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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Conservation of the environment > General
The radical rewilder The Times As seen on BBC's 'The One Show' This authentic, impassioned manifesto-cum-memoir will hopefully have a major impact on what is likely to be a long-running controversy. The Spectator Gow reinvents what it means to be a guardian of the countryside. the Guardian Gow has a fire in his belly. We need more like him. BBC Wildlife Magazine Bringing Back the Beaver is farmer-turned-ecologist Derek Gow's inspirational and often riotously funny first-hand account of how the movement to rewild beavers into the British landscape has become the single most dramatic and subversive nature conservation act of the modern era. Since the early 1990s - in the face of outright opposition from government, landowning elites and even some conservation professionals - Gow has imported, quarantined and assisted the reestablishment of beavers in waterways across England and Scotland. Alongside stories detailing the ups and downs of rewilding beavers, Bringing Back the Beaver makes a passionate case as to why the return of one of nature's great problem solvers will be critical as part of a sustainable fix for the UK's growing flooding problems, whilst ensuring the creation of essential landscapes that enable the broadest spectrum of Britain's wildlife to thrive.
A one-of-a-kind introduction to the major issues and controversies dominating the heated debate over U.S. forest policy today. Forest Conservation Policy: A Reference Handbook chronicles the dramatic history, current status, and global influence of U.S. forest policy. Beginning with the foundations of early forest law during the colonial period through the rise of the Conservation Movement in the wake of 19th century massive forest exploitation, this reference also discusses the environmental challenges that have rewritten recent U.S. forest policy and explores future policy directions. What are the effects of forest destruction on biological diversity? Has the sustainable forest management movement been effective? Given the fact that individual landowners control the greatest share of U.S. forestland, how are forests on private lands regulated? Students and concerned citizens alike will discover answers to these and other critical questions regarding what is left of the nation's dwindling forests. Subject-indexed description of the major issues dominating the current debates over the future of forest policy Exhaustive references to government and nongovernment forestry organizations at both the national and regional levels
This volume describes and explores the emerging discipline of conservation paleobiology, and addresses challenges faced by established and young Conservation Paleobiologist's alike. In addition, this volume includes applied research highlighting how conservation paleobiology can be used to understand ecosystem response to perturbation in near and deep time. Across 10 chapters, the book aims to (1) explore the goals of conservation paleoecology as a science, (2) highlight how conservation paleoecology can be used to understand ecosystems' responses to crises, (3) provide case studies of applications to modern ecosystems, (4) develop novel applications of paleontological approaches to neontological data, and (5) present a range of ecosystem response and recovery through environmental crises, from high-resolution impacts on organism interactions to the broadest scale of responses of the entire marine biosphere to global change. The volume will be of interest to paleoecologists, paleobiologists, and conservation biologists.
Global warming is the story of the twenty-first century. It is the most serious issue facing the future of humankind, but American energy and environmental policy is driving the whole world down a path toward global catastrophe. According to Joseph Romm, we have ten years, at most, to start making sharp cuts to our greenhouse gas emissions, or we will face disastrous consequences. The good news, he writes, is that there is something we can do--but only if the leadership of the U.S. government acts immediately and asserts its influence on the rest of the world. "Hell and High Water" is nothing less than a wake-up call to the country. It is a searing critique of American environmental and energy policy, and a passionate call to action by a writer with a unique command of the science and politics of climate change.
Environmental and specific diversity in the Chihuahuan desert in general, and in the Cuatro Cienegas Basin in particular, has long been recognized as outstanding. This book provides a global ecological overview, together with in-depth studies of specific processes. The Chihuahuan desert is the warmest in North America, and has a complex geologic, climatic and biogeographical history, which affects today's distribution of vegetation and plants and generates complex phylogeographic patterns. The high number of endemic species reflects this complex set of traits. The modern distribution of environments, including aquatic and subaquatic systems, riparian environments, gypsum dunes and gypsum-rich soils, low levels of phosphorous and organic matter, and high salinity combined with an extreme climate call for a range of adaptations. Plants are distributed in a patchy pattern based on punctual variations, and many of them respond to different resources and conditions with considerable morphological plasticity. In terms of physiological, morphological and ecological variability, cacti were identified as the most important group in specific environments like bajadas, characterized by high diversity values, while gypsophytes and gypsovagues of different phylogenies, including species with restricted distribution and endemics.
This handy guide is brimming with quick tips, life hacks and budget-friendly tricks to help you reduce your carbon footprint and live more sustainably An eco-friendly lifestyle is expensive and time-consuming, right? Wrong! There are countless ways to make green choices that don't take a toll on your time, your bank balance or the planet. This book is your one-stop guide to living a more sustainable lifestyle. Whether you need tips on conserving energy or reducing food waste, or you want to give your home a makeover without impacting the planet, these pages include everything you need to get started. You will find: Clever life hacks to make reducing your carbon footprint that bit easier Simple tips to help you make planet-friendly choices in everyday life Smart advice for eco-living on a budget Inspiration for eco-friendly crafts and DIY projects It's more important than ever to do our bit for the environment, and Planet-Friendly Hacks will help you live life to the full without costing the earth.
In a society more concerned with how to cope with existential dread than how to make actionable changes to save the planet, a surprisingly large number of Americans identify as environmentalists. What can individual people do to lessen human impacts on the planet? This is not an easy question. Most research is focused on large-scale changes that go beyond anything an individual can accomplish, and people are left feeling defeated rather than inspired to make changes in their everyday lives. Change starts at home, and F Stuart Chapin, III has assembled a book for people who want to learn more about global changes and, more importantly, what they can do about them, starting today. Grassroots Stewardship approaches our current situation with an educated sense of hope and positivity. This book emphasizes actions by individuals, rather than governmental or corporate institutions, to trigger transformational change. Readers will learn what they can do to most significantly transform their communities and the planet with more sustainable pathways.
Marine Animal Forests (MAFs) are spread all over the world. Composed by suspension feeding organisms (e.g. corals, gorgonians, sponges, bryozoans, bivalves, etc.), MAFs constitute a vast number of marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, cold water corals, sponge grounds, bivalve beds, etc. The surface covered by these systems is prominent (at the scale of the oceans of the planet), though poorly known. In a previous book (Marine Animal Forests, the ecology of benthic biodiversity hotspots), several aspects of the MAFs were described and discussed, building the basis for a holistic approach with the aim of putting these shallow and deep sea ecosystems under a common umbrella. The main target of the present book is to identify and address important topics which were not covered in the previous three volumes. Bryozoans or Polychaeta, for example, are treated in this volume, as well as hydrothermal vents ecosystems and submarine caves, the chemical ecology in MAFs or the nursery effect on these ecosystems. The vastity of the MAF concept opens new insights in the biology, physiology, biodiversity of the organisms structuring these highly biodiverse ecosystems and on the dangers threatening them (such as microplastics or the role of invasive species as an impact of their trophic ecology or distribution). In a fast changing world, in which the complexity of MAFs is at risk, we propose an in-depth analysis of many aspects that may be inspirational for future research lines in marine biology and ecology.
This book offers a comprehensive review devoted exclusively to slate as dimension stone. Beginning with a description of the slate as dimension stone, the book describes the origin of slate and related geological phenomena. It thoroughly explains key data acquisition methods and techniques, which are accompanied by extensive data. In turn, slate standards are introduced and compared with regard to their importance for product quality. The book covers in detail the specific petrographical, fabric, strength, physical properties and weathering behaviour of slates. The chapter on mining and production provides an overview of the different forms of exploitation and related geotechnical aspects, together with production and workflow design, from the beginning to the final product. The second part comprises a thorough description of worldwide slate deposits and their geology, properties and appearance as well as a brief introduction of the history. Given its scope and accessible format, the book represents an essential guide for scientists, engineers, and professionals in geology, conservation science, architecture, and mining, as well as readers who are active in the slate industry.
Shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, and one of The Observer's 'Thirty books to help us understand the world'. Are we really to blame for the climate crisis? Over 70 per cent of global emissions come from the same 100 organisations, but fossil-fuel companies have taken no responsibility themselves. Instead, they have waged a 30-year campaign to blame individuals. The result has been disastrous for our planet. In The New Climate War, renowned scientist Michael E. Mann argues that all is not lost. He draws the battle lines between the people and the polluters - fossil-fuel companies, right-wing plutocrats, and petro-states - and outlines a plan for forcing our governments and corporations to wake up and make real change.
A concise yet thorough overview of the environmental issues, problems, and controversies facing the world's largest and most populous continent-Asia. Asia tackles the tough issues, the complex problems, and the political controversies surrounding the environment of this vast landmass. This volume encompasses everything from economics, land use, energy and transportation, to air pollution, rivers and lakes, oceans, and species and habitat protection. In Malaysia, unchecked discharges of industrial waste and human sewage led the government to label 42 of its rivers officially "dead." According to some estimates, Southeast Asia alone accounts for more than half of the world's total transport of sediment to the oceans. In the Philippines, the Chico River dam project, which would have subjected 100,000 tribespeople to relocation, was canceled when the World Bank withdrew funding after fierce resistance from the indigenous people. This fascinating book offers a comprehensive look at how the most populated continent on earth contends with its complicated environment. Interesting sidebar articles, tables and figures, and photographs Overview maps of the continent and a listing of environment-related organizations on the Internet
From Yellowstone to the Great Smoky Mountains, America's national parks are sprawling tracts of serenity, most of them carved out of public land for recreation and preservation around the turn of the last century. America has changed dramatically since then, and so has its conceptions of what parkland ought to be. In this book, one of our premier environmental historians looks at the new phenomenon of urban parks, focusing on San Francisco's Golden Gate National Recreation Area as a prototype for the twenty-first century. Cobbled together from public and private lands in a politically charged arena, the GGNRA represents a new direction for parks as it highlights the long-standing tension within the National Park Service between preservation and recreation. Long a center of conservation, the Bay Area was well positioned for such an innovative concept. Writing with insight and wit, Rothman reveals the many complex challenges that local leaders, politicians, and the NPS faced as they attempted to administer sites in this area. He tells how Representative Phillip Burton guided a comprehensive bill through Congress to establish the park and how he and others expanded the acreage of the GGNRA, redefined its mission to the public, forged an identity for interconnected parks, and struggled against formidable odds to obtain the San Francisco Presidio and convert it into a national park. Engagingly written, "The New Urban Park" offers a balanced examination of grassroots politics and its effect on municipal, state, and federal policy. While most national parks dominate the economies of their regions, GGNRA was from the start tied to the multifaceted needs of its public and political constituents-including neighborhood, ethnic, and labor interests as well as the usual supporters from the conservation movement. As a national recreation area, GGNRA helped redefine that
category in the public mind. By the dawn of the new century, it had
already become one of the premier national park areas in terms of
visitation. Now as public lands become increasingly scarce, GGNRA
may well represent the future of national parks in America. Rothman
shows that this model works, and his book will be an invaluable
resource for planning tomorrow's parks.
About seventy-one per cent of the Earth's surface is water, and even on dry land we remain closely connected to aquatic life. It provides us with oxygen, food, medicine and materials. Wild waterlife infiltrates our lives in many surprising ways. Every other breath we take is filled with oxygen provided by ocean-dwelling microscopic plants. A type of seaweed provides a means to directly test whether people are infected with viruses, including Covid-19. Robotics design takes inspiration from a pike's ability to accelerate with greater g-force than a Porsche. Wild Waters by Susanne Masters is a celebration of the breadth of wildlife that can be found in and around our varied waterways, from oceans and rivers to rock pools and ponds. Armchair explorers can read a fascinating account of how aquatic plants and animals enrich human life. Swimmers, paddleboarders, dog walkers, families and anyone with a passion for the great outdoors can learn about local wildlife, including when and where to look for different species without causing any harm. With stunning illustrations by Alice Goodridge, Wild Waters provides a tantalising insight into the world beneath the surface.
When it comes to the environment, Europe is a land of contrasts. The countries of the West have some of the most vigorous anti-pollution laws and some of the most energetic environmental parties in the world. The countries of the East, saddled with the legacy of a communist system that emphasized economic production over environmental protection, host some of the most ecologically devastated landscapes on the planet. What does the future hold for this ancient continent's environment? issues, the complex problems, and the political controversies surrounding the continent's checkered environmental past, complicated present and uncertain future. The book looks at the catastrophes - in January 2000, a massive spill of cyanide and heavy metals from a gold mining operation in Romania destroyed all biological life in the Tisza, Hungary's second biggest river. The poisons travelled 1000 kilometres through Hungary and Yugoslavia where they wreaked havoc on the Danube. It also examines the progress - European society has shown a greater interest in renewable energy technologies than most other industrialized regions in the last 30 years. Serving as a blueprint for the future, as well as a roadmap of the past, this work offers a look at Europe's ecological history.
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