Book Description

Kirkwood presents innovative environmental, engineering and design approaches along with ongoing research and built projects of international significance. Topics included are soil bioremediation, phytormediation brownfield development, structural soil, landfill capping and revegetation and bioengineering for soil and water quality. Ground breaking approaches to the design of contaminated land including public parks and commercial sites are outlined. Contributions range from innovative scientific and engineering research from industry and federal agencies to contemporary international and regional professional reclaimation and redevelopment projects such as the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, the A.G Thyssen steelworks and blast furnace plant in Germany's Ruhr region to landfilling operations at Killingdon near London's Heathrow Airport (now Stockley Business Park). ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A Panorama on wastelands landscape
Niall Kirkwood has edited a very interesting panorama on the problems of wastelands and brownfields from the overview of the landscape researchers [what they insist in calling "manufactured sites"].
The book presents many well analysed study-cases and has a collection of theorethical texts produced by the editor and invited colleagues that covers many voids on this fundamental theme to better understand our complex and mutant cities.
We just remain intriguing on the resistant use by the authors on terms and concepts well developed by many expertises on the problem, mainly the architects: the "terrain vague" classic concept developed by the Catalan Ignaci de Solá-Morales; "wastelands" and "brownfields" by many American authors; "urban voids" used by many European thinkers [Koolhaas] to describe and analyse these residual spaces, usually derived from the post-industrial territory.

BOOK REVIEW: Landscape Architecture Review, November 2001
Adapted from the review by J. William Thompson

"This book is the proceedings of an extraordinary conference held at the Harvard's Graduate School of Design in the spring of 1998, organized by Niall Kirkwood, ASLA, a GSD professor and editor of this volume
The purpose of this book appears to be to provide a thoughtful overview of current approaches and issues that includes numerous case studies of actual sites, including such well-known brownfield redevelopments as Duisburg Nord in Germany, Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, and the Sydney Olympic's site.
Overall the value of this volume is in making a bold start at "rethinking the post-industrial landscape", as the subtitle suggests. Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the book is the gritty, substantive role it charts for landscape architects in brownfield reclamation"

Excellent State of the Art Book
'Manufactured Sites' edited by N. Kirkwood resulted from a conference in 1998 at Harvard that presented complex
contaminated industrial sites and their cleanup and reuse.
It assembles authorities on the science, engineering, planning and design of brownfields and other remediated
sites and is necessary for anyone involved in the reuse of these landscapes. Simply the only book addressing the intersection of different disciplines and fields who have to confront the legacy of the 20th century industrialization. ... Read more

Book Description

In this book David Driesen shows in detail how the concept of economic dynamics can reshape thinking about environmental law and policy. He argues that environmental policymaking in the United States has been poorly served by the dominant, static view of the relationship between environmental regulation and the economy, technology, and business. Basing public policy on the concept of economic efficiency, he claims, warps our sense of what is necessary and achievable in environmental lawmaking.

According to Driesen, environmentally beneficial technological innovation would be a more effective public policy goal than economic efficiency because it could better keep pace with private-sector innovations that create new forms of pollution and resource destruction. His arguments provide a corrective to the free-market and cost-benefit analysis approaches common to most proposals for regulatory reform. Those who believe that environmental law should focus on economic efficiency assume that efficiency and innovation coincide. But static efficiency may detract from, rather than stimulate, creativity in the real world. Cost-benefit analysis may discourage innovation by adding delay and uncertainty to government decisions. Economic incentives such as emissions trading may facilitate better use of existing techniques rather than bring about fundamental changes in technology. Driesen suggests ways that the regulatory system could better foster environmentally beneficial technological innovations. Using the theory of economic dynamics, he discusses privatizing environmental law, reforming administrative and international legal processes, and improving regulation design. He also explains the significance of economic dynamics for legal theory in general. ... Read more

Book Description

Everyone agrees that firms should obey the law. But beyond the law -- beyond compliance with regulations -- do firms have additional social responsibilities to commit resources voluntarily to environmental protection? How should we think about firms sacrificing profits in the social interest? May they do so within the scope of their fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders? Is the practice sustainable, or will the competitive marketplace render such efforts and their impacts transient at best? Furthermore, is the practice, however well intended, an efficient use of social and economic resources? And do some firms already behave this way?

Until now, public discussion has generated more heat than light on both the normative and positive questions surrounding corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the environmental realm. InEnvironmental Protection and the Social Responsibility of Firms, some of the nation's leading scholars in law, economics, and business examine commonly accepted assumptions at the heart of current debates on CSR and provide a foundation for future research and policymaking.

Distinguished contributors to this book include Einer Elhauge and Mark Roe of Harvard Law School; John Donohue and Daniel Esty of Yale Law School; Paul Portney of Resources for the Future; Dennis Aigner of the University of California, Santa Barbara; Forest Reinhardt of Harvard Business School; David Vogel of the University of California, Berkeley; and Eric Orts of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Book Description

Taming the Great South Land is the first full-length landscapehistory of an entire continent occupied by one nation. It is also, in WilliamLines's telling, a brutal and controversial story. Examining the ways Europeansociety rapidly, radically transformed Australia's physical and humanlandscapes, the author writes candidly of repeated environmentaldevastationfrom the early slaughter of seals and whales to the destructivespread of sheep, through gold rushes and land settlement to British nucleartests and the modern mining and timber industries. Lines shows how Enlightenment ideas of progress, economic growth, anddevelopment were reconstructed on Australian soil, and how the promise of theconquest of nature became a mockery in fact, resulting in the mass dislocationand destruction of indigenous populations. This shocking narrative, thoroughly researched and accessibly written, combinesenvironmental, social, and political history to hard-hitting effect. ... Read more

Book Description

Evidence is mounting that redwood forests, like many other ecosystems, cannot survive as small, isolated fragments in human-altered landscapes. Such fragments lose their diversity over time and, in the case of redwoods, may even lose the ability to grow new, giant trees.

The Redwood Forest, written in support of Save-the-Redwood League's master plan, provides scientific guidance for saving the redwood forest by bringing together in a single volume the latest insights from conservation biology along with new information from data-gathering techniques such as GIS and remote sensing. It presents the most current findings on the geologic and cultural history, natural history, ecology, management, and conservation of the flora and fauna of the redwood ecosystem. Leading experts-including Todd Dawson, Bill Libby, John Sawyer, Steve Sillett, Dale Thornburgh, Hartwell Welch, and many others-offer a comprehensive account of the redwoods ecosystem, with specific chapters examining:

• the history of the redwood lineage, from the Triassic Period to the present, along with the recent history of redwoods conservation
• life history, architecture, genetics, environmental relations, and disturbance regimes of redwoods
• terrestrial flora and fauna, communities, and ecosystems
• aquatic ecosystems
• landscape-scale conservation planning
• management alternatives relating to forestry, restoration, and recreation.

The Redwood Forest offers a case study for ecosystem-level conservation and gives conservation organizations the information, technical tools, and broad perspective they need to evaluate redwood sites and landscapes for conservation. It contains the latest information from ground-breaking research on such topics as redwood canopy communities, the role of fog in sustaining redwood forests, and the function of redwood burls. It also presents sobering lessons from current research on the effects of forestry activities on the sensitive faunas of redwood forests and streams.

The key to perpetuating the redwood forest is understanding how it functions; this book represents an important step in establishing such an understanding. It presents a significant body of knowledge in a single volume, and will be a vital resource for conservation scientists, land use planners, policymakers, and anyone involved with conservation of redwoods and other forests. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The Redwood Forest - An Ecological Synthesis
This is the first widely available publication that attempts to describe the ecology of the redwood forest ecosystem. It is aimed at a wide-ranging audience from environmental professionals to the general public with a deeper-than-average interest in redwoods. Thirty-two contributing authors were involved writing separate sections of the book with Dr. Reed Noss doing the editing. The nine chapters cover paleocology, human history, flora, fauna, forest ecology, stream ecology, conservation planning, and forest management. As a first attempt at compilation of redwood forest information it is welcome and long overdue since there is scant else available. The book includes many new research findings including interesting discoveries by biologists working in the forest canopy of old-growth trees. Unfortunately there are some significant gaps in the coverage provided (the soil ecosystem is a major one, the importance of large down logs is another) and some minor, but annoying, areas of misinformation. A more complete review of this book appeared in the January 2000 issue of "Fremontia", the journal of the California Native Plant Society. It may be viewed online at the CNPS web site. ... Read more

Book Description

Includes new material on orthophotography, soft photogrammetry, and digital image capture and interpretation.
* Introduces the latest non-photographic and space-based imaging platforms and sensors (Landsat, LIDAR, thermal, multispectral).
* Provides new information on elementary sampling techniques and statistics. ... Read more

Book Description

Practicing Primitive: A Handbook of Aboriginal Skills is a collection of information and images put together over a twenty-year period in a search for hands-on communication with our shared Stone Age past. The story of the Stone Age is our story, and primitive technology is a way for anyone who wants to understand that shared history. Watts makes the case that the learning and practice of aboriginal skills helps us connect with our remote past, encourages us to participate in the shared inheritance of primitive ('first') skills. ... Read more

Book Description

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

Book Description

This text provides a detailed introduction to aquatic equilibrium chemistry, calculation methods for systems at equilibrium, applications of aquatic chemistry, and chemical kinetics. Software designed especially for the text allows the reader to build complex models by applying equilibrium calculation principles. Important features include material-specific and integrated case studies, thought-provoking questions, key ideas, and historical sketches. ... Read more

Book Description

The Russian Far East (RFE) is a vital storehouse of oil and gas, timber, fish, and precious metals that will inevitably be tapped as Pacific Rim economies seek to secure the natural resources necessary for long-term economic growth. Sustainable development of the resources in this vast regionù an area more than two-thirds the size of the United Statesùhasemerged as a major policy priority for the Russian government and the international community.The Russian Far East: A Reference Guide for Conservation and Development is the most comprehensive English-language reference text on the region to be published in the more than ten years. With contributions from an interdisciplinary team of ninety specialists from Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, the book overviews and analyzes the region’s geography and ecology, natural resources, major industries, infrastructure, foreign trade, demographics, protected area system, and legal structure. Particular attention is devoted to how to region can develop in an environmentally sustainable way.The book is divided into eleven chapters. The first chapter summarizes the RFE as a whole, while each of the remaining ten chapters deal with an administrative region within the Russian Far East. All of the chapters are divided into identical sections to simplify comparison among the regions. More than fifty maps, a number of which are in color, detail administrative districts and indigenous peoples' lands, protected areas, mineral deposits, timber resources, fisheries, and energy reserves. Tables and figures provide the reader with a wealth of useful, hard-to-find statistics. Color and black and white photographs. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A complete update of the classic 1996 reference
Now in its second edition, The Russian Far East: A Reference Guide For Conservation And Development is a complete update of the classic 1996 reference, offering region-by-region maps and information concerning geography, climate, flora and fauna, population and resources, as well as contributions from ninety authors giving expert analysis and insights, black and white photographs, and tables and charts to form a comprehensive handbook of the Russian Far East environment. A first-rate referenve for environmental studies shelves, with a great wealth of information and insights arranged in easy-to-look-up format. ... Read more

Book Description

Wildland Recreation

An authoritative guide to managing the ecological impacts of recreational activities on natural resources.

The challenges facing today's recreation resource managers are both complex and daunting. Accommodating rapidly growing numbers of recreational visitors without sacrificing the ecological integrity of wildlands is a major challenge. Determining and planning for the limits of acceptable change and expanding services with little or no growth in natural resources or funding are major issues.

Wildland Recreation, Second Edition provides solutions to these and other crucial recreational resource problems. Based upon its authors' extensive firsthand experience as well as their exhaustive review of the world literature on the subject, it provides up-to-date, detailed coverage of today's wildland recreation management issues, including:

• Ecological impacts of recreational activities on wildland resources
• Spatial and temporal patterns of recreational impacts
• Environmental durability, visitor use, and other key factors
• The limits of acceptable change, long-term monitoring, and impacts on wildlife
• Social and economic factors associated with managing impacts
• Alternative approaches to wildland recreation resource management
• Recent trends in satisfying increased demand for outdoor recreational opportunities
• International perspectives on recreational wildland management and ecotourism

Like its best-selling predecessor, Wildland Recreation, Second Edition is a valuable working resource for wildland recreation management professionals and a comprehensive course text for students of forest and natural resources recreation, park management, environmental conservation, and related disciplines. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

All You Need
This is such a great book.I originally got it for a Park Resource Management class while pursuing my Master's degree.This is definitely one of those books that you hang on to after you finish the class.

Wildland Recreation has so many different resources.There are pictures, charts, graphs, diagrams, and my favorite- case studies and examples of research.It is a great reference to use when writing papers or doing other research, because you can go look up the study.Not only that, but at the end of each chapter, all the references are provided, making it easy to search for what you need outside of this book.

Wildland Recreation is well written and understandable.The information is clear and straightforward, easy to comprehend.The chapters and sections are nicely divided into categories. This is a great book for anyone interested in any aspect of wildland management. ... Read more

Book Description

Three to four billion board feet of potential lumber is being fed either directly or indirectly into landfills throughout the United States each year. This book explains the importance of harvesting urban trees and how to do so. Case studies illustrate how some cities and counties have reduced waste through the use of urban timber for various projects. Explained in detail are felling, safety, converting trees to sawn lumber, how to hire a sawyer, how to season the wood, sawing for figure, and what types of trees are worth harvesting. Also described are the various uses for the timber, including use by the home craftsman or to build park benches or bumper strips. Each alternative use is illustrated through case studies of several municipalities and their respective programs of urban timber utilization. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A "must-have" resource for local policy makers
Harvesting Urban Timber: A Complete Guide by woodworking expert Sam Sherrill is a no-nonsense guide for local businesses, woodworkers, and city governments concerning the facts and how-to's of making the most of urban trees, rather then simply sending them directly to landfills when they must be removed. Color illustrations, anecdotes considering real situations where harvesting urban timber was absolutely necessary such as the outbreak of Dutch Elm disease in Minnesota, step-by-step instructions and much more make Harvesting Urban Timber a "must-have" resource for local policy makers responsible for this urban issue. It should be noted that Sherrill brings a particular expertise to this unique subject and is currently forming Harvesting Urban Timber organizations throughout the United States with the full support of the USDA Forest Service. ... Read more

Book Description

For hundreds of years, the New England cod fishery was one of the most productive in the world, with higher average annual landings than any comparable ocean area. But in the late 1980s, fish catches dropped precipitously, as the cod, flounder and other species that had long dominated the region seemed to lose their ability to recover from the massive annual harvests. Even today, with fishing sharply restricted, populations have not recovered. Largely overlooked in this disaster is the intriguing human and scientific puzzle that lies at its heart: an anguished, seemingly inexplicable conflict between government scientists and fishermen over how fish populations are assessed, which has led to bitter disputes and has crippled efforts to agree on catch restrictions. In The Great Gulf, author David Dobbs offers a fascinating and compelling look at both sides of the conflict. With great immediacy, he describes the history of the fisheries science in this most studied of oceans, and takes the reader on a series of forays over the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank on both fishing boats and research vessels. He introduces us to the challenges facing John Galbraith, Linda Despres, and Jay Burnett, passionate and dedicated scientists with the National Marine Fisheries Service who spend countless hours working to determine how many fish there really are, and to the dilemma of Dave Goethel, a whipsmart, conscientious fisherman with 20 years's experience who struggles to understand the complex world he works in while maintaining his livelihood in an age of increasing regulation. Dobbs paints the New England fishery problem in its full human and natural complexity, vividly portraying the vitality of an uncontrollable, ultimately unknowable sea and its strange, frightening, and beautiful creatures on the one hand, and on the other, the smart, irrepressible, unpredictable people who work there with great joy and humor, refusing to surrender to the many reasons for despair or cynicism. For anyone who read Cod or The Perfect Storm, this book offers the next chapter of the story-how today's fishers and fisheries scientists are grappling with the collapse of this fishery and trying to chart, amid uncertain waters, a course towards its restoration. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

GOOD READING ON FISH ECOLOGY
This is an interesting, and very readable study of the problems that have caused major declines within the New England groundfishing industry, and how 2 seperate, but equally interested parties can view a subject so differently. It presents the case in a middle of the road view and throws the blame for the problem at both groups. If you ever wondered why the price of fish has become prohibitive, or how a major eco-system can be destroted while everyone talks, this is a book well worth reading. It is written in language that non-scientitsts can understand and enjoy.

GOOD READING ON FISHING ECOLOGY
This is an interesting, and very readable study of the problems that have caused major declines within the New England groundfishing industry, and how 2 seperate, but equally interested parties can view a subject so differently. It presents the case in a middle of the road view and throws the blame for the problem at both groups. If you ever wondered why the price of fish has become prohibitive, or how a major eco-system can be destroted while everyone talks, this is a book well worth reading. It is written in language that non-scientitsts can understand and enjoy. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Excellent
This book is excellent both as an introduction to the subject of radical ecology and as a thought-provoking collection of ideas for those already familiar with deep ecology and other radical environmental thought.

Evernden argues that the conception of "nature" is a social construction. Nature as we conceive of it is simply a name given to a collection of entities and webs with no direct correlation. The problem is that such naming of complex natural events, lives, beings, etc. reduces, even eliminates, our ability to interact with what truly is natural.

The central manifestation of this dilemma Evernden refers to is the obsession our culture has created with the idea of saving nature, saving endangered species, etc. It is precisely the conception of nature which presumes that humans can identify certain "endangered species," name them, categorize them, rank them (save the whales, but don't save the rats? why? well, whales are cuter, right?) only re-inforces the attempt to dominate and control which is at the root of the environmental crisis.

Evernden advocates the shattering of what we assume nature to be, and such movement away from commonplace thinking comes from the words we speak. When we can stop thinking of certain species in need of being "saved," we may finally be able to simply wonder at the beauty of that which we can't name.

Complicated vocabulary, convoluted ideas, very interesting
overall I liked this book quite a bi

Thought Provoking
Hard to understand language, interesting ideas ... Read more

Book Description

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

Amazon.com

Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents the biologist's answer: geography, demography, and ecological happenstance. Diamond evenhandedly reviews human history on every continent since the Ice Age at a rate that emphasizes only the broadest movements of peoples and ideas. Yet his survey is binocular: one eye has the rather distant vision of the evolutionary biologist, while the other eye--and his heart--belongs to the people of New Guinea, where he has done field work for more than 30 years. ... Read more

Reviews (699)

There is no master race
The western colonising pioneers have left a legacy of racial bias to their descendants. Wherever white folk have taken civilisation to the savage native populations the indigenous peoples have suffered destruction of their own cultures (which were invisible to the colonizers or regarded as proof of the natives' savagery)and racial vilification. The superiority of western culture, as perceived by Europeans, has been taken as proof of the superiority of Europeans themselves and the inferiority of the colonised peoples. Surely, the arguement goes, if they had been as intelligent, hard-working, creative or favored by God as the Europeans, they would have developed advanced cultures as the Europeans have done.
Diamond's book is a brilliant riposte to that racist arguement. He shows how domesticatible plants and animals were the key factor in the development of farming allowing the abandonment of a hunter and gatherer existence. He shows that the so-called inferior cultures lacked those resources. He shows that the development of farming allowed specialisation in production, the development of an army and resistence to disease through close contact with farm animals which are the ultimate source of most human infections. He shows that colonising forces were able to subdue indigenous populations by infecting them and carving them up with their superior weapons.
Once again science demonstrates the folly of racial supremacy theory. Good on you, Jared!

Guns, Germs and Steel
An interesting book, which tries to explain the emergence of western civilization as the dominant culture in our times. Revealing though it is; it failed to explain a lot that defied the views postulated. A great read though. Collapse, Disciples of Fortune, The Third Chimpanzee are other interesting books to read.

A highly informative book with an intersting title ...
Sometimes back I read "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared Diamond. No doubt a fantastic book which deserves five stars ... It talks about how the environmental factors contributed towards the evolution of humans.

Some of the questions he tries to answer ...

1. Why some Hunter-gatherers in some places moved on to farming and others did not?.

(The author suggests that when cost-benefit analysis is done, in some cases hunting-gathering was better(for example ... it takes time to plant and grow the plants) and other cases it was not.The author emphasizes that the benefits of planned farming were enormous ... it enabled humans to grow more food in per square unit of an area. This in turn enabled population growth.)

2. Why only some plants/vegetables were domesticated?

3. Why the Eurasians were more successful in plant domestication (b'cos of their latitudinal layout) whereas not that successful in African/American continent (due to to longitudinal layout)?

4. How plant domestication lead to Trade?

5. How reading/writing/languages got propagated all around the world?

The book has wealth and wealth of information backed up with real evidence pointing towards facts. Highly, highly enlightening book ...

-Sachin

Too many mistakes, poor research skill
I'm a native Japanese. I've read about a third of this book and already found three major mistakes on Japanese culture. I'm not familiar with other cultures that he mentioned in the book, but just have to wonder how accurate they could be. Being a UCLA professor, I assume he could easily confirm the information with the native Japanese people, but he obviously didn't. Since his cultural understanding is so questionable and even childish, I don't think this book is worth reading.

A must-read; I was awed by its brilliance
Guns, Germs, and Steel sets the ambitious goal of finding the root causes for European dominance over other societies, and completely succeeds in this goal. Diamond is a real-life Indiana Jones, a brilliant professor and student of many disciplines who spends time in remote corners of the world to study cultures, botany, and linguistics. It's amazing that one person could put together such a comprehensive, multidisciplinary book. I lack the words to recommend it strongly enough.

http://wcvarones.blogspot.com/2005/05/summertime-reading.html
... Read more