Our Changing Planet: An Introduction to Earth System Science and Global Environmental Change (3rd Edition)

Book Description

This book offers a general, interdisciplinary discussion of global environmental change oriented toward the non-specialist in science. The unifying theme of the book is consideration of aspects of both natural and human-induced global environmental change. The two part organization according to this distinction allows for easy reading on specific topics. This book is useful for anyone interested in learning more about Earth's systems.

Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound

Average customer rating:

Outrageous Hypocrisy Revealed
A must read for any energy entrepreneur
Cutting edge history in the making
Amazing... We need a documentary on this!!!
Tad over the top- but very valuable for students & voters

Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound
Wendy Williams , and Robert Whitcomb
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1586483978

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This acidly funny account of the battle over an offshore wind farm is both a fascinating window on the business and politics of energy and a scathing portrait of the ruling class.

When Jim Gordon set out to build a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, he knew some people might object. But there was a lot of merit in creating a privately funded, clean energy source for energy-starved New England, and he felt sure most people would recognize it eventually. Instead, all Hell broke loose. Gordon had unwittingly challenged the privileges of some of America's richest and most politically connected people, and they would fight him tooth and nail, no matter what it cost, and even when it made no sense.

Cape Wind is a rollicking tale of democracy in action and plutocracy in the raw as played out among colorful and glamorous characters on one of our country's most historic and renowned pieces of coastline. As steeped in American history and local color as The Prince of Providence; as biting, revealing and fun as Philistines at the Hedgerow, it is also a cautionary tale about how money can hijack democracy while America lags behind the rest of the developed world in adopting clean energy.

Customer Reviews:

Outrageous Hypocrisy Revealed.......2007-09-07

Well researched and written. This book should be read by everyone who is really concerned about the reduction in use of fossil fuels. The outrageous hypocrisy of politicians of both parties as well as some of the beautiful people who claim to support the development of alternative energy sources is laid out for all to see.

A must read for any energy entrepreneur.......2007-09-03

It would be shame for an energy entrepreneur to be tripped up by the obfuscation described in this great book without its warning. Extensively researched, masterfully written, a lesson of the times. Read it and learn! Bet you won't be able to put it down,

Cutting edge history in the making.......2007-08-21

Cape Wind is a brilliant account of a project that has the potential to revolutionize the energy future of the US. It couldn't be more timely, given the current energy crisis, the need for serious and concrete solutions and the fact that the controversy over the project is happening at this very moment.

The authors provide a powerful experience - the opportunity to gain a thorough understanding of the politics and history of this project as it unfolds every day. The presentation of the facts and players is fascinating; their delivery of the story is incredibly entertaining.

Read it now and stay tuned to the project - History is being made!

Amazing... We need a documentary on this!!!.......2007-08-21

There's too much happening here to not have a well executed and informative documentary on this. It may seem like a small issue to those outside of it, but it's implications reach much further than the Cape.

Read this easy to follow and well written account of this project and engage yourself into todays questions about our planet and our political stratosphere.

Tad over the top- but very valuable for students & voters.......2007-08-20

We used the Cape Wind story in public policy class this winter (b4 this book came out), & students were fascinated. This book does illuminate the major actors, and provides in depth background for why a policy with this many public benefits has been stalled for years. Romney, the Kennedys, Alaskan politicians, and the Cape Cod Times (although they are good about my letters when I go home)should be ashamed of themselves.

Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource

Average customer rating:

Good, but fails about Brazil
A real eye opener
A Non-Fiction Page turner (!)
Lacks focus
Easy to Swallow, but with No Additives

Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource
Marq de Villiers
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0618127445

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Water is a curious thing, observed the economist Adam Smith: although it is vital to life, it costs almost nothing, whereas diamonds, which are useless for survival, cost a fortune. In Water, Canadian journalist de Villiers says the resource is still undervalued, but it is becoming more precious. It's not that the world is running out of water, he adds, but that "it's running out in places where it's needed most."

De Villiers examines the checkered history of humankind's management of water--which, he hastens to remind us, is not a renewable resource in many parts of the world. One of them is the Nile River region, burdened by overpopulation. Another is the Sahara, where Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi is pressing an ambitious, and potentially environmentally disastrous, campaign to mine deep underground aquifers to make the desert green. Another is northern China, where the damaging effects of irrigation have destroyed once-mighty rivers, and the Aral Sea of Central Asia, which was killed within a human lifetime. And still another is the American Southwest, where crops more fitting to a jungle than a dry land are nursed. De Villiers travels to all these places, reporting on what he sees and delivering news that is rarely good.

De Villiers has a keen eye for detail and a solid command of the scientific literature on which his argument is based. He's also a fine storyteller, and his wide-ranging book makes a useful companion to Marc Reisner's classic Cadillac Desert and other works that call our attention to a globally abused--and vital--resource. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

In his award-winning book WATER, Marq de Villiers provides an eye-opening account of how we are using, misusing, and abusing our planet's most vital resource. Encompassing ecological, historical, and cultural perspectives, de Villiers reports from hot spots as diverse as China, Las Vegas, and the Middle East, where swelling populations and unchecked development have stressed fresh water supplies nearly beyond remedy. Political struggles for control of water rage around the globe, and rampant pollution daily poses dire ecological theats. With one eye on these looming crises and the other on the history of our dependence on our planet's most precious commodity, de Villiers has crafted a powerful narrative about the lifeblood of civilizations that will be "a wake-up call for concerned citizens, environmentalists, policymakers, and water drinkers everywhere" (Publishers Weekly).

Customer Reviews:

Good, but fails about Brazil.......2006-06-21

I'm an agronomist and I live in Brazil.I read this book, translated to the portuguese, here in Brazil.This book really has many usefull informations, about water suplly in the world.
China, Israel, Africa, USA, Mexico, India are some of the nations who are with water's problems and are focused in this book.
About Brazil this book is a failure.Brazil export far less paper and wood than Canada or USA, but we have far more forests than Canada or USA.And our forests grow far more fast than an american or canadian forest.And this book talks about ecomyths about Brazil.
In fact, this book sometimes reproduces, the ridiculous lies from "green eugenicists" or ecologists.

A real eye opener.......2005-05-03

This is an excellent overview of the water problems plaguing the globe at the moment, as Marq de Villiers travels far and wide to show just how precious a resource water really is. Most importantly, he does so in a very accessible style of writing that personalizes so many of the issues surrounding the rapid depletion of aquifers by drawing on childhood memories of his home farm in South Africa and first hand sources in the current geopolitical battles.

Of note is the Middle East and North Africa where the battle over water is entertwined with the ongoing political disputes. He notes how carefully Israel has managed its water resources yet is heavily reliant on sources in the West Bank to sustain its agricultural industry. Needless to say this has made the issue of Palestinian statehood that much more difficult. He also explores the thorny relationships along the Nile where downstream Egypt has threatened to go to war with the Sudan and Ethiopia over any divergence attempts with this great river. And, Kaddafi's attempts to create a massive underground river from aquifers deep below the Sahara to coastal Libya, in order to restore badly depleted sources.

But, even in seemingly water rich nations like the US and Canada, water battles persist, mostly to do with the contamination of rivers and aquifers that are the result of industrial waste and poor farming practices. More thorny are precious water rights in dry states like Wyoming and Montana that often end up in court and sometimes settled using frontier justice.

For those not familiar with the looming water crisis, this book will be a real opener, for others it will provide valuable information regarding disputes from the Yellow River in China to the Colorado River, which has long since quit flowing to the Gulf of California. While de Villiers avoids being the doomsayer, he does make one exceedingly worried about the future of this most precious resource.

A Non-Fiction Page turner (!).......2005-03-21

This book is by far one of the most interesting, can't-put-it-down non-fictional books I've ever read. I know, I'm speaking in superlatives, but I can't say enough about this book.

I made my thesis topic water-related after I read Water. And yet Water reads like a novel, even though it's packed with information and statistics; de Villiers does an amazing job of making the scientific research information palatable to the average (non-science inclined) reader by weaving in his own experiences and stories.

You can feel his passion for this issue come through in his writing style. He integrates quotes very well and makes the subject come alive. For example, when writing about a severe chemical spill along the Rhine River, he quoted Bertram Muelle, saying: "The river ran red... Otherwise, it looked no different...But I knew that as I watched, its creatures were dying. It was the most terrible feeling. I was frozen, sickened..."He makes turns a very technical and scientific topic into a page-turner. A must-read! P.S. Pay attention to the Canada-US Great Lakes issue, along with the Rhine and Danube Rivers (the subject of my thesis!).

Lacks focus.......2004-04-03

This a fascinating book about a fascinating (and critical topic). But in appealling to the general reader, Mr. de Villiers inserts too much (for my taste) personal anecdote. A regrettable travelogue quality permeates the narrative.

This is unfortunate, because there is much of value here. In particular, the discussion about the sources and uses of the Jordan River, Isreali concern with controlling its water supply, and water problems of the immediate Arab neighorhood, opened my eyes to an aspect of the current intractable problems of the Middle East.

My advice is to read this with pleasure, but don't be afraid to skim if you find some portions of the narrative uninteresting.

Easy to Swallow, but with No Additives.......2002-09-12

This easy to read and conversational book can be used as an introduction to the fate of water supplies around the world and their impact on human societies. de Villiers takes us on a chapter-by-chapter dissertation first on the technical aspects of water issues, such as the mechanics of groundwater and dams. Then we proceed to selected examples of water crises around the globe, such as China's dilemma of having too much where it's not needed and too little where it is needed, or the hideous catastrophe of the Aral Sea in the former USSR.

The author takes an admirably middle-of-the-road stance here and usually lets the facts speak for themselves, with just a little bit of opinionating. But his opinions are still quite moderate and level-headed, as he doesn't align himself with either unyielding environmentalists or extreme free trade proponents, both of which he accurately condemns as having very narrow outlooks on the real world. Some of de Villiers' key observations concern the water wars that will probably start erupting in coming years in dry regions of the world. Two countries will probably spend more money in a single day of war than it takes to improve water supplies for both of them for decades to come. Also, de Villiers drives home the point that the worrisome decline of fresh water around the globe is not due to greedy businessmen, corrupt politicians, or greens who refuse to let it be used. It's just the natural outcome of humans living like humans. Therefore real human cooperation across all societies is necessary to address the problem.

Book Description

Many of us feel called upon to respond to the ecological destruction of our planet, yet we feel overwhelmed, immobilized, and unable to deal realistically with the threats to life on Earth. Coming Back to Life provides a much needed update and expansion of Macy's pioneering work, Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age which, since 1983, has sold 30,000 copies. At the interface between spiritual breakthrough and social action, Coming Back to Life discusses with extraordinary insight the angst of our era - the pain, fear, guilt and inaction it has engendered - and then points forward to the way out of apathy.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2007-08-21

This is a great book written by a wise elder. While my sentiments are in agreement with the basic concepts of interconnection Macy writes so eloquently about, I am not sure that environmental policies may be achieved without polarization and confrontation of the forces of corporate hegemony. This is my only disagreement with the author. Is consensus really possible given the layers of entrenched elites running the global show?

The practices within the book are meaningful for reconnecting to the wider imprint of nature. I found some to be in confluence with practices Ive learned elsewhere with indigenous peoples and another one of my mentors, the naturalist, Tom Brown.

Inspiring, universal truths about self, community and world........1999-10-04

Without having to consult a post-modern dictionary, Joanna Macy and co-author, Molly Young Brown give inspiring and heartfelt explanations and examples of their lifework: dealing with the roots of conscious and unconscious pain that we all feel with regards to ourselves, while bringing home the concept of our connectedness to this world. They point out the fallacy of basic assumptions that we can fix whatever problems we create (the fix-it mentality), as well as dealing with resulting issues of burn-out and stress by alternatively doing the "work that reconnects". The dynamic model set forth in this book recognizes the role of community and encourages us out of an antagonistic "us" versus "them" concept which tends to lead us towards short-term NIMBY (not in my backyard) solutions.

Book Description

An oil tanker breaks up off the coast of Spain, contaminating beaches and killing over 100,000 birds. Colorful coral reefs turn a deathly white around the world. Six whales die in the Bahamas from bleeding near their ears after the Navy tests an active sonar system there. After so much bad news, people are thirsting for workable solutions to the oceans crisis.

Heal the Ocean provides a refreshing change in the literature by emphasizing success stories in the struggle to save the seas. The author -- a marine ecologist dedicated to protecting and restoring ocean ecosystems -- first describes the nature of ocean environments, and then discusses current and emerging threats, including pollution, overfishing, poor land use, deep sea mining, and the search for new energy sources. Heal the Ocean then urges that we build upon efforts that have successfully countered such threats, including:

- allowing natural processes to restore the San Francisco Bay and Delta
- innovative wastewater treatment at Ecoparque, Baja California
- the world's first scientifically designed marine reserve network in California's Channel Islands
- traditional stewardship of land and sea by native Hawaiians
- economic incentives for sustainable fishing in Alaska
- new international fishing agreements with teeth
- shifting consumer demand to sustainable seafood, and
- building constituencies for ocean conservation and creating a new ocean ethic using sophisticated social marketing and community-building techniques.

Upbeat and inspiring, Heal the Ocean will appeal to professional environmental advocates, community leaders, opinion-shapers and policymakers, as well as any citizen aspiring to protect the ocean.

Customer Reviews:

Dive into this ocean of knowledge!.......2006-09-17

In "Heal the Ocean", Rod Fujita details the catastrophic state of our oceans as a result of global warming, overfishing, pollution, deep sea mining, military interests, and poor land use. More importantly, he describes the many ways that we can work together to protect and restore ocean ecosystems. As somebody who loves the ocean but has never before taken a marine biology course, I appreciate Fujita's accessible writing style. Thank you, Rod Fujita, for this educational and inspiring book.

New Book Rides a Wave of Hope.......2005-07-13

A must-read for anyone who visits a beach, lives near a coast or loves the ocean (and who doesn't?). A marine ecologist at Environmental Defense, Rod Fujita unravels the mystery of the sea, revealing its web of life and how we humans are woven into it -- and have shaped it, for better and worse. At the heart of this beautifully-written book lies Fujita's belief in the ocean's resiliency and unwavering faith that we can turn the tide against ocean decline. He shapes the complex science of ocean ecosystems into a tale as mesmerizing as the ocean itself.

Championing the Seas.......2005-06-16

Heal the Ocean: Solutions for Saving our Seas
by Rod Fujita
New Society Publishers
227 pages
www.newsociety.com

Championing the Seas
Dr. Rod Fujita does not write with the detached voice of a scientist, although he is one. He writes with the passion of a champion for the cause of sustainable development and he believes it is possible.
Some fisheries such as California's near shore waters collapsed through over fishing. The solution: California's Marine Life Management Act of 1999 that strives to protect whole ecosystems through marine reserves where no fishing is allowed. Fujita calls it "fish in the bank."
"Present economic activities should not compromise our own future need for resources or those of future generations," and according to Fujita, it is a view that is gaining acceptance all over the world. It is a view that makes sense.
Although the author shows numerous scenarios for environmental disasters, he is no prophet of doom. After showing how ecosystems can and do collapse, he shows solutions, and sometimes brilliant solutions that have worked as well as ideass that have not been tried, but should be. Solving problems with scientific knowledge and political know how makes Heal the Ocean: Solutions for Saving Our Seas an important book.
Some of the engineering solutions that Fujita shows are ingenious, yet there is not a single solution that fits all situations. Each problem, each place on earth and in its oceans has unique features that call for creative solutions. Each problem must balance human needs with the conservation of natural resources.
Rod Fujita's enthusiasm for his subject shines through. He provides a toolkit full of savvy solutions, some tried and successful and some waiting to be used to remedy modern day assaults upon the seas and their living ecosystems. His book draws upon a body of recent scientific discoveries and provides a wealth of fascinating details about the connections among rivers, oceans, land forms, mangroves, reefs and the life that is interdependent in ways that are understood, and ways we have yet to discover. This alone would make it an interesting book, but Dr. Fujita goes takes his subject further. He shows us a future full of possibilities for healing the oceans.
Dr. Fujita gleaned his knowledge from close observations under water and his scientific work at Woods Hole, (he received his PhD from Boston University's Marine Program), and his work as a Senior Scientist with Environmental Defense, an environmental activist group. He has served on many state and federal commissions and review panels. He looks at the big picture drawn from his experience of work on many environmental issues such as protecting marine ecosystems, global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain and new discoveries in the deep ocean abysses. Here is an authoritative author who opens our eyes to the beauty, intricate ecological relationships, and threats to our ecosystems as he raises our awareness of what is happening to the interconnected waters of this planet and the life in them. The book is interdisciplinary as books of this type must be.
He shows the importance of non-governmental organizations and what they can do to influence how state and federal funds are spent. By using examples, he shows the importance of local solutions. "People will protect what they love and can love what they understand...we too are part of the matrix of the coastal zone and the sea." He gives examples of commercial fishermen on the East Coast working hand in hand with the scientific community to find good solutions to conserve natural resources. Peoples such as native Hawaiians, who have lived on the land and gone to sea for generations, are wise in their knowledge of their particular environments. He shows where some government programs designed from afar have produced the opposite results than were intended.
He has documented losses of salmon on the West Coast through the damming of wild rivers. Pacific salmon are anadromous fish that migrate between oceans and freshwater rivers. These losses are disheartening but may be reversible. Scientists are using the concept of pysis, a Greek word that means self-healing. To reverse environmental damages, rivers can be returned to their natural states without levees and dams and with natural features such as wetlands and trees on their banks so that fish and wildlife can return to their intricate patterns of feeding and spawning in habitats that sustain.
Donning mask and flippers, Dr. Fujita has explored pristine reefs up close and observed how their ecosystems work as opposed to coral reefs damaged by global warming, pollution and destructive fishing practices. He advocates marine reserves as a way to study and preserve ocean species before it is too late.
The scope of the book covers various ocean zones from the near shore areas to the practically unknown abysses while revealing surprising new information insights and fresh ideas. Minerals in the deep ocean are there to be exploited by nations that need them; deep ocean mining needs to be regulated to protect deep water ecosystems that scientists are only beginning to study.
In the last chapter, "Creating A New Ocean Ethic," Dr. Fujita states that reasonable accommodations of competing interests-economic development and environmental protection can often be made. "True economic development is an increased quality of life, wherein people prosper not only in financial terms, but also in aesthetic and spiritual terms, sustained by natural beauty, wildlife and health ecosystems."
Hercules, hero of ancient Greek mythology, was given twelve seemingly impossible labors to accomplish and found ways to overcome enormous difficulties. There are lessons in this. Today, Dr. Fujita champions the Herculean tasks needed to heal the oceans of the world. With the precision of a careful scientist and the drive of a committed activist he has written a book that should be in every library and bookstore. Heal the Ocean: Solutions for Saving Our Seas makes complicated issues clear to scientists as well as the general public and writes with a fine style.
Review written by Barbara Spring, author of The Dynamic Great Lakes, a non-fiction book about the history of changes in North America's Great Lakes and The Wilderness Within, a book of nature poetry and essays from around the world.

UPBEAT, REALISTIC AND FULL OF NEW IDEAS.......2004-01-31

Dr. Fujita's highly readable book is full of positive examples of changes we can make to improve the environment. It is a realistic insight into the science of environmental change. The book takes the time to present the problems facing our oceans but also shares success stories for change. This is a wonderful book for a non-scientist, non activist but interested reader.

The Death of Our Planet's Species: A Challenge To Ecology And Ethics

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Must Read
A profound philosophical and ecological wake-up call

The Death of Our Planet's Species: A Challenge To Ecology And Ethics
Martin Gorke
Manufacturer: Island Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1559639571

Book Description

The present rate and extent of species extinction -- estimated by some scientists as one species every 20 minutes -- are unprecedented in the history of mankind. Human activities are responsible for nearly all species loss, yet ethical aspects of this crisis are rarely mentioned. Any concern expressed tends to be over potentially valuable resources -- information for scientists, or compounds that could be used in new medicines -- that are lost when a species disappears.

In The Death of Our Planet's Species, Martin Gorke argues that such a utilitarian perspective is not only shortsighted but morally bankrupt. Holding doctoral degrees in both ecology and philosophy, Gorke is uniquely qualified to examine the extinction crisis from both scientific and philosophical perspectives. He offers a wide-ranging review of the literature on the subject, drawing together those two lines of reasoning that are almost always pursued separately.

After critical examination of the current state of relevant ecological knowledge, Gorke presents a carefully considered case for attributing intrinsic value to all of nature, including all species. At the heart of his argument is an analysis of the concept of morality. According to this analysis, the universal character of morality does not permit us to establish limits of moral considerability. More precisely, every act of exclusion from the moral community is an arbitrary act and is not compatible with a moral point of view.

The Death of Our Planet's Species sets forth a sound and original argument about the philosophical and ethical dimensions of species conservation. Throughout, the author combines a high level of theoretical sophistication with clear and straightforward writing. Orignially published in German, this Island Press edition makes The Death of Our Planet's Species available for the first time to English-speaking experts and lay readers.

Customer Reviews:

Must Read.......2003-12-10

Gorke's book brings methodological and ethical issues of practicing and using ecological research into a clear focus. He asks a series of difficult questions about the state of the science and addresses the complex sets of social and ecology interactions that must be considered in any realistic discussion of extinction, sustainability, or "ecosystem health." A must read, but perhaps troubling to the epistemologically faint-of-heart.

A profound philosophical and ecological wake-up call.......2003-10-19

Knowledgeably written by Martin Gorke (Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Ethics at the University of Greifswald, Germany), The Death Of Our Planet's Species: A Challenge To Ecology And Ethics is a profound philosophical and ecological wake-up call concerning the mass extinctions caused by the explosion of human population with all that this phenomena comprises. Expressing the terrible losses caused by the destructions of entire species, and denouncing the moral bankruptcy of valuing species only with regard to how useful they appear to humans, The Death Of Our Planet's Species is a profound, forceful, extensively researched warning of the need to respect life on Earth itself -- and should be part of every environmental activist, academic, and community library Environmental Studies collection and reading list.

Biosphere 2000: Protecting Our Global Environment

Average customer rating:

This is why everyone hates environmentalists....
optimal environmental education
A very well written textbook for environmental educators.

Biosphere 2000: Protecting Our Global Environment
Donald G. Kaufman , and Cecilia M. Franz
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060435763

Customer Reviews:

This is why everyone hates environmentalists...........2004-02-03

Sanctimonious, pompous, preachy - divides the world into two groups: those who are "biocentric" (that is, they share certain religious views, like the "all animals are our brothers and have inherent rights equal to humans"), and those who are contemptuously labelled as part of the problem. In one highly insulting (and highly illogical) passage, they even purport to prove "scientifically" (?) that "biocentric" people are at a higher state of evolution than everyone else. Apparently it has never occurred to these people that evaluating one's motives for wanting a cleaner environment is not the way to get everyone working together for the common good. The first rule of negotiation is "separate people from the problem" - but this book isn't interested in the problem, it's interested in blaming people. That's my first complaint - the pages and pages of whining because humankind is the way it is. (Imagine a criminal justice or sociology or any other kind of text spending two chapters on why the problem proves that people are bad and how we're all responsible and how the problem will go away when we all voluntarily start behaving the way we ought!)

My second complaint is that its solutions are stupid, counterproductive, and don't work. If everyone wants a clean environment but nobody wants to make huge changes to their lifestyle, it seems illogical to focus one's energy on trying to get people to stop driving and stop having children. There are only two ways to get people to do something (regardless of the nature of the problem): overwhelming force or persuasion. Guilt trips don't work and environmentalists haven't GOT overwhelming force, so they need to stop preaching and start looking for solutions. The San Diego Trolley works, on its tiny scale - find out how to make it work on a great big scale. Want to save a tree? Figure out how to get people to buy flooring and paper made with bamboo - stuff grows like a weed. Sustainable farming is a dead end: I've done it, and there are a million problems they don't talk about - but hydroponics gets pesticides (and bioengineering) out of the environment, can feed the world, and has the potential to do so at a PROFIT. In other words, stop these stupid, dead-end techniques that haven't worked and try applying the same problem-solving models that all other sciences and industries use to brainstorm new ideas.

The environment is too important for this sort of bull. We don't need (and most people do NOT want) preaching and religious dogma. We need to come together to ask, what new ideas can we come up with? How can we work WITH, instead of AGAINST, human interests? How can we embrace economic and political and social behavior as the natural part of nature that it is, instead of treating it like a disease that can be eradicated? People don't really want to repeal the Industrial Revolution. They want new solutions, not to be told to go back to the way things were. We gave up farming by hand for a reason. This book is a big part of the problem, because where it should be talking about how to create "options for mutual gain", instead it's talking about everyone outside of their own narrow interest as a potential enemy, rather than a potential ally.

By the way, the business model language I used comes from "Negotiating A Complex World" (Starkey, Boyer, Wilkenfield). They also talk about why nobody really wanted from the start to implement Kyoto but everyone wanted to LOOK like they were serious about Kyoto, to shut up the environmentalists. Pressure tactics and guilt trips and moralizing ain't gonna work, you guys. Time to figure out what will....

optimal environmental education.......2000-09-15

I feel lucky to have been a student of Dr. Kaufman's Environmental Biology class at Miami University. This textbook was the first and perhaps only in which I was excited to get to the basement of Brill Science Library in order to bury my nose in its every page. Dr. Kaufman and his Biosphere 2000 have forever altered the course of my life and I feel it can, if taught right, have the same impact on any truth seeking student of the world. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Peace.

A very well written textbook for environmental educators........1997-10-08

This book is one of many environmentl education books I've looked through and it appears to be the best of the lot. The book is well thought out including fascinating pieces written by students. If you're teaching an environmental science class you must review this book.

Hold Your Water: 68 Things You Need to Know to Keep Our Planet Blue

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The Nature of Things
Holding Water!
Who knew gaining insight to the environment could be fun?
Better than I thought it would be
Everyday things you can do to make a difference.

Hold Your Water: 68 Things You Need to Know to Keep Our Planet Blue
Steve Creech , and Wyland Foundation
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
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ASIN: 0740756826

Book Description

The Wyland Foundation is widely lauded by politicians and scientists alike for its practical insight and positive impact on our planet. Former Vice President Al Gore praised the group, saying, "Your organization makes an invaluable contribution to the effort to promote environmental awareness."

Hold Your Water is the latest in the organization's legacy of arming everyday people with straight-ahead insight and simple tips for keeping our planet blue. Written by two members of Wyland's staff, the book provides countless fascinating facts about our planet. For instance, did you realize that while two-thirds of the earth's surface is covered by water, only 3 percent of that water is safe to drink? And of that 3 percent, nearly two-thirds is locked up in polar ice caps?

The book offers easy ways for people to help preserve water and other related precious resources. Divided into more than 30 sections, this compendium illustrates how everyday activities such as car washing, showering, fertilizing-even 'pet poop' cleanup-can negatively impact the environment. It then delivers more than 100 tips and tidbits that will help you protect your planet.

Whether you are one of the nearly three-quarters of Americans who consider themselves environmentalists, or you just want to know more about the world in which you live, Hold Your Water is a book worth holding on to.

Customer Reviews:

The Nature of Things.......2006-11-02

(From the Lakeland Ledger newspaper, Lakeland, FL)

Book Tells of Everyday Impacts on the World's Water Supplies
By Tom Palmer
Oct. 24, 2006

If you're concerned about water, but don't want to do a lot of heavy reading, there's a recently published book that could fit your needs.

It is "Hold Your Water! 68 Things You Need to Know to Keep Our Planet Blue" by Environmental Artist Wyland and Steve Creech (Andrews McMeel Publishing, Kansas City, Mo., $9.95 185 pages ISBN 040756826).

This book is a collection of short narratives.

The topics of the narratives include simple explanations of the world's water supply (hint: most of it isn't fresh and drinkable), the impacts of everyday activities -- getting your oil changed, fertilizing your lawn, taking a shower -- on the water cycle (one of the new terms you'll learn) and other useful bits of water trivia.

Let me share a few that come right out of recent headlines.

* In an area with a 100,000 population such as Lakeland, the canine population produces 2.5 tons of animal waste every day. An estimated 40 percent of the pet owners don't clean up after their pets, which means the waste has a good chance of ending up in a local lake.

* If you want to stay cool and hydrated during the hot weather, use a reusable water bottle rather than the throwaway plastic bottle. Even after a plastic bottle breaks down enough to seem invisible, the petrochemicals (you did know plastic was made from oil, didn't you?) that make up the plastic remain in the environment and pollute it.

* With the high cost of prescription and nonprescription drugs these days, throwing them away seems like a waste of money. However, it you must get rid of your meds, don't flush them down the toilet. Pharmaceuticals are showing up in increasingly high concentrations in water bodies and appear to be affecting fish and other aquatic life in unhealthy ways.

The last item emphasizes the fact that this book not only speaks about water in terms of its usefulness to people, but also recognizes that water is the main habitat for many of the earth's plants and animals.

That's a point that sometimes would otherwise be overlooked in water planning and is certainly one of the limiting factors in the plans to siphon water from rivers and lakes to feed the demands of new development.

Holding Water!.......2006-08-14

For an element so basic, water's looming on the horizon as the big issue of our times. Strangely, it hasn't been addressed much or weighed much on the public consciousness. I've been a fan of Wyland for a long time, so I have to applaud the artist's growing concern for raising awareness about the future of this precious resource. Hold Your Water covers a large amount of information territory in one of the most accessible, and dare I say, funny, ways I've seen in a book of this type. the graphics were clever, and some of the sources suprised me (George Bush, Sr?), but it appears that addressing environmental issues is going to require big efforts on both sides of the aisle. It still seems weird to hear from the Bushes and Mahatma Ghandi side by side. But the point is well taken. The water issue isn't going away. The question now is: will we prepared to handle it before it becomes too large to address.

Who knew gaining insight to the environment could be fun? .......2006-05-27

If you have ever felt like you are in over your head when it comes to environmental issues, "Hold Your Water" is a book you must read. It gives you the information you need to know about clean water (and the environment in general) - and is actually fun and entertaining. Plus it provides easy tips for you to make a difference, for your local water resources and those across the world.

Better than I thought it would be.......2006-05-19

So I'm at work, waiting for my scanner to do its thing, and I picked up "Hold Your Water" and started to read the introduction. As soon as I got to the sentence about Ralph filling his water balloons and taking retribution on his sister, I knew that eventually, I would read every word. Wasn't really planning on doing that. This book is not preachy at all. The writing is fun and fresh, and of course, the ideas are things we all should be doing.

Everyday things you can do to make a difference........2006-05-15

What can you do about the environment and clean water? Lots of things!

Did you know that helping improve the environment can be as easy as...

* Changing your dinner order at a restaurant.
* Fixing a leaky faucet.
* Putting off your laundry for one more day.

This book is serious, but surprisingly upbeat. The storytelling helps to simplify complicated environmental issues. The facts, checklists and simple math make it easy to see how each of us can make a difference.

By changing little everday habits, I will save 360,125 gallons of water this year! Wow...I feel better already.

Living with nature and wildlife: Doing our part

Average customer rating:

Living with nature and wildlife: Doing our part
Delwin E Benson
Manufacturer: Wildlife Management Institute Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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