Natur

Our buildings are making us sick. Our homes, offices, factories, and dormitories are, in some sense, fresh parasites on the sacred Earth, Nahasdzn. In search of a better way, author Jim Kristofic journeys across the Southwest to apprentice with architects and builders who know how to make buildings that will take care of us. This is where he meets the House Gods who are building to the sun so that we can live on Earth. Forever.In House Gods, Kristofic pursues the techniques of sustainable building and the philosophies of its practitioners. What emerges is a strange and haunting quest through adobe mud and mayhem, encounters with shamans and stray dogs, solar panels, tragedy, and true believers. It is a story about doing something meaningful, and about the kinds of things that grow out of deep pain. One of these things is compassion-from which may come solace. We build our buildings, we make our lives-we are the House Gods.

This text is the first to discuss toxicology in a framework of ecosystem structure and function. By doing so it demonstrates how Ecotoxicology is very different from Environmental Toxicology and deserves to be recognized as a stand-alone science. The Book is divided into 3 sections. Section I provides the definition, background and the ecological context of the science of Ecotoxicology. Section II is comprised of 6 chapters, each detailing a selected anthropogenic impact. The first case study is Acid Rain, one of the first anthropogenic impacts that defined the science of Ecotoxicology, followed by the altering of trace metal cycles using the examples of mercury, cadmium, and lead. The next chapter discusses the ecotoxicology of finfish and shellfish aquaculture at a global scale. Next, the tar sands of Canada are examined as an example of the consequences of oil and gas extraction. The final case study discusses persistent contaminants, covering chemical dump sites in Lake Ontario, as well as microplastics and emerging contaminants of concern. The final section highlights future directions of Ecotoxicology. Each chapter begins with an overview to the environmental issue, then provides a case study where the scientific approach of Ecotoxicology is taken to understand the impact and by doing so provide mitigation and restoration strategies. Each chapter also provides a test bank as well as a reading list.

Tells the story of the American chestnut from Native American prehistory through the Civil War and the Great Depression. Davis documents the tree's impact on nineteenth-and early twentieth-century American life, including the decorative and culinary arts.

In this lyrical, radically expansive self-portrait, celebrated poet, author, and lecturer Sophie Strand explores-with searing insight and honesty-the intersecting spaces of her own chronic illness, the complex ecology of a changing world, and the very nature of the stories we tell ourselves. At age sixteen Sophie Strand-bright, agile, fearless-is suddenly beset by unexplained, debilitating illness while on a family trip abroad. Her once vibrant life becomes a tangled miasma of medication, specialists, anaphylaxis, and seemingly never-ending attempts to explain what has gone so terribly wrong. And, for many years thereafter, Sophie's life becomes subsumed with ideas not of "health," but of explanation, and the narrative of how and why she became sick. But slowly, through both profound fatigue with the medical industrial complex and a deeply entwined relationship with the natural world, she comes to another, more fundamental understanding of what has happened to her body. What if sickness is not a separation from the body? What if health is not quite so easy to see? What if physical pain leaves us no choice but to return to our bodies, the pinpricks and lightning of illness stitching us back into a physical presence our society has taught us to ignore? In a work both expansively tender and shockingly frank, Sophie Strand offers readers a window onto her own winding journey through the maze of chronic illness-a web not unlike those created by the mycorrizhal fungi whose networks she begins to see as a metaphor for the profound connections between all species and the earth. Grounded deeply in the mountains of the Hudson Valley, each moment of this far-reaching narrative snakes its way through the multi-layered ecology of the land around us, from the stunningly powerful pollen of a phlox plant to the unexpected beauty and wisdom of the woodchuck. The Body Is a Doorway dives into the murky waters of sickness and trauma, as well as the resonant challenges and joys of friendship, young adulthood, first love, and fertility. Throughout, in precise, sparkling language, it explores questions both personal and universal: Is there healing beyond the human? Beyond the hope for a cure or a happy ending? Is there something wilder and more symbiotic beyond narrow ideas of well-being?

A sort of history of the world in ten iconic trees from around the world including the eucalyptus, the Baobab and the oak. A beautiful and moving account of our relationship with trees

Citizens' assemblies bring the shared wisdom of ordinary people into political decision making on the climate and ecological crisis. They are increasingly being used at local, national and even global levels. But with what impact? Can they take us beyond the shortcomings of electoral and partisan politics? Can they make a real difference? This book explains why climate assemblies have captured the imagination of governments and activists alike, exploring the ways they can have a meaningful impact on climate politics.This book charts the development of climate assemblies across Europe and beyond. It explores what ordinary people want, highlighting the ways in which assembly recommendations take us beyond current government policies and offer new visions and directions for change. It shows that not all assemblies are the same and that the context and design of climate assemblies have differed quite profoundly - as have their impacts on policy and public discourse. The book also lays out the key elements needed for climate assemblies to have sustained impact, providing essential insights for anyone wanting to run or advocate for them, and concludes with reflections on what we can expect from assemblies as they evolve.The transition to net zero and climate resilient societies requires deep social and economic transformations that will have significant impacts on citizens' choices and behaviours. Such a transition needs to engage the public directly and this book shows how climate assemblies can achieve this, allowing us to address the issues we all face together.

Learn how to apply and embed sustainable travel business practices, and report data against global benchmarks such as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, with this new postgraduate textbook.