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Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth
by William Bryant Logan"A gleeful, poetic book. . . . Like the best natural histories, Dirt is a kind of prayer." --Los Angeles Times Book Review "You are about to read a lot about dirt, which no one knows very much about." So begins the cult classic that brings mystery and magic to "that stuff that won't come off your collar." John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Saint Phocas, Darwin, and Virgil parade through this thought-provoking work, taking their place next to the dung beetle, the compost heap, dowsing, historical farming, and the microscopic biota that till the soil. With fresh eyes and heartfelt reverence, William Bryant Logan variously observes, "There is glamour to the study of rock"; "The most mysterious place on Earth is right beneath our feet"; and "Dirt is the gift of each to all." Whether Logan is traversing the far reaches of the cosmos or plowing through our planet's crust, his delightful, elegant, and surprisingly soulful meditations greatly enrich our concept of "dirt," that substance from which we all arise and to which we all must return.
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations
by David R. MontgomeryThis fascinating book finds that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are--and have long been--using up Earth's soil.
Dirt
by Steve TomecekBrief text explores how soil is formed, its layers, and its importance as a natural resource that living things need to survive.
Dirt Persuasion: Civic Environmental Populism and the Heartland's Pipeline Fight
by Derek MoscatoDirt Persuasion examines a watershed moment in U.S. environmental politics: the fight over the Keystone XL Pipeline. The complex interplay of resources extraction industries with grassroots environmentalism and advocacy has transformed the role of activists in the contemporary public sphere. Bold Nebraska&’s years-long fight against pipeline company TransCanada provides a compelling case study: a contemporary state-level organization that simultaneously challenged political and business leaders in its home state of Nebraska, at the national level in the United States, and in the foreign jurisdiction of Canada.Dirt Persuasion sheds light not only on the activism practices of social movements but also on the changing environments in which such actions are deployed. The KXL Pipeline fight represents a watershed moment both for U.S. energy politics and in the communication of environmental activism. The rural dimension of this environmental saga is critical: environmentalism must be understood from the perspective of the rural Americans who coexist with one of the planet&’s most delicate ecologies. Populism, rhetorical appeals, strategic advocacy framing, and media framing all factor prominently within the pipeline debate—leading to a civic environmental persuasion built on the attributes of narrative, engagement, hyperlocalization, and bipartisanship in order to build broad stakeholder support and influence public policy.
Dirt Rich, Dirt Poor: America's Food and Farm Crisis (Routledge Library Editions: Agriculture #9)
by Joseph N. Belden Vincent P. Wilber Enid Kassner Rus Sykes Ed Cooney Lynn Parker Alan Sanders Cynthia Schneider Marsha SimonThis book, first published in 1986, is a major reference work for the political discussions arising out of the 1985 Congress revisions of US food and farm laws. It covers production, distribution and consumption of food, analyses international as well as domestic problems, and presents new ways forward. Emphasising public policy and programmes, the book has chapters on agricultural production; environmental and resource problems; food marketing; domestic hunger and nutrition; and world hunger and development.
Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey into Regenerative Agriculture
by null Gabe Brown&“A regenerative no-till pioneer.&”—NBC News&“We need to reintegrate livestock and crops on our farms and ranches, and Gabe Brown shows us how to do it well.&”—Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation&“Dirt to Soil is the [regenerative farming] movements&’s holy text.&”—The ObserverGabe Brown didn&’t set out to change the world when he first started working alongside his father-in-law on the family farm in North Dakota. But as a series of weather-related crop disasters put Brown and his wife, Shelly, in desperate financial straits, they started making bold changes to their farm. Brown—in an effort to simply survive—began experimenting with new practices he&’d learned about from reading and talking with innovative researchers and ranchers. As he and his family struggled to keep the farm viable, they found themselves on an amazing journey into a new type of farming: regenerative agriculture.Brown dropped the use of most of the herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers that are a standard part of conventional agriculture. He switched to no-till planting, started planting diverse cover crops mixes, and changed his grazing practices. In so doing Brown transformed a degraded farm ecosystem into one full of life—starting with the soil and working his way up, one plant and one animal at a time.In Dirt to Soil Gabe Brown tells the story of that amazing journey and offers a wealth of innovative solutions to restoring the soil by laying out and explaining his &“five principles of soil health,&” which are:Limited DisturbanceArmorDiversityLiving RootsIntegrated AnimalsThe Brown&’s Ranch model, developed over twenty years of experimentation and refinement, focuses on regenerating resources by continuously enhancing the living biology in the soil. Using regenerative agricultural principles, Brown&’s Ranch has grown several inches of new topsoil in only twenty years! The 5,000-acre ranch profitably produces a wide variety of cash crops and cover crops as well as grass-finished beef and lamb, pastured laying hens, broilers, and pastured pork, all marketed directly to consumers.The key is how we think, Brown says. In the industrial agricultural model, all thoughts are focused on killing things. But that mindset was also killing diversity, soil, and profit, Brown realized. Now he channels his creative thinking toward how he can get more life on the land—more plants, animals, and beneficial insects. &“The greatest roadblock to solving a problem,&” Brown says, &“is the human mind.&”See Gabe Brown―author and farmer―in the award-winning documentaries Kiss the Ground and Common Ground!
Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods
by Christine BylA lively and lyrical account of one woman's unlikely apprenticeship on a national-park trail crew and what she discovers about nature, gender, and the value of hard work Christine Byl first encountered the national parks the way most of us do: on vacation. But after she graduated from college, broke and ready for a new challenge, she joined a Glacier National Park trail crew as a seasonal "traildog" maintaining mountain trails for the millions of visitors Glacier draws every year. Byl first thought of the job as a paycheck, a summer diversion, a welcome break from "the real world" before going on to graduate school. She came to find out that work in the woods on a trail crew was more demanding, more rewarding--more real--than she ever imagined. During her first season, Byl embraces the backbreaking difficulty of the work, learning how to clear trees, move boulders, and build stairs in the backcountry. Her first mentors are the colorful characters with whom she works--the packers, sawyers, and traildogs from all walks of life--along with the tools in her hands: axe, shovel, chainsaw, rock bar. As she invests herself deeply in new work, the mountains, rivers, animals, and weather become teachers as well. While Byl expected that her tenure at the parks would be temporary, she ends up turning this summer gig into a decades-long job, moving from Montana to Alaska, breaking expectations--including her own--that she would follow a "professional" career path. Returning season after season, she eventually leads her own crews, mentoring other trail dogs along the way. In Dirt Work, Byl probes common assumptions about the division between mental and physical labor, "women's work" and "men's work," white collars and blue collars. The supposedly simple work of digging holes, dropping trees, and blasting snowdrifts in fact offers her an education of the hands and the head, as well as membership in an utterly unique subculture. Dirt Work is a contemplative but unsentimental look at the pleasures of labor, the challenges of apprenticeship, and the way a place becomes a home.
Dirty Secrets of Nuclear Power in an Era of Climate Change
by Doug Brugge Aaron DatesmanThis open access book provides a review of the serious limitations and drawbacks to nuclear power, and clearly conveys why nuclear power is a less than desirable option in terms of addressing climate change. It uses accessible and engaging language to help bring an understanding of the issues with nuclear power to a broader sector of the public, with the intention of appealing to non-scientists seeking knowledge on the disadvantages of nuclear power as a solution for climate change. The argument is made that while superficially appealing, nuclear power is too costly, fragile, and slow to implement, compared to alternative options such as wind and solar. “As this book shows, to nowadays hold on to Nuclear Energy, a risky and extremely expensive method of create power, just does not make sense any longer.” -- Prof. (em.) Andreas Nidecker, MD, retired academic radiologist, Basel, Switzerland “Datesman and Brugge present evidence that nuclear power is an insecure and unsecureable technology, inherently incompatible with humanity and democracy; it fuels nuclear weapons technology and possession; choosing it would damage our chances at mitigating the climate crisis.” -- Cindy Folkers, MS, Radiation & Health Specialist, Beyond Nuclear “Although the government, industrial, and scientific nexus say it is safe.…I can only think of one word in Navajo "Ina'adlo'" meaning manipulation by the power that be to say it is safe. My Navajo people are dying from the uranium exposure on their health and environment. Great account of information on studies that have taken place around the world to say uranium is not good.” – Esther Yazzie, Navajo Interpreter and knowledge holder on Navajo issues. “At a time when there is a call to triple the growth of nuclear power, Datesman and Brugge provide a timely and thorough examination of the dark-side of “romancing” the atom. With solid technical astuteness, they cover a wide field littered with unsolved and dangerous problems ranging from the poisoning of people and the environment to the failed economics, to the spread of nuclear weapons ….they point out how science and public trust have been corrupted by the lure of unfettered nuclear growth.” –Robert Alvarez, Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.
Dirty Water: One Man’s Fight to Clean Up One of the World’s Most Polluted Bays
by Bill SharpsteenDirty Water is the riveting story of how Howard Bennett, a Los Angeles schoolteacher with a gift for outrageous rhetoric, fought pollution in Santa Monica Bay--and won.
Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert
by Sunaura Taylor"With breath-catching insight and enveloping compassion, Sunaura Taylor shares a secret of epochal urgency: people living with injury and impairment have much to teach about how to survive, and perhaps even thrive, on an injured and impaired planet."—Naomi Klein, author of Doppelganger A powerful analysis and call to action that reveals disability as one of the defining features of environmental devastation and resistance. Deep below the ground in Tucson, Arizona, lies an aquifer forever altered by the detritus of a postwar Superfund site. Disabled Ecologies tells the story of this contamination and its ripple effects through the largely Mexican American community living above. Drawing on her own complex relationship to this long-ago injured landscape, Sunaura Taylor takes us with her to follow the site's disabled ecology—the networks of disability, both human and wild, that are created when ecosystems are corrupted and profoundly altered. What Taylor finds is a story of entanglements that reach far beyond the Sonoran Desert. These stories tell of debilitating and sometimes life-ending injuries, but they also map out alternative modes of connection, solidarity, and resistance—an environmentalism of the injured. An original and deeply personal reflection on what disability means in an era of increasing multispecies disablement, Disabled Ecologies is a powerful call to reflect on the kinds of care, treatment, and assistance this age of disability requires.
Disadvantaged Childhoods and Humanitarian Intervention: Processes of Affective Commodification and Objectification (Palgrave Studies on Children and Development)
by Aviva Sinervo Kristen CheneyThis book explores how humanitarian interventions for children in difficult circumstances engage in affective commodification of disadvantaged childhoods. The chapters consider how transnational charitable industries are created and mobilized around childhood need—highlighting children in situations of war and poverty, and with indeterminate access to health and education—to redirect global resource flows and sentiments in order to address concerns of child suffering. The authors discuss examples from around the world to show how, as much as these processes can help achieve the goals of aid organizations, such practices can also perpetuate the conditions that organizations seek to alleviate and thereby endanger the very children they intend to help.
Disappearing Destinations
by Kimberly Lisagor Heather HansenA beautiful and memorable look at some of the most gorgeous endangered places on the planet. Machu Picchu is a mesmerizing, ancient Incan city tucked away in the mountains of Peru, but it is rapidly being worn down by the thousands of feet treading across its stones. Glacier National Park is a destination long known for the stunning beauty of its ice floes, but in our lifetimes it will have no glaciers due to global warming. In the biobays of Puerto Rico swimmers can float in a sea shimmering with bioluminescent life, but sediment being churned up by development is killing the dinoflagellates that produce the eerie and beautiful glow. And in the Congo Basin of Africa, where great apes roam freely in lush, verdant rainforests, logging is quickly destroying the vast life-giving canopies. These places-along with many others across the globe-are changing as we speak due to global warming, environmental degradation, overuse, and natural causes. From the Boreal Forests in Finland to the Yangtze River Valley in China,37 Places to See Before They Disappearis a treasure trove of geographic wonder, and a guide to these threatened destinations and what is being done to save them.
The Disappearing Mountain and Other Earth Mysteries: Erosion and Weathering (Raintree Fusion: Earth Science)
by Richard Spilsbury Louise SpilsburyThe Earth's surface is changing all the time. In the past, people made up stories to explain these mysteries. Your mission is to find out the facts.
Disassembled Cities: Social and Spatial Strategies to Reassemble Communities (Global Urban Studies)
by Elizabeth L. SweetThis book explores the urban, political, and economic effects of contemporary capitalism as well being concerned with a collective analytic that addresses these processes through the lens of disassembling and reassembling dynamics. The processes of contemporary globalization have resulted in the commodification of various dimensions that were previously the domain of state action. This book evaluates the varying international responses from communities as they cope and confront the negative impacts of neoliberalism. In-depth case studies from scholars working in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia showcase how various cities are responding to the effects of neoliberalism. Chapters investigate and demonstrate how the neoliberal processes of dissembling are being countered by positive and engaged efforts of reassembly. From Colombia to Siberia, Chicago to Nigeria, contributions engage with key economic and urban questions surrounding the militarization of state, democracy, the rise of the global capital and the education of young people in slums. This book will have a broad appeal to academic researchers and urban planning professionals. It is recommended core reading for students in Urban Planning, Geography, Sociology, Anthropology, and Urban Studies.
Disassembly Automation
by Supachai Vongbunyong Wei Hua ChenThis book presents a number of aspects to be considered in the development of disassembly automation, including the mechanical system, vision system and intelligent planner. The implementation of cognitive robotics increases the flexibility and degree of autonomy of the disassembly system. Disassembly, as a step in the treatment of end-of-life products, can allow the recovery of embodied value left within disposed products, as well as the appropriate separation of potentially-hazardous components. In the end-of-life treatment industry, disassembly has largely been limited to manual labor, which is expensive in developed countries. Automation is one possible solution for economic feasibility. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and experts in the field, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.
Disaster: A Psychological Essay (International Library of Sociology)
by Martha WolfensteinFirst Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Disaster and Climate Risk Education: Insights from Knowledge to Action (Disaster Risk Reduction)
by Ayse Yildiz Rajib ShawEducation serves as a cornerstone for gaining knowledge and taking initiative. However, despite efforts in disaster and climate risk education (DCRE), a gap often exists between awareness and meaningful action. To bridge this gap and promote a progression from awareness to empowerment, we offer the KIDA (Knowledge Interest Desire Action) framework. The foundation of this framework is a collaboration between schools, communities, and families, which calls for support from educational boards and local governments. Following international tragedies like the Turkey-Syria earthquake of 2023, as well as the ever-changing difficulties posed by climate change, DCRE has to be given priority immediately. Our book proposes a comprehensive strategy that includes governance, capacity building, education in schools and the community, and technology integration. Our insights, analyses, and practical policy suggestions are based on multidisciplinary research and worldwide case studies, with the goal of strengthening resilience and cultivating a generation committed to sustainability. This book provides a comprehensive exploration of DCRE. It aims to prepare individuals and communities to face the challenges of a changing world head-on by improving knowledge and promoting preparedness.
Disaster and Development
by Andrew E. CollinsDevelopment to a large extent determines the way in which hazards impact on people. Meanwhile the occurrence of disasters alters the scope of development. Whilst a notion of the association of disaster and development is as old as development studies itself, recent decades have produced an intensifying demand for a fuller understanding. Evidence of disaster and development progressing together has attracted increased institutional attention. This includes recognition, through global accords, of a need for disaster reduction in achieving Millennium Development Goals, and of sustainable development as central to disaster reduction. However, varied interpretations of this linkage, and accessible options for future human wellbeing, remain unconsolidated for most of humanity. This engaging and accessible text illuminates the complexity of the relationship between disaster and development. It opens with an assessment of the scope of contemporary disaster and development studies, highlighting the rationale for looking at the two issues as part of the same topic. The second and third chapters detail development perspectives of disaster, and the influence of disaster on development. The fourth chapter exemplifies how human health is both a cause and consequence of disaster and development and the following chapter illustrates some of the learning and planning processes in disaster and development oriented practice. Early warning, risk management, mitigation, response and recovery actions provide the focus for the fifth and sixth chapters. The final chapter indicates some of the likely future contribution and challenges of combined disaster and development approaches. With an emphasis on putting people at the centre of disaster and development, the book avoids confronting readers with ‘no hope’ representations, instead highlighting disaster reduction opportunities. This book is an essential introduction for students from multiple disciplines, whose subject area may variously engage with contemporary crises, and for many other people interested in finding about what is really meant by disaster reduction. They include students and practitioners of development, environment, sociology, economics, public health, anthropology, and emergency planning amongst others. It provides an entry point to a critical, yet diverse topic, backed up by student-friendly features, such as boxed case studies from the geographical areas of America to Africa and parts of Europe to parts of the East, summaries, discussion questions, suggested further reading and web site information.
Disaster and Development
by Naim Kapucu Kuotsai Tom LiouThis book offers a systematic, empirical examination of the concepts of disasters and sustainable economic development applied to many cases around the world. It presents comprehensive coverage of the complex and dynamic relationship between disaster and development, making a vital contribution to the literature on disaster management, disaster resilience and sustainable development. The book collects twenty-three chapters, examining theoretical issues and investigating practical cases on policy, governance, and lessons learned in dealing with different types of disasters (e. g. , earthquakes, floods and hurricanes) in twenty countries and communities around the world.
Disaster and Gender in Coastal Bangladesh: Women’s Changing Roles, Risk and Vulnerability
by Mohammed Moniruzzaman KhanThis volume explores the discourse of disaster and women in the existing social settings and state disaster-related affairs in coastal Bangladesh. It covers various issues ranging from disproportionate vulnerability, coping and adaptation mechanisms for women, limitations for promoting participation and involvement of women in the decision-making process both in family and community and changes in the role and responsibilities of women for reducing disaster risk and vulnerability. It contributes to the deconstruction of gender-based identity by addressing women's changing practices and roles in the coastal area in terms of the involvement of women with the development process, earning/income generation activities, decision-making process, access and entitlements to resources. This book presents the most current and inclusive circumstances of disaster and women of the coastal area in Bangladesh. The insights obtained through the eyes of a sociologist from a holistic perspective make this book different and unique. The book is of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers and professionals engaged in the social understanding of disaster studies, as well as to researchers and practitioners in interdisciplinary domains, including sociology, gender studies, social work, environmental studies, and development studies.
Disaster and Human Trafficking
by Mondira DuttaThe book highlights the root cause of human trafficking and analyses how factors of vulnerability affect the marginalized, especially during and after a disaster. Human trafficking like other studies on disaster research, needs to be tackled from various perspectives such as empowering the vulnerable people, creating awareness, strengthening the disaster risk reduction measures and creating a common platform to fight the vicious circle by breaking its continuity and making strategies victim centric and people friendly.The book adapts a multidisciplinary approach embedding concepts from political, social, economic and anthropological perceptions. The discourse in the book revolves around the emotional and psycho-social stress factors including weak implementation of laws and policies at various levels. The content weaves around three themes -- magnitude and interlinks between disaster and human trafficking; policies and protocols on disaster risk reduction and human trafficking and community participation and institutional support. Through these themes, the volume works on identification of the vulnerable areas which are not in compliance with the Sendai Framework of Action, 2015 in the backdrop of the Disaster Management Act of India, 2005. The volume will be of immense interest to a wide range of practitioners, researchers, academicians, policy makers, political leaders, gender experts, international organizations, disaster management authorities, civil society organisations, and scholars working in the area of human rights in general and trafficking in particular. Note: This research was funded by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).Human Trafficking is complex, layered and lies at the intersections of multiple vulnerabilities, gender being among the most significant ones. This gets exacerbated during both natural and human made disasters. Any attempt to either understand or address it will be fraught with challenges if women and girls' unique vulnerabilities, as well as their needs, voice, choice, agency and safety is not centre-staged in any effort. Mondira's book does exactly that...it succinctly and in simple words explores the compounding discriminations, including structural inequalities, that cause and result in women and girls differential gendered vulnerabilities to being trafficked during disasters. Once this is understood, the solutions can be specific, gender responsive, and sustainable.- Anju Dubey Pandey, Gender Responsive Governance and Ending Violence against Women Specialist, UN Women, New Delhi, India
Disaster and Reconstruction (Routledge Revivals)
by R GeipelOriginally published in 1982 and based on empirical research into the aftermath of the Friuli earthquake in Italy, the book reflects the perspective gained over a period of four years on the event itself and the subsequent response of the local population and national government. Unique insights were gained through one of the largest questionnaire surveys ever undertaken in a disaster situation and important questions are posed concerning the policies of reconstruction. Is a disaster ‘the great equalizer’ and does regional society emerge from it with redistributed power relationships, or are established structures reinforced? Who gets hurt and who benefits? What effects do poverty, regional remoteness from central government and the ethnic and cultural dimensions have on the situation? As a substantial treatment of a major catastrophe in all its aspects, this book will be of interest to students and researchers concerned with the impact of and response to natural hazards. It is based on a unique event, but the findings it reveals are relevant to all major catastrophes.
Disaster and Respiratory Diseases (Respiratory Disease Series: Diagnostic Tools And Disease Managements Ser.)
by Keisaku FujimotoThis book provides valuable data on the outbreak, aggravation, treatment and prevention of respiratory diseases based on prior experiences of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. Poor hygiene and air pollution can lead to the onset of pneumonia and other respiratory disease, while a lack of medical supplies aggravates existing pulmonary diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Furthermore, there are cases where those forced to live in cramped conditions, such as cars, following a disaster have developed pulmonary thromboembolism as a result of deep vein thrombosis. The large numbers of patients diagnosed with respiratory diseases make understanding the links between natural disasters and pulmonary disease vital.Disaster and Respiratory Diseases is a valuable resource for all medical staff, including physicians involved in primary care, respiratory medicine and infection control and emergency medicine, as well as respiratory surgeons. It is also useful to national and regional governments concerned about anti-disaster measures.
Disaster, Conflict and Society in Crises: Everyday Politics of Crisis Response (Routledge Humanitarian Studies)
by Dorothea HilhorstHumanitarian crises - resulting from conflict, natural disaster or political collapse – are usually perceived as a complete break from normality, spurring special emergency policies and interventions. In reality, there are many continuities and discontinuities between crisis and normality. What does this mean for our understanding of politics, aid, and local institutions during crises? This book examines this question from a sociological perspective. This book provides a qualitative inquiry into the social and political dynamics of local institutional response, international policy and aid interventions in crises caused by conflict or natural disaster. Emphasising the importance of everyday practices, this book qualitatively unravels the social and political working of policies, aid programmes and local institutions. The first part of the book deals with the social life of politics in crisis. Some of the questions raised are: What is the meaning of human security in practice? How do governments and other actors use crises to securitize – and hence depoliticize - their strategies? The second part of the book deals with the question how local institutions fare under and transform in response to crises. Conflicts and disasters are breakpoints of social order, with a considerable degree of chaos and disruption, but they are also marked by processes of continuity and re-ordering, or the creation of new institutions and linkages. This part of the book focuses on institutions varying from inter-ethnic marriage patterns in Sri Lanka to situation of institutional multiplicity in Angola. The final part of the book concerns the social and political realities of different domains of interventions in crisis, including humanitarian aid, peace-building, disaster risk reduction and safety nets to address chronic food crises. This book gives students and researchers in humanitarian studies, disaster studies, conflict and peace studies as well as humanitarian and military practitioners an invaluable wealth of case studies and unique political science analysis of the humanitarian studies field.