World-renowned canopy biologist Nalini Nadkarni has climbed trees on four continents with scientists, students, artists, clergymen, musicians, activists, loggers, legislators, and Inuits, gathering diverse perspectives. In Between Earth and Sky, a rich tapestry of personal stories, information, art, and photography, she becomes our captivating guide to the leafy wilderness above our heads. Through her luminous narrative, we embark on a multifaceted exploration of trees that illuminates the profound connections we have with them, the dazzling array of goods and services they provide, and the powerful lessons they hold for us. Nadkarni describes trees' intricate root systems, their highly evolved and still not completely understood canopies, their role in commerce and medicine, their existence in city centers and in extreme habitats of mountaintops and deserts, and their important place in folklore and the arts. She explains tree fundamentals and considers the symbolic role they have assumed in culture and religion. In a book that reawakens our sense of wonder at the fascinating world of trees, we ultimately find entry to the entire natural world and rediscover our own place in it.

Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: October 19, 2009 ISBN-13: 9780520261655 336pp Edition Number: 1
Item: 052026165

Climate Change is geared toward a variety of students and general readers who seek the real science behind global warming. Exquisitely illustrated, the text introduces the basic science underlying both the natural progress of climate change and the effect of human activity on the deteriorating health of our planet. Noted expert and author Edmond A. Mathez synthesizes the work of leading scholars in climatology and related fields, and he concludes with an extensive chapter on energy production, anchoring this volume in economic and technological realities and suggesting ways to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

Climate Change opens with the climate system fundamentals: the workings of the atmosphere and ocean, their chemical interactions via the carbon cycle, and the scientific framework for understanding climate change. Mathez then brings the climate of the past to bear on our present predicament, highlighting the importance of paleoclimatology in understanding the current climate system. Subsequent chapters explore the changes already occurring around us and their implications for the future. In a special feature, Jason E. Smerdon, associate research scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, provides an innovative appendix for students.

Pub. Date: March 2009 Publisher: Columbia University Press Format: Hardcover, 344pp
Item: 023114642

The United States and Mexico's shared environment extends far beyond the political line. For instance, it comprises the plant and animal species whose natural distributions extend deep into each nation along with the waters in rivers and aquifers that support ecosystem function far removed from the border. Conservation of Shared Environments presents a broad perspective on the ecological, social and political challenges of conserving biodiversity across the U.S.-Mexico border. Covering topics as diverse as wildlife and grassland preservation, water rights, ecosystem services, indigenous peoples, and the ecological consequences of border security, the contributors illustrate collaborative, transboundary efforts to overcome cross-border conservation challenges. This volume offers scientific analysis as well as insight for bridging gaps between researchers, policymakers, and the public.

Pub. Date: December 01, 2009 Publisher: University of Arizona Press Format: Paperback, 296pp
Item: 081652878

Growing worldwide interest in water systems makes this provocative examination of Northern California's Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta far more important than its regional focus suggests. As author Wolff presents the story of the land and water through images, historical data and an intricate mapping system, Delta Primer frames public discussion about the transformation of the American landscape.

Pub. Date: March 2003 Publisher: Stout, William Publishers Format: Hardcover, 196pp
Item: 097097316

A crucial piece of the conversation about climate change, Diet for a Hot Planet makes the disturbing connection between food production and global warming.

Beyond what we already know about “food miles” and eating locally, the global food system is a major contributor to climate change, producing as much as one third of greenhouse gas emissions. How we farm, what we eat, and how our food gets to the table all have an impact. And our government and the food industry are willfully ignoring the issue rather than addressing it.

In Anna Lappé’s controversial new book, she predicts that unless we radically shift the trends of what food we’re eating and how we’re producing it, food-system-related greenhouse gas emissions will go up and up and up. She exposes the interests that will resist the change, in particular the food industry, and the spin they generate to avoid system-wide reform. And she offers a vision of a future in which our food system does more good than harm, with six principles for a climate-friendly diet as well as visits to farmers who are demonstrating the potential of sustainable farming. In this measured and intelligent call to action, Lappé helps readers understand that food can be a powerful starting point for solutions to global environmental problems.

Pub. Date: March 2010 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Format: Hardcover, 304pp
Item: 159691659