidental spread of radioactive nuclides on land, oceans and atmosphere. With time, possibility becomes probability, and probability becomes certainty ‒ heralding a transition from the Anthropocene to a new geological period, named here as Plutocene after the element Plutonium. During the Plutocene the biosphere is dominated by elevated temperatures, analogous to the Pliocene (2.6 – 5.3 Ma ago) or the Miocene (5.3 - 23 Ma ago) when mean global temperatures were 2 to 4 degrees Celsius warmer and sea levels 20 to 40 meters higher than pre-industrial levels. High levels of radioactivity will persist for at least 20,000 years and acid oceans will severely limit biological activity to the hardiest species. Atmospheric CO2 higher than 500 ppm with residence time on the order of thousands of years will delay the subsequent glacial cycle. These factors restrict comparisons of the Plutocene with biosphere conditions during the Miocene and Pliocene periods, partly because the flora and fauna evolved more gradually during these periods, unlike the abrupt climate shift of state during the second half of the 20th century and first part of the 21st century. Following a long lull in biological activity dominated by radiation-resistant organisms, especially Arthropods, a resumption of glacial cycles and decline in radioactivity will lead to the re-emergence of descendants of burrowing mammals and other genera. Depending on the intensity of radioactive pollution, hunter-gatherer humans may survive in northern latitudes, relatively cold high-altitude mountain valleys and elevated volcanic islands. In some areas subsistence farming may be possible. A new cycle will commence.
The Pneumatic Flow Mixing Method
by Masaki KitazumeThe pneumatic flow mixing method was developed to stabilize dredged soil and surplus soil for promoting their beneficial use in 1999. The pneumatic flow mixing method is a new type of the ex-situ cement stabilization techniques, in which dredged soil and surplus soil is mixed with a relatively small amount of chemical binder without any mixing paddles and blades in a pipeline. When a relatively large amount of compressed air is injected into the pipeline, soil can be separated into small blocks. When binder is injected into the pipeline, the soil block and binder are thoroughly mixed by means of turbulent flow generated in the soil block during transporting. As this method has many benefits − rapid and large scale execution can be conducted with low cost − it has been applied to many land reclamation projects, backfilling behind earth retaining wall projects and shallow stabilization projects using dredged soils and surplus soils.The Pneumatic Flow Mixing Method is a useful reference tool for engineers and researchers involved in admixture stabilization technology everywhere, regardless of local soil conditions and a variety in applications.
The Poacher's Nightmare: Stories of an Undercover Game Warden
by Kennie PrinceRaccoons are not the only bandits wearing masks in the wilderness. Growing up, author Kennie Prince spent most of his time in the woods and creeks near his home in Rankin County, Mississippi. A highly skilled outdoorsman, Prince began his career with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Conservation in 1983 and dedicated his life to protecting Mississippi’s fish and wildlife resources in dangerous undercover work. The Poacher’s Nightmare: Stories of an Undercover Game Warden contains dozens of hair-raising accounts of covert wildlife operations, often spanning years, requiring ingenious planning, complicated secrecy, and deft coordination.Prince infiltrated bloody-minded, wary criminal groups, winning their trust. When his traps were fully set, he involved other state and federal law enforcement officials to bring an abrupt halt to abominable thefts of vast fish and wildlife resources from the public trust. Smart, creative, knowledgeable, tenacious, disciplined, passionate, and a natural-born actor, Prince bore a unique skillset that made him an ideal fit for this perilous undertaking. This memoir details how Prince gained the confidence of tightly knit circles of loyal, leery poachers and put an end to their destructive evil.
The Pocket Book of Stones, Revised Edition: Who They Are and What They Teach
by Robert SimmonsThe spiritual and healing qualities of 390 members of the mineral kingdom are detailed here in The Pocket Book of Stones, Robert Simmons's condensed reference guide to to crystals and gems. Based on the bestselling The Book of Stones: Who They Are and What They Teach, this guide describes 47 new stones not covered in the original encyclopedia and also contains an index of the spiritual, emotional, and healing qualities of the stones.This pocket edition has been requested by many readers who are looking for a compact reference that they can carry easily or give as an inexpensive gift to the rock-lovers on their gift lists. Incorporating beautifully lit, full-color photos of each stone, it imparts the spiritual understanding that made The Book of Stones the "bible" of many thousands of crystal lovers.This book is an ideal introduction to stones and their energies for those who are new to the field, as well as being an invaluable portable reference for well-versed readers. Every entry contains a vivid color photo and quick-look list of key words, elemental and chakra correspondences, plus the beneficial physical, emotional, and spiritual qualities of each mineral, crystal, or gemstone. Below the quick-look list, Simmons provides a description of each stone, including scientific data and the story of each stone's spiritual and healing qualities, as well as recommednations for other stones that combine harmoniously with it. The scientific information offered welcomes those not yet familiar with crystal energies by providing a familiar frame of reference and also broadens the knowledge of those who come to stones primarily for spiritual purposes.The Pocket Book of Stones includes a comprehensive index of the healing qualities and the emotional and spiritual properties of all the stones in the book.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Pocket Disaster Survival Guide: What to Do When the Lights Go Out
by Harris J. Andrews J. Alexander BowersWhether it’s a hurricane bearing down on a home near the coast or a power line downed in a snowstorm near a car, are you prepared for these situations? This slim handbook will provide you with all the information you need to ensure that you, your family, and your pets can weather any emergency crisis. Learn the necessity of backing up important documents, how to safely store food and water for more than a day, and how to communicate with your family and emergency personnel should a disaster strike.
The Pocket Encyclopedia of Aggravation: The Counterintuitive Approach to De-stressing
by Laura LeeAaarghgghhh!!@#%&*!!! Every time your mobile phone rings, it's an automated PPI call... You've forgotten one of your million different internet passwords... Once again, you're stuck in the slowest lane at the supermarket...This book investigates 97 day-ruining events, slap-in-the-face moments and everyday aggravations, and explains why these things irritate us quite so much. Let's face it, the world is becoming an increasingly annoying place to live - and THE POCKET ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AGGRAVATION has the evidence to prove it. It has been scientifically proven that when we understand the science behind our daily grievances, our problems become less frustrating and easier to manage. This fact-filled book will help reduce the stress of your daily grind. Designed with enlightening diagrams and witty drawings, THE POCKET ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AGGRAVATION finally answers the question, why is that so f*cking annoying?
The Pocket Guide to Prepping Supplies: More Than 200 Items You Can?t Be Without
by Patty HahneYou will need more than just food and water when the grid goes down.Many people know what they need to survive a doomsday scenario. They stock high-calorie foods and clean water, they find their own sources of power and heat, and they prepare to defend themselves, if need be. With all they have stored, they have the ability to survive for days, even months at a time.You may think you have finished preparing once you have accumulated these basic necessities, but there is always more that can be done. In The Pocket Guide to Prepping Supplies, Patty Hahne offers up two hundred and thirty-five oft-forgotten items that may prove to be indispensable for surviving the apocalypse-should it happen. From the mundane, like quality shelving and needle and thread, to more specialized tools, such as a closet auger and jumper cables, Hahne describes how each one can prove to be a vital addition to the prepper’s cache. You may be surprised to see what common household items can do when used creatively, and Hahne is here to help inspire you.Presented in a compact design, The Pocket Guide to Prepping Supplies is an important addition to any prepper’s book collection, one that can be carried in a purse or pocket, stored in the car, or slipped into that carefully prepared bug-out bag.
The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Your Carbon Footprint: What It Is. Why It’s Important. How You Can Lower It.
by Nancy S. GrantTake the first step toward a better environment. Awareness of global climate change has reached critical mass around the world, and people are looking to see how the choices they make affect the environment. This highly practical and easy-to-use reference helps readers understand how to do their part to combat global warming in simple, but effective ways. • Clear explanations of the relationship between energy use and carbon emissions, and an individual&’s carbon &“footprint.&” • The topic is gaining momentum on a worldwide basis. • Easy-to-use, with accessible information.
The Poetic Species
by Edward O. Wilson Robert Hass Lee Briccetti"Wilson brilliantly analyzes the force, at once creative and destructive, of our biological inheritance and daringly advances a grand theory of the origins of human culture." -STEPHEN GREENBLATT, author of The Swerve on Edward O. Wilson's The Social Conquest of Earth"Hass [is] a philosophically attentive observer, deep thinker, and writer who dazzles and rousts." -Booklist on Robert Hass' What Light Can DoIn this shimmering conversation (the outgrowth of an event co-sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and Poets House), Edward O. Wilson, renowned scientist and proponent of "consilience" or the unity of knowledge, finds an ardent interlocutor in Robert Hass, whose credo as U.S. poet laureate was "imagination makes communities." As they explore the many ways that poetry and science enhance each other, they travel from anthills to ancient Egypt and to the heights and depths of human potential. A testament to how science and the arts can join forces to educate and inspire, it ends in a passionate plea for conservation of all the planet's species.Edward O. Wilson, a biologist, naturalist, and bestselling author, has received more than 100 awards from around the world, including the Pulitzer Prize. A professor emeritus at Harvard University, he lives in Lexington, Massachusetts.Robert Hass' poetry is rooted in the landscapes of his native northern California. He has been awarded the MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, the National Book Critics Circle Award (twice), the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Award. He is a professor of English at University of California-Berkeley.
The Poisoned Well: New Strategies For Groundwater Protection
by Sierra Club Legal Defense FundThe Poisoned Well offers vital strategies for citizens, community organizations, and public officials who want to fight the battle against pollutants.
The Poisson-Boltzmann Equation: An Introduction (SpringerBriefs in Physics)
by Ralf BlosseyThis brief book introduces the Poisson-Boltzmann equation in three chapters that build upon one another, offering a systematic entry to advanced students and researchers. Chapter one formulates the equation and develops the linearized version of Debye-Hückel theory as well as exact solutions to the nonlinear equation in simple geometries and generalizations to higher-order equations. Chapter two introduces the statistical physics approach to the Poisson-Boltzmann equation. It allows the treatment of fluctuation effects, treated in the loop expansion, and in a variational approach. First applications are treated in detail: the problem of the surface tension under the addition of salt, a classic problem discussed by Onsager and Samaras in the 1930s, which is developed in modern terms within the loop expansion, and the adsorption of a charged polymer on a like-charged surface within the variational approach. Chapter three finally discusses the extension of Poisson-Boltzmann theory to explicit solvent. This is done in two ways: on the phenomenological level of nonlocal electrostatics and with a statistical physics model that treats the solvent molecules as molecular dipoles. This model is then treated in the mean-field approximation and with the variational method introduced in Chapter two, rounding up the development of the mathematical approaches of Poisson-Boltzmann theory. After studying this book, a graduate student will be able to access the research literature on the Poisson-Boltzmann equation with a solid background.
The Policy Process in International Environmental Governance
by Sheila Aggarwal-KhanThis book questions the practices in the policy processes of international institutions. It looks at the formal and informal practices that are routinely undertaken as part of the structure of international policy processes, and analyses how people behave and with what outcome for international environmental governance.
The Polish Climate in the European Context: An Historical Overview
by Rajmund Przybylak Jacek Majorowicz Marek Kejan Rudolf BrázdilReconstruction of the climate variability of the past 500 years is a topic of great scientific interest not only in global terms, but also at regional and local levels. This period is interesting on account of the increasing influence of anthropogenic forcing and its overlap with natural factors. The Polish Climate in the European Context: An Historical Overview summarises the results of research into climate variability based on a combination of instrumental, documentary, dendrochronological and borehole data from Poland. The first part of the book provides a Central European perspective of research in these fields, which forms the general background for a presentation of the state of the art of climatic change studies in Poland during the past 500 years (Part 2). This is followed by a selection of papers dealing mainly with different aspects of climate variability in Poland and Central Europe (Part 3). "This book is a valuable tool integrating Polish, Central and Eastern European climate research into the global context. It is, as such, a must for climate researchers worldwide." (Gaston Demarée, Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium) "This volume marks a significant step forward in our understanding of European climatic history." (Christian Pfister, University of Bern)
The Political Agency of British Migrants: Brexit and Belonging
by Jeremy MacClancy Fiona FerbracheThis book offers a comparative analysis of the political agency of British migrants in Spain and France and explores how they struggle for a sense of belonging in the wake of Brexit. With the UK's departure from the European Union (EU), Britons are set to lose EU citizenship as their political rights are redefined. This book examines the impacts this is having on Britons living in two EU countries. It moves beyond the political agency of underprivileged migrants to demonstrate that those who are relatively well-off also have political subjectivities: they can enter the political fray if their fundamental values or key interests are challenged. This book is based on ethnographic inquiry into the political agency of Britons in the Spanish Province of Alicante and south-west France in the twenty-first century. Themes such as Britons becoming elected as local councillors in their countries of residence, migrants’ reactions to Brexit, organisation of anti-Brexit campaigners, and claims for residency and citizenship are examined. The book foregrounds the contemporary practice theory built on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, as well as Engin Isin’s approach to enacting citizenship, to provide empirical insights into the political participation of Britons. It does so be demonstrating how the elected councillors stood against gross moral inequity and fought for a sense of local belonging; how campaigners emoted digitally in reaction to Brexit; and how some migrants, keen to remain without worry, learnt both to navigate and to contest the policy and practice of national bureaucracies. This book makes a first-ever contribution to the fields of anthropology and geography in the study of impacts of Brexit on British migrants within Europe. It is also the first study into lifestyle migrants as political agents. It will thus appeal to anthropologists, human geographers, sociologists, as well as academics and students of citizenship studies, migration studies, European studies and political geography.
The Political Culture of Planning: American Land Use Planning in Comparative Perspective
by J. Barry Cullingworth J Barry CullingworthFirst published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The Political Ecology of Agrofuels (Routledge ISS Studies in Rural Livelihoods)
by Kristina Dietz, Bettina Engels, Oliver Pye and Achim BrunnengräberThis book explores the political ecology of agrofuels as an encompassing socio-spatial transformation process consisting of a series of changing contexts, political reconfigurations, and the restructuring of social and labour relations. It includes conceptual chapters as well as case studies from different world regions (North America, Europe, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia) and levels (local, national, transnational). The Political Ecology of Agrofuels advances a conceptualisation of agrofuels that helps to fill existing research gaps. It covers global food regimes and agrarian politics as well as political arenas such as energy, climate, transport and trade. It reflects on the biophysical materiality of agrofuels, new forms of nature appropriation, struggles, discursive framings, the building of hegemony, shifting geopolitical constellations, socio-spatial configurations of power, the construction of territory, the agency of social movements and the different ways in which agrofuels are politicized at different scales. This book asks how patterns of mobility, emissions regulation, food and energy production and consumption, and social relations (e.g. labour, class and gender relations) are shaped and re-shaped by the materiality and representations of agrofuels in both the Global South and North. The book provides tools for thinking about the diversity of the conflicts, struggles and spatial, socio-ecological and politico-economic reconfigurations and perpetuations engendered by current production and consumption patterns in the agrofuel sector.
The Political Ecology of Austerity: Crisis, Social Movements, and the Environment (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)
by Maria Kaika Rita Calvário Giorgos VelegrakisThe Political Ecology of Austerity explores the environmental dimension of austerity that has thus far escaped academic, policy, and media attention. Offering a better comprehension of the full socio-environmental impact of austerity measures, the book highlights the importance of considering environmental issues when designing responses to economic crisis in the future. Mobilising detailed case studies from across the world, the volume documents the ways in which austerity impacts global and local ecologies, shapes environmental conflicts and gives rise to new forms and practices of social moblisation and resistance. Bringing together theoretical debates and rigorous case studies, the book proposes ‘the political ecology of austerity’ as an appropriate method of analysis that can inform our understanding of the shift in environmental protection policies and the intensification of growth practices (green or otherwise) that followed the 2008 global economic crisis. The Political Ecology of Austerity discloses austerity to be a globalised set of tools not only for budgetary discipline, but also for socio-environmental discipline that justifies the continuation of capital accumulation at the expense of further global environmental degradation. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of social and political sciences, environmental studies, urban studies, and political ecology.
The Political Ecology of Bananas
by Lawrence S. GrossmanThis study of banana contract farming in the Eastern Caribbean explores the forces that shape contract-farming enterprises everywhere--capital, the state, and the environment. Employing the increasingly popular framework of political ecology, which highlights the dynamic linkages between political-economic forces and human-environment relationships, Lawrence Grossman provides a new perspective on the history and contemporary trajectory of the Windward Islands banana industry. He reveals in rich detail the myriad impacts of banana production on the peasant laborers of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Grossman challenges the conventional wisdom on three interrelated issues central to contract farming and political ecology. First, he analyzes the process of deskilling and the associated significance of control by capital and the state over peasant labor. Second, he investigates the impacts of contract farming for export on domestic food production and food import dependency. And third, he examines the often misunderstoodproblem of pesticide misuse. Grossman's findings lead to a reconsideration of broader debates concerning the relevance of research on industrial restructuring and globalization for the analysis of agrarian change. Most important, his work emphasizes that we must pay greater attention to the fundamental significance of the "environmental rootedness" of agriculture in studies of political ecology and contract farming.
The Political Ecology of Climate Change Adaptation: Livelihoods, agrarian change and the conflicts of development (Routledge Explorations in Development Studies)
by Marcus TaylorThis book provides the first systematic critique of the concept of climate change adaptation within the field of international development. Drawing on a reworked political ecology framework, it argues that climate is not something ‘out there’ that we adapt to. Instead, it is part of the social and biophysical forces through which our lived environments are actively yet unevenly produced. From this original foundation, the book challenges us to rethink the concepts of climate change, vulnerability, resilience and adaptive capacity in transformed ways. With case studies drawn from Pakistan, India and Mongolia, it demonstrates concretely how climatic change emerges as a dynamic force in the ongoing transformation of contested rural landscapes. In crafting this synthesis, the book recalibrates the frameworks we use to envisage climatic change in the context of contemporary debates over development, livelihoods and poverty. With its unique theoretical contribution and case study material, this book will appeal to researchers and students in environmental studies, sociology, geography, politics and development studies.
The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century (Studies in Environment and History)
by Zozan PehlivanIn this innovative, interdisciplinary work, Zozan Pehlivan presents a new environmental perspective on inter-communal conflict, rooting slow violence in socio-economic shifts and climatic fluctuations. From the nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries, recurrent and extreme climate disruptions became an underlying yet unacknowledged component of escalating conflict between Christian Armenian peasants and Muslim Kurdish pastoralists in Ottoman Kurdistan. By the eve of the First World War, the Ottoman state's shifting responses to these mounting tensions transformed the conflict into organized and state-sponsored violence. Pehlivan upends the 'desert-sown' thesis, and establishes a new theoretical and conceptual framework drawing on climate science, agronomy, and zoology. From this alternative vantage point, Pehlivan examines the impact of climate on local communities, their responses and resilience strategies, arguing that nineteenth-century ecological change had a transformative and antagonistic impact on economy, state and society.
The Political Ecology of the State: The basis and the evolution of environmental statehood (Routledge Studies in Political Ecology)
by Antonio Augusto IorisThe contemporary state is not only the main force behind environmental change, but the reactions to environmental problems have played a crucial role in the modernisation of the state apparatus, especially because of its mediatory role. The Political Ecology of the State is the first book to critically assess the philosophical basis of environmental statehood and regulation, addressing the emergence and evolution of environmental regulation from the early twentieth century to the more recent phase of ecological modernisation and the neoliberalisation of nature. The state is understood as the result of permanent socionatural interactions and multiple forms of contestation, from a critical politico-ecological approach. This book examines the tension between pro- and anti-commons tendencies that have permeated the organisation and failures of the environmental responses put forward by the state. It provides a reinterpretation of the achievements and failures of mainstream environmental policies and regulation, and offers a review of the main philosophical influences behind different periods of environmental statehood and regulation. It sets out an agenda for going beyond conventional state regulation and grassroots dealings with the state, and as such redefines the environmental apparatus of the state.
The Political Economy of Capital Cities (Regions and Cities)
by David Kaufmann Heike Mayer Fritz Sager Martin WarlandCapital cities that are not the dominant economic centers of their nations – so-called ‘secondary capital cities’ (SCCs) – tend to be overlooked in the fields of economic geography and political science. Yet, capital cities play an important role in shaping the political, economic, social and cultural identity of a nation. As the seat of power and decision-making, capital cities represent a nation’s identity not only through their symbolic architecture but also through their economies and through the ways in which they position themselves in national urban networks. The Political Economy of Capital Cities aims to address this gap by presenting the dynamics that influence policy and economic development in four in-depth case studies examining the SCCs of Bern, Ottawa, The Hague and Washington, D.C. In contrast to traditional accounts of capital cities, this book conceptualizes the modern national capital as an innovation-driven economy influenced by national, local and regional actors. Nationally, overarching trends in the direction of outsourcing and tertiarization of the public-sector influence the fate of capital cities. Regional policymakers in all four of the highlighted cities leverage the presence of national government agencies and stimulate the economy by way of various locational policy strategies. While accounting for their secondary status, this book illustrates how capital-city actors such as firms, national, regional and local governments, policymakers and planning practitioners are keenly aware of the unique status of their city. The conclusion provides practical recommendations for policymakers in SCCs and highlights ways in which they can help to promote economic development.