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Due to the decline of wood harvests in the Pacific Northwest, the pressure is on the hardwood forests of the Eastern United States, from New York to Georgia to Missouri, to make up the difference. This timely book presents in-depth information about forest management, silviculture, and the ecology of the eastern forest regions, which are fast approaching maturity. The author provides foresters and resource managers all the expert guidance needed to protect and maintain these valuable resources. ... Read more

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Explores the need for ecological insights from indigenous practices or resource use, and the need to develop a new ecological ethic in part by learning from traditional knowledge holders, specifically in the context of natural resource management.Softcover. DLC: Environmental sciences--Philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

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

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"Green Development is good for business. Tenants, owners, purchasers, and brokers are all becoming more sophisticated and are realizing the financial and social benefits of green product." --Gerald Hines, Chairman of Hines.

Environmentally responsible real estate development makes dollars and sense. Green Development describes an exciting new field in which environmental considerations are viewed as opportunities to create fundamentally better buildings and communities--more comfortable, more efficient, more appealing, and ultimately more profitable.

If you're a developer, architect, planner, contractor, lender, or city official, this book speaks your language. Every stage of the development process is examined in detail: market research, site planning, design, approvals, financing, construction, marketing, and occupancy. Also included are lists of project statistics and contacts, books and other information sources, and development strategies.

Based on 80 case studies drawn from Rocky Mountain Institute's extensive worldwide research and consulting work, Green Development distills proven procedures and practical lessons that work in the real world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Overview
An excellent overview of the evolving movement towards green development. The book is somewhat dated and lacks in-depth coverage in some areas. Regardless effectively gets you into the space.

Throughly presents sustainable land development
This book throughly presents sustainable real estate development.It answers the basic questions of how, what, when, why and who with text and photos illustrating numerous case studies.

It is written for awide and concerned audience, composed of real estate professionals,financiers and designers.This book is not technical.It is a conceptualbook and guides the reader toward sustainable solutions.

This subject isvery large and this book is necessarily a summary, which includes recentprojects.

This book does not "preach to the choir".Itaddresses difficult obstacles to the sustainable development paradigm andprovides workable solutions.
... Read more

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This is the first edited collection to bring ecocritical studies into a necessary dialogue with postcolonial studies. By examining African, Caribbean, Pacific Island and South Asian literatures and how they depict the relationship between humans and nature, this book makes a compelling argument for a more global approach to thinking through our current environmental crisis. Turning to the contemporary production of postcolonial novelists and poets, this collection poses the literary imagination as a crucial to imagining what Eduoard Glissant calls the "aesthetics of the earth." The collection is organized around thematic concerns such as the relationship between culture and cultivation, arboriculture and deforestation, the lives of animals, and the relationship between the military and the tourist industry. The scholars collected here are at the forefront of the emergent field of postcolonial ecocriticism and this book will make a remarkable contribution to rethinking the environment and its representation in the humanities. ... Read more

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A Treasure Trove of Paleoecological Knowledge
Although this book was written decades ago, it contains a wealth of timeless information. There is, for example, an accounting of the process and stages of decay of dead dolphins in the North Sea.The effects of burrowing organisms on seafloor sediment is surveyed. Much information is presented on trace fossils, including the escape burrows created by bivalves (p. 378). The actions of "sand corals" is recounted (pp. 328-329). And there is much, much more.
... Read more

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The Historical Ecology Handbook makes essential connections between past and future ecosystems, bringing together leading experts to offer a much-needed introduction to the field of historical ecology and its practical application by on-the-ground restorationists.

Chapters present individual techniques focusing on both culturally derived evidence and biological records, with each chapter offering essential background, tools, and resources needed for using the technique in a restoration effort. The book ends with four in-depth case studies that demonstrate how various combinations of techniques have been used in restoration projects.

The Historical Ecology Handbook is a unique and groundbreaking guide to determining historic reference conditions of a landscape. It offers an invaluable compendium of tools and techniques, and will be essential reading for anyone working in the field of ecological restoration.

Product Description
We expect Birkenstocks. We find wing-tips.

Professional organizations that advocate on behalf of environmental issues have become a permanent part of the American political landscape. From the Sierra Club to the Rainforest Action Network, these groups represent more than eleven million members and claim more than $3.5 billion in assets. Sometimes lambasted for non-stop fund-raising, top-heavy bureaucracies, or agendas out of touch with local concerns, they remain staunch advocates for Mother Nature in the marble halls of Washington. But what happens to a grassroots movement when it goes mainstream?

In this insightful book, Christopher Bosso considers how organizations that once contested the Establishment have become an establishment of their own. Environment, Inc. is the only book to examine the evolution of a national advocacy community over the span of a century. Bosso describes the transformation of an inchoate 1960s movement into fixtures of contemporary politics to show how this transformation was necessary for the success of environmental policy. Presenting some thirty organizations that lie at the core of the national environmental advocacy community-today's environmental establishment-he examines these groups both individually and collectively to clarify their origins, organizational evolution, and methods of operation. He looks at annual reports and tax forms to assess their financial health and organizational maintenance, and he describes how people whose heart is in the great outdoors have been forced to become more businesslike in order to survive in a political context that places a premium on presence.

Bosso seeks to learn why organizations born in social movements become larger, more professional, and more bureaucratic over time. He tells how warhorses like the Sierra Club and National Audubon Society have survived in the face of an influx of competitors, and why so relatively few new national organizations have appeared in recent years. In examining the success of some and the demise of others, he sheds light on how organizations adapt to the shifting winds of politics and economics.

As Bosso observes, the very normalcy of today's environmental community speaks volumes about the contours of American democracy. He shows that these groups, for all their flaws, remain the most consistent promoters of environmental values in a political system based on organized advocacy. His cogent analysis offers new insights into the nature of interest group politics in the United States.

This book is part of the Studies in Government and Public Policy series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Timely and well written
I purchased this book for use in a university course, but any one interested in the recent changes in environmental organizations would also benefit. The tone is, by design, a bit scholarly, but Bosso is an expert in this field and what he writes is accurate and unbiased. There is nothing out there right now that compares to it in terms of timeliness. ... Read more

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This established textbook continues to provide a comprehensive and stimulating introduction to rivers, lakes and wetlands, and was written as the basis for a complete course on freshwater ecology. Designed for undergraduate and early postgraduate students who wish to gain an overall view of this vast subject area, this accessible guide to freshwater ecosystems and man's activities will also be invaluable to anyone interested in the integrated management of freshwaters. The author maintains the tradition of clarity and conciseness set by previous editions, and the text is extensively illustrated with photographs and diagrams. Examples are drawn from the author's experience in many parts of the world.

In this edition, the scientific content of the text has been fully revised and updated. Emphasis has been placed on human impacts, and a completely new chapter has been added on the future of freshwaters.

• Balanced and stimulating introduction to limnology.
  
• Successfully combines fundamental and applied aspects of integrated management of freshwaters, with strong emphasis on human links.
  
• Completely revised and rewritten with a threefold increase in the number of illustrations.
  
• New chapter on the future of freshwaters.
  
• Of interest to undergraduates, beginning postgraduates and any limnologically interested reader.

Customer Reviews (1)

Decent
The shipping was fast and the book was in pretty good condition. But I was disappointed to find out that the book had highlights. It would've been nice if the seller mentioned it in the item description. ... Read more

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Gezon argues that local events continuously redefine and challenge global processes of land use and land degradation. Her ethnographic study of Antankarana-identifying rice farmers and cattle herders in northern Madagascar weaves together an analysis of remotely sensed images of land cover over time with ethnographies of situated negotiations between human actors. Her book will be particularly valuable to researchers and students in anthropology, geography, sociology, and environmental studies, and those involved in conservation and resource management. ... Read more

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Twenty-five years before Rachel Carson published her famous work Silent Spring, Lord Northbourne coined the phrase organic farming and helped to promote the importance of a holistic approach to the environment. His work, linking spirituality and ecology, has inspired a generation of writings from Wendell Berry to HRH Prince Charles.This book not only features Northbourne's previously unpublished writings, but also his private correspondence with Thomas Merton, highlighting the spiritual depth of his writings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Ecological and spiritual views of a visionary mid twentieth century writer still relevant today
This is a compilation of previously unpublished essays together with extracts from the three published books of Lord Northbourne, skilfully brought together and suitably edited by his son Charles and the professional editor Joseph A. Fitzgerald.

Lord Northbourne (1896-1982) is described as a "widely respected author on both ecology and religion." It is easy to see why. He was not only a farmer and landowner, but also a philosopher with astute vision that is apparent throughout this collection of his work. His first book, published in 1940, Look to the Land, emphasises first and foremost the importance to farming of sustainability, compassion and most crucially the vital need to look after the health of the soil, the very basis of all life.

He also had an intuitive understanding of the spiritual needs of the world and this is reflected throughout the remainder of this book. He saw that society was increasingly influenced by the emerging scientific reductionism and industrial materialism of "progress" and that this predominance over the ancient cultural and spiritual philosophy, or "perennial philosophy" was at the heart of the sickness of society and the world's problems that he saw around him. He writes eloquently of the need for a deeper consciousness towards spiritual Truth, probably best obtained, he felt, through the great religions, and this theme is carried lucidly and persuasively through the following sections of the book, On the Value of Tradition, Metaphysical Principles, Art and Symbolism, and finally Lessons from Life, including a thoughtful letter to his descendants concluding with the advice "So let us not squander this precious life in the exclusive pursuit of things that are temporal, but rather let all our thoughts and actions be illuminated by the truth that conquers all things; for in this life all can be won and all can be lost.".

An important part of the book for me is the exchange of correspondence between Lord Northbourne and the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, in the final Appendix, where they discuss amongst other matters, Lord Northbourne's book Religion in the Modern World, and Thomas Merton's commentary on the Vatican Council's Constitution of the Church in the Modern World. Lord Northbourne was convinced that the need to build a better world must involve living "nearer to God." Thomas Merton also saw the dangers inherent in the advance of civilization but felt very strongly that the churches must first look to the relief of physical deprivation in this world. The debate between two such learned gentlemen I found fascinating.

This collection of writings comes from a man who is firm in his Christian belief but who equally accepts the relevance of the other great faiths to those born into a different culture.

This was my first exposure to the works of Lord Northbourne, stumbled upon quite accidentally, and I now wish to read his published books in their entirety for a fuller picture and understanding of his philosophy within the context of today's world.

We Are All Related
"We are extraordinarily fortunate to have this recent publication available and I cannot recommend it highly enough. This anthology belongs in the library of every 'seeker', as it presents an integral orientation that embraces the fullness of the human potential and what it accurately means to be human, which is inseparable from what is transpersonal or divine."

-Resurgence, No. 258 (January/February 2010)

An excellent scholarly discourse for any library strong in religious analysis and philosophy
OF LAND & THE SPIRIT: THE ESSENTIAL LORD NORTHBOURNE ON ECOLOGY AND RELIGION blends philosophy with spirituality in a survey written by a farmer, painter, translator, and respected author on religion. His survey offers insights into religious traditions and church changes alike, and creates an excellent scholarly discourse for any library strong in religious analysis and philosophy.
... Read more

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This book constitutes a pioneering and unique work on Lake Victoria. It is the world’s second largest fresh-water lake and supports the livelihood of more than 30 million people. Surprisingly, there has been no comprehensive book addressing its problems and potentials. Ecology, environmental pollution and resource management are some of the issues addressed by this comprehensive insight into the limitations, challenges and opportunities facing Lake Victoria.

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The Truth of Ecology is a wide-ranging, polemical appraisal of contemporary environmental thought. Focusing on the new field of ecocriticism from a thoroughly interdisciplinary perspective, this book explores topics as diverse as the history of ecology in the United States; the distortions of popular environmental thought; the influence of Critical Theory on radical science studies and radical ecology; the need for greater theoretical sophistication in ecocriticism; the contradictions of contemporary American nature writing; and the possibilities for a less devotional, ""wilder"" approach to ecocritical and environmental thinking. Taking his cues from Thoreau, Stevens, and Ammons, from Wittgenstein, Barthes and Eco, from Bruno Latour and Michel Serres, from the philosophers Rorty, Hacking, and Dennett, and from the biologists Ernst Mayr and Stephen Jay Gould, author Dana Phillips emphasizes an eclectic but pragmatic approach to a variety of topics. His subject matter includes the doctrine of social construction; the question of what it means to be interdisciplinary; the disparity between scientific and literary versions of realism; the difficulty of resolving the tension between facts and values, or more broadly, between nature and culture; the American obsession with personal experience; and the intellectual challenges posed by natural history. Those challenges range from the near-impossibility of defining ecological concepts with precision to the complications that arise when a birder tries to identify chickadees in poor light on a winter's afternoon in the Poconos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Straightforward and unapologetic
While some readers may be offended by the author's unromantic views of nature writing and ecocriticism alike, Dana Philips is at least honest about his pragmatic and often scathing opinions and analyses.He refuses to be swept away by the mystery of nature and believes that it is useless and counter-productive for nature writers to reflect on their own act of reflecting.I would like to have known that this was a dissection of specific authors and even specific works of those authors (Dillard, Lopez and more), before purchasing it; by the title, I was anticipating a broader philosophic or paradigmatic work.I found myself laughing aloud at a few points, when Philips' clever writing style surprised me with an unexpected turn of phrase or an unusual visual image!

Brilliant, tough, unsentimental: all good for ecocriticism
Phillips has made an outstanding contribution to ecocriticism, and I see it as positive. He makes thoughtful connections to contemporary theory but obliterates cultural studies and the school of social construction, which have denigrated natural science for too long and discouraged humanists from absorbing the realities of biome and genome. Yes, his tone is brusque but not dismissive; he echoes the kind of discussion familiar to philosophers, where logic and reason prevail over sentiment. The claim that he has nothing new to offer is wrong: in the late chapters he calls for a "wild" ecocriticism that is diverse, eclectic, and pragmatic. I see this approach as far more constructive, and instructive, than the dewy-eyed reverence that preoccupies too many nature writers and their critics to date. Fifty years ago, Leslie Fiedler performed the same service for New Criticism, when he called Huck back to the raft. Instead of reacting defensively, I hope ecocritics will realize that a good mind and wit has taken up their cause and urged them to get serious and active: a languid pastoralism will not win attention in the academy or clean house at the Department of Interior.

irreverent but informed
The previous review is a bit unfair and so I am moved to add a few words.Yes, if you are drawn to an environmentalism that is underwritten by spiritual or mystical motivations, then you probably will be irritated by Phillips' irreverence.However, there is much to be said for this literate and well-researched book.Phillips has astoundingly wide interests, which include contemporary environmental thought, environmental history, environmental literature, and the history, philosophy, and sociology of science.His book does contain some positive suggestions about how the environmental movement might take a more pragmatic approach and so become more successful.Also, there is some pleasure, and perhaps glory, to be found in the witty and withering barbs that Phillips hurls at his objects of study.The environmental movement is too important to recoil from criticism like this.It can only be strengthened by the intelligent, informed and, sometimes, acerbic voice of Dana Phillips.

Unfair and irresponsible
Phillips book is flawed on a fundamental level.As he works through his arugement he not only essentializes and trivializes the work of ecologists and ecocritics alike, he goes at them from a perspective wholly foregin to their own.Phillips seems to be trying to play the role of the disillusioned environmentalist, yearning for a better, more equitable ecocritical paradigm, but in his self professed attempt to "philosophize with a hammer," he comes off instead as trying to completely undercut the ecological values and aesthetics of the Green Left.He takes pot shots at everyone from Muir and Thoreau to Lopez, Dillard and Ammons.Constantly crying foul at their lack of objectivity, Phillips argues that ecocritics should take on more of a scientific approach, and abandon the world of the spiritual, aesthetic and mystical. His attack at, what he considers to be, the cliche of the "ecological epiphany" is particularly barbed, as is his attack of Dillard's sense of the mystery and awe she feels when confronted with the Blue Ridge Mountains (he does quite a number on her "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek").In the process of dismantaling the ecocritical aesthetic Phillips aligns himself with Joyce Carol Oates in trivializing the "REVERENCE, AWE, PIETY, MYSTICAL ONENESS" that characterize ecocritical responses.In one of his attacks Phillips questions whether "any sense can be made out of" Andrew Pickering's assertion that "the claims that the Earth circles the Sun and that it rests on a stack of turtles were of equal validity."At this point I should have stopped reading, because it should have become clear that Phillips is someone who just doesn't get it.Clearly he is confusing facts with truth, mysticism with positivism, and in asserting that there is some fundemental problem with this statement he is revealing himself is an enemy of the ecocritical project. Clearly ecocriticism, being a young field, is in need of maturing, and admittedly Phillips points out some real problems in its application, but he falls into trap of cutting down the field without sewing new seeds or seeing to the fertility of the ground.Clearly the values that Phillips has brought to the table are so fundamentally different from the ecocritics that he deems to speak of that they can never be reconciled.I will however throw Phillips a bone and point out that he does admit to being unapologetically argumentative, though I'd say dismissive would be more accurate. ... Read more

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In this new study of energy use and global climate change, Richard Wolfsonoutlines basic scienceconcepts as well as specific, contemporary applications in energyproduction and theirenvironmental consequences.Energy, Environment, and Climate isstructured on thepremisethat climate change is the dominant energy-related environmental issue of thetwenty-first century.Traditional concerns likepollution and conservation of energy resources are covered with clear,scientific explanations.Uniqueto this text, a full five chapters—about one-third of the content—are devoted toclimateand an understanding ofthe energy/climate link.Included are over 250 photographs andillustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fantastic
I purchased this product because I have a DVD lecture series by the auther, Richard Wolfson, from the Teaching Company. The auther is a fantastic lecturer and can get his point across via the written word. I love it. ... Read more

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Like astronauts in space capsule, we on Spaceship Earth would be in trouble if our life-support systems failed. In this book, a founder of the field of ecology explains what those systems are, how they function, and what we need to do to keep them working. This second edition of the book presents a holistic, or "big-picture", look at ecology. lt includes updated and expanded coverage of experimental life-support systems, ecotones, diversity, energetics, agroecology, succession, mutualism, evolution, ecological economics; waste reduction, global concerns and ecosystem types, especially wetlands. Boxes throughout the text highlight current problems in ecology and give Dr. Odum's personal perspective on particular dilemmas. Suggested readings at the end of each chapter have been selected from nontechnical or moderately technical books and journals that are available at medium sized libraries. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Wisdom and Joy (and a Stupid Introduction)
Actually, given the content of the book, it's organization, and the need that it fills, "The Ecology of Wisdom" merits four and half stars in my opinion. Naess (I wish I knew how to pronounce his name)comes across in this anthology as an urbane, moderate man who nonetheless is passionately committed to his cause, and therefore brings all his intellect and reading to bear on it. Any reasonable human being would have to admit the cause itself was worthy: reformulating our relationship with the inhuman world and putting an end to the shameful degradation of the environment.

Also, the means for such a reformulation (and its deeper convictions about what the human subject is), while controversial, are simultaeneously as radical and yet more nuanced than the puffery-moguls at (say) the National Review are evidently willing to admit. Rather than the all-to-easy stereotype of the Deep Ecologist as a human hating eco-terrorist, this book shows Naess as a deep and complex thinker on the relationship between humanity and the rest of the world. The conclusion he advocates throughout-- that the environment deserves an autonomous place in our thinking, while human welfare must nevertheless always come first-- is decidedly mild and reasonable.In other words, it's a far cry from arguing that we should be exterminating humans and living in huts in order to protect a living earth.

On a personal level, I feel a certain (distant) kinship with Naess because of our shared love of Spinoza, who is my intellectual hero (as well as Naess's apparently). Like Spinoza, Naess aspires to a philosophy of joy in spite of a certain pessimism about the immediate future.

The most goading thing about the book, by far, is the introduction. The guys who wrote are apparently philosophy professors but you couldn't tell it by the tone or depth of their introduction to Naess's thought. Rather than providing a critical look at his intellectual and political development all we get are hosannas about how smart, talented, nice, spontaneous, etc. he was. Even the section that purports to be an overview of his philosophy is far too hagiographic and insubstantial to be of any use to a serious student.

All the same, Naess seemed to be a brilliant guy (he died in January 2009) as well as a formidable thinker and, like all anthologies, this one did its job by whetting my appetite for more. ... Read more

Product Description
The Deep Ecology Movement, a name introduced by noted Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess, is a worldwide grassroots environmental movement that seeks to redress the shallow and piecemeal approach of technology-based ecology. Its followers share a profound respect for the Earth's interrelated natural communities and a sense of urgency about the need to make profound cultural and social changes in order to restore and sustain the long-term health of the planet. This comprehensive introduction to the Deep Ecology Movement brings together Naess' seminal groundbreaking work with essays by environmental thinkers and activists responding to and expanding on its philosophical and practical aspects.

Other contributors include George Sessions, Gary Snyder, Alan Drengson, Bill Devall, Freya Mathews, Warwick Fox, David Rothenberg, Michael E. Zimmerman, Patsy Hallen, Dolores LaChapelle, Pat Fleming, Joanna Macy, John Rodman, and Andrew McLaughlin. The authors offer diverse viewpoints-- from ecofeminist, scientific, and purely philosophical approaches, to Christian, Buddhist, and Gandhian-based principles. Their essays show how social, technological, psychological, philosophical, and institutional issues are all fundamentally related to our attitudes and values toward the natural world. ... Read more

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Evolutionary Ecology simultaneously unifies conceptual and empirical advances in evolutionary ecology and provides a volume that can be used as either a primary textbook or a supplemental reading in an advanced undergraduate or graduate course. The focus of the book is on current concepts in evolutionary ecology, and the empirical study of these concepts. The editors have assembled a group of prominent biologists who have made significant contributions to this field. They both synthesize the current state of knowledge and identity areas for future investigation. Evolutionary Ecology will be of general interest to researchers and students in both ecology and evolutionary biology. Researchers in evolutionary ecology that want an overview of the current state of the field, and graduate students that want an introduction the field, will find this book very valuable. This volume can also be used as a primary textbook or supplemental reading in both upper division and graduate courses/seminars in Evolutionary Ecology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One of the best!
This book is really great for students interested in evolutionary ecology.All topics are up to date and each chapter is written by experts in their field.A must have for anyone in ecology and evolution! ... Read more

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Human ecology is ultimately part of a general theory of society. This is the argument developed here by Roy Ellen, whose exploration of the interplay between social organization and ecology in small-scale subsistence systems has direct bearings both on the investigation of human environmental relations in general and on contemporary social theory. He argues that while ecological study of non-industrial societies cannot be elevated to the status of theory, domain or discipline, it can be represented as a single 'problematic' that historically has acquired some degree of autonomy and which continues to make a significant contribution to a wider anthropology. Dr Ellen introduces his subject matter through an extended and systematic discussion of some major frameworks developed within the last hundred years to examine and explain facets of the relationship between culture, social organization and the environment: determinism, possibilism, cultural ecology, systems theory and ideas derived from modern biology. He follows this with a detailed review and appraisal of important recent research involving the use of ecological models, methods and data. This original and innovative study of the pre-eminently social character of human ecological relations will be of considerable interest to all students and researchers concerned with understanding the nature of the relationship between human beings and their environments. ... Read more