In The End of the Anthropocene: Ecocriticism, the Universal Ecosystem, and the Astropocene, Michael J. Gormley examines literary imaginings of the Anthropocene's end and the Astropocene's beginning-when humans are no longer bound to the blue planet on which we evolved. Gormley analyzes literary images of human tracks on Earth, the Moon, and Mars to characterize the late-stage Anthropocene and to explore humanity's role in the universal ecosystem. The End of the Anthropocene uses a predictive and paradigmatic model of ecocriticism, examining science fiction works as interplanetary nature narratives.

This textbook covers all important aspects of mountain glaciers, from their formation and their importance as water reservoirs to the threat posed by current global warming. Glaciers themselves can also pose a threat to humans and represent a natural hazard in populated mountain areas in the form of ice avalanches and glacial lake outbursts. In addition, however, they are also important landscape formers and have helped to shape large parts of the present-day relief of the Earth, which is one of the classic fields of work of geomorphology and geology. In the individual chapters, the current state of research is presented in a comprehensible manner and illustrated with concise examples, photos and graphics. The book offers a compact introduction for all students of geosciences, curious mountaineers and laymen interested in nature.

Combining memoir and studies in the Environmental Humanities, Black Swan Song weaves together an autobiographically-based account of the unique life and work of Rod Giblett. For over 25 years he was a leading local wetland conservationist, environmental activist, and pioneer transdisciplinary researcher and writer of fiction and non-fiction. He has researched, written, and published more than 25 books in the environmental humanities, especially wetland cultural studies, and psychoanalytic ecology. Black Swan Song traces Rod's early and later life and work from being born in Borneo as the child of Christian missionaries, through his childhood in Bible College, being a High School dropout and studying at three universities to becoming an academic, activist and author, and now a writer. Following in the footsteps of New Lives of the Saints: Twelve Environmental Apostles, Black Swan Song also comprises conversations in conservation counter-theology between the twelve minor biblical prophets and twelve environmental apostles, such as Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and Rachel Carson. It also introduces the lives and works of twelve more environmental apostles, such as John Clare, Rebecca Solnit, John Charles Ryan, and others who have made a valuable contribution to green thinking and living. Black Swan Song mixes modes and genres, such as memoir, essay, story, criticism, etc., making up the writer's black swan song. It provides ways of living and being with the earth in dark and troubled times by providing resources of a journey of hope for learning to live bio- and psycho-symbiotic livelihoods in bioregional home habitats of the living earth and in the Symbiocene, the hoped-for age superseding the Anthropocene.

This book examines the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity accounting within an applied development content for Costa Rica. By doing so, it is possible to track changes as well as perhaps link these to overarching global issues, such as trade, globalization, and food security, among other emergent topics based findings stemming from this methodology. Based on a timeseries since 1961, it is possible to track cross-temporal changes of land-type categories (for crop land, grazing land, forest land, fishing ground, built-up land, and carbon) of the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity conveying whether a country is in ecological deficit and what may be contributing to such a trend

Das Eiszeitalter ist eine Zeit extremer Klimaschwankungen, die bis heute nicht beendet sind. Zeitweilig bedeckten gewaltige Inlandeismassen grosse Teile der Nordkontinente. Zu anderen Zeiten war die Sahara grun und von Menschen besiedelt, und der Tschadsee war so gross wie die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Was sich im Eiszeitalter abgespielt hat, kann nur aus Spuren rekonstruiert werden, die im Boden zuruckgeblieben sind. Die Eiszeit hat andere Schichten hinterlassen als andere Erdzeitalter. Dieses Buch beschreibt die Prozesse, unter denen sie gebildet worden sind und die Methoden, mit denen man sie untersuchen kann. Die Arbeit des Geowissenschaftlers gleicht der eines Detektivs, der aus Indizien den Ablauf des Geschehens rekonstruieren muss. Und diese Tatigkeit ist genauso spanned wie die eines Detektivs. Von den in diesem Buch vorgestellten Untersuchungsergebnissen werden einige hier zum ersten Mal veroeffentlicht. Das Eiszeitalter ist auch der Zeitabschnitt, in dem der Mensch in die Gestaltung der Erde eingreift. Welche Veranderungen das mit sich bringt, kann jeder selbst verfolgen. Alle relevanten Daten sind frei verfugbar; dieses Buch beschreibt, wie man sie erhalt. Dr. Jurgen Ehlers arbeitet seit 1978 als Quartargeologe fur das Geologische Landesamt Hamburg, wo er fur die Geologische Landesaufnahme zustandig ist. Er hat daruber hinaus Forschungsprojekte im In- und Ausland durchgefuhrt. Zusammen mit Prof. Philip L. Gibbard, Cambridge, hat er fur die International Union for Quaternary Research das Projekt 'Extent and Chronology of Quaternary Glaciations' durchgefuhrt. Er gilt als einer der hervorragendsten deutschen Kenner der Eiszeitgeologie. Er ist Autor mehrerer Bucher uber das Quartar (Enke und Wiley) und die Nordsee (WBG) und auch als Autor von Kriminalgeschichten bekannt geworden.

Urban Climates is the first full synthesis of modern scientific and applied research on urban climates. The book begins with an outline of what constitutes an urban ecosystem. It develops a comprehensive terminology for the subject using scale and surface classification as key constructs. It explains the physical principles governing the creation of distinct urban climates, such as airflow around buildings, the heat island, precipitation modification and air pollution, and it then illustrates how this knowledge can be applied to moderate the undesirable consequences of urban development and help create more sustainable and resilient cities. With urban climate science now a fully-fledged field, this timely book fulfills the need to bring together the disparate parts of climate research on cities into a coherent framework. It is an ideal resource for students and researchers in fields such as climatology, urban hydrology, air quality, environmental engineering and urban design.

The Tornado gives account of one of the world's most terrifying natural disasters. Twisters have left their wake of freakish consequences throughout the United States and the world, and The Tornado vividly describes some of the most bizarre from around the country--houseboats sailing through the air; cars flown to a landing half a cornfield away; an entire house lifted and demolished, leaving only a divan holding the uninjured family. The most detailed description of a tornado and the violence it can bring comes from the author's focus on the tragedy of one American town in 1953. John Edward Weems was an eyewitness reporter of a funnel that hit Waco, Texas, on May 11 of that year. In gripping narrative, he portrays the events of that day: a man clinging to a guard rail while a mailbox, plate glass, bricks, and assorted debris whizzed past his head; automobiles rolling end on end down the street; buildings falling like blocks knocked down by an angry child; a movie theater crumbling on the terrified patrons. When the storm had passed, 114 people were dead and hundreds injured; property damage ran in the tens of millions of dollars. Research in news reports, government weather documents, and books flesh out this account, which Pulitzer-prize winner Annie Dillard called "wonderfully exciting. It is full of people, and the thousands of details that make up their lives--and deaths. [It is] a story of enormous power." John Banta, writing in the Waco Tribune-Herald, described it as "a gripping story of human drama and tragedy." Kirkus Reviews said, ". . . the events still chill face to face with a power that defies reason." Royalties from the sale of The Tornado will benefit the book fund of the Waco-McLennan County Public Library.

Habitat loss and degradation are perceived to be one of the main factors threatening biodiversity through detrimental effects on species and populations. These processes reduce habitat availability, increase isolation and generate patchy environments, which reduces species richness, population genetic diversity, and modifies community structure. The loss of biodiversity associated with habitat alteration is particularly problematic in forest habitats, because forests are one of the most species-rich habitat types. The conservation implications have become greater with evidence that climate change may exacerbate and speed up ongoing processes. This book focuses on topics that include niche restriction and conservatism in a neotropical psittacine; consequences for distribution patterns of specialist fauna; and paths to habitat loss in European Atlantic heathlands.

In Going to Extremes writer, presenter and Oxford geography don Nick Middleton visits Oymyakon in Siberia, where the average winter temperature is -47 degrees and 40% of the population have lost their fingers to frostbite while changing the car wheel. Next he travels to Arica Chile where there have been fourteen consecutive years without a drop of rain and so fog is people's only source of water. Going from the driest to the wettest, he visits Mawsynram in India which annually competes for the title with its neighbour Cherrapunji. However, Nick discovers even here, that during the dry season, there is water shortage and one entrepreneur has started selling it bottled. Finally his journey takes him to Dalol in Ethiopia known as the 'hell hole of creation' where the temperature remains at 94 degrees year round. Here Nick will join miners who work all day with no shade, limited water and no protective clothing. The book and series consider how and why people lives in these harsh environments. How does Nick's body react to these contrasting extremes? He looks at the geographical and meteorological conditions. He meets local characters and discovers the history of these settlements to find out how they ever became populated. He looks at the way both the population, and the flora and fauna, have adapted physically to the climate, and also considers the psychological impact of living under such conditions.

Growing demands on the transportation system and constraints on public resources have led to calls for more private sector involvement in the provision of highway and transit infrastructure through what are known as "public-private partnerships" (PPPs). A PPP, broadly defined, is any arrangement whereby the private sector assumes more responsibility than is traditional for infrastructure planning, financing, design, construction, operation, and maintenance. This book describes the wide variety of public-private partnerships in highways and transit, but focuses on the two types of highway PPPs that are generating the most debate: the leasing by the public sector to the private sector of existing infrastructure and the building, leasing, and owning of new infrastructure by private entities.

Explore the latest scientific research behind the ancient forms and patterns of sacred sites around the world, and discover the long-lost mystical connection our ancestors had with our planet. Since ancient times humans have honoured places of power in the landscape to gain healing, wisdom and access the world of spirit. In this book, expert author Paul Devereux draws on the evidence from the disciplines of sacred geometry, archaeology, archaeoastronomy and archaeoacoustics to map out the hidden meaning in ancient sites and landforms. Through this thoroughly-researched and comprehensive key to the ancient patterns of sacred sites and landscapes around the world, you'll discover how our ancestors were intimately connected with the land in mind, body and spirit. This title covers: power places - investigating magnetic and other natural forces at sacred sites; understanding shamanic landscapes - the meaning of the Nazca lines and other giant ground markings; the new science of archaeoacoustics - echo and 'ringing' stones found at prehistoric sites; and, cognitive archaeology - a new approach to archaeology and its radical findings. Featuring the latest scientific and archaeological research, and containing satellite imagery, maps and diagrams that provide new insights into ancient sites, "Sacred Geography" allows you to see the landscape through the eyes of our ancestors and reconnect with the natural world once more.

This is the third edition of well-received upper-level text by a leading soils geologist. The text discusses field applications such as the use of soils in recognizing climate change, estimating the age of geological deposits, and dealing with environmental problems such as acid rain. In this third revision Birkeland incorporates the considerable amount of new research that has taken place since the last edition in 1984, expands the sections on applications and paleosols, and adds new "how to" appendices on soil descriptions.

This book is intended as a useful handbook for professionals and researchers in the areas of Physical Oceanography, Marine Geology, Coastal Geomorphology and Coastal Engineering and as a text for graduate students in these fields. With its emphasis on boundary layer flow and basic sediment transport modelling, it is meant to help fill the gap between general hydrodynamic texts and descriptive texts on marine and coastal sedimentary processes. The book commences with a review of coastal bottom boundary layer flows including the boundary layer interaction between waves and steady currents. The concept of eddy viscosity for these flows is discussed in depth because of its relation to sediment diffusivity. The quasi-steady processes of sediment transport over flat beds are discussed. Small scale coastal bedforms and the corresponding hydraulic roughness are described. The motion of suspended sand particles is studied in detail with emphasis on the possible suspension maintaining mechanisms in coastal flows. Sediment pickup functions are provided for unsteady flows. A new combined convection-diffusion model is provided for suspended sediment distributions. Different methods of sediment transport model building are presented together with some classical models.