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Books > Earth & environment > Geography > Physical geography > General
Interest in the environment has never been greater and yet most of
us have little knowledge of the 4 billion years of history that
formed it. This book explains the principles of geology, geography
and geomorphology, and shows how a basic understanding of
geological timescales, plate tectonics and landforms can help you
'read' the great outdoors. This is a highly illustrated book with a
very accessible text that beautifully illuminates the landscape
around us.
'A true masterpiece.' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT 'Simply beautiful.'
STEPHEN MOSS 'Quietly courageous.' PATRICK BARKHAM 'Lyrical,
wholehearted and wise.' LEE SCHOFIELD 'A knockout. I loved it.'
MELISSA HARRISON 'Honest, raw and moving.' SOPHIE PAVELLE 'An
extraordinary book by an extraordinary author.' CHRIS JONES 'A book
of wit, wonder and of wisdom.' NICK ACHESON 'Beautiful.' NICOLA
CHESTER - A visit to the rapid where she lost a cherished friend
unexpectedly reignites Amy-Jane Beer’s love of rivers setting her
on a journey of natural, cultural and emotional discovery. On New
Year’s Day 2012, Amy-Jane Beer’s beloved friend Kate set out
with a group of others to kayak the River Rawthey in Cumbria. Kate
never came home, and her death left her devoted family and friends
bereft and unmoored. Returning to visit the Rawthey years later,
Amy realises how much she misses the connection to the natural
world she always felt when on or close to rivers, and so begins a
new phase of exploration. The Flow is a book about water, and, like
water, it meanders, cascades and percolates through many lives,
landscapes and stories. From West Country torrents to Levels and
Fens, rocky Welsh canyons, the salmon highways of Scotland and the
chalk rivers of the Yorkshire Wolds, Amy-Jane follows springs,
streams and rivers to explore tributary themes of wildness and
wonder, loss and healing, mythology and history, cyclicity and
transformation. Threading together places and voices from across
Britain, The Flow is a profound, immersive exploration of our
personal and ecological place in nature.
Dokuchaev carried out most of his research in Ukraine. His student
and friend, Volodymyr Vernadsky, went on to create
trans-disciplinary environmental sciences and the concept of Earth
as a living organism, famously taken up by James Lovelock. That
spring of ideas still flows and the researches captured in this
volume are relevant to present-day problems, and not only in
Ukraine. Soils have always been under stress but, in the
Anthropocene, mankind is in the driving seat. As a sequel to Soil
Science Working for a Living: Applications of soil science to
present-day problems, we consider issues of policy as well as soil
genesis, attributes and functions in various environments, natural
and man-made. We consider human impacts on the soil cover through
its use and misuse, highlight methods of research and assessment of
soil quality, and the threats of soil degradation. The
distinguished contributors also describe and propose various
options for evaluation and remediation of degraded soils, drawing
on the latest methods of modelling and cartography as well as
long-term field experiments and long experience. The book will be
invaluable to researchers and practitioners in soil science
including graduate and post-graduate education, academics and
professionals.
This book shares graduate student experiences, lessons, and life
learnings from research with Inuit communities in the Canadian
Arctic. The results of graduate student research are often
disseminated in a thesis or dissertation, but their personal
experiences building relationships with Inuit, working together to
design and conduct research, and how this shaped their research
approach and outcomes, are rarely captured. As such, there are
limited resources available to new researchers that share
information about the practical aspects of community-based research
in the Arctic. The book is intended to provide a glimpse into what
it is like to do research together with Inuit, and in doing so,
contribute to the development of more productive and equitable
relationships between Inuit and researchers. The chapters are
written as structured narratives in the first-person and include
reflections, and lessons learned.
This book investigates water resources management and policy in
China over the last two decades with a core focus on the role of
water for socioeconomic development and sustainability. Recent
policies, such as the Three Red Lines and the Water Ten Plan are
evaluated for sustainable water supply, use and quality control.
The book appraises solutions through demand management, water
rights and pollution trading, virtual water and water footprint.
Supply management is discussed taking examples from the Three
Gorges Dam and the South North Water Transfer Project. The water
market is investigated uncovering the active engagement of the
private sector and includes discussions on how transboundary rivers
demonstrate China's engagement with its riparian countries for
benefit sharing. This book will be an invaluable reference for
researchers in the field as well as practitioners and students who
have an interest in water and development in China.
This book explores the relationship between rivers and ethics in
China, with a particular focus on the health of the Yellow River
and China's sustainable development. Though the book falls into the
category of East Asian History, it is an interdisciplinary academic
work that addresses not only history, but also culture, human
geography and physical geography. It traces the changes in the
Yellow River over time and examines the origin and developmental
course of Chinese civilization, which has always been closely
intertwined with the Yellow River. It also draws comparisons
between the Yellow River and the Yangtze, Nile, Tigris, Euphrates
and Indus rivers to provide insights into how they have contributed
to civilizations. At the same time, it discusses the lessons
learned from people's taming the Yellow River. Most significantly,
the book explores the relationship between humans and the
environment from an ethical standpoint, making it an urgent
reminder of the crucial role that human activities play in
environmental issues concerning the Yellow River so as to achieve a
sustainable development for China's "mother river." The intended
audience includes academic readers researching East Asian and
Chinese history & culture, geography, human geography,
historical geography, the environment, river civilizations, etc.,
as well as history and geography lovers and members of the general
public who are interested in the Yellow River and the civilization
that has evolved around it.
This open access book examines the role of pilot and demonstration
projects as crucial devices for conducting innovation in the
context of the energy transition. Bridging literature from
sustainability transitions and Science and Technology Studies
(STS), it argues that such projects play a crucial role, not only
in shaping future energy and mobility systems, but in transforming
societies more broadly. Pilot projects constitute socio-technical
configurations where imagined future realities are materialized.
With this as a backdrop, the book explores pilot projects as
political entities, focusing on questions of how they gain their
legitimacy, which resources are mobilized in their production, and
how they can serve as sites of public participation and the
production of energy citizenship. The book argues that such
projects too often have a narrow technology focus, and that this is
a missed opportunity. The book concludes by critically discussing
the potential roles of research and innovation policy in
transforming how such projects are configured and conducted.
With the rapid increase of world population, the global water
shortage is set to be the major crises of the twenty-first century;
that is, population dynamics (growth, age distribution,
urbanization and migration) create pressures on freshwater
resources due to the increased water demands and pollution.
Moreover, water resources management faces a new uncertainty- i.e.
the potential for longer-term and more persistent climate change
nowadays, which, in coming years, may significantly affect the
availability of supply and patterns of water demand. This book
mainly focuses on the impact of climate change and human activities
on water quality and water resources in Asia Countries. It begins
by describing the characteristics of water related disasters in the
world. Then, the book analyzes the changes of floods and associated
socio-economic damages for whole China over the last century, and
assesses water quality and pollution source for the Yangtze River
Basin, suggesting water-related disasters would become more
intense, longer lasting, and/or more frequent in a future warmer
climate. Then, after investigating spatiotemporal trends and causes
of water quality and water quality incidents (Chapter 4) and
precipitation extreme events (Chapter 5) in Japan, subsequent two
chapters mainly evaluate the climate and human impacts on
precipitation variations, water quality and water resources in the
Hokkaido area. The final chapter comprehensively analyzes climate
change impacts on water resources in the Aral Sea Basin, and then
estimate the water requirements and water deficits for irrigation,
future agricultural yields of seven major crops, and land and water
productivity in four provinces of Turkmenistan considering climate
change, population growth, and three socio-economic development
scenarios. All results obtained from this book may provide a means
to reduce water quality incidents and mitigate future negative
impacts by adapting water management. Furthermore, the improved
methods for water quality modeling in data scarce regions are
transferable to other study areas and applicable in future
research.
This book provides a comprehensive exploration of some of the most
critical issues regarding the EU's Energy Union policy. Applied
European energy policies face a number of challenges ranging from
the geopolitics of energy and energy regulation, to climate change,
advancing renewable and gas technologies, and consumer empowerment
structures. This book takes a multi-dimensional look into some of
these vital issues regarding the European energy sector with a
special focus on the effects the Energy Union policy has in two
sensitive regional systems, Southeastern Europe and the Eastern
Mediterranean. Energy, being by definition a multi-disciplinary
field, presents a challenge for readers of any specific
disciplinary background that need to grasp an overall understanding
of the various aspects of this exciting sector. This book's
objective is to offer the opportunity for readers to get a quality,
hands-on overview of the Energy Union by the professionals and
academics that interact with it on a daily basis.
This book provides a step-by-step methodology and derivation of
deep learning algorithms as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and
Convolution Neural Network (CNN), especially for estimating
parameters, with back-propagation as well as examples with real
datasets of hydrometeorology (e.g. streamflow and temperature) and
environmental science (e.g. water quality). Deep learning is known
as part of machine learning methodology based on the artificial
neural network. Increasing data availability and computing power
enhance applications of deep learning to hydrometeorological and
environmental fields. However, books that specifically focus on
applications to these fields are limited. Most of deep learning
books demonstrate theoretical backgrounds and mathematics. However,
examples with real data and step-by-step explanations to understand
the algorithms in hydrometeorology and environmental science are
very rare. This book focuses on the explanation of deep learning
techniques and their applications to hydrometeorological and
environmental studies with real hydrological and environmental
data. This book covers the major deep learning algorithms as Long
Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Convolution Neural Network (CNN) as
well as the conventional artificial neural network model.
Our realisation of how profoundly glaciers and ice sheets respond
to climate change and impact sea level and the environment has
propelled their study to the forefront of Earth system science.
Aspects of this multidisciplinary endeavour now constitute major
areas of research. This book is named after the international
summer school held annually in the beautiful alpine village of
Karthaus, Northern Italy, and consists of twenty chapters based on
lectures from the school. They cover theory, methods, and
observations, and introduce readers to essential glaciological
topics such as ice-flow dynamics, polar meteorology, mass balance,
ice-core analysis, paleoclimatology, remote sensing and geophysical
methods, glacial isostatic adjustment, modern and past glacial
fluctuations, and ice sheet reconstruction. The chapters were
written by thirty-four contributing authors who are leading
international authorities in their fields. The book can be used as
a graduate-level textbook for a university course, and as a
valuable reference guide for practising glaciologists and climate
scientists.
This open access book crosses disciplinary boundaries to connect
theories of environmental justice with Indigenous people's
experiences of freshwater management and governance. It traces the
history of one freshwater crisis - the degradation of Aotearoa New
Zealand's Waipa River- to the settler-colonial acts of ecological
dispossession resulting in intergenerational injustices for
Indigenous Maori iwi (tribes). The authors draw on a rich empirical
base to document the negative consequences of imposing Western
knowledge, worldviews, laws, governance and management approaches
onto Maori and their ancestral landscapes and waterscapes.
Importantly, this book demonstrates how degraded freshwater systems
can and are being addressed by Maori seeking to reassert their
knowledge, authority, and practices of kaitiakitanga (environmental
guardianship). Co-governance and co-management agreements between
iwi and the New Zealand Government, over the Waipa River, highlight
how Maori are envisioning and enacting more sustainable freshwater
management and governance, thus seeking to achieve Indigenous
environmental justice (IEJ). The book provides an accessible way
for readers coming from a diversity of different backgrounds, be
they academics, students, practitioners or decision-makers, to
develop an understanding of IEJ and its applicability to freshwater
management and governance in the context of changing
socio-economic, political, and environmental conditions that
characterise the Anthropocene.
This book presents the polycentric and multiscale view of landscape
which has been developed in Russia within a framework of physical
geography since the early twentieth century. The authors develop
the ideas of hierarchical organization of a landscape and strong
relationships between abiotic and biotic components with equal
attention to both vertical fluxes and lateral transfer.
Three-dimensional representation of landscape involves strong
emphasis on abiotic drivers of pattern development including
relief, geological structures and runoff. The objective of this
book is to demonstrate the multiplicity of models and multiscale
approach to description and explanation of landscape pattern,
functioning, dynamics, and evolution. The contributions deal with
various hierarchical levels ranging from within-unit interior
variability to between-units interaction at landscape level, as
well as regional and supra-regional zonal patterns. Divided into 8
clear parts, the 28 chapters treat spatial pattern in one of the
following aspects: indicator of actual matter and energy flows
control over actual processes including disturbance expansion as
well as determinant of future development indicator of genesis and
prerequisite for future trends driver for short-term dynamics of
processes response to climatic and anthropogenic influences factor
of settlement network and land use adaptation at various historical
epochs framework for actual land use spatial arrangement. This
contributed volume is written for researchers and students in the
field of landscape ecology, physical geography, environmental
impact assessment, and ecological planning.
Aimed at those at the forefront of social ecological thinking, this
book presents a practice-oriented process to navigate the complex,
interdisciplinary challenges of our time. The book brings together
insights from the social sciences and beyond to introduce readers
to 'adaptive doing' - a continuous and iterative process of
experiential learning that provides an accessible structure and
process for integrating a range of knowledge and practices. As part
of the 'adaptive doing' learning cycle, the authors argue for a
common platform, symbolically called 'the agora', where multiple
ways of understanding can be discussed. In this space, participants
can work from practice and narratives, toward meaning, knowledge
formation and practice change. The book demonstrates three
reframing tools for social ecological practice that provide readers
with multiple ways of holistically entering the social ecological
domain and expanding their perspectives with a view to changing
practice. 'Adaptive doing' is presented as a catalyst for a new
generation of social ecological research, in which participants
honour their disciplinary foundations while being ready to
collaborate within each new system, and each new engagement: being
able to act now, for social ecological recognition and change.
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