Catalog Search Results
Author
Language
English
Description
For more than two centuries, as Western cultures became industrialized, they increasingly regarded the natural world as little more than a collection of useful raw resources. The folklore of forest spirits was displaced by the practicalities of logging; the traditional rituals of hunting ceremonies gave way to indiscriminate butchering of animals for meat markets. In the famous lament of Max Weber, our surroundings became "disenchanted," with nature's...
262) The Serengeti rules
Language
English
Description
Travel back in time, from the Arctic Ocean to Pacific tide pools, with a pioneering group of scientists who make surprising discoveries that transform human understanding of nature and ecology.
Author
Language
English
Description
"On the Tibetan Plateau, there are wild yaks with blood cells thinner than those of horses' by half, enabling the endangered yaks to survive at 40 below zero and in the lowest oxygen levels of the mountaintops. But climate change is causing the snow patterns here to shift, and with the snows, the entire ecosystem. Food and water are vaporizing in this warming environment, and these beasts of ice and thin air are extraordinarily ill-equipped for the...
Author
Language
English
Description
How do we think about the things we have lost? How can we use what we know about extinctions - cultural, biological and industrial - to reconnect with nature? When the gigantic bones of mammoths were first excavated from the Siberian permafrost in the eighteenth century, scientists were forced to consider a terrifying possibility: many species that had once flourished on the Earth no longer existed. For the first time, humans had to contemplate the...
266) End times: a brief guide to the end of the world : asteroids, supervolcanoes, rogue robots, and more
Author
Language
English
Description
What is going to cause our extinction? How can we save ourselves and our future? End Times answers the most important questions facing humankind. End Times is a compelling work of skilled reportage that peels back the layers of complexity around the unthinkable--and inevitable--end of humankind. From asteroids and artificial intelligence to volcanic supereruption to nuclear war, 15-year veteran science reporter and TIME editor Bryan Walsh provides...
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"Nature no longer exists apart from humanity. Henceforth, the world we will inhabit is the one we have made. Geologists have called this new planetary epoch the Anthropocene, the age of Humans. The geological strata we are now creating record industrial emissions, industrial-scale crop pollens, and the disappearance of species driven to extinction. Climate change is planetary engineering without design. These facts of the Anthropocene are scientific,...
269) Fledgling
Author
Language
English
Description
"Fledgling tells the story of a woman rediscovering herself through connecting with nature after starting a whole new life in a different continent. Read the powerful account of one woman's struggle to reshape her identity when all normality has fallen away. When lifelong bird-lover Hannah Bourne-Taylor moved with her husband to Ghana seven years ago she couldn't have anticipated how her life would be forever changed by her unexpected encounters with...
Author
Language
English
Description
Author Kostigen reveals the vital missing link in today's environmental crisis: how we as individuals are connected to the endangered zones of the planet. Despite the recent prominence of "green" issues in the news, the direct relationship between our actions and the earth is too often ignored. But the seemingly insignificant things we do every day have the power to literally alter the landscape in the ongoing battle to resuscitate the planet. Kostigen...
Author
Language
English
Description
In this work, the author, a field biologist explains the rules by which ecosystems thrive, shining light on a set of ecological balancing acts that he calls "green equilibria," rules which keep our world vibrant, verdant, and ecologically intact. To explain the idea of "green equilibrium," he draws on a range of examples, including coral reefs off the densely populated Philippines, the isolated and thickly forested valleys of Papua New Guinea, the...
Author
Language
English
Description
"In the absence of motorized boats and gondolas, Venice's waters have returned to a sparkling blue color. Deer have been spotted roaming cities in Italy, and mountain goats recently took over a small seaside town in Wales. Taking advantage of the decreased boat traffic, whales have returned to roaming Vancouver's harbours. The absence of "regular" human activities has dramatically affected our environment. In this book, Bob McDonald turns his focus...
274) Engineering Eden: the true story of a violent death, a trial, and the fight over controlling nature
Author
Language
English
Description
"The fascinating story of a trial that opened a window onto the century-long battle to control nature in the national parks. When twenty-five-year-old Harry Walker was killed by a bear in Yellowstone Park in 1972, the civil trial prompted by his death became a proxy for bigger questions about American wilderness management that had been boiling for a century. At immediate issue was whether the Park Service should have done more to keep bears away...
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
Scope and content: Original typescript or manuscript letters written and submitted to the editor of the Nashville Banner newspaper from Jan. 1992 to Jan. 1993 by members of the general public, public figures, and Nashville Banner readers, concerning a wide variety of topics. Some of the letters may have been published in the Banner's editorial pages, although many likely were not.
Subjects vary considerably. Some subjects are seasonal or unique to...