Book Description

Phosphorus is one of the major nutrients limiting the productivity of terrestrial, wetland and aquatic ecosystems.Over the last decade several research projects were conducted on Florida's ecosystems from state and federal agencies and private industry to address water quality issues, and to develop management practices to control nutrient loads. Phosphorus Biogeochemistry in Sub-Tropical Ecosystems is the first thorough study of the role of phosphorus in ecological health and water quality ever published. Because of its vast and extensively studied ecosystems, Florida has often served as a national laboratory on current and future trends in ecosystem management.The reader will find studies at all levels of biological organization, from the cellular to entire ecological communities. The book is a definitive study of the role and behavior of phosphorus deposition in the upland/wetland/aquatic environment.The papers presented in this book are organized in specific groups: ecological analysis and global issues, biogeochemical transformations, biogeochemical responses, transport processes, phosphorus management, and synthesis. Although Florida's ecosystems are used as a case study, the results presented have global applications. ... Read more

Book Description

The environmental impact of industry is often profound and far-reaching, and has long been present in the cultural landscape, but research into the nature and relative importance of industrial activity has been somewhat neglected by environmental archaeologists. This volume presents eighteen papers deriving from a conference of the Association for Environmental Archaeology; they aim to bridge the gap between environmental and industrial archaeology. The papers address several major issues including: the effects of mining and smelting on sedimentation and vegetation in river catchments, the environmental impact of industries which are based on high-temperature processes and require reliable sources of fuel, such as metallurgy, pottery, glass and lime-making; the environmental impact of industrial processes based on biological raw materials, such as horn, bone, hides and shell; and the effects of industry on human health. ... Read more

Book Description

As humanity presses down inexorably on the natural world, people debate the extent to which we can save the Earth's millions of different species without sacrificing human economic welfare. But is this argument wise? Must the human and natural worlds be adversaries? In this book, ecologist Michael Rosenzweig finds that ecological science actually rejects such polarization. Instead it suggests that, to be successful, conservation must discover how we can blend a rich natural world into the world of economic activity. This revolutionary, common ground between development and conservation is called reconciliation ecology: creating and maintaining species-friendly habitats in the very places where people live, work, or play. The book offers many inspiring examples of the good results already achieved. The Nature Conservancy, for instance, has a cooperative agreement with the Department of Defense, with more than 200 conservation projects taking place on more than 170 bases in 41 states. In places such as Elgin Air Force Base, the human uses-testing munitions, profitable timbering and recreation--continue, but populations of several threatened species on the base, such as the long-leaf pine and the red-cockaded woodpecker, have been greatly improved. The Safe Harbor strategy of the Fish & Wildlife Service encourages private landowners to improve their property for endangered species, thus overcoming the unintended negative aspects of the Endangered Species Act. And Golden Gate Park, which began as a system of sand dunes, has become, through human effort, a world of ponds and shrubs, waterfowl and trees.Rosenzweig shows that reconciliation ecology is the missing tool of conservation, the practical, scientifically based approach that, when added to the rest, will solve the problem of preserving Earth's species. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Inspiration amidst depression.
This book inspires you to look at your surroundings and make changes that improve the welfare of the living world around you. However, it states the cold equations of our increasing destruction, and explains what the future is likely to bring if we don't immediately start working for a better world.

Plants and animals used to be able to move to new habitats during periods of climate change -- today we've locked them into too-small reserves and they have nowhere to go except extinct during the current warming trend. That's why we must work hard at making our cities (where most of us live) as hospitable as possible for other living creatures. ... Read more

Book Description

This management-driven, comprehensive book on ecosystem ecology is the only one on the market that covers the entire field, linking conventional ecosystem-level forest ecology to forest management.It features ecological site classification, ecosystem modeling, and strong sections on ecological diversity and the physical environment. It provides a comprehensive treatment of forestry issues; as well as excellent coverage of ecosystem management, landscape management, natural disturbances and their emulation.An excellent reference work for professional foresters, resource managers, wildlife managers, parks managers, forest planners and policy makers, and forestry researchers. ... Read more

Book Description

The predictability of the physical arrangement of plants, at whatever scale it is viewed, is referred to as a spatial pattern. Spatial pattern is a crucial aspect of vegetation that has important implications not only for the plants themselves, but also for other organisms that interact with plants, such as herbivores and pollinators; or those animals for which plants provide a habitat.This book describes and evaluates methods for detecting and quantifying a variety of characteristics of spatial pattern. As well as discussing the concepts on which these techniques are based, the book includes examples from real field studies and worked examples, which, together with numerous line figures, help guide the reader through the text. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

fantastic
Dale brings you through the methodology of spatical sampling and substantiates these procedures through numerous well-known references. Equations are given in clear and concise language, and examples are very well designed to fully explain the text. This book is a value to any and all aspiring environmental scientists given it's ease in understanding the wide breadth and depth of plant ecology. ... Read more

Book Description

Timescapes of Modernity focuses on time to facilitate a deeper understanding of the interactions between environmental, economic, political and socio-cultural concerns. Thinking of the environment as a timescape allows us to see the hazards of the industrial way of life in a new light. Barbara Adam argues that environmental hazards are inescapably tied to the successes of the industrial way of life, global markets and economic growth, large-scale production of food, the speed of transport and communication, the 24 hour society, and even democratic politics. Using examples including the aftermaths of Chernobyl and the treatment of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopath (BSE), Adam dislodges taken-for-granted assumptions about environmental change and provides innovative new strategies to deal with some of the most severe environmental hazards of our time. ... Read more

Book Description

The Politics of the Earth provides an excellent and accessible introduction to thinking about the environment by looking at the way people use language on environmental issues.John Dryzek helps make sense of the diverse developments in environmental politics by analysing the main discourses which have dominated the area during the last three decades, and which are likely to be influential in the future:

Survivalism - based on the contention that the Earth has a limited stock of resources and prescribes drastic, multidimensional action to prevent global disaster, receiving a reply from Prometheans who deny such limits exist.

Environmental Problem Solving - recognizes the existence of ecological problems but views them as tractable within the basic framework of industrial society.

Sustainability - defined by imaginative attempts to dissolve the conflicts between environmental and economic values.

Green Radicalism - rejects the basic structure of industrial society and the way the environment is conceptualized and promotes transformation in human consciousness, economics, and politics.

John Dryzek provides a comprehensive and lively assessment of these various perspectives, their rise and fall, their interaction and impacts, and their strengths and weaknesses.His analysis of these discourses leads up to a concluding argument for a reinvigorated ecological democracy.

The Politics of the Earth offers a new way of classifying and comparing the main strands of environmental politics. It will be fascinating and essential reading for all students of environmental politics and policy, and for anyone with an interest in environmental issues. ... Read more

Book Description

In The Eternal Frontier, world-renowned scientist and historian Tim Flannery tells the unforgettable story of the geological and biological evolution of the North American continent, from the time of the asteroid strike that ended the age of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, to the present day. Flannery describes the development of North America's deciduous forests and other flora, and tracks the immigration and emigration of various animals to and from Europe, Asia, and South America, showing how plant and animal species have either adapted or become extinct. The story takes in the massive changes wrought by the ice ages and the coming of the Indians, and continues right up to the present, covering the deforestation of the Northeast, the decimation of the buffalo, and other facets of the enormous impact of frontier settlement and the development of the industrial might of the United States. Natural history on a monumental scale, The Eternal Frontier contains an enormous wealth of fascinating scientific details, and Flannery's accessible and dynamic writing makes the book a delight to read. This is science writing at its very best -- a riveting page-turner that is simultaneously an accessible and scholarly trove of incredible information that is already being hailed by critics as a classic. "Tim Flannery's account ... will fascinate Americans and non-Americans alike." -- Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel "No one before Flannery ... has been brave enough to tackle the whole pageant of North America." -- David Quammen, the New York Times Book Review "Tim Flannery's book will forever change your perspective on the North American continent ... Exhilarating." -- John Terborgh, The New York Review of Books "Full of engaging and attention-catching information about North America's geology, climate, and paleontology." -- Patricia Nelson Limerick, the Washington Post Book World "Natural history par excellence." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "This gutsy Aussie may have read our landscape and ecological history with greater clarity than any native son." -- David A. Burney, Natural History "A fascinating, current, and insightful look at our familiar history from a larger perspective." -- David Bezanson, Austin-American Statesman "The scope of [Flannery's] story is huge, and his research exhaustive." -- Lauren Gravitz, The Christian Science Monitor ... Read more

Reviews (20)

Fascinating natural history of North America
In The Eternal Frontier, Tim Flannery starts his ecological history of North America with the major asteroid impact near the Yucatan 65 million years ago. He writes of the catastrophe with great verve, and the book becomes quite a page-turner. From there he moves forward through time to the present showing the changes in climate and habitat, and then how the advent of humans in North America impacted its ecology. I grew up in Wisconsin, and I had no idea what a distinct climate and ecology the central portion of North America has compared to the other continents. Because the major mountain ranges (Sierra Nevada, Rockies and Appalachians) run from north to south compared to east to west (the Alps, Urals and Himalayas), North America has a "climatic trumpet" where hot air comes up from the equator in the summer producing near tropical summers even in Wisconsin, and then cold air comes down from the arctic in winter producing a sub-arctic winter. I hadn't realized that Europe and Asia don't have areas with such major swings in temperature as the norm. Flannery also explains how this trumpet will cause global warning or an ice age to be most severe in North America compared to the other continents. Flannery presents and explores in the latter portion of his book many theses on how he thinks North Americans need to take care of their continent so that life as we know it is not jeopardized. Many may think his predictions more dire than need be, but all are worth some careful thought, and many are new ideas (such as the need for large carnivores) that most people would not have thought of. All in all, The Eternal Frontier is a thoughtful, well-written and surprisingly exciting book.

A classic for our times!
Flannery begins his ecological history of North America 65m years ago with the Chicxulub asteroid impact spraying molten rock far into the present Canada and creating a shockwave that flattened trees across the continent. North America lost 80% of its flowering plant species and the dust polluted the atmosphere so most photosynthesis stopped as the planet entered a decade of freezing temperatures.

From here the book describes the major ecological developments through to the present, starting with how the continental drift of Australia from Antarctica and the rise of the Panamanian isthmus impacted on North America's climate. Even when writing of continental drift, Flannery's account is fast-paced. Some will deplore Flannery's speculations, but I found them intensely stimulating. One speculation is not necessarily like another: a well-informed speculation can help to eliminate more far-fetched speculations.

This quote exemplifies his well-informed speculation:

"The lifestyles of the oreodonts have been a mystery for some time. Some possessed eyes on the top of their heads like hippos, which certain researchers have taken to indicate an aquatic life. Oreodont remains, though, are most common in windblown sediments, indicating dry conditions. New and still contentious studies focusing on well-preserved remains of animals that were presumably buried where they lived suggest that some oreodonts may have been burrowers. Some skeletons even have the remains of foetuses, usually, two, three or four, preserved in their mother's belly. Such large animals tend to have so many young only if they live a precarious life, prompting one researcher to suggest that oreodonts used those eyes atop their heads to peek over the rims of their burrows before emerging. But what kind of danger were they keeping an eye out for? The caution of the oreodonts may have been prompted by the pig-like entelodonts...."

Throughout the book Flannery lifts the lid on some of the liveliest scientific controversies. Thus he begins the second half of the book with a clear account of carbon-14 dating and the debate about whether the extinction of most American megafauna was caused by climate change or the arrival of the American Indians. Both debates have political implications for present social policy and Flannery does not, thankfully, smother his account with politically-correct obfuscation.

Chapter 23 describes the destruction of the American Indians - an eye-opener for someone like me who, as a child, played "cowboys and Indians" on the premise that the two sides were evenly matched.

Flannery is fascinated with the notion of "frontier" as was Frederick Jackson Turner who documented the closure of North America's physical frontier; but for Flannery the frontier lives on in US popular culture.

Flannery describes how the myth of the eternally bountiful frontier has fostered a cavalier disregard for environmental laws and other attempts to constrain profligate behaviour. A nation "conceived in liberty" actually had its cultural and political freedom underwritten by rich glacial soils, abundant water and ecological diversity. When these frontier underpinnings no longer apply, US culture will have to adapt to survive.

Flannery leads the reader to ask if the spread of American frontier culture to nations without the bounty of North America has been at huge cost to their environment. Flannery's second theme is his three-phase model of "founder effect", "release" and "adaptation". The founders find an ecological niche and exploit it and in the absence of competition almost all variants make a living of some sort. "Release" occurs when a species is newly arrived in its environment with few competitors and abundant resources; they diversify and flourish in their new conditions. In Flannery's book, the same applies to grizzly bears as to humans on the "eternal frontier"; however, release and adaptation is faster with humans as culture can change more rapidly than biology. When abundance diminishes, species have to adapt to their environment. Because North America is such a rich continent, Europeans have as yet adapted very little - a phase they must enter to produce a diverse and truly North American society. He observes that North Americans still seek frontiers to exploit (irrigating the deserts, even exploiting space - their last frontier) rather than adapting.

This review cannot hope to bring out the richness of Flannery's book. It flows so effortlessly that the reader barely notices the superscript references that follow many paragraphs which show that he has woven together his 365 sources into a seamless tale.

Flannery takes Aldo Leopold's dictum about restoring the environment and shows that there was no complete ecological balance in pre-European or pre-Indian times.

This introduces the question of how the wilderness areas should be managed for the future. Flannery seeks to "revolutionize our rangelands management" by proposing a megafauna to recreate the more balanced ecology of 13,000 years ago: elephant (to replace the mammoth and mastodon), bison, llama, tapir, jaguar, camel and Chacoan peccary - all of which could be harvested for mutual human/megafauna/ecology benefit.

My criticisms of the book are minor and I would not like them to be taken as detracting from this otherwise positive review. The seven-page index is adequate but has not been compiled by someone who understood Flannery's theoretical models. It would have been more helpful, too, if all the animal and plant species mentioned in the text were included in the index. The maps are inadequate: they do not show the majority of the sites mentioned, nor the locations of the Indian tribes referred to. The addition of timelines and illustrations (even silhouettes) of all the animals covered would enrich the book.

Flannery's book has come at an opportune time. Most topically, when the US is considering the implications of the most recent census, when the Bush administration is finding its feet in terms of environmental policy and when creationist escapism is threatening scientific education. More significantly, because the physical and biological frontier, eternal for millions of years, has been closed for all time by the latest mass immigrant and mass exploiter: homo sapiens.

About That Index
I think other reviewers have pretty well covered the book. It's certainly a very interesting read.

I'm kind of an index nut. Some non-fiction authors provide very weak ones. This one is good, but surprisingly misses some important key phrases and words like "founders effect", his interesting Paleogene description on page 101 (paper back) and his references to dawn redwood early on. I certainly appreciated the color photos in the middle of the book, but, whenever I see such material in a paperbook, wonder if there was even more in the hardback version. Four leafs, 8 pages, were provided in the paperback. Anyone know if that's the same as the hardback? I've come across paperbacks that obviously had photos and figures that were excluded from the book. In some cases, that makes a big difference. I think I found two figures in the book. Maybe one. A few more would have been very helpful, partitcularly on extinctions and a few to summarize points.

Wonderful information; offers a far-fetched solution
THE ETERNAL FRONTIER is a fantastic book for giving a cursory ecological history of North America, and it presents the information so fluidly that it's easy to retain even for the layman. A year after reading it, I still think of the shallow ocean that once covered the midwest; of the armadillo returning northward from Mexico to reclaim what had once been its territory. Flannery's assertion that North American ecology has been out of balance since the clovis hunters is well supported also. But I found his suggestion for amending this crisis to be genuinely silly, almost to the point that it hurt the overall book. He believes it may be possible to re-introduce large mammals--namely elephants--to North America, thereby re-establishing the balance that existed during the era of the mastadon. This sort of plan exists in such a far-fetched dream world that it undermines the very sober treatise that has led to it. (I just don't see herds of elephants making it across I-80 in their southward migration.) Flannery handles a great deal of information in this book, and his ability to work with the large scale of time is impressive. But the book does overreach in its attempt to solve a thousand year-old problem in North America.

good but perhaps too broad overview of North America
I rather enjoyed this book, though given its subject matter - discussing the evolutionary and ecological history of North America from the asteroid impact that closed the Mesozoic Era to today's environmental problems - it was perhaps a tad too sweeping. Epic, yes, grandly so, but sometimes I was frustrated that he didn't spend more time on a particular subject or idea that interested me. Arguably this was unavoidable given the 65 million years he sought to cover, but still I wished the book was even longer.

Having said that though, the book was quite wortwhile. Many aspects of the fauna and flora of North America were discussed. Quite a bit of space is devoted to mammalian evolution in the Cenozic, something that is hard to find in popular writings (I know, I have looked; there isn't much on the Cenozoic, particularly the Tertiary Period). Oreodonts, uintatheres, protoceratids, and one of my favorites _Teleoceras_ are all given attention.

Many interesting questions in North American evolution are raised and then answered. How did temperate forests come to be the dominant biome of most of eastern North America? What part did tree squirrels play in North American plant evolution? How did the bison become the vastly numerous species that thundered across the plains when the settlers arrived? Why did rhinos become extinct in North America? How did horses, at one time quite abundant on the continent (one fossil site in Florida he writes yielded no less than 9 co-existing fossil species), become extinct? Indeed, what happened to the Pleistocene megafauna in general, which included not only horses but mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths, camels, lions, cheetahs, and many other animals?

Though the book focuses on North America, by necessity other continents are discussed, logical given the many land bridges that connected North America at various times with Asia, Europe, and South America. I didn't know for instance about the great fauna interchange between North America and the then European island archipelago 55-46 million years ago, how the fauna of North America overwhelmed the archaic fauna of Europe, though some European animals did successfully colonize North America (Flannery writes that mockingbirds first evolved in the Eocene epoch, likely from starling migrants that arrived from Europe). He goes into more detail in the more well known Great Faunal Interchange between North and South America, where large numbers of species colonized new lands, as well the formation of Beringia in the Pleistocene, the great land bridge that brought over not only many Asian animals but also humans.

Though mammals seem to get much of the focus in the book, Flannery does discuss the arrival and/or evolution of birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and plants throughout the time period in focus in the book. I thought his sections on reptiles was particularly intersting, discussing those who survived the asteroid impact in the Gulf of Mexico and those who didn't for instance, as well as notes on the advent of rattlesnakes in North America. Plants are not neglected; his writings on the creosote bush I found unexpected and interesting as well, and as mentioned he spent quite a bit of time discussing the evoltution of arguably North America's most charasteristic biome, the temperate decidious forest.

Flannery by necessity discusses a fair amount of climatology, geology, and plate tectonics in "The Eternal Frontier" as well. Not to an overwhelming degree but enough to allow the reader to get "the big picture" and to see how these events relate to the continued evolution of life in North America.

As might be expected mankind is well covered in the book. Much time is spent on the arrival of the first Native Americas (he refers to them as Indians, acknowledging cultural traditions though noting the inaccuracy) as well as the evolution of the Folsom and Clovis cultures. The impact the native peoples had on North America is the focus for Flannery, largely their probable role in the extinction of the North American megafauna of the Pleistocene but also their impact elsewhere.

Finally, and sadly, there is a considerable section on what Europeans have wrought in North America, from the extinction of the great auk to the slaughter of the buffalo to the ivory-billed woodpecker to vast deforestation...all chronicled.

All in all a good book with a nice section of color plates in the middle. A bit more detail in some sections would have been nice though, but perhaps that is not necessarily a fault. ... Read more

Book Description

Almost half of all life on earth may exist in the world's forest canopies. They may also play a vital role in maintaining the planet's climate, yet they remain largely unexplored owing to difficulties of access. They are renowned for their great diversity and role in forest functioning, yet there are still great gaps in the understanding of this `last biological frontier'. This seminal book shows how canopy science is now in a position to answer many of the outstanding questions, among which are some of the most pressing environmental issues society is presently facing. It represents a major summary of the current understanding of canopy ecology, and maps a path forward into a greater understanding of tropical forest ecology and management at a time when the very future of this ecosystem is threatened by humanity's actions. ... Read more

Book Description

A textbook for one-semester sophomore-junior courses in marine biology.The author is among the most highly respected marine biologists, and he has taught marine ecology for over 20 years.The text gives an introduction to marine habitats and biodiversity, addressing the three major themes: 1) function, how organisms solve problems and the chemical and physical factors constraining the solutions, 2) biodiversity, and 3) ecology, the interaction of organisms with their environment.The text is full of many good examples and illustrative material.It is written in such a way as to capture the imagination of the beginning student.The book is organized into 3 sections; the first deals with the ocean and general ecological principles, the second with biological diversity and the different marine habitats, and the third with the impact of man on the ocean system. ... Read more

Amazon.com

In this collection of essays, continuing the argument begun with The Unsettling of America, Wendell Berrywrites of the importance of good farming to a healthy culture. By health he means not the mere absence ofdisease, but the operation of a balanced, nondestructive way of life; his essays on the Amish people ofPennsylvania and Ohio offer a model. "An economy of waste," Berry writes, "isincompatible with a healthy environment"--an environment that operates in balance, within bounds.Arguing for the primacy of family-based, local economies, and for the exercise of intelligence, reverence, and community values, Berry crafts a prose idyll celebrating the pastoral existence. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Diverse, easy to read and easy to like.
The Gift of Good Land is a collection of 24 essays that were originally written for magazines. The original venue means that the essays are quite readable in terms of sentence length and punctuation. These essays cover a wide range of topics.

The glue that holds these essays together is Wendell Berry's love and concern for 'good' farming. To Berry's way of thinking, good farmers mimic natural ecosystems. That is, they cultivate a diversity of crops, both plant and animal. The diversity is not random but rather it is a patchwork quilt that is lovingly matched to the idiosyncrasies of the land. The Gift of Good Land focuses on people and cultures that have somehow managed to remain good farmers in spite of economic pressures. Ironically, many of these cultures exist in brittle climates. Hostile environments kill stupid economics just as quickly as it kills stupid people.

The thing I liked best about The Gift of Good Land is that Wendell Berry genuinely LIKES the people he interviews! He treats them gently, with dignity and respect. Many authors would see Berry's people as "subjects" that are stupidly struggling to maintain the basest existence. Berry sees them as people who are heirs to thousands of years of cultural evolution, living lives that are a heroic testament to human adaptability. I prefer to see through Berry's eyes.

Attached are a few of Berry's observations that I think are particularly acute:

(In Europe)"...'marginal' farms and their farmers are looked upon as vital resources that will be needed in times of crisis, and so policies have been evolved to keep them productive."

(In the Peruvian Andes) "I wanted to see ancient American agriculture that has been carried on continuously for...4500 years... (on) steep, rocky, and otherwise 'marginal' land." "What seemed so alluring and charmed then, and seems so hard to recover now, is a live sense of contrasting scales. The scale of that landscape is immense....This way of farming that has obviously had to proceed by small considerations. It has had to consider dirt by the handful. Every seed and stem and stone has been subjected to the consideration of touch - picked up, weighed in the hand, and laid down."

(In the Sonoran Desert) "In response to their meager (arable) land, the Papago developed a culture that was one of the grand human achievements. It was intricately respectful of the means of life, surpassingly careful of all the possibilities of survival."

(In the Mid-West) "A bad solution is bad, then, because it acts destructively upon the larger patterns in which it is contained."

(At home) "One of the ideas most ruinous to the small farm has been that the farmer "could not afford" to produce his own food....What is your time worth? Though often asked, I do not think this question is answerable. It is the same as asking what your life is worth."

(On children) "...parenthood is not an exact science, but a vexed privilege and a blessed trial, absolutely necessary and not altogether possible."

(In West Virginia from the seat of a bulldozer) "...it is virtually impossible to see what you're doing..... He (the person being interviewed) still seems a little awed to think that so large a machine has to be run so much by guess." And that is a fine metaphor for life.

Consider buying this book if this kind of writing appeals to you. Otherwise, save your money.

Yes, Berry is like a prophet.
This book has powerful insights about our society today. When I read it, I can't help but acknowledge all of Berry's arguments; he is so convincing. I can't do a very good job in summing up his thesis, but basically our "slash-and-burn" petroleum-based industrial economy is killing us--killing us physically, spiritually, and culturally. He advocates a return to small subsistence farming and learning how to better take care of the Earth and of each other. Right now, our hyper-consuming way of life is destroying our children's world.

Essays from a social and cultural prophet
Rural America's problems are often dwarfed by urban conflicts. Popular media attention is directed toward the larger market, but rural problems are ominously similar, declining incomes, shrinking population bases, abandoned school districts, empty store-fronts, and shattered communities. Berry is the preeminent rural philosopher to carry this message to a larger audience. Using the language of landscape, community, economics, and a good dose of spirituality the author demonstrates that the problems of rural America are the problems of a society that pursues ways to make a living rather than a society that pursues ways to live. Most of these essays are approching twenty years old and the causes and consequences of national and social inattention are just as relevent today as in the late 70's. If you have been looking for sound,sane , perceptive insights on how to live well in the place you are then I highly recommend this book. If you want to think about the future of the nation's food supply, soil resources, water quality, and the social sustainability of modern economics on agriculture then this is a book you will read and return to again and again. ... Read more

Book Description

"Biotechnology" as generally understood is a misnomer, having less to do with biology than with generating profits from genetic manipulation. The corporatizing of genetic science is just the latest risky manifestation of a dysfunctional industrial paradigm based on consuming natural capital and producing toxic waste-an economic model totally at odds with the evolutionary intelligence of living systems.But there is another way. The "true biotechnologies," described in this second volume in the Bioneers series, are working strategies grounded in the innate complexity, relatedness, and sustainability of natural ecosystems. The contributors to this volume are visionary leaders in fields such as biomimicry (mimicking nature in order to restore nature and serve human ends harmlessly), "living machines" that break down toxics biologically, natural design for industrial processes and buildings, and the restoration of natural capital. Their guiding principles include diversity, kinship, symbiosis, reciprocity, and community. These brilliant innovators illuminate a future environment of hope by "wedding human ingenuity with the wisdom of the wild," as contributor John Todd puts it.Human beings are a keystone species with an essential role to play in the ecological well-being of our world; we are only just learning how to go about it. Sector by sector-from energy and agriculture to transportation, industrial production, and land management-the true biotechnologies described here show how nature has already orchestrated a symphony of intelligent design that we can emulate and adapt, to the benefit of humanity and all life on Earth. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An informative 'myth-buster'
This book pushes the field of Ecology to a new level. Whilst the concepts of Traditional Ecological Knowledge are not new (in fact they are ancient), the range and maturity of the discussion makes it very accessible to the average reader. Berkes ranges widely with his examples and clearly the book involved significant internationl networking (Yes, there were even examples from my home of New Zealand!). Some fascinating myths that are exploded include the Chief Seattle Speech and the Eskimo snow hoax. I recommend it to every ecologist as a way to bring the sacred into science. ... Read more

Book Description

Drawn largely from luminous presentations given at the annual Bioneers Conference, this pathfinding book--the first in a new Bioneers Series published by Sierra Club Books--focuses on pragmatic solutions emerging at the fertile edges between the overlapping worlds of environmental restoration and holistic healing. In this kaleidoscopic collection, many of the world's leading health visionaries show us how human health is inescapably dependent on the health of our environment.

The rich array of voices in this book reflects the collective intelligence of the emerging movement known as Ecological Medicine. Its advocates look to the strategic public health measures that first do no harm to the environment and, in turn, successfully improve human health. They call for prevention and precaution as the first line of action.They seek to heal the tragic split that conventional medicine made from nature and to conjure nature's own mysterious capacity for self-repair. They celebrate the virtues of ancient natural-medicine practices but also embrace an integrative medicine that uses the best of all approaches to healing--with special emphasis on the centrality of the human spirit in the healing process. Their inspiring work, described so compellingly in this book, is of critical relevance to everyone concerned about health and the environment.

ABOUT THE BIONEERS BOOKS:

Since 1990, the annual Bioneers Conference has gathered scientific and social innovators who have demonstrated model practices and practical models for restoring the Earth. The Bioneers come from many diverse cultures and perspectives, and from all walks of life. They are scientists and artists, gardeners and economists, activists and public servants, architects and ecologists, farmers and journalists, priests and shamans, policy makers and everyday people committed to preserving and supporting the future of life on Earth. Uniting nature, culture, and spirit, their visionary and practical solutions also embody a change of heart, a spiritual connection with the fullness of all life, grounded in social justice. ... Read more

Book Description

Sisters of the Earth is a stirring collection of women’s writing on nature: Nature as healer. Nature as delight. Nature as mother and sister. Nature as victim. Nature as companion and reminder of what is wild in us all. Here, among more than a hundred poets and prose writers, are Diane Ackerman on the opium of sunsets; Ursula K. Le Guin envisioning an alternative world in which human beings are not estranged from their planet; and Julia Butterfly Hill on weathering a fierce storm in the redwood tree where she lived for more than two years. Here, too, are poems, essays, stories, and journal entries by Emily Dickinson, Alice Walker, Terry Tempest Williams, Willa Cather, Gretel Erlich, Adrienne Rich, and others—each offering a vivid, eloquent response to the natural world.

This second edition of Sisters of the Earth is fully revised and updated with a new preface and nearly fifty new pieces, including new contributions by Louise Erdrich, Pam Houston, Zora Neale Hurston, Starhawk, Joy Williams, Kathleen Norris, Rita Dove, and Barbara Kingsolver. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Anthology of short bits by women naturalists
Naturalists is perhaps too narrow a word choice for the one hundred contributors to this anthology; I suspect only a few would use that word when describing themselves. Their ages span more than a century, so the style of writing varies widely, but each has something quite special to share with a reader looking for a few moments of luminousness or quiet revelation in the midst of a busy day.
Here's one of my favorite bits, and I'm paraphrasing: Men climb mountains to conquer them; women climb mountains to go deeper within themselves, to feel a oneness with nature. When I read that, I lifted my eyes from the page, stared at the horizon and thought how much more poetic and truthful that is than the usual Mars/Venus type of comparison.
Contributors range from regionalist Sarah Orne Jewett to internationalist Diane Ackerman; there are African Americans, Native Americans, Jews, Catholics, mystics, and poets among this mix, with plenty of boundary crossing.
Very lovely. Not, I believe, a book meant to be read cover to cover. Rather, let it rest beside your favorite reading chair or at your bedside, and read a few entries now and then at random. I think you'll be charmed, as I was.

Something for Everyone
I found a lot more than I'd expected in this book. The editor obviously put a lot of thought into her selection of authors and passages from their works. It seemed to me as if these were the passages I would have marked for rereading had I read those works myself. Pretty much every selection struck me as being beautifully inspirational, poetic, or otherwise moving. I'd forgotten how much simply reading about nature can do to lift and heal the spirit. I also learned a lot: I was unaware that so many women have been writing about nature for so many years -- and it was sobering to realize that much of what the earlier authors wrote about no longer exists in our world today.

The author bios themselves make for fascinating reading. (You can't help but wonder how your own life would be summed up in a paragraph or two.) And of course, as I'd expect from any good anthology, this collection inspired me to add quite a few items to my "to-read" list. The nearly 40-page bibliography includes very helpful summaries, and lists not just the sources of this anthology's selections but many other works as well.

Whatever you might expect from Sisters of the Earth, I doubt you'll be disappointed. There should be something in it for everyone -- and it's a pretty book that would make a great gift.

Journeying
I have found this book to be wonderful in the growth process of the spirit. A truly marvelous piece of work, a compilation that is worth a second volume, indeed. This is a perfect "anytime" gift, to your self as well as others that are journeying the spirit.

One of the best books I have ever read
Sisters of the Earth is one of the best books I have ever read. It is a collection of stories on woman's relationship to the earth. Each short piece is written by a woman from the United States from any time in our history - about some connection she has with the earth. I've turned down so many pages in this book and put in little post-it notes saying "great!". After reading one of the stories a new author's work is now available to me. I give this book to others as a gift all the time. The stories themselves are personal reflections of nature that speak softly to me of the wonders I am surrounded by and often fail to notice. These stories remind me of where I really live and how powerful my connection is to the earth. I would love to see a second volume by Lorraine Anderson on this topic, she has selected well. I have also read Cries of the Spirit, also a book about woman's connection to the earth and found it very good also. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A key philosophical treatise for the 21st Century
In `The Way: an ecological world view', one of the most informed and intellectually formidable minds of the environmental movement turns conventional thought on its head and demonstrates point by point how most of the fundamental mores and principles taken for granted by our modern society are fundamentally flawed and, as such, are leading us in the opposite direction of the healthy and happy life they promise. In contrast to this Edward Goldsmith argues for a revival of a way common to many societies prior to the industrial revolution and the influence of its reductionist world view.

The way of these traditional societies could not be more at variance with the way of the modern, and yet could not be more in tune with our biological, social and psychological needs. Goldsmith contrasts this vernacular way with the world view of the current technocratic, industrial mission.

The thesis that Goldsmith weaves together claims that by rejecting and pulling itself away from the path of the biosphere our modern industrial way of life has effectively become diseased in almost every aspect of its operation, and as a result cannot possibly sustain its own vital, living processes. The result of this straying from the Way is breakdown, disorder and chaos worsening from one crisis to another until final, inevitable collapse. This is so as the processes of industrial society are consistently at odds with the primary processes of the real world that have sustained complex life on the planet for several hundred million years without aid.

The Way explains how this works, and how the same principles are in operation at every level of organisation whether it be in the life of the cell, the individual, the family, the local community, society at large or the biosphere as a whole. It explains why the current dominant world view attempts to foist upon people the pathological belief that natural, living processes are redundant and must be surrogated by the great artificial enterprise of the fake, imitated and engineered. It rapidly becomes clear how this is threatening our own survival and the biosphere itself within what is a mere blink of an eye of evolutionary time.

Although modern in its technical elucidation and method, The Way's carefully reasoned message is a call for a revival of most of what is rejected by our modern way of life. The Way is a call to instinct, intuition and aesthetics as much as to knowledge gathered by careful study and analysis. It is a call for the mythopoetic as much as for reason and sensory experience. Religion, art and myth figure prominently as means of interweaving our lives with the natural way. Emotion, faith, aliveness and natural creativity are all called upon as vital for the survival of the ancient, intelligent living processes that maintain our planet, our societies and our very selves. It calls upon the basic common sense that if one realises one has made a serious mistake by turning the wrong way then it's not too late to turn back and recover the well trodden way once again. There is really no shame in rethinking the most fundamental assumptions of one's life, since now it has become a matter of general urgency.

Yet such ways by their very nature cannot be imposed simplistically from on-high without ruining them. By and large these complex living processes require nurturing cooperatively from below, and this may prove to be the most uncomfortable challenge of all to our massively over-powered and rigidly controlled institutional structures.

`The Way: an ecological world view' may yet become one of the key works that transformed our way of thinking and practice in the 21st century. Read on... ... Read more

Book Description

This introductory general ecology text features a strong emphasis on helping students grasp the main concepts of ecology while keeping the presentation more applied than theoretical. An evolutionary perspective forms the foundation of the entire discussion. The book begins with the natural history of the planet, considers portions of the whole in the middle chapters, and ends with another perspective of the entire planet in the concluding chapter.It's unique organization of focusing only on several key concepts in each chapter sets it apart from the competition. ... Read more

Book Description

The first of its kind, this book provides a cross-culturalperspective on ecology and religion. The book surveys anddiscusses concepts of ecology in traditional cultures, Asian religioustraditions, and contemporary culture. Includes substantial discussions ofcurrent ecological movements and several ecovisionaries.Foranyone interested in Religious Studies. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The best of its kind
I received this book two days ago and have finished reading it the first day.The book is extremely well organized with facts and features that you won't, but always want to, find in other books such as:

general identifying characterists set out in a box for each species for easy location
identification of the young
what will be the effect of the bite each species of venomous snake
very good glossory and index (which includes both common and scientific names)

I have needed a book like this for a long time for a quick reference with MANY photos to easily identify the specie in questions.If you live in the southeast and want to know more about local snakes or just need a VERY good reference book for quick use, this is a must have. ... Read more