This balanced portrait of a pioneering environmentalist will be of great interest to anyone with an interest in ecology or nature writing. Few people have had as great an impact on the modern environmental movement as has the great writer and scientist Rachel Carson. This readable and up-to-date biography traces the famous environmentalist's development as a writer from earliest childhood through the publication of her best-known work, Silent Spring (1962). In this absorbing account of her life, Carson emerges as a talented scientist and exceptional writer who shared her sense of wonder about nature with both scientists and the general public. The author brings to life the "small, solemn-looking woman" whom the New York Times described as having "the steady forthright gaze of a type that is sometimes common to thoughtful children who prefer to listen rather than to talk." The author recounts Carson's lifelong love of both nature and writing, her years of working in relative obscurity for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and then her late breakthrough as a writer of books about the sea that brought her critical acclaim. The culmination of her life was, of course, the publication of Silent Spring, which not only brought her lasting fame but also harsh criticism from spokespersons for industry and government. In the wake of the one hundredth anniversary of Carson's birth in 2007, this fascinating story concludes with an assessment of Rachel Carson's legacy as a writer and a champion of the environmental movement. The author also addresses the lingering controversies regarding the use of pesticides as well as continuing criticisms of Carson's ideas.

Presents a unique study of Integrative Problem-Solving (IPS). The consideration of 'Decadence' is essential in the scientific study of environmental and other problems and their rigorous solution, because the broad context within which the problems emerge can affect their solution. Stochastic reasoning underlines the conceptual and methodological framework of IPS, and its formulation has a mathematical life of its own that accounts for the multidisciplinarity of real world problems, the multisourced uncertainties characterizing their solution, and the different thinking modes of the people involved. Only by interpolating between the full range of disciplines (including stochastic mathematics, physical science, neuropsychology, philosophy, and sociology) and the associated thinking modes can scientists arrive at a satisfactory account of problem-solving, and be able to distinguish between a technically complete problem-solution, and a solution that has social impact.

Winner of the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Fiction. Shortlisted for the Society of Authors' McKitterick Prize 2022. Finalist of the 2022 Firecracker Award in Fiction. Coconut trees. Carnival. Rum and coke. To many outsiders, these and other sunny images are all they know about life in the Caribbean. However, if you want to learn how the locals truly live and experience the dark and often harrowing truths that lurk behind the idyllic imagery of Caribbean culture, then come visit the town of Pleasantview. Come during election season, and see how one candidate sets out to slaughter endangered turtles - just for fun. Or come on the day the other candidate beats his "outside-woman," so badly she ends up losing their baby. Then come on the night of the political rally, where this grieving woman exacts a very public revenge. Stay a while, and see how this single event has a trajectory far beyond the lives of the immediate actors, with often tragic and heartbreaking consequences. Written in a remarkable combination of Standard English and Trinidad Creole, Pleasantview showcases the entrenched political, racial, and class dichotomies of life in Trinidad: the generosity (yet cruelty) of the average Trini; the sense of optimism (and yet, despair) which permeates everyday interaction; and the musicality of Caribbean creole (kriol) expression that masks an ingrained and frequently violent patriarchy. Merging the vibrancy and darkness of recent Caribbean writers such as Ingrid Persaud and Claire Adam with the linguistic experimentation of Marlon James's A Brief History of Seven Killings, Pleasantview is a landmark work in international fiction.

New York Times–bestselling author Tristan Gooley opens our eyes to the secret language of trees―and the natural wonders they reveal all around us

Trees are keen to tell us so much. They’ll tell us about the land, the water, the people, the animals, the weather, and time. And they will tell us about their lives, the good bits and bad. Trees tell a story, but only to those who know how to read it.

In How to Read a Tree, Gooley uncovers the clues hiding in plain sight: in a tree’s branches and leaves; its bark, buds, and flowers; even its stump. Leaves with a pale, central streak mean that water is nearby. Young, low-growing branches show that a tree is struggling. And reddish or purple bark signals new growth.

Like snowflakes, no two trees are exactly the same. Every difference reveals the epic story this tree has lived―if we stop to look closely.

This book deals with the transformation of the Arctic from an isolated or a distant region to a member of the global community, vulnerable to global changes, and an area frequently in the very center of the world's attention. Increased global interest is a potential source of tensions between the need for exploration or exploitation, and the requirements of protection. This context calls for new data, knowledge and information vital for a better understanding of interactions between different systems, as well as developing awareness about the current and potential changes in the future. The objective of the book is to help develop a strategy of adaptation to climate change based on the knowledge and experience of the extremely effective mechanisms which for centuries made survival possible in this region.

Land use and land cover (LULC) as well as its changes (LUCC) are an interplay between bio-geophysical characteristics of the landscape and climate as well as the complex human interaction including its different patterns of utilization superimposed on the natural vegetation. LULC is a core information layer for a variety of scientific and administrative tasks(e.g. hydrological modelling, climate models, land use planning).In particular in the context of climate change with its impacts on socio-economic, socio-ecologic systems as well as ecosystem services precise information on LULC and LUCC are mandatory baseline datasets required over large areas. Remote sensing can provide such information on different levels of detail and in a homogeneous and reliable way. Hence, LULC mapping can be regarded as a prototype for integrated approaches based on spaceborne and airborne remote sensing techniques combined with field observations. The book provides for the first time a comprehensive view of various LULC activities focusing on European initiatives, such as the LUCAS surveys, the CORINE land covers, the ESA/EU GMES program and its resulting Fast-Track- and Downstream Services, the EU JRC Global Land Cover, the ESA GlobCover project as well as the ESA initiative on Essential Climate Variables. All have and are producing highly appreciated land cover products. The book will cover the operational approaches, but also review current state-of-the-art scientific methodologies and recommendations for this field. It opens the view with best-practice examples that lead to a view that exceeds pure mapping, but to investigate into drivers and causes as well as future projections.

This book was first published in 1943.

As scientists and policymakers try to come to grips with problems such as climate change and risks to biodiversity, they turn more and more frequently to the method of scenario analysis to better understand the future of these problems. Over the last few years scenario analysis has become one of the key tools for bridging environmental science and policy. This is the first book to sum up the current practice of environmental scenario analysis and to propose directions for improving its quality and effectiveness. Chapters are written by an international group of distinguished scenario experts and provide an excellent starting basis for first-time scenario practitioners, as well as a collection of new ideas on improving scenario practice for experienced scenario analysts.
* Comprehensive coverage and overview on environmental scenario analysis from a team of international experts
* First book to address key contemporary issues involved with environmental scenario analysis
* Gives guidelines for best practices
Benefits:
* Excellent starting base for first-time scenario practitioners
* Helps the reader to interpret scenarios and to place them into the correct context

Examining the premise that the process of economic liberalization has had a significant impact on the labor markets of many countries, this contributed volume studies that impact in different countries and regions from both theoretical and applied perspectives. While recognizing that liberalization entails many elements, the book focuses on how structural adjustment policies have contributed to the overall development effort. The first four chapters analyze the relationship between economic liberalization and labor markets, and then investigate this relationship within broader regions, such as North-South, transition economies, and Africa. The remaining chapters provide case studies of Greece, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turkey.

All the country chapters treat political economy issues and related policy conclusions. Stressing the interrelationship between liberalization and labor markets, the chapters discuss the importance of institutional, political, and legal factors in considering the effects of liberalization policies on the structure of labor markets and its participants. The book is an important look at a previously unexplored area of economic analysis.

This volume examines domestic and international environmental issues from an environmental justice perspective. The book is a compilation of original research articles and is divided into six parts. Articles in Part I focus on urban environmental issues and sustainability including Central Park's influence on historical and contemporary models of funding public parks, London's community-based efforts to deliver affordable fresh food to the poor and the relationship between sustainable living, green consumption and social justice concerns in an ecovillage in New York. Part II concentrates on water resources and the hazards of toxic fish consumption. Part III features food security, agriculture and land loss. Energy and the theme of land and resource loss in host communities is the focus in Part IV. It discusses the poverty that is pervasive in communities hosting extractive oil and gas installations and the industry and attitudes towards it in rural Trinidad and Nigeria. Part V employs spatial analyses techniques to examine siting and toxic releases and Part VI examines diversity and environmental attitudes and presents findings of national studies and environmental conflicts.

The news media has become a key arena for staging environmental conflicts. Through a range of illuminating examples ranging from climate change to oil spills, Media, Environment and the Network Society provides a timely and far-reaching analysis of the media politics of contemporary environmental debates.

Increasingly, the planet is threatened by a wide variety of real and potential complex environmental problems, including the warming of the earth, the loss of biodiversity, waste mismanagement, deforestation, desertification, hazardous waste disposal, acid precipitation, and pollution of many sorts. Although many of these problems are global in scope, they are sometimes best addressed at local levels where the relationships between cause and effect may be best understood. This interdisciplinary volume brings together leading environmentalists and public policy makers in science, law, economics, business, and government who explore the connections among global environmental issues and the local initiatives needed to address those issues.

The volume begins with an overview of fundamental issues, including the problems of economic development and safe-guarding the environment. Air quality issues are examined next, followed by ocean and landbased sources of marine pollution, coastal preservation, water quality, nuclear power, environmental health and information, and a review of social and cultural perspectives. For those beginning their examination of environmental concerns, the volume provides an understandable introduction to the full spectrum of current issues; for the expert, the book offers an accurate view of current thinking on the problems.

Bringing together leading experts, this textbook explores the key social, political, economic and moral challenges that environmental problems pose for social policy in a global context. Combining theory and practice with an interdisciplinary approach, the book reviews the current strategies and policies and provides a critique of proposed future developments in the field. Understanding the environment and social policy guides the reader through the subject in an accessible way using chapter summaries, further reading, recommended webpages, a glossary and questions for discussion. Providing a much-needed overview, the book will be invaluable reading for students, teachers, activists, practitioners and policymakers.

Physical structure, economic expectation or social relationship norms developed within various cultures can either restrict or support the participation of individuals with disabilities in society. The influence of environmental factors can vary significantly according to context, characteristics or by action difficulty. The objective of this volume is to identify and address environmental issues that support or restrict the participation of persons with functional limitations in society, either at the micro, meso or macro levels. The papers address both individual, societal, national and international levels of environment and shed new light on the processes involved with creating or modifying these environmental supports or barriers. Several papers approach the societal and intra-societal levels. The volume is separated into four parts; part one focuses on the larger disability environment from an international, national and community perspective, the second includes important theoretical and methodological approaches; section three highlights reviews of the environmental literature and the final section addresses personal experience with environmental barriers.

The phrase "literature and environment" only achieved popularity in recent decades, yet writers dating back to the explorers of the 1500s--and later such 19th-century Romanticists as Thoreau--have long been addressing environmental issues through literary expression. This volume introduces students and educators to the field by tracing the evolution of environmental writing in the United States. Chapters written by distinguished scholars offer new perspectives on important environmental issues, guiding readers through 11 carefully selected literary works. Each chapter provides brief biographical information on the author, discussions of the work's structural, thematic, and stylistic components, and insights into the historical context that relates the work to relevant environmental issues. Each chapter concludes with information on works cited. The analyzed works cover a wide spectrum of literature and span nearly 100 years. Included are early writings, such as Mary Austin's 1903 The Land of Little Rain, and famous groundbreaking works, such as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) and Gary Snyder's Turtle Island (1974). Also included are frequently assigned works of special interest to students, such as The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), The Earthsea Trilogy (1977), and Ceremony (1977). A list of selected further suggested readings completes the volume. Students of literature, as well as educators looking for new ways to present social issues, will find many ideas and much inspiration in this volume.

Census data, population projections, trip estimates. Planners know numbers. But numbers don't always tell the whole story. Qualitative analysis which yields data in words and images rather than numbers is an important tool in any research project. Planners can use field research, photography, focus groups, and content analysis and meta-analysis to develop compelling data for a variety of uses. This book explains how to use and adapt these techniques and how to integrate these methods with more traditional qualitative research. Chapters offer step-by-step guidance to setting up various kinds of qualitative research projects, collecting data, organizing data, and analyzing data. Case studies show how a mix of qualitative and quantitative research can help planners build consensus and tackle large, complicated projects."

This urgent and essential text explores what could be classed as one of today's most pressing problems.It is the goal of environmental security to protect people from the short- and long-term ravages of nature, man-made threats and the deterioration of the natural environment.Environmental security includes activities related to pollution prevention, environmental conservation, compliance with regulations and environmental restoration.It is a challenge for transition countries to support all of these activities, due to limited resources, competing priorities and the fact that most environmental regulations, assessment methods and procedures, and restoration techniques were developed in countries where resources were not limited.

AGRICULTURE WASTE MANAGEMENT AND BIORESOURCE Comprehensive resource detailing the generation of agricultural waste and providing insight into waste management Agriculture Waste Management and Bioresource provides thorough coverage of the generation of agricultural waste with essential thought leadership about various options in managing the waste, including composting, vermicomposting to form manure, and biogas generation. Readers take a crucial step toward more sustainable development and creating a greener planet. The text includes a wide range of information regarding resource recovery from the waste of the agriculture sector, energy generation, biofuels, reduction in the amount and volume of waste through circular economies, and much more. The authors place particular importance on understanding and managing agricultural waste concerning the sustainability of the environment in the era of global climate change. Topics covered in Agriculture Waste Management and Bioresource include: Categories and amounts of agricultural wastes seen in a worldwide perspective and current challenges and perspectives in handling agricultural wastes State-of-the-art processing technologies relevant for agricultural wastes categories and sustainable methods used for management of agricultural biomass Bioethanol production from lignocellulose waste of agricultural waste biomass and biogas production through anaerobic digestion of agricultural wastes Mechanical and chemical processing, aerobic and anaerobic treatment, other biological processing methods, and thermal processing Academics, students, and industry professionals in environmental science and engineering, waste management, and agriculture can use the valuable insights in Agriculture Waste Management and Bioresource to understand the latest in the field and the advancements that can propel us towards a better and more sustainable future.

Modelling environmental dynamics is critical to understanding and predicting the evolution of the environment in response to the large number of influences including urbanisation, climate change and deforestation. Simulation and modelling provide support for decision making in environmental management. The first chapter introduces terminology and provides an overview of methodological modelling approaches which may be applied to environmental and complex dynamics. Based on this introduction this book illustrates various models applied to a large variety of themes: deforestation in tropical regions, fire risk, natural reforestation in European mountains, agriculture, biodiversity, urbanism, climate change and land management for decision support, etc. These case studies, provided by a large international spectrum of researchers and presented in a uniform structure, focus particularly on methods and model validation so that this book is not only aimed at researchers and graduates but also at professionals.

"Use of Microbes for the Alleviation of Soil Stresses, Volume 1" describes the most important details and advances related to the alleviation of soil stresses by soil microbes. Comprised of seven chapters, the book reviews the mechanisms by which plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) alleviate plant growth under stress; the role of mycorrhizal fungi on the alleviation of drought stress in host plants; how PGPR may alleviate salinity stress on the growth of host plants; and the role of PGPR on the growth of the host plant under the stress of sub optimal root zone temperature.

Written by experts in their respective fields, "Use of Microbes for the Alleviation of Soil Stresses, Volume 1 "is a comprehensive and valuable resource for researchers and students interested in the field of microbiology and soil stresses.

Urban Environments and Health in the Philippines offers a retrospective view of women street vendors and their urban environments in Baguio City, designed by American architect and planner Daniel Burnham in the early twentieth century, and established by the American imperial government as a place for healing and well-being. Based on a transdisciplinary multi-method study of street vendors, the author offers a unique perspective as a researcher of the place, to ultimately ask how marginalized women authenticate and democratize prime urban spaces for their livelihoods. This book provides a portal to another way of seeing and understanding streets and people, covering spatial units at multiple scales, design imperialism and its impact on health, and resilience strategies for challenging realities. Blending subjects of architecture, planning, and health, this book is an ideal read for those interested in fields of urban planning and design, public health, landscape architecture, geography, and social sciences.

This book focuses on the academic foundations, trends and traditions of environmental education for sustainable development principally in Chinese contexts. It highlights contexts and case studies that illuminate recent Chinese initiatives. It includes case studies of green schools and reports on recent initiatives in school-based ESD curriculum development programmes in China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The book concludes with an overview chapter that points to likely future developments. The assumption underpinning the book is that experiences gained in such a major country as China will be of real interest to geographical and environmental educationists, professional educators and teachers elsewhere. Not only will it generate interest and create greater awareness but also it is hoped that these experiences will provide a platform for scholarly exchange and contribute insights on education policy and curriculum changes across Asian-Pacific communities in an increasingly globalised world.

This book presents the latest findings and ongoing research in the field of green information systems and green information and communication technology (ICT). It provides insights into a whole range of cross-cutting topics in ICT and environmental sciences as well as showcases how information and communication technologies allow environmental and energy efficiency issues to be handled effectively. The papers presented in this book are a selection of extended and improved contributions to the 28th International Conference on Informatics for Environmental Protection dedicated to ICT for energy efficiency. This book is essential and particularly worth reading for those who already gained basic knowledge and want to deepen and extend their expertise in the subjects mentioned above.