Much of the convenience of modern life resides in sheet metal, the cowling shield of most machines and appliances. However, the load that this takes off human shoulders has to be carried elsewhere, and the Earth has borne the burden. Many of us woke up to the environmental cost when over a century of industrialization finally surpassed the capacity of nature to assimilate it. International in scope, Heavy Metals in the Environment: Using Wetlands for Their Removal discusses wetland functions and heavy metal contamination. It addresses such questions as: Can systems powered by sunlight handle toxins more effectively than systems running on fossil fuel? At what scale and by what means do we define efficiency? These questions resonate increasingly with a number of global challenges. As inescapable as climate change, you can no longer avoid airborne toxins, acid rain, and polluted water by moving away from them. When the time comes to rely less on fossil fuel-based technology, how will we clean up the aftermath of toxic misadventures? Written by a leader in the growing field of ecological engineering, Heavy Metals in the Environment: Using Wetlands for Their Removal presents scientific studies that illustrate how natural systems use wetlands to adapt to changes in the ecosystem. It focuses primarily on lead, one of the first materials used by developing civilizations and a metal used heavily in the industrial era. The goal: to achieve a better understanding of how natural systems use wetlands to adapt to wastes.

Much of the convenience of modern life resides in sheet metal, the cowling shield of most machines and appliances. However, the load that this takes off human shoulders has to be carried elsewhere, and the Earth has borne the burden. Many of us woke up to the environmental cost when over a century of industrialization finally surpassed the capacity of nature to assimilate it.
International in scope, Heavy Metals in the Environment: Using Wetlands for Their Removal discusses wetland functions and heavy metal contamination. It addresses such questions as: Can systems powered by sunlight handle toxins more effectively than systems running on fossil fuel? At what scale and by what means do we define efficiency? These questions resonate increasingly with a number of global challenges.
As inescapable as climate change, you can no longer avoid airborne toxins, acid rain, and polluted water by moving away from them. When the time comes to rely less on fossil fuel-based technology, how will we clean up the aftermath of toxic misadventures?
Written by a leader in the growing field of ecological engineering, Heavy Metals in the Environment: Using Wetlands for Their Removal presents scientific studies that illustrate how natural systems use wetlands to adapt to changes in the ecosystem. It focuses primarily on lead, one of the first materials used by developing civilizations and a metal used heavily in the industrial era. The goal: to achieve a better understanding of how natural systems use wetlands to adapt to wastes.

With its lush wetlands, miles of beaches, and wide array of colorful wildlife, Florida is a fascinating and important ecosystem to study. Using this state as a model, Environment and Society in Florida offers a whole systems approach to understanding the environment and discusses the interactions between human systems and natural systems. It addresses the complicated issues stemming from these interactions among population, resources, economics, and environment, and discusses how we may better manage these challenges in the future.

Using an energy systems language that combines energetics, kinetics, information, cybernetics, and simulation, "Ecological and General Systems" compares models of many fields of science, helping to derive general systems principles. First published as "Systems Ecology" in 1983, "Ecological and General Systems" proposes principles of self-organisation and the designs that prevail by maximising power and efficiency. Comparisons to fifty other systems languages are provided. Innovative presentations are given on earth homeostasis (Gaia); the inadequacy of presenting equations without network relationships and energy constraints; the alternative interpretation of high entropy complexity as adaptive structure; basic equations of ecological economics; and the energy basis of scientific hierarchy.Part I introduces energetics, hierarchy, and systems modelling. Part II features design elements: intersections, autocatalytic modules, loops, series, parallel elements, and webs. Part III includes embodied energy, spectra of energy quality, temperature, complexity, spatial distribution, and diversity. Part IV discusses production, consumption, ecosystems, succession, economic systems, anthropological models, urban and regional models, global biogeochemistry, and the universe.

"A Prosperous Way Down," the last book by Howard T. and Elisabeth C. Odum, considers ways in which the future with less fossil fuel available could be peaceful and prosperous. While history records the collapse of numerous civilizations, some societies and ecosystems have managed to descend in orderly stages, reducing demands and selecting and saving what is most important. The authors make recommendations for a more equitable and cooperative world society, with specific suggestions based on their evaluations of trends in global population, wealth distribution, energy sources, conservation, urban development, capitalism and international trade, information technology, and education. This thoughtful, provocative book, now in paperback, forces us to confront assumptions about our world's future and provides both a steadying hand and a call to action with its pragmatic analysis of a global transition.

Ecological Microcosms is a seminal work which reviews the expanding field of enclosed ecosystem research, and relates the results and models of microcosm studies to general concepts in ecology. Microcosms are miniaturized pieces of our biosphere, ranging from streams and lakes to terraria, agroecosystems, and waste systems. The study of these simplified ecosystems is providing provocative insights into ecological principles as well as issues of environmental management and global stability. The authors have used the well-known thermodynamic approach of H.T. Odum and numerous computer simulations. The book also includes an evaluation of alternative mesocosm approaches for the support of humans in space, as well as appendices to aid in the teaching of environmental concepts using student-created microcosms. Ecological Microcosms will be of interest to ecologists, environmental engineers, policy makers and environmental managers, space scientists, and educators. Robert J. Beyers is a Professor of Biology at the University of South Alabama. Howard T. Odum is Graduate Research Professor of Environmental Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida, and was awarded, with Eugene Odum, the 1987 Crafoord Prize in the Biosciences.

With its lush wetlands, miles of beaches, and wide array of colorful wildlife, Florida is a fascinating and important ecosystem to study. Using this state as a model, Environment and Society in Florida offers a whole systems approach to understanding the environment and discusses the interactions between human systems and natural systems. It addresses the complicated issues stemming from these interactions among population, resources, economics, and environment, and discusses how we may better manage these challenges in the future.

Additional Editors Are John C. Briggs And Anne Wilkey. Contributors Include Thomas Hellier, Ronald F. Wilson, Carl H. Oppenheimer, And Many Others.

Contributing Authors Include John G. Mackin, Sewell H. Hopkins, And A. K. Sparks.