Book Description

Covering wetlands soils from Florida to Alaska, Wetland Soils: Genesis, Hydrology, Landscapes, and Classification provides information on all types of hydric soils. With contributions from soil scientists who have extensive field experience, the book focuses on the soil morphology of the wet soils that cover most wetlands from the subtropics northward. No previous book has been devoted solely to the subject of hydric soils and their landscapes.The book is well organized and divided into three parts. Part I examines the basic concepts, processes, and properties of aspects of hydric soils that pertain to virtually any hydric soil. It provides a general overview and important terms and concepts. Part II covers the soils in specific kinds of wetlands and the different functions they perform. Part III emphasizes special wetlands conditions such as soils composed of sand, organic soils in northern North America, prairie wetlands, wetlands in saline situations, dry climates, and wetlands with modified hydrology.Whether you are an expert in soil science, or just need a crash course, this reference prepares you to work with real wetlands-outdoors. Written for scientists without a background in soil science and comprehensive in scope, Wetlands Soils: Genesis, Hydrology, Landscapes, and Classification provides basic and advanced coverage, explaining the fundamentals of hydric soils in terms even a non-soil scientist can understand. ... Read more

Book Description

Biotechnical slope stabilization and soil bioengineering are techniques that use plants to stabilize slopes and prevent soil erosion. They are preferable to traditional structures because they are cost-effective, attractive, and much better for the environment. This book examines these popular methods for dealing with erosion control and slope stabilization problems. ... Read more

Book Description

In State of the World 2004, the Worldwatch Institute's award-winning research team focuses on consumption, pointing to the many ways in which our consumption habits drive ecological and social deterioration, as well as how these habits can be redirected to reinforce environmental and social goals. As always, State of the World 2004 provides government officials, journalists, professors, students, and concerned citizens with a comprehensive analysis of the global environmental problems we face along with detailed descriptions of practical, innovative solutions—like charting the most environmentally sound path to a hydrogen-fueled economy, or accelerating the rapidly growing conversion of farmers worldwide to organic farming and sustainable agriculture.

Written in clear and concise language, with easy-to-read charts and tables, State of the World 2004 presents a view of our changing world that we, and our leaders, cannot afford to ignore. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Food for thoughts.
Although I like the extended reading list provided by angry-bear and agree that SOTW 2004 provides mostly facts than solutions, I wouldn't say that it is disappointing. On the contrary, this is what the series is all about. Facts are the food for thoughts, and I dare to say that every reader of SOTW has her/his own ways of facing the challenge.

The reasons are simple. The dire facts prompt us to think, to act, rather than simply to sit back in distress.

In case you haven't heard about other publications by Worldwatch Institute, please visit http://www.worldwatch.org.

The State of Consumption Today (Minus Real Alternatives)
Although reading them can be a bit depressing, annual WWI reports are always worth while, because unlike any other institute out there, they seek a comprehensive understanding of humanity's impact on the environment. This year, the format has changed a little. Instead of providing the usual litany of statistics outlining the global eco-crisis (fisheries collapsing, forests shrinking, rangelands deteriorating, soils eroding, species obliterated, temperatures rising, rivers running dry, water tables falling, ozone depletion expanding, more destructive storms brewing, polar ice caps melting, sea level rising, etc.), the focus is consumption - which makes sense, because if you know what the term eco-crisis means, and you want to do something to stop it, you are more than likely a consumer. As usual, the scholarship is excellent. Unfortunately, it lacks serious discussion of alternatives for individuals seeking do more than reduce, reuse, recycle and support green energy initiatives. In other words, as with all State of the World reports, it is only useful as a scholarly reference - or, to put it another way, not very useful. If you have already come to believe there is in fact a fundamental problem with the way industrial civilization works, I would recommend one of four books, depending on your outlook: (1) DERRICK JENSEN'S next book (due for release sometime this year) (2) PERMACUTLURE: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability, by David Holmgren (3) Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Planet or (4) ECOVILLAGE LIVING: Restoring the Earth and Her People, by Hildur Jackson Karen Svensson. The first book, which will no doubt be as insightful as transformative as Jensen's earlier work, will address the issue of bringing down civilization. The second book utilizes system's theory and design science in an effort empower ordinary people to create their own permanent and sustainable communities. The third book, rather consumer-oriented and reformist in nature, offers radical advice on reducing your ecological footprint. The fourth book profiles various ecovillages all over the world and provides lots of practical advice for people seeking to join or start their own. If you are like me, you will no doubt read them all - and then some - but if you are just looking for a global eco-almanac on consumer trends, the State of the World 2004 will do. Of particular import were the sections on computers and cell phones, which detail the human health (cancers, miscarriages and birth defects) and environmental impacts (ground, air and water pollution) of the two industries. I've got blood on my hands for just posting this review. ... Read more

Book Description

This text is targeted at students in the subject of land use controls and urban planning. The text discusses practically all of the subject matter contained in the leading casebooks.Therefore, even though the casebook used and the emphasis placed upon the material may vary, students utilizing this text should find coverage of most of the material discussed in class. The text provides the scope and highlights you need to excel in understanding this field. This will enable you to answer exam questions more quickly and accurately, and enhance your skills as an attorney. ... Read more

Book Description

Written in refreshingly accessible prose, Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update is a long anticipated revival of some of the original voices in the growing chorus of sustainability. Limits to Growth: The 30 Year Update is a work of stunning intelligence that will expose for humanity the hazy but critical line between human growth and human development. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Humanity Needs to Wake Up: We Are Devastating the Planet
This is a thorough, scientific account of what mankind is doing ecologically to the planet. There are many charts, graphs and research studies proving that the planet is in danger.

Mankind has already gone past the level of sustainability. It's not a matter of IF, but a matter of WHEN the planet will not be able to sustain humanity at the current population level and standard of living.

This book explains about the earth's resources and how we are overusing them. Also about the byproducts of our use of these resources and the pollution it causes. Many examples are given of how people can change their ways of production and resource use.

It is disturbing to think what humans are doing to the planet and what the future will be if we don't change our ways. This book gives the big picture of what is happening ecologically to the planet and what needs to be done NOW to stop the devastation. ... Read more

Book Description

More than 15 years have passed since the first edition of Polymer Extrusion was published - making it one of the most enduring (and best-selling) books on the subject. And now a new edition of this classic book is available.

Completely revised, the goal of Polymer Extrusion, 4th edition is to bridge the gap between theory and practice. This book demonstrates how extrusion theory can be applied to actual extrusion problems such as screw design, die design, and troubleshooting. Because screw design is an area where misconceptions can still be found, a major chapter is devoted to the logical, step-by-step analysis of the screw design and optimization process.

Extensive changes and additions to this new edition make it a must-have for practicing polymer process engineers and chemists. Professors and students in these areas will also find this book very useful. ... Read more

Book Description

Here is the first and only text that helps beginning students master the foundation topics in the dynamic field of environmental technology, from basic toxicology concepts and principles to comprehensive hazardous waste management strategies.

Introduction to Environmental Technology organizes a wealth of current need-to-know information into a reader-friendly format that maximizes learning. Throughout, it features case studies that apply the text information to real-world environmental challenges, and highlights numerous career options through profiles of actual people working in various aspects of this broad field.

This comprehensive, easy-to-understand text provides:

• An awareness of how the many facets of science, technology, and public policy are involved in environmental management protection.
• An understanding of the sources of pollution and the primary processes that control the fate of pollutants in air, water, and soil.
• Practical insights into the use of land, the benefits of wetlands, and the complex factors influencing land-use decisions.
• Comprehensive coverage of the main requirements of federal laws and regulations pertaining to hazardous waste, pollution prevention, and occupational health and safety.
• The basic principles needed to operate the latest pollution control and pollution monitoring equipment.

Complete with a comprehensive glossary, Introduction to Environmental Technology provides you with the foundation concepts and vocabulary you need to succeed in this exciting, fast-changing field. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

What a GREAT book on Environmental Technology!
If you are interested in the Environmental Technology field this book is a great introduction to the basics of Environmental Technology. This book is used as a textbook in many Intro to Environmental Technology classes. Itook Ann Boyce's on-line class, Introduction to Environmental Technology,where her book is intergrated into great discussions and projects. If youare interested in taking the class that goes with this book just visit thecollege website and check out the on-line classessection! ... Read more

Book Description

Detailed roadmap through the maze of environmental laws and regulations

Written in straightforward, nonlegal language, this guide covers all the compliance issues that environmental professionals must master.Regulatory coverage includes overviews and discussions related to NEPA; The Clean Water Act of 1977; The Endangered Species Act of 1973; Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970, 1977, and 1990; The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976; The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act; CERCLA; Superfund; and more.

You'll also learn about national environmental policy...state and local regulation...and environmental laws and regulations in Europe, Japan, China and Russia. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

compliance handbook
For anyone whose job entails understanding environmental law, this book is essential.The authors cover a wide range of federal environmental law, from hazardous waste to endangered species, and they do it in a format that is easy to utilize.

Unlike many other handbooks, the authors clearly state their objectives in the first chapter, then proceed to carry out their plan.The book is organized into logical chapters with many divisions so not to overwhelm the reader.The writing style is clear and concise.

Admittedly, the authors explain the limitations of a book that only focuses on federal law, but there are plenty of state environmental law handbooks to fill any gaps.It is up to the user to find supplemental works that cover what this book does not.

All told, this book ought to be the standard in its field for years to come, at least until a new batch of environmental laws renders it obsolete. ... Read more

Book Description

Total Environmental Compliance: A Practical Guide for Environmental Professionals gives you the background and skills you need to ensure total environmental compliance in your organization. Instead of dryly describing theoretical management systems or reciting regulatory provisions, the author delves into the challenging issues of why organizations disregard this important issue and explains how to promote compliance-oriented attitudes throughout the entire organization.The Guide focuses on critical elements such as communication skills, hiring and retaining qualified employees, managing environmental information, and maintaining high standards of professionalism. Other topics covered include: how to understand environmental requirements, why organizations violate environmental laws, and the aspects of permitting, designing, and monitoring that must be considered to achieve and sustain compliance. Case studies illustrate actual instances of individuals and organizations who ran afoul of environmental laws because they disregarded the basic principles of environmental compliance. Total Environmental Compliance: A Practical Guide for Environmental Professionals explores how noncompliance occurs and how to avoid it using techniques that address legal requirements. It shows you how to protect your organization from the expensive and time consuming litigation that occurs when environmental laws are ignored or interpreted incorrectly. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Total Environmental Compliance
The author, Mr. Krages, exhibits and insider's perspective of the corporate world and the environmental issues faced by so many companies. His advice is practical and seasoned with truisms about environmental liability stemming from noncompliance. Total Environmental Compliance should be on the shelf, or floor, of every environmental lawyer. Environmental managers will find it helpful too. ... Read more

Book Description

While numerous books are available on remediation systems, this is the first work to document and explain in full the design aspects of the subject. Based on sound engineering principles and practical construction considerations, this text explains the entire process of remediation design, from assessment to completion, and provides engineers with the tools they need to conduct a pilot test, apply the results, and design a practical, efficient system.Design of Remediation Systems first establishes the underlying principles behind each technology, then outlines the standard procedures for designing a system. This comprehensive manual explains feasibility and pilot tests, data evaluation, design considerations and parameters, calculations and equations, and construction aspects of the system. Also featured are discussions of the operation and maintenance of systems, and analysis of current trends, such as combining soil vapor extraction with air sparging. Detailed case study examples are included in each chapter. The book considers petroleum hydrocarbons as the primary contaminant, but the principles and procedures can be applied to a wide range of other contaminants.This hands-on text/reference presents a complete picture of remediation system design forengineers, students, and scientists. No other single work offers the thorough coverage of this critical aspect of remediation. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Design of Remediation Systems
It is a good design guideline of this sort in remdiation engineering since it was written from designer's perspective with real examples and spreadsheets for data recording and analyses. However, it would be even better if it included more theoretical background on vapor extraction test to help designers compare with groundwater unsteady pump test theory. There is a minor error in page 216 that motor HP is considered a fuction of motor's efficiecy. Motors are usally rated as output HP. ... Read more

Book Description

Modeling the Environment is the first introductory textbook for a technique of rapidly growing importance. It requires little or no mathematical background, and is appropriate for undergraduate environmental students as well as professionals new to modelling. Developed from the author's own introductory course, it is classroom-tested and represents an important contribution to the field of system dynamics.

Modeling techniques that allow managers and researchers to see in advance the consequences of actions and policies are becoming increasingly important to environmental management. The models produced are vital analytical tools that aid the policy-setting and implementation process, and help us to understand how environmental systems respond to management interventions.

Modeling the Environment is a basic introduction to one of the most widely known and used modeling techniques, system dynamics. The book is designed to build the skills of students as they progress from learning fundamental ideas to constructing models of increasing complexity. Written in a clear and comprehensible style, the book:

• presents basic concepts of modeling using system dynamics
• illustrates the mechanics of model construction through a range of working models
• offers a rich array of exercises for students to use in applying the principles and techniques described in the text
• walks students through the design and application of models of specific types of environmental systems

In addition, the book contains more than 300 figures and model illustrations, and provides a guide to an interactive website where students can use the text to "navigate" management flight simulators ? models of both real and hypothetical systems developed by the author. The book also contains appendixes that help students review the necessary math, and which provide additional concepts and exercises for further study. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great interdisciplinary book on environmental modeling
A highly readable introduction to environmental modeling. What distinguishes the book from other environmental science and environmental modeling works is its interdisciplinary treatment. In particular, the models integrate the physical world and the world of human behavior. Far too many environmental models fail to close the feedbacks between human behavior and the state of the environment, instead taking waste inputs or resource use as exogenous. This book helps students learn to model human behavior (social and economic) as an integral part of the ecological system. The models and software mean the book encourages active learning, and enable students to explore important issues on their own if they choose.

Modeling the Environment
This book is easy to read and contains clear examples of how to use stella software to model the environment. The marvel here is the software, not the book. For the software timid, it might suppliment the software users guide. ... Read more

Book Description

Based on Global Water Cycles, 1987, this paperback volume can be used to supplement a core geochemistry text or as a stand-alone text. Written by two well-known researchers, this text provides a multidisciplinary approach to a number of environmental topics on water, air, and atmospheric chemistry.Coverage ranges from aspects of geology, oceanography and meteorology, to environmental science, soil science, biogeochemistry, and limnology. Features coverage on atmospheric chemistry with emphasis on the carbon cycle, the most up-to-date statistics on the greenhouse effect, and the ozone hole. Reflects the inclusion of non-aqueous topics on atmospheric chemistry (such as atmospheric CO2 and ozone). Covers a large number of environmental topics on water and atmospheric chemistry. Emphasizes natural processes that affect the major elements as they provide a background against which to measure human-induced changes. ... Read more

Book Description

Authoritative, comprehensive, accessible—the definitive guide to a new approach in environmental policy Emissions Trading: Environmental Policy’s New Approach presents the work of an outstanding group of contributors on the successes and limitations of this new and exciting incentive-based tool for reducing environmental pollutants. By including the comments of emitters, regulators, public interest group representatives, and academics, the book reveals the criticisms, disagreements, and growing resolution of numerous environmental questions, including:

• Can markets be used to correct market environmental failure?
• Will decentralized decisions by emitters produce an improvement in air quality?
• Can this approach realize significant control cost savings?
• Can emissions trading be monitored and enforced effectively at a reduced cost?
• Will affected groups support this dramatic innovation?

Book Description

Although considerable progress has been made in improving environmental quality in parts of the United States, many localities have yet to meet federal air and water quality standards and many hazardous-waste sites remain to be cleaned up. At the international level, the U.S. and other countries continue to face critical environmental problems. As a contribution to the literature on public policy and to help educate students about natural resource issues, this book identifies the likely "hot spots" of environmental policy and presents alternative and often opposing points of view on the major controversies that are likely to be with us well into the next century. Among the topics covered are comparative risk assessment; market incentives in environmental regulation; environmental justice; public versus private management of public lands; international trade and sustainable development; and the relationship between national security and environmental protection. ... Read more

Book Description

A riveting tale of the battle over genetically engineered foods, and an inside look at a biotech food empire.

Once confined to the research laboratory, the genetic engineering of plants is now a big business that is changing the face of modern agriculture. Giant corporations are creating designer crops with strange powers-from cholesterol-reducing soybeans to plants that act as miniature drug factories, churning out everything from vaccines to insulin. They promise great benefits: better health for consumers, more productive agriculture-even an end to world hunger. But the vision has a dark side, one of profit-driven tampering with life and the possible destruction of entire ecosystems. In Lords of the Harvest, Daniel Charles takes us deep inside research labs, farm sheds, and corporate boardrooms to reveal the hidden story behind this agricultural revolution. He tells how a handful of scientists at Monsanto drove biotechnology from the lab into the field, and how the company's opponents are fighting back with every tool available to them, including the cynical manipulation of public fears. A dramatic account of boundless ambition, political intrigue, and the quest for knowledge, Lords of the Harvest is ultimately a story of idealism and of conflicting dreams about the shape of a better world. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Great storytelling
Daniel Charles' "Lords of the Harvest" succeeds in bringing perspective to the biotech industry and the contentious issue of genetically modified food. The author does this by personalizing the protaganists at the heart of the story: the scientists who were driven mainly by the quest for knowledge and discovery; the businesspeople who sought dollar returns from their laboratory investments; and the environmentalists who felt that genetic engineering was simply the latest ugly manifestation of an out-of-control agribusiness industry. The result is a highly entertaining and readable book that should interest a wide audience.

The scientists who invented and nurtured the industry tend to get much better treatment from Charles than either the businesspeople or the environmentalists. As a former science reporter for NPR, Charles seems most comfortable painting psychological portraits of the researchers at Monsanto and elsewhere. Charles lovingly details the innovative and pioneering work that these scientists undertook and the intriguing problems they solved. Charles shows how these early projects gave shape to the modern biotech industry, and his writing in these sections is vivid and interesting. And in the chapter "Infinite Horizons", Charles enthuses about the potential of biotechnology to help solve the world's problems. Throughout, Charles' enthusiasm for science and biotechnology is unmistakable.

On the other hand, the businesspeople of biotech get beat up pretty badly in the book. You get the feeling that Charles seems slightly upset that big business can't figure out how to bring the benefits of painstaking scientific discovery to the people. Specifically, Charles relates the numerous and sometimes humorous mistakes made by executives at Monsanto and Calgene (the inventor of the ill-fated "Flavr Savr" tomato) in their quests to dominate their respective markets. Charles successfully uses these case studies to add color and context to the larger story that he is telling (for example, the author's profile of Monsanto CEO Robert Shapiro and his messianic-like appeal to the company's scientists to help save the world with biotechnology). Charles does an excellent job describing the corporate cultures and the motivations of key individuals, rendering his descriptions of the business wheeling-and-dealing that went on behind the scenes that much more interesting. However, I think that Charles is correct in concluding that it was the arrogance of Monsanto's top executives, more than any other single factor, that ultimately led to the company's demise and the public backlash against biotechnology.

Unfortunately, the environmentalists don't get treated much better. Although Charles appears to have abundantly interviewed scientists and businesspeople to gather original material for the book, it doesn't seem that he had much success contacting environmentalists; the profiles of well-known biotech opponents such as Jeremy Rifkin and Benny Sharlin appear to have been drawn from secondary sources. Consequently we don't enjoy the same level of insight regarding their motivations compared with the scientists. So although Charles does a respectable job of reporting why the environmentalists opposed biotech products and the actions that they took, the author's sympathies do not appear to lie with the environmentalists. Instead, Charles deftly swats aside several of the well-known studies that purport to show risks associated with genetically modified crops (such as Dr. Pusztai's rat and John Losey's Monarch butterfly studies). In fact, a certain level of hostility arises when the author makes the charge that environmentalists nevertheless publicized such "murky and ill-defined" (p. 208) studies purporting risk merely as a way to further their own agendas. But it does not seem to occur to Charles that many environmentalists might have organized the challenge to genetically modified food out of genuine concern for the welfare of consumers.

I also take slight issue with Charles on two other issues. First is his silence concerning regulation of the biotech industry. His techno-utopian bias leads him to claim that biotech is not substantially different compared with traditional plant and animal breeding practices, with the implication that the public should not be overly concerned about regulation of the industry. But the scientists' tools to recombine DNA in novel ways are so powerful and the effects are so little understood that it is not unreasonable to suggest that a greater level of corporate accountability should be required to ensure that the public interest is protected.

Second, Charles should have addressed the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) controversy more adequately, given that this was a major Monsanto initiative (the heart of the book was about Monsanto and its scientists). His relative silence on this issue is defeaning: could it be that the environmentalists' charges about the risks of rBGH have at least some merit?

Still, I believe that Charles has done a good job of navigating some very tricky ideological terrain. "Lords of the Harvest" is probably as balanced a book on the subject of biotechnology as any other you'll likely find, and I highly recommend it.

Right facts, wrong story
As one of Daniel Charles's sources and a very minor character in this book, I was disappointed at how a writer with so much inside information about what happened could tell a story that got what happened so wrong in an effort to make it dramatic and appealing.

Arthur Hailey's novels Airport, Hotel, Wheels, etc. comprise some of the better books that expose and glamorize the inside workings of an otherwise mundane industry. Of course, if it were really that enjoyable and interesting, they wouldn't call it work, they'd call it fishing and we'd do it for free. But Arthur Hailey wrote fiction, and he was smart enough to stay off the farm. Not so with Daniel Charles.

The enterprise of agriculture is more mundane than most, if only because it takes months of gradual growth and development to produce a crop, and years of almost imperceptible change to develop a new product. Much of the time is spent just waiting. Turning science into technology can produce beautiful and interesting results without the process itself being either glamorous or interesting. It's people going to work and doing their jobs. Most of us working in the field believed we knew what could be done and thought we could figure out how to do it. What made the process so difficult were the different visions of that same reality, visions sufficiently disparate that two people coming out of the same meeting had diametrically opposite understandings about what had been said and what had been agreed to. If that sounds like standard operating procedure in corporate America, welcome to the real world. It's three steps forward, two steps back, day after day. You might as well try to glamorize a trip to the barber shop.

Fact-based? It is. Balanced? It may be. But to at least some of us who were (and are) there, it still reads like fiction.

A wonderful storyteller, a thoughtful book
In the epilogue of Lords of the Harvest, Daniel Charles talks about the power of stories to illuminate, and also to obscure. He talks about the mythologies that drive agribusiness and other competing mythologies that drive it's opponents. He can stand at a distance from both kinds of stories, and reflect on how well they are illuminating and obscuring.

On the other hand, Daniel Charles is himself a great storyteller.

I appreciated the way Daniel Charles helped me to think about both these kinds of stories, and what they have to do with food and science, religious faith and moral values in the 21st century. Mostly, Charles stays very close to the "everyday stories of ordinary people," end of the spectrum. How he managed to get so close to the lives of these people is something I wonder about! People on both sides of this issue obviously trust him a great deal, or he would never have been able to write this book.

The "grand myths" he talks about in the epilogue, this was a very nice way to wrap it all up. Part of the difficulty of these issues is that there is no overarching spiritual/ ethical framework that can encompass this conversation. Just competing ideologies, and very little common ground. (Where common ground does exist, Charles is good at finding it.)

It irritates me when scientists who write about agribusiness and genetic engineering castigate others who don't have their scientific credentials for being "sentimental" or ignorant. They do this in a way that intimidates ordinary people who do not have Ph.Ds, as if you have to have a particular diploma to discuss these issues. We need to fight this kind of arrogance and parochialism. Science may be an elite field, but food belongs to everyone.

Daniel Charles makes the discussion accessible to everyday people who want to know what is happening to our food, and who are trying to understand why it is happening.

Lord of Bias
If you are interested in a critical review of the Biotech issues, this is NOT the book for you. If you are searching for arguments against GMO', big business, and pro big government; you have found a source. Daniel Charles has hidden neither his bias nor his ignorance of the subject. He draws on old studies (Monarch Butterfly larvae) and does not discuss the latest findings, because the latest findings do not support his position. He hangs adjutives on employees of the business world to ensure the reader knows they are "evil". The ineptness of big government is never addressed. Having served as a military officer, I can tell you that if the military had been as one-sided in dealings with Mr Charles' employer (NPR), the military would have been brought to task... It is a shame we have not discovered the gene to improve critical thinking, Mr. Charles soarly needs the modification.

Bravo!
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a fair and reality-based account of the world of plant genetic engineering--that also happens to be an entertaining and well written page-turner. I have been studying, working, and ever wondering at the world of plant molecular biology and genetic discovery since the 1980's. Though I've remained a fairly secure civil servant, I could see from the people that passed through our labs and the general panic and depression in the field that somewhere... something other than the interest of healthy crops and feeding people was driving research and key decisions at high levels. Mr Charles gives a truly excellent educational and entertaining account of what was going on at the lab bench as well as the accounting department--from the consumers in Europe to activists in America. I appluade Mr. Charles for his accurate and unbiased account of exactly how Monsanto impacted the field--changing the research environment and general morale so negatively and irrevocably. His accounts of the complexities of the resistance movement and the swings of opinion and policy worldwide are clear and based in reality. I'm glad someone was willing to get the real story out there in a fair, honest and very well-informed manner. Thanks Mr. Charles! ... Read more

Book Description

Environmental-friendliness, issues of public health, and the pros and cons of genetically-modified crops all receive regular coverage in the world's media. This, in turn, has led to increased questioning and investigation of chemical pesticides.Stenersen's concise introduction to chemical pesticides describes these compounds according to their biochemical mode of action, such as whether they are enzyme inhibitors, receptor ligands, or free radical generators. Chemical Pesticides provides answers to why pesticides are toxic to the target organism, how resistance develops, why pesticides are toxic to some organisms and not others. The book also discusses legal matters and concerns as well as potential environmental problems. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Better for Environmentalists then Others
I believed that this book would be an exploration of the concept of "wilderness" as it relates to the American mind. And it is, for about one hundred pages. Since this is a four hundred page bok, that leaves a lot of space to fill.

I found the first two hundred pages to be interesting, the last two hundred to be a slog. Nash spends an interminable amount of time covering "contemporary" environmental struggles. Were it my book, I would have omitted the chapter about Alaska. I imagine that most who read this book have a grasp on the environmental struggles of the recent past.

As I mentioned before, the reason I read this book was to gain a perspecitve on how these struggles came about.

This book is, I suppose, a classic in the field. I guess, ultimately, it's just a field (environmentalism/ecology) that doesn't interest me that much. So I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't recommend it to others, unless those others consider themselves dedicated environmentalists. Then you HAVE to read this book.

The Most Serious Form of Pollution is Mind Pollution
This is an epic book about the American wilderness and what the author believes to be the causes leading to the degradation of cultural landscapes in America. Required reading for most environmental history and ecology courses, the book has been reprinted 19 times and revised 7 times since its publication in 1967 and is the largest selling book from Yale University Press. Unfortunately, the basic premises in this first edition, while reflecting popular wisdom during the Vietnam era, are unsupported, poorly documented, and perpetuate an "us versus them" environmentalist argument. Shame on academia today where these prejudices are propagated as mandatory reading without critical review: the theories of this first edition have not stood the test of time, rather clearly document the biases and ego the author deemed valid at 28 years old.

The most serious form of pollution is mind pollution and it started with Wilderness and the American Mind. Roderick Nash makes brash statements supported by unreliable secondary sources, incomplete research, gross generalizations and contradictory logic. He asserts that Americans "regarded the wilderness areas of this continent as a moral and physical wasteland to be conquered and fructified in the name of civilization, Christianity, and progress" (inside dust jacket). He further asserts that Americans were searching for a national culture after their independence from England. Without citations, Nash does express in the preface a legitimate concern that through a gradual transformation, these attitudes have largely been replaced with "one of appreciation." Without a formal classical language education and using Nelson's Bible Concordance (NY, 1957) to document the ancient meaning of Greek and Hebrew text, he erroneously quotes Scripture out of context to make general inaccurate arguments such as: "for the Christian, wilderness has long been a potent symbol applied to the moral chaos of the unregenerate" (p. 3); the Christian man "dreams of life without wilderness" (p. 9, without source); when the Lord wanted to punish people, "he found the wilderness condition to be his most powerful weapon" (p. 14); and because the Devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, "wilderness retained its significance as the environment of evil and hardship" (p. 17). Ironically, he contradicts these statements by acknowledging that "the importance of wilderness as a sanctuary was perpetuated in Christianity" (p. 17). After making a deductive argument with these inaccurate references, he concludes that Eastern cultures did not fear and abhor the wilderness because they were "freed from the combined weight of classicism, Judaism and Christianity" (p. 21). Nowhere was "classicism" addressed or proven that classicism, Judaism and Christianity somehow are in concert.

Roderick Nash's evidentiary support of civilization and man's progress are similarly flawed. Using secondary sources for sporadic primary quotes, such as "William Bradford stepped off the Mayflower into a 'hideous and desolate wilderness,'" Nash concludes that the early settlers' "anticipations of a second Eden were quickly shattered against the reality of North America."

After rambling on of European events quoting personal experiences of William Bartram, William Byrd, Daniel Boone, James Pattie, and others (pp. 63-66), Nash proposes that the "appreciation of wilderness began in the cities" (p. 44). The flawed logic results from an assumption that only those in the city had the appropriate awareness of the wilderness. Nash states, "It was widely assumed that America's primary task was the justification of its newly won freedom" (p. 65). (Without a source, it is incomprehensible where this came from.) Trying to add credibility to an absurd argument, Nash sprinkles in a few quotes from David Thoreau and John Muir. Again, however, Nash is original in suggesting that Thoreau's "shocking" experience in the Maine woods (p. 91) caused Thoreau to lead "the intellectual revolution that was beginning to invest wilderness with attractive rather than repulsive questions." Nash should have stopped here.

Over the next 200 pages, he wanders aimlessly in literary wilderness. Chapters six through ten discuss history wilderness preservation efforts. Another Nash original idea is that Muir had an "intellectual debt to Thoreau and to primitivism" (p. 127). He gives Olmsted and Eliot token credit for the "patches near cities" (p. 155) as if to infer that urban landscape architecture has a relationship to wilderness. He further confuses the reader with his concept of the "great chain of being" developed since the Greeks. In this argument, he is unwilling to drop his prejudicial treatment of Jews and Christians, stating that the "Christian belief in the imminency of the end of the world make efforts to protect nature seem futile" (p. 193). Quoting Aldo Leopold, "the two great cultural advances of the past century were the Darwinian Theory and the development of geology,": Nash unequivocally states without evidence that "Both helped tear down the wall Christian thought had so carefully erected between man and other forms of life." (p. 193). Maybe Nash felt throwing rocks in the wilderness was a form of geology that might make his case more convincing.

If given a choice, any edition of Wilderness and the American Mind would not be on the list of required reading materials for a course in Environmental History. There are many more recent texts that make convincing logical arguments and are well supported. If the prospective reader wants to truly understand the issues related to religion and ecology, Nash lacks the credentials to make an argument. The most compelling indictment against Nash's credibility was his glaring absence at a series of seminars addressing the Religions of the World and Ecology held at Harvard University - his alma mater. Over a three year period, from 1996 to 1998 when Nash was a Professor of History and Environmental Studies at UCSB, the Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions conducted research with "the direct participation and collaboration of over seven hundred scholars, religions leaders and environmental specialists around the world." (http://www.hds.harvard.edu/cswr/)
Another excellent book on this subject is a series of documents and essays compiled by Carolyn Merchant, a professor in Environmental History at the University of California at Berkeley. The book titled, Major Problems in American Environmental History. (Lexington: DC Heath and Company, 1993) provides a more objective view of the issues in American ecology and traces development of landscapes from the earliest Indian civilizations to present. Merchant avoids the antagonism between religion and ecology by addressing both the good and bad realities in a sensitive and purposeful way.

This review was of the first edition. While subsequent editions have been published, the basic tenets of this review remain valid.

"The serious form of pollution is mind pollution," quote by Roderick Nash.

Candidate for Masters in Architecture and Landscape Architecture
University of Colorado in Denver

Still the best introduction to American ideas about nature
For a few decades now, Roderick Nash's WILDERNESS AND THE AMERICAN MIND in its various editions has been perhaps the best all around introduction to the history of American attitudes towards nature and about what makes these attitudes unique in world culture. All editions have covered the greater story, beginning with the early attitudes towards wilderness in colonial times, in which nature was viewed primarily in terms of the use to which it could be put and a sense of human responsibility to transform it for human use. Nash then shows how American ideas towards nature gradually altered through the thought of individuals inspired by Romanticism, in particular Emerson and Thoreau. He then describes how Americans moved from a view of nature as possessing value only to the degree to which it can be put to use, to a view of wilderness having intrinsic value entirely on its own. All the major events in American environmental history are covered, from the popularization of wilderness through painters such as Cole, Bierstadt, and Moran, to the work and influence of John Muir, through the creation of the national park and forest system, to the work of 20th century figures such as Aldo Leopold. The book makes all-in-all a fascinating read, and anyone wanting to learn about

In particular, Nash shows how the view of undeveloped wilderness as something possessing intrinsic value worth preserving in an undeveloped state is a uniquely American idea, and one of the great intellectual contributions to world thought. Today, a large number of countries have followed America's lead in establishing national parks and wildlife preserves. All over the world, the notion of wilderness and nature possessing value apart from what human activity imparts to it is commonplace.

For anyone wanting to go beyond Nash's book to read more deeply on the various topics covered will find Nash's Bibliographic Essay to be almost as valuable as the book itself. Nash is an obvious bibliophile, and he provides a rich and varied introduction to every aspect of his subject. After reading this book for the first time, I read a large number of books suggested by Nash in his essay. I later offered some continuing education classes at the University of Chicago on environmental ethics, a subject about which I learned primarily by working from Nash's bibliography. The ongoing value of this book has been enhanced by the recent fourth edition, which has not only added a new preface but has extensively updated the bibliography. I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone even remotely interested in American or environmental history.

Best of all, this book, while impeccable in its academic credentials, is never less than utterly fun and delightfully readable. Definitely not for scholars and students alone.

Loaded with Good Stuff
A few years ago, this book was suggested to me as a great place to begin a project I was working on in school. It became the keystone of information I was looking for. So much good and insightful information about so many important minds and events in wilderness thought. Nash has written a favorite resource for historical perspective on environmental issues.

A classic for any environmentalist's library
I stumbled across this book in the course of some research on the so-called "Greening of American Religion," ie the reinterpretation of the Bible and other religious works to more appreciate, rather than vilify, the non-human environment. As Nash thoroughly documents in the first chapters of this book, Christianity (or at least American elements of it) certainly bears a heavy cross when it comes to environmental destruction in America. After reading Nash, someone is going to have to do some real creative reinterpretation to convince me that the Bible does not say what generations of Americans have understood it to say: the earth was made for man, and man has every right to control and manage it to his ends, part of which means conquering and "civilizing" wilderness and everything within it. These early chapters are important, because it constructs the anti-wilderness mindset that so thoroughly dominated early American (world?) history (and for that matter continues to influence the thought of millions of Americans). Subsequent chapters chronicle how some Americans-initially only lone voices like Thoreau and Muir-rejected this view and developed the idea of wilderness we generally accept today within the preservationist movement. In the process Nash explores competing "environmentalist" theories such as the "wise use" (conservationist) leanings of Pinchot and TR Roosevelt and the surprising beginnings of some of our contemporary "environmentalist" legislation (e.g. forest reserve system). Later chapters focus on the Hetch-Hetchy controversy and Leopold. As such this book serves as a very readable and well-constructed general history of American environmentalism, a book any "environmentalist" (regardless of how you define that term) should read. As another reviewer notes, some of the scholarship needs to be updated (e.g. the apocryphal "campfire chat" of the "founders" of Yellowstone NP that likely never took place, as discussed in Schullery's recent history of Yellowstone). But overall an excellent resource, one you'll want on your bookshelf if for no other reason than the copious quotes sprinkled throughout the text used to support Nash's arguments. My favorite (from Lord Byron's Manfred: A Dramatic Poem (London 1817)):

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods
There is a rapture on the lonely shore
There is a society where none intrudes
I love not the man less, but nature more. ... Read more

Book Description

Integrating physical, economic, social, and political perspectives, Cutter and Renwick's Fourth Edition presents readers with a wide range of opinions and interpretations of the major natural resource issues facing the world today. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

boring
This text is very dry which maks it hard to read.It does seem to be a great source of fact type information though. ... Read more