Wisdom for a Livable Planet

Wisdom for a Livable Planet PDF Author: Carl N. McDaniel
Publisher: Trinity University Press
ISBN: 159534103X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The author profiles the work of eight visionaries who have dedicated their lives to various environmental issues. Each story provides a portrait of an individual's valiant and inspiring campaign to improve the conditions for life on our planet. Taken together, the work of these people points the way toward creating an ecologically centered civilization in which a brighter future for all life, including human, is possible. *Terri Swearingen takes on one of the world's largest hazardous waste incinerators burning toxic waste next door to an elementary school. *Stephen Schneider establishes the scientific basis for climate change *Herman Daly advocates a dynamic steady-state economy that respects the laws of nature and human behavior. *David Orr champions educational reform to make universities a place where students learn how to be environmentally aware citizens *Werner Fornos works toward empowering every person with the knowledge and means to decide when and how many children to have *Helena Norberg-Hodge champions local living with appropriate technologies to enhance our spiritual and ecological well-being. *Wes Jackson promotes sustainable agriculture based on local ecology and community values *Dave Foreman leads the effort to rewild almost half of North America with wolves, mountain lions, jaguars, falcons, and others to restore functional ecosystems and preserve biodiversity.

Wisdom for a Livable Planet

Wisdom for a Livable Planet PDF Author: Carl N. McDaniel
Publisher: Trinity University Press
ISBN: 159534103X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Get Book Here

Book Description
The author profiles the work of eight visionaries who have dedicated their lives to various environmental issues. Each story provides a portrait of an individual's valiant and inspiring campaign to improve the conditions for life on our planet. Taken together, the work of these people points the way toward creating an ecologically centered civilization in which a brighter future for all life, including human, is possible. *Terri Swearingen takes on one of the world's largest hazardous waste incinerators burning toxic waste next door to an elementary school. *Stephen Schneider establishes the scientific basis for climate change *Herman Daly advocates a dynamic steady-state economy that respects the laws of nature and human behavior. *David Orr champions educational reform to make universities a place where students learn how to be environmentally aware citizens *Werner Fornos works toward empowering every person with the knowledge and means to decide when and how many children to have *Helena Norberg-Hodge champions local living with appropriate technologies to enhance our spiritual and ecological well-being. *Wes Jackson promotes sustainable agriculture based on local ecology and community values *Dave Foreman leads the effort to rewild almost half of North America with wolves, mountain lions, jaguars, falcons, and others to restore functional ecosystems and preserve biodiversity.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster PDF Author: Bill Gates
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0385546149
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

The Uninhabitable Earth

The Uninhabitable Earth PDF Author: David Wallace-Wells
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 052557672X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending Armageddon.”—Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker • The New York Times Book Review • Time • NPR • The Economist • The Paris Review • Toronto Star • GQ • The Times Literary Supplement • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible—food shortages, refugee emergencies, climate wars and economic devastation. An “epoch-defining book” (The Guardian) and “this generation’s Silent Spring” (The Washington Post), The Uninhabitable Earth is both a travelogue of the near future and a meditation on how that future will look to those living through it—the ways that warming promises to transform global politics, the meaning of technology and nature in the modern world, the sustainability of capitalism and the trajectory of human progress. The Uninhabitable Earth is also an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generation—today’s. LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/E.O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD “The Uninhabitable Earth is the most terrifying book I have ever read. Its subject is climate change, and its method is scientific, but its mode is Old Testament. The book is a meticulously documented, white-knuckled tour through the cascading catastrophes that will soon engulf our warming planet.”—Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times “Riveting. . . . Some readers will find Mr. Wallace-Wells’s outline of possible futures alarmist. He is indeed alarmed. You should be, too.”—The Economist “Potent and evocative. . . . Wallace-Wells has resolved to offer something other than the standard narrative of climate change. . . . He avoids the ‘eerily banal language of climatology’ in favor of lush, rolling prose.”—Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times “The book has potential to be this generation’s Silent Spring.”—The Washington Post “The Uninhabitable Earth, which has become a best seller, taps into the underlying emotion of the day: fear. . . . I encourage people to read this book.”—Alan Weisman, The New York Review of Books

Earth Fever

Earth Fever PDF Author: Judy McAllister
Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.
ISBN: 1616405791
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
The human species is in a rather precarious situation. Poverty, the energy and financial crises, and above all the challenge of climate change mean that our civilization has come to a dangerous edge. Our safety nets-on both collective and individual levels-havebeen removed.Can we create a future that allows for a dignified society and a peaceful world? With a change of consciousness and a new spirituality, we may. Authors Judy McAllister, Erik van Praag, and Jan Paul van Soest bring to bear their diverse experience in the fields of sustainability, leadership, and entrepreneurialism on the challenge of building a radically different belief system about life such an endeavor will require. Along with the wisdom of international opinion leaders-including management consultant Peter Senge; Jeroen van der Veer, the former CEO of Royal Dutch Shell; cultural creative Paul Ray; Herman Wijffels, former governor at the World Bank; and others-Earth Fever delves into what is needed to bring about this essential new way of thinking."Links a crisp and clear explanation of the climate problem to aspiritual quest for solutions... Earth Fever is something special... Read it and subsequently do something."-Pierre de Winter, in Platform for Managers and Professionals"Ends with a positive, hopeful scenario. Living more consciously is not only good for our planet, but also for ourselves... The fever can be decreased, we can become healthy again."-Lisette Thooft, in Happinez"Inspiring... The authors show that there is a third way, a path that weaves between doomsday thinking and unfounded optimism..."-Derk Hueting and Klaas van Egmond, in Milieu

Rooted and Rising

Rooted and Rising PDF Author: Leah D. Schade
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538127776
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Rooted and Rising is for everyone who worries about the climate crisis and seeks spiritual practices and perspectives to renew their capacity for compassionate, purposeful, and joyful action. Leah Schade and Margaret Bullitt-Jonas gather twenty-one faith leaders, scientists, community organizers, theologians, and grassroots climate activists to offer wisdom for fellow pilgrims grappling with the weight of climate change. Acknowledging the unprecedented nature of our predicament—the fact that climate disruption is unraveling the web of life and threatening the end of human civilization—the authors share their stories of grief and hope, fear and faith. Together, the essays, introductory sections, and discussion questions reveal that our present crisis can elicit a depth of wisdom, insight, and motivation with power to guide us toward a more peaceful, just, and Earth-honoring future. With a foreword by Mary Evelyn Tucker and a special introduction by Bill McKibben, the book presents an interfaith perspective that welcomes and challenges readers of all backgrounds.

Tipping Point for Planet Earth

Tipping Point for Planet Earth PDF Author: Anthony D. Barnosky
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466852011
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Four people are born every second of every day. Conservative estimates suggest that there will be 10 billion people on Earth by 2050. That is billions more than the natural resources of our planet can sustain without big changes in how we use and manage them. So what happens when vast population growth endangers the world’s food supplies? Or our water? Our energy needs, climate, or environment? Or the planet’s biodiversity? What happens if some or all of these become critical at once? Just what is our future? In Tipping Point for Planet Earth, world-renowned scientists Anthony Barnosky and Elizabeth Hadly explain the growing threats to humanity as the planet edges toward resource wars for remaining space, food, oil, and water. And as they show, these wars are not the nightmares of a dystopian future, but are already happening today. Finally, they ask: at what point will inaction lead to the break-up of the intricate workings of the global society? The planet is in danger now, but the solutions, as Barnosky and Hadly show, are still available. We still have the chance to avoid the tipping point and to make the future better. But this window of opportunity will shut within ten to twenty years. Tipping Point for Planet Earth is the wake-up call we need.

The Politics of Saving the Environment

The Politics of Saving the Environment PDF Author: Britannica Educational Publishing
Publisher: Britannica Educational Publishing
ISBN: 1615305548
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 104

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Book Description
Even as environmental consciousness and “green” habits become increasingly embedded with numerous individuals, many of the planet’s natural resources and species remain in danger. On a global scale, effectively protecting the environment requires top-down solutions from political and economic structures and the incorporation of environmentalist initiatives into legislative and legal action. This intuitive volume examines the emergence of the environmental movement and the basic principles of environmental law. It also takes a close look at the causes of and governmental responses to species endangerment. Maps, annotated illustrations, and sidebars support the riveting narrative.

The Orphaned Land

The Orphaned Land PDF Author: V. B. Price
Publisher: UNM Press
ISBN: 0826350518
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Although most people prefer not to think about them, hazardous wastes, munitions testing, radioactive emissions, and a variety of other issues affect the quality of land, water, and air in the Land of Enchantment, as they do all over the world. In this book, veteran New Mexico journalist V. B. Price assembles a vast amount of information on more than fifty years of deterioration of the state's environment, most of it hitherto available only in scattered newspaper articles and government reports. Viewing New Mexico as a microcosm of global ecological degradation, Price's is the first book to give the general public a realistic perspective on the problems surrounding New Mexico's environmental health and resources.

Cause for Hope

Cause for Hope PDF Author: Bill Phipps
Publisher: Wood Lake Publishing Inc.
ISBN: 1551455552
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
Global society stands at a crossroads, one of those critical moments in the history of humankind. The simple fact is that the Earth cannot support our rampant overuse and misuse of its abundant gift of resources. Not only are we depleting the forests, oceans, soil, we are also poisoning the air and polluting our rivers, lakes, and oceans. We are living far beyond our means. Life as we are creating it is measurably and extravagantly unsustainable. - Bill Phipps. All societies live by their stories. This provocative book from one of the most provocative leaders in the Canadian church challenges the governing story that has shaped and defined Western culture and society - a story that has manifested itself in ecological destruction, war and the obscene military expenditures that go with it, unprecendented consumerism, economic disparity between rich and poor, mistreatment of non-white cultures and races, sexism, and fear. Clearly, it is time for a new story. Bill Phipps takes on the task of outlining the core themes of this new story with the passion and vision of a modern-day prophet. He shows us the deeply spiritual nature of the issues and choices that confront us. Recognizing that the challenges we face are inherently interconnected and can no longer be treated in isolation from each other, his approach is multi-faceted, touching on all aspects of life, including the role of the arts in bringing about transformation. As a culture and as a society, we do indeed stand at a crossroads - one of those rare grace-moments when we are granted the opportunity to choose our future. So the question remains before us. Will we choose the way of death, or the way of new life? Cause for Hope is part warning cry, part visionary exploration, part encouragement for the journey. As such, it is itself a cause for hope. Each chapter concludes with questions for discussion, making this book a valuable resource for study group use.

Pragmatism and Environmentalism

Pragmatism and Environmentalism PDF Author: Hugh P. McDonald
Publisher: Editions Rodopi
ISBN: 9401208409
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The growing literature on Environmental Ethics has ballooned into a separate sub-field within philosophy, involving ethical studies concerning the value of other species, of ecosystems, and of the environment of all living things as a whole. Some consider Environmental Ethics to be a revolution in ethics which will completely change the human-centered orientation of morals and reorient it to include all species, ecosystems or the larger biosphere. This volume explores pragmatist approaches to ethics that can be used for environmental issues. Pragmatism may provide both a more defensible theory of non-anthropomorphic and intrinsic value than other ethical schools, and, more generally, supply an alternative model of what environmental philosophy could be. The holism of pragmatists constitutes a challenge to value and ethics centered in the individual, and a useful ground for more holistic theories of value which, some have argued, is more suitable to an environmental, as opposed to a humane, ethic. The authors of this bookOCOs chapters defend their understandings of pragmatism in the course of explaining contemporary ways to reconstruct central foundations to environmental ethics."