When John Muir traveled to California in 1868, he found the pristine mountain ranges that would inspire his life's work. The Mountains of California is the culmination of the ten years Muir spent in the Sierra Nevadas, studying every crag, crook, and valley with great care and contemplation.
Bill McKibben writes in his Introduction that Muir "invents, by sheer force of his love, an entirely new vocabulary and grammar of the wild . . . a language of ecstasy and exuberance." The Mountains of California is as vibrant and vital today as when it was written over a century ago. This Modern Library Paperback Classic includes the photographs and line drawings from the original 1898 edition.
Get close to the nature that's close to you. Nature Smart is the most comprehensive and user-friendly nature guide you'll find. It includes many areas of nature, from plants and animals to stars and weather, and the information is presented in an easy-to-access question-and-answer format. Plus, it's organized by topic, so you can easily find the information you need. Keep this book nearby. There's a wealth of information inside.
A parable for modern times, The Man Who Planted Trees is a simple and unforgettable tale about perseverance, hope, and humility. In the years before the First World War, in the foothill sof the French Alps, the narrator meets a shepherd who has quietly taken on the task of planing 100 acorns a day in an effort to reforest the desolate region. Over the next several decades, this man's quiet, solitary works comes to fruition--the region in transformed, life and hope return, and the world is renewed.
Ranging from an autobiographical tour-de-force that describes a childhood spent with an alcoholic father to Looking at Women, a reflection on male yearning and confusion, to a look at the place--or absence--of nature in recent American fiction.
Hemp, Cannabis sativa, has been called the world's most versatile plant. Materials made from hemp fiber have been discovered in tombs dating back to 7000 B.C. During the Middle Ages hemp was used to treat fevers, insomnia, and malaria. Columbus's ships had sails of hemp, and during colonial times it was universally grown because its strong fibers made superior ropes, sails, cloth, and paper. In fact, hemp was used for money in most of the Americas from 1631 until the early 1800s, and the original drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written on hemp paper.
As a food, the oil from hemp seeds has the highest percentage of essential fatty acids and the lowest percentage of saturated fats. Britain and Canada have recently lifted bans on growing industrial hemp and today it is reappearing in the marketplace in an amazing array of products: from lip-salve, jeans, salad oil, and cheese to paper products, composite fiberboard, and biomass fuel. This illustrated, easy-to-read guide covers all aspects of hemp: - The history of its cultivation worldwide - Its role as a source of renewable energy and as an alternative for paper manufacturing and fossil fuels - Its versatility as a fiber - Its many nutritional and medicinal uses - Examines the physiological and psychological effects of marijuana use in recreation and therapy - A comprehensive resource section includes information on organizations involved in legalizing hemp, product suppliers, and an annotated bibliography.
Describes the evolution, behavior, habitats, and threats to whales, penguins, crocodilians, and bats
In 1543, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus challenged the view that the Sun revolved around the Earth, arguing instead that the Earth revolved around the Sun. His paper led to a revolution in thinking to a new worldview. "Eco-Economy" discusses the need today for a similar shift in our worldview. The issue now is whether the environment is part of the economy or the economy is part of the environment. Lester R. Brown argues the latter, pointing out that treating the environment as part of the economy has produced an economy that is destroying its natural support systems. Brown notes that if China were to have a car in every garage, American style, it would need 80 million barrels of oil a day more than the world currently produces. If paper consumption per person in China were to reach the U.S. level, China would need more paper than the world produces. There go the world's forests. If the fossil fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economic model will not work for China, it will not work for the other 3 billion people in the developing world and it will not work for the rest of the world. But Brown is optimistic as he describes how to restructure the global economy to make it compatible with the Earth's ecosystem so that economic progress can continue. In the new economy, wind farms replace coal mines, hydrogen-powered fuel cells replace internal combustion engines, and cities are designed for people, not cars. Glimpses of the new economy can be seen in the wind farms of Denmark, the solar rooftops of Japan, and the bicycle network of the Netherlands. "Eco-Economy" is a road map of how to get from here to there."
The Klamath Basin is a land of teeming wildlife, expansive marshes, blue-ribbon trout streams, tremendous stretches of forests, and large ranches in southern Oregon and northern California. Known to waterfowl, songbirds, and shorebirds, the Klamath Basin's marshlands are a mecca for birds along the Pacific Flyway. This gorgeously illustrated book is a paean to the beauty of the Klamath Basin and at the same time a sophisticated environmental case study of an endangered region whose story parallels that of watershed development throughout the west.
A collaboration between two photographers and a writer, Balancing Water tells the story in words and pictures of the complex relationship between the human and natural history of this region. Spectacular images by Tupper Ansel Blake depict resident species of the area, migratory birds, and dramatic landscapes. Madeleine Graham Blake has contributed portraits of local residents, while archival photographs document the history of the area. William Kittredge's essay on the conjunction of conflicting interests in this wildlands paradise is by turns lyrically personal and brimming with historical and scientific facts. He traces the water flowing through the Klamath Basin, the human history of the watershed, and the land-use conflicts that all touch on the availability of water. Ranchers, loggers, town settlers, Native Americans, tourists, and environmentalists are all represented in the narrative, and their diverse perspectives form a complicated web like that of the interactions among organisms in the ecosystem. Kittredge finds hope in the endangered Klamath Basin, both in successful restoration projects recently begun there, and in the community involvement he sees as necessary for watershed restoration and biodiversity preservation. Emphasizing that we must take care of both human economies and the natural environment, he shows how the two are ultimately interconnected. The Klamath Basin can be a model for watershed restoration elsewhere in the west, as we search for creative ways of solving our intertwined ecological and social problems.
