Book Description

This is the definitive text in a market consisting of senior and graduate environmental engineering students who are taking a chemistry course.The text is divided into a chemistry fundamentals section and a section on water and wastewater analysis.In this new edition, the authors have retained the thorough, yet concise, coverage of basic chemical principles from general, physical, equilibrium, organic, biochemistry, colloid, and nuclear chemistry. In addition, the authors have retained their classic two-fold approach of (1) focusing on the aspects of chemistry that are particularly valuable for solving environmental problems, and (2) laying the groundwork for understanding water and wastewater analysis-a fundamental basis of environmental engineering practice and research. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Must Have For All Environmental Engineers
This is one book which an engineer esp an environemtal engineer must have as it starts from basics and takes you to complex situations making them understandable. ... Read more

Book Description

The definitive guide to vermicomposting-a process using redworms to recycle food waste into nutrient-rich food for plants. Newly revised and updated, this 162 page manual provides complete illustrated instructions on setting up and maintaining small-scale worm composting systems. Topics include different bins, what kind of worms to use, sex life of a worm, preparing worm beddings, how to meet the needs of the worms, what kinds of foods to feed the worms, harvesting worms, and making potting soil from the vermicompost produced. A 63 page bibliography, 24 annotated references, a glossary,and comprehensive index make this a valuabe reference book as well as a practical manual. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

A "user friendly" guide to recycling kitchen food waste
Now in its revised second edition, Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof is a practical and "user friendly" guide to recycling kitchen food waste, producing fertilizer for house and garden plants, growing fishing worms, and saving money, all through the process of a worm composting system. Worms Eat My Garbage is a simple, effective, "how-to" guide covering everything from how to set up a worm bin, to what types of garbage are best for worm composting, to taking care of the worms, to effectively saving money while reaping the benefits of the process. Worms Eat My Garbage is easy-to-follow, thorough, and enthusiastically recommended reference for environmentalists and gardeners.

Wait! There's a Better One!
Anyone who is interested in this topic must read "Recycle With Earthworms: The Red Wiggler Connection"
In my opinion it is a much better book than "Worms Eat My Garbage," but definitely does not get the recognition deserved!
Check it out! It's awesome!

This book has taught me the essientials to learning about...
This book has taught me about what i need for my worm farm that im getting in a week or two....Only problem is there are almost absoloutly no wormdealers here

Well i rate this book a five because it explains the book clearly and doesnt have mumbojumbo throughout the book I read this book in one day i ate it up

...

Hey! I loved this book!
This was a fun book about the little creepy crawlers! It gives a very solid scientific introduction to the little critters and answers most of your basic questions about worms. The focus of the book has to with vermiculture--the use of worms for developing super-rich compost material for organic gardens. Vermicompost is without a doubt the best composting material available for organic gardeners, and setting up your own vermicomposting bin is the best way to get yourself some of this richly organic fertilizer.

The book details how you can set up your own vermicompost bin, either by making it yourself or by purchasing a commercial worm bin. It also even describes how some school systems have saved themselves bundles of money by having worms eat the schoolkids' lunch scraps rather than pay for commercial garbagemen to haul the stuff away!

I would most strongly recommend this book for anybody interested in either worms, vermicomposting or organic gardening. It's a very fun read!

The Bible of Worm Composting
Worms Eat My Garbage is an informative and fun guide to worm composting (vermicomposting). It is no wonder this book has been accepted as The Guide by worm composters- it is a complete guide to planning, setting up, and using a worm composting system either indoors or outdoors. Different end goals are discussed (more worms, versus more compost) in view of the maintenance required to achieve the goals. A happy medium is recommended. A list of organic kitchen waste that can be composted is included. The author does not shy away from composting small amounts of meat, which the worms will gladly eat, though it may smell.

The amount of information about the life of worms is just right. The reproduction of worms is described at a layperson level, as well as other interesting worm facts, like the cut a worm in half myth.

The book is very easy reading, written at a 5th grade level, making it appropriate for classroom use or science projects. The illustrators' drawings make the book fun as well as aiding visual learners.

The author recommends commercial bins as well as homemade designs, with pictures of each. Plans for some homemade bins are included.

I enjoyed the section on a zero-waste society. With standard glass, metal and paper recycling, and the worms to recycle organic waste, the only items in my trash are plastics. This means I can go much longer between emptying my trash, mostly because it doesn't smell but also because the volume is reduced.

I was disappointed that the book, although it is very comprehensive, does not discuss composting items rather than kitchen waste and paper for worm bedding. For instance, animal waste can be composted using red worms, as long as the compost is not placed on plants or trees used for human consumption. Also, the book didn't mention that scrap organic cloth, such as cotton, wool, and linen, can be composted. ... Read more

Book Description

Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman, examines the legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa, which was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly forty thousand people. The effects of the immense waves were felt as far away as France. Barometers in Bogotá and Washington, D.C., went haywire. Bodies were washed up in Zanzibar. The sound of the island's destruction was heard in Australia and India and on islands thousands of miles away. Most significant of all -- in view of today's new political climate -- the eruption helped to trigger in Java a wave of murderous anti-Western militancy among fundamentalist Muslims, one of the first outbreaks of Islamic-inspired killings anywhere. Krakatoa gives us an entirely new perspective on this fascinating and iconic event.

Reviews (109)

Krakatoa, from discovery to rebirth
This remarkable treasure chest of historical trivia is laid out as a history of the Dutch East Indies, with center place being given to the island of Krakatoa. Anyone uninterested in the social, political, historical, and geological background to the famous eruption can just skip to its chapter, about halfway through the book. Simon Winchester has done an admirable job collecting and collating interviews, logs, diaries, reports, barographs, tide meter readings, you name it, to recreate the the horrific disaster, and set a few earlier errors straight.

One observer looks towards the beach, and see a monstrous wave, higher than the palm trees, sweeping along the shore. Others take note of the sea in the strait, writhing and surging, even though there is no wind and no clouds. Sailors caught in the ashfall suffer electric shocks from the charged cloud. A stone residence on a hill 110 feet high is destroyed by a wave that overtopped it by twenty feet. The sea becomes a slick of ash, pumice, debris, and bodies. (Winchester announces that he is censoring himself, in that last detail.) A woman in Ceylon who is killed by a surge is the most distant victim of the volcano. The airwave circles the globe seven times. The violent sunsets are recorded by landscape painters for years afterwards.

The run-up to the dramatic parts is a fairly interesting history of the Dutch in the East Indies, stuffed to bursting with footnoted asides. Krakatoa is the focal point throughout, though. Winchester even pinpoints the earliest Dutch map to represent the island, and then the first one to name it. There is an unmistakeably British thatchy-tweedy-fussiness in his manner. Even in the climactic narrative of the disaster, he finds room for a footnote to explain that Macassar was the source for an oil that spoiled wood finish, and necessitated the invention of a lace furniture drapery called an "antimacassar".

As for his idea that Krakatoa launched radical Islam in Indonesia, that's probably impossible to prove. The Japanese takeover of Dutch Pacific possessions in World War II, and the Saudi practice of exporting and subsidizing fundamentalist Wahabhi madrassas around the world probably had more to do with it. But it is certainly something to think about.

All in all, this is an informative and at times exciting account of one of the biggest and certainly the loudest natural disaster in recorded human history.

A PBS documentary, but on paper
Having read Winchester's "The Professor and the Madman", and after hearing about the book on the radio, I decided that I couldn't help but read this book. Though Winchester refers to Krakatoa as a widely-known event, I can confess to having only a slight recognition of the name prior to this book. I won't forget now.

Winchester covers enormous ground in this book, writing about evolution, plate tectonics, Islam, the telegraph, imperialism, the Line of Demarcation, the flora of the East Indies, and more. Do not be fooled, you will leave this book with a greater understanding of much of the origin of the modern world.

One delicious tidbit: Winchester argues that the relative cultural size of the world shrank much more at the eruption of Krakatoa than at the dawn of the Internet. On the other hand, Winchester seems to be constantly implying apology for the last 800 years of Western European history. He has a few particular zingers for the nosy British.

Overall, this book is lot of little bits. And, oh yeah, the central part of the book -- Krakatoa's explosion -- was absolutely riveting. My vision of hell now involves something of Dante and something of Krakatoa.

I recommend this book.

Krakatoa: The History
Krakatoa by Simon Winchester is a very informative, enlightening, and researched work. Rather than just being a recounting of the day Krakatoa exploded (which the title seems to imply), the damage it caused, etc., the book does much more. It recounts the historical significance of Indonesia (and the Dutch rule there), the importance of the Sunda Strait (where Krakatoa is located), the underlying reasons for massive volcanic explosions (plate tectonics and continental drift), and the social and religious aftermath due to Krakatoa.

I enjoyed the treatment of each of these issues, but at times some of the information seemed to be a stretch in relation to the subject at hand. The first half of the book, the build-up to the massive explosion if you will, was slower and not as engaging as the second half which was absolutely a joy to read and learn. Winchester does a great job of convincing the reader that Krakatoa was truly the first major event that the world of global communication (due to the telegraph and transatlantic communication lines) came to know. Winchester also does a good job explaining why the Krakatoa legacy has endured. Interestingly, much of it has to do with the unique name itself.

Krakatoa is a very good read. From an intellectual standpoint, the book is great, everything that you want to know about Krakatoa you'll find here. From the standpoint of enjoyable reading, the first half and some of Winchester's digressions are difficult to get through, but the second half is a great read. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the subject, or just history itself, but beware if you're looking for a book solely focused on the explosion/destruction of Krakatoa on August 27, 1883.

Skip it
I was looking forward to reading "The map that changed the world" by the same author after this book. However, reading "Krakatoa" has made me quite wary of any such adventure. This book is as tepid as Krakatoa was explosive. This is one of the very few instances when I have actually calculated the remaining pages of a book while reading; just to know how much longer I had to sit through it (.... "Finish thy book" is the first of my personal commandments). And mind you, I enjoy reading about the allied scientific aspects of any subject matter including geology (the discussions on petroleum geology in "Hubbert's Peak" being a case in point). The author seems to have started off with the noble aspiration of seamlessly interweaving the history, geography, social context, geopolitics, technological deveopments of the age and other issues keeping Krakatoa as the central theme. However, he ends up serving an unappetising stew with even the meaty part about the dramatic explosion somehow leaving you uninspired.

There are tidbits of interesting factual information but this is not enough to classify as saving grace for any book; especially one with such a compelling central subject, rich in possibilities.

Not the page-turner it's reputed to be.
I guess I'm like most people--I find forces of nature (volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc.) fascinating. The review blurbs on the back cover refer to this book as "a page-turner," and "terrifying." Well...not really. I have no doubt Mr.Winchester knows his stuff. However, my experience with this book is like that of a number of people who have left reviews here--do you HAVE to go into this much set-up to talk about a volcano? Perhaps it's me. One of the best "disaster" books I ever read was John Hersey's "Hiroshima." It dealt with a few major characters, dropped you right in the middle of the situation, and you were exhausted and heartbroken for the characters when you finished--and it was less than 200 pages. Reading "Krakatoa" is like being told a story by a professor whose train of thought is easily derailed by the amount he knows. If you are interested in geology, I have no doubt you will find this book fascinating. If you are an average reader, like me, you will find this book slow at best, mind-bogglingly tedious at worst. ... Read more

Book Description

Has world oil ouptut peaked? Recent price spikes and dwindling reserves have spurred fears that we are fast approaching the critical tipping point that will trigger severe global economic depression, political instability, and human suffering.

Today 95 percent of global oil is consumed for transportation, and other alternatives are distant possibilities at best. We need a solution now, one that will pave the way to a saner, more sustainable energy future without massive reinvestments in infrastructure and technology transfer. We need biodiesel.

A crop-derived liquid fuel, biodiesel can be made from a wide range of renewable, locally grown plant sources--even from recycled cooking oils or animal fats. The technology is simple and available today, and the benefits of biodiesel are enormous, as both a cleaner-burning vehicle fuel and a source for residential or commercial heating.

Greg Pahl’s essential new book explores the history and technology of biodiesel, its current use around the world, and its exciting potential in the United States and beyond. While biodiesel is not the answer to all our energy problems, it is an important step in the long overdue process of weaning ourselves from fossil fuels. ... Read more

Book Description

State-of-the-arthandbook of community water supplies.

The leading source of informationon water quality, water treatment, and quality control for 60 years is now available in an up-to-the-minute new edition. The American Water Works Association's Water Quality & Treatment, Fifth Edition fully covers the field, bringing you the expertise of 20 distinguished specialists whoprovide the latest information on everything from aeration and coagulation processes, to chemical oxidation and water plant waste management. At least 90% of the material in this new edition has been revised and updated. Among the areas of special concern covered are:

*Cutting-edge membrane processes
*U.S. regulatory changes, including new rulings on disinfection by-products
*Current concerns with preventing cryptosporidium and e. coli outbreaks
*Enhanced removal of total organic carbon
*Much, much more ... Read more

Book Description

Written from a sustainable perspective, this readable, yetrigorous, book provides comprehensive coverage of a variety of local, regional, national, and global resource and environmental issues from population growth to wetlands to agriculture to global air pollution. It emphasizes practical, cost-effective, sustainable solutions to these problems that make sense from social, economic, and environmental perspectives.Overall increased emphasis on international and global issues (includes many examples from Canada). New information on Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing—integrated GIS Remote Sensing boxed information appears throughout, including 12 case studies. Expanded coverage of ecosystem management and watershed management, global climate change, ozone depletion, wetlands protection, and policy—including new international treaties, new federal laws, and more.The friendly, approachable writing style makes the book accessible to a wide range of readers—from those who want an introduction in natural resource conservation and natural resource management to professionals in this field. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An Alternative View of Forests Based on Hard Science
Ever sense that television news is more about cosmetics, sound bites, and talk-show celebrity journalism than it is about digging for hard facts and verifying authentic sources? Misinformation about forests and forestry appears to be like that - superficial and unsubstantiated. The problem with lazy thinking like "where there's smoke, there's fire" is that any actual firefighter can tell you it is smoke that kills, almost never fire. Yet society sits in judgement amid great black clouds of speculation while never asking the experts about the true operating principles.

What is amazing is that Patrick Moore's highly educated and scientific position on forest management should be so widely assailed in the court of common knowledge and public opinion. There is very little examination of fact. Widespread untruths circulate freely, and every opposing viewpoint is demonized. Further reason to carefully consider Patrick Moore's contrarian view and verifyable science -- and note his incredible courage to put his personal reputation on the line, given the fact that his name is in the pantheon of great environmentalists of the 20th Century.

Eye-opening is an understatement. The facts presented in this book alone should warrant a careful reexamination of public opinion, government policy, and precipitate an audit of facts presented by various sides of environmental issues. Most people want to do the right thing to insure a vigorously healthy environment. What we don't need is to give over leadership of human destiny to extremist viewpoints which are founded on a belief that humans are a cancer on the face of the Earth, that technology and science are evil, and that the only solution is rolling back the clock 500 years to a pre-Columbian Garden of Eden.

Green Spirit has the courage to look at the environmental movement in a constructive way and say, "The Emperor Has No Clothes." On the issue of forests, it is as if some crazy Theodore Kaczynski is head environmental activist, public opinion trendsetter, and public policy oracle. Who can deny that the show is being run based on some kind of anti-human, anti-technology Unibomber manifesto? ... Read more

Book Description

The gripping story of an epic prairie snowstorm that killed hundreds of newly arrived settlers and cast a shadow on the promise of the American frontier.

January 12, 1888, began as an unseasonably warm morning across Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, the weather so mild that children walked to school without coats and gloves. But that afternoon, without warning, the atmosphere suddenly, violently changed. One moment the air was calm; the next the sky exploded in a raging chaos of horizontal snow and hurricane-force winds. Temperatures plunged as an unprecedented cold front ripped through the center of the continent.

By Friday morning, January 13, some five hundred people lay dead on the drifted prairie, many of them children who had perished on their way home from country schools. In a few terrifying hours, the hopes of the pioneers had been blasted by the bitter realities of their harsh environment. Recent immigrants from Germany, Norway, Denmark, and the Ukraine learned that their free homestead was not a paradise but a hard, unforgiving place governed by natural forces they neither understood nor controlled.

With the storm as its dramatic, heartbreaking focal point, The Children's Blizzard captures this pivotal moment in American history by tracing the stories of five families who were forever changed that day. Drawing on family interviews and memoirs, as well as hundreds of contemporary accounts, David Laskin creates an intimate picture of the men, women, and children who made choices they would regret as long as they lived. Here too is a meticulous account of the evolution of the storm and the vain struggle of government forecasters to track its progress.

The blizzard of January 12, 1888, is still remembered on the prairie. Children fled that day while their teachers screamed into the relentless roar. Husbands staggered into the blinding wind in search of wives. Fathers collapsed while trying to drag their children to safety. In telling the story of this meteorological catastrophe, the deadliest blizzard ever to hit the prairie states, David Laskin has produced a masterful portrait of a tragic crucible in the settlement of the American heartland.

Reviews (2)

Gripping
As everybody who knows me is well aware, I'm just a nut for anything having to do with wetlands! So when my Mom got me this book for my birthday, all it took was one look at the cover and I knew I was in for some real fun. But nothing could've prepared me for Ralph W. Tiner's brilliant eye for detail, his passion for the subject, his linguistic virtuosity. Oftentimes I didn't know whether I was reading poetry or prose, and in Ralph's capable hands, I didn't even care. For anybody interested in wetlands, this book is an absolute must.

Very Useful
This book is a good overview of Wetland Delineations. I bought it for the mapping information and found it useful when using GIS for Wetland Delineation Maps ... Read more

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. ... Read more

Book Description

Emphasizes the ecological principles that govern marine life throughout all environments within the world's oceans. Its unique ecological approach adds real-world relevance by exploring how organisms interact within their individual ecosystems.The book is organized by habitat and each habitat receives detailed, in-depth coverage, giving readers the flexibility to focus on their particular areas of interest. The Fifth Edition is fully updated with the latest research data and topics, including expanded coverage of the human impact on oceans, oceanic dead zones, and coral reefs. For marine biologists and marine ecologists. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A great text
Most marine biology texts on the market are designed to support lower division courses for non-majors. Nybakken's text, however, is designed with the upper division biology major as its primary audience. This book is, in my opinion, the best book on the market to support an undergraduate course in marine biology for majors.

Nybakken takes a community ecology approach to his discussions of the marine environment. There are chapters that address communities of the plankton, nekton, deep sea, nearshore subtidal regions, intertidal habitats, estuaries and marshes, the tropics and the poles, and so forth.

The photographs and illustrations are good, the text is well written, and examples are widely known. It may be true that Nybakken tends to pull more heavily on examples from the West Coast of the USA, but there are also ample numbers of examples from other areas of the world that support the text.

Each chapter is supported by a list of references from the professional (primary) scientific literature -- something a serious biology student would appreciate and use.

This is an easy book to teach from and to learn from. The information is excellent, the examples are clear, and the supporting graphics are good.

It is also notable that Nybakken not only discusses the biology of marine organisms, but he addresses the stewardship we have to conserve the planet's vital assemblage of marine resouces and biodiversity. ... Read more

Book Description

The standard-setting classic just got better! Completely revised and updated since the publication of the sixth edition, Environmental Chemistry, Seventh Edition contains eight new chapters, with significant emphasis on industrial ecology as it relates to the emerging area of "green" chemistry. It also discusses the concept of the anthrosphere as a distinct sphere of the environment.The new chapters in the Seventh Edition include:oThe Anthrosphere, Industrial Ecosystems, and oEnvironmental ChemistryoPrinciples of Industrial EcologyoIndustrial Ecology, Resources, and EnergyoIndustrial Ecology for Waste Minimization, Utilization, and TreatmentoChemical Analysis of Water and WastewateroChemical Analysis of Wastes and SolidsoAir and Gas AnalysisoChemical Analysis of Biological Materials oXenobioticsMany professionals in environmental chemistry today began their studies with this definitive textbook. Now this benchmark resource has even more to offer. It gives your students a basic understanding of the science and its applications. In addition to providing updated materials in this rapidly developing field, the Seventh Edition emphasizes the major concepts essential to the practice of environmental chemistry at the beginning of the new millennium. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Good Reference Text; Poor Class Text
I used this text a few years ago when I was writing a paper on ethics of pesticide use, and it certainly details information well. However, the general tone is often anal and the writing style is extremely drab. Most ofthe diagrams included were generated using low-budget graphics software,andit shows.At 811 pages, this is an overly long book and not all thechapters (24 total) can be covered in a single Echem course. Also, there isno solutions manual and the problems Manahan gives are challening (asection of numerical solutions placed in the back of the text would havebeen nice...)This is a good reference text, butif you're looking for asemester-long or short-term text to use for an Echem course, use Baird'stext, not Manahan's.

Environmental Chemisty Review
This text is well written.The author give a understanding of Environmental Chemistry.The reader gets a good understanding ofbasic chemistry as well as a understanding of the effects of Chemistry on theenvironment.

Text is good in introduction of topics, poor for advanced
Text gives good introduction to concepts only and not good for advanced studies because not explain how to apply the concepts to real world problems.It lacks in calculations needed to sovle problems and has nosolution guide for the questions that are in the text. A lot of referencetexts will be needed to solve the problems. No periodic table found in thetext or conversion chart in the text which is very poor for a chemistrytext. But it is an excellent text for learning the concepts ofenvironmental chemistry.

An excellent introduction to modern topics in e-chem.
Manahan compiles many sources of information into one, easy to follow and compact reference.The only limitation of the text is the absence of sample calculations for solving the problems that come at the end of eachchapter.Reference to a solutions guide would be helpful. ... Read more

Book Description

This updated and enhanced Fourth Edition of ESSENTIALS OF METEOROLOGY is written by the most widely read, trusted author in introductory meteorology. Ahrens' ability to explain relatively complicated ideas in a student-friendly, manageable fashion allows even non-science students to visualize the principles of meteorology. Introductory stories at the beginning of each chapter draw students naturally into the discussion while "Did You Know?" sections highlight interesting weather facts and recent meteorological events. Updated material in this edition includes new Weather Watch and Focus boxes, as well as updated art, maps, and figures. The package of teaching and learning tools to accompany this text will now include course management, and a FREE, brand-new, student tutorial system - MeteorologyNow. MeteorologyNow is Web-based, assessment-driven, completely flexible, and contains a wealth of book-specific interactivities. It also offers a personalized learning plan based on each student's assessment results, helping the student focus on the concepts they don't yet understand. This complete teaching package provides each student with fun, interactive learning opportunities and an even greater chance for success. ... Read more

Book Description

Since the First Edition appeared, Air Pollution Control: A Design Approach has become the leading air pollution control text on the strengths of good writing, comprehensive coverage, an emphasis on design, and excellent real-world examples. The Third Edition continues this tradition of excellence, incorporating new and updated information throughout the text while retaining the topical organization and features that have made it an invaluable learning tool for instructors and students alike. The Third Edition successfully achieves two main objectives. First, it presents detailed information about air pollution and its control. Causes, sources, effects, and regulation of air pollution are discussed, as well as the economic analysis necessary for efficient and effective control of air pollution. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it provides formal design training for engineering students. Written for engineers from a variety of disciplines, this text offers numerous diagrams, examples, and end-of-chapter problems emphasizing key concepts and design techniques. Outstanding features include: 1) two new chapters: Biofiltration and Indoor Air Quality; 2) current cost estimation data and techniques; 3) updated air quality trends; 4) 31 sample P. E. Examination problems with worked-out solutions; and 5) new end-of-chapter problems in every chapter. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

AIR POLLUTION DESIGN
This book is an excellent choice for engineers trying to design and model air pollution control plants, equipment and processes.It also gives useful details on installation and operational costs. ... Read more

Book Description

This book will change the way we understand the future of our planet. It is both alarming and hopeful. James Gustave Speth, renowned as a visionary environmentalist leader, warns that in spite of all the international negotiations and agreements of the past two decades, efforts to protect Earth's environment are not succeeding. Still, he says, the challenges are not insurmountable. He offers comprehensive, viable new strategies for dealing with environmental threats around the world.The author explains why current approaches to critical global environmental problems-climate change, biodiversity loss, deterioration of marine environments, deforestation, water shortages, and others-don't work. He offers intriguing insights into why we have been able to address domestic environmental threats with some success while largely failing at the international level. Setting forth eight specific steps to a sustainable future, Speth convincingly argues that dramatically different government and citizen action are now urgent. If ever a book could be described as "essential," this is it. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Ms. Carson, meet Mr. Speth
This book deserves ten stars.
It is more important than the sacrosanct Silent Spring. It is impossible to overstate this books importance. I wish the author had published initially in both hardcover and paperback to get it more widely disseminated. ... Read more

Book Description

This book offers one of the most comprehensive, up-to-date treatments of environmental geology available—from fundamental geologic principles to the specifics of environmental law and geological hazards. It fully discusses both processes and environmental issues, and where appropriate, includes boxes with quantification of processes. Case Histories and examples reflect a cross-section of the United States, and Special Features boxes highlight "classic" and recent environmental disasters. Features high-quality photographs and illustrations throughout.Earth Materials and Processes. Soils and Environment. Natural Hazards: An Overview. Rivers and Flooding. Landslides and Related Phenomena. Earthquakes and Related Phenomena. Volcanic Activity. Coastal Hazards. Water: Process, Supply, and Use. Water Pollution and Treatment. Waste Management. The Geologic Aspects of Environmental Health. Mineral Resources and Environment. Energy and Environment. Global Change and Earth System Science. Air Pollution. Landscape Evaluation and Land Use.For geologists, environmental scientists, and foresters. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent New 8th Edition - the Best Seller for 2000
This new Eighth Edition of Enviromental Geology is welcomed by the geology profession in the year 2000. Professor Edward Keller, a leading geomorphologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, has performed a timely update of his national best-seller to include new information in earthquake hazards, new hyperlinks for students to study geologic hazard information on the Internet, and expansion of two chapters on water supply and water pollution. Excellent color photographs and color diagrams are used throughout. The 8th Edition features use of quantification ("putting some numbers on"), case histories of cogent interest to students, closer looks at important concepts, key terms, study questions, and web hyperlinks. This textbook is highly recommended and will be most appropriate at the Freshman or Sophomore level. It does not assume prior coursework in geology or earth science. It continues to be the #1 seller in North America and is taught throughout all campuses of the University of California system.

Please See the New 2000 Eighth Edition
This is the best available environmental geology book, except please do not buy this older edition. Instead, browse down the Amazon list and purchase the new Eighth edition, copyright 2000. It has substantial new information about earthquake risk, new hyperlinks to important new websites. The author, Professor Edward A. Keller, is a leading geomorphologist and engineering geologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara. This text is widely used throughout California and the West. We are all delighted with the new 8th edition from Prentice-Hall. ... Read more

Book Description

Biomarkers are compounds found in crude oil with structures inherited from once-living organisms. They persist in oil spills, refinery products and archaeological artifacts, and can be used to identify the origin, geological age and environmental conditions prevalent during their formation and alteration. These two volumes will be an invaluable resource for geologists, petroleum geochemists, biogeochemists, environmental and forensic scientists, natural product chemists and archaeologists.The first of two volumes of The Biomarker Guide discusses the origins of biomarkers and introduces basic chemical principles relevant to their study. It goes on to discuss analytical techniques, and the applications of biomarkers in environmental and archaeological problems. ... Read more

Book Description

Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya in 1940. In 1960, she won a Kennedy scholarship to study in America and earned a master’s degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh and became the first woman in East Africa to earn a Ph.D.

Returning to Kenya in 1966, Wangari Maathai was shocked at the degradation of the forests and the farmland caused by deforestation. Heavy rains had washed away much of the topsoil, silt was clogging the rivers, and fertilizers were depriving the soil of nutrients. Wangari decided to solve the problem by planting trees.

Under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya, of which she was chairwoman from 1981 to 1987, she introduced the idea of planting trees through citizen foresters in 1976, and called this new organization the Green Belt Movement (GBM). She continued to develop GBM into broad-based, grassroots organization whose focus was women’s groups planting of trees in order to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life. Through the Green Belt Movement, Wangari Maathai has assisted women in planting more than 20 million trees on their farms and on schools and church compounds in Kenya and all over East Africa.

In Africa, as in many parts of the world, women are responsible for meals and collecting firewood. Increasing deforestation has not only meant increasing desertification, but it has also meant that women have had to travel further and further afield in order to collect the firewood. This in turn has led to women spending less time around the home, tending to crops, and looking after their children. By staying closer to home, earning income from sustainably harvesting the fruit and timber from trees, women not only can be more productive, they can provide stability in the home. They can also create time for education opportunities—whether for themselves or their children.

This virtuous circle of empowerment through conservation is serving as a model throughout the world, where women both individually and collectively are entrusted with money and material to invest it in ways that make a difference to their daily lives. Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement is a great example of how one person can turn around the lives of thousands, if not millions of others, by empowering others to change their situation.

Wangari’s road to success was by no means easy. During the 1970s and 1980s, she came under increasing scrutiny from the government of Daniel arap Moi. She was frequently the target of vilification from the government, as well as subject to outright attacks and imprisonment. She refused to compromise her belief that the people were best trusted to look after their natural resources, as opposed to the corrupt cronies of the government, who were given whole swathes of public land, which they then despoiled.

In January 2003, Wangari Maathai was elected by an overwhelming margin to Parliament, where she is the Assistant Secretary for Environnment, Wildlife, and Natural Resources in the democratically elected Kibaki government. Even though she is now being protected by the very same soldiers who once arrested her, her voice on behalf of the environment is still strong and determined.

In The Green Belt Movement, founder Wangari Maathai tells its story: why it started, how it operates, and where it is going. She includes the philosophy behind it, its challenges and objectives, and the specific steps involved in starting a similar grassroots environmental and social justice organization. The Green Belt Movement is the inspiring story of people working at the grassroots level to improve their environment and their country. Their story offers ideas about a new and hopeful future for Africa and the rest of the world. ... Read more

Book Description

Constructed wetlands are man-made marshes—gravel beds filled with growing plants—that function as natural wastewater treatment plants. Due to their more pleasing aesthetics and their cost effectiveness, they are being chosen over traditional processing plants around the world. While other books have outlined how to build constructed wetlands, this book goes the next step as well, outlining the design and planning techniques to make these wetlands attractive and natural looking as well. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great All-around Guide for Constructed Wetlands
This book has become an invaluable reference around our office...for the engineers, landscape architect and directors. The book covers a range of useful topics, from design basics (including relevant modeling formulas), pricing estimates, integration information for planners, citizens and regulators, wetland ecology background notes, landscaping ideas and wonderful examples of systems that the authors themselves have designed and installed.

The book highlights the benefits of wetlands often overlooked or undervalued in other engineering-oriented texts - wildlife habitat creation, aesthetics, water recharge, etc.

Since the book was writen by a landscape architect and an engineer, two visionary pioneers in their fields, it covers a lot of useful ground. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

The BEST freshwater fish photo book available.
I see a lot of reviews about this book. One of the most popular gripes is, "but there's no text". Yes, it's true: it's a photo atlas of freshwater aquarium fishes. The most comprehensive I've found anywhere. This book works great for coffee tables, aquarium planning, window shopping, daydreaming, identification of fishes, etc.

Most importantly, you know the names of the fishes you are looking at. Once you have the names, you can search for more information on the internet, in other (text) books, in the library, or anyplace else. And besides, can you imagine how big this book would be (and how expensive!) if each photo had a bunch of text with it?

Dr. Axelrod's Atlas of Freshwater Aquarium Fishes
I was disappointed in this book since I already had the Mini Atlas and expected the full sized atlas to have the same features (such as text, and helpful information) as the Mini Atlas, just more of them. Instead it is nothing but photos from cover to cover.
This book just sits on the bookshelf untouched since the Mini Atlas more than covers most of the fish available out there - for a much more reasonable cost.

There are also some inaccuracies in the fish species.

You could buy a few better books for the cost of just this one, or just spend one-fourth of the price and buy the Mini Atlas.

Excellent Pictorial Reference
I think the strength of this book is its encyclopaedic approach to fish species: a picture of each fish together with basic (but essential) information. It's probably more for the serious hobbyist/scientist who already has aquaria and is interested in fish indentification (rather than setting up aquaria & maintenance). Well worth the price - especially here in Amazon.com. For me (a hobbyist), it's excellent reference especially when I buy new fish because it tells me about the fish's basic facts such as aggressiveness, water conditions etc. With this mind, it's probably unfair when other readers say there are "no words in the book" etc. because that's probably the "database" intention anyway.

high priced but has its value
anyone looking for information such as location and habitat of a fish species will not want this book. it is just a book of pictures that will allow you to find and indentify a species you may have trouble locating elsewhere. this book is most handy for me after i have visited the pet shop and saw something that i have never seen before and don't trust the labeling in the store. my atlas is then my reference. for further information i will look it up on the web. to lookup information i need to know what i'm looking for and this is where this book becomes very important. no other single book that i know of covers as many species. the latest edition may have more photos than earlier editions but it may have the same number of species as earlier editions. however newer editions will have the latest scientific names (you can still use older names most of the times when searching as it takes some time for everyone to get used to the change). there are no common names used in this book (sometimes in the index next to the scietific) and there is no introduction to water chemistry, tank setup and the like that you may see in other books. it's greatest use is as a pictorial refernce with basic information (pH, dh, size, recommended tank size, agressivesness and sociabilty) on all the fish included. ...however i recommend the earlier editions at a much reduced price giving the same information (i believe the 6th edition and up are all pretty much the same- i could be wrong). i have the 7th edition ...and i'm more than happy. you may want to purchase the mini-atlas that has a lttle of everything before looking into the larger volume to satisfy your needs. i used this book as a quick refernce more than any other i have.

Not an Atlas - No Information - lots of pretty pictures.
Don't make the same mistake I did. Look at all of the pages and ask yourself "A thosand pages of this?" Yep, that's it.

Example:

The book has thirty two pages of Discus, none of the new red or orange breeds and not a single paragraph of information on any of them ... Read more