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Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging
By Jessica J. Lee. 2024
INSTANT TORONTO STAR BESTSELLERThe prize-winning and bestselling author of Two Trees Make a Forest turns to the lives of plants…
entangled in our human world to explore belonging, displacement, identity, and the truths of our shared futureA seed slips beyond a garden wall. A tree is planted on a precarious border. A shrub is stolen from its culture and its land. What happens when these plants leave their original homes and put down roots elsewhere?The themes in these fourteen essays become invigorating and intimate in Lee’s hands, centering on the lives of plants like seaweed, tangelos, and soy, and their entanglement with our human worlds. Lee explores the rich backstory of cherry trees in Berlin; a tea plant that grows in the Himalayan foothills just southwest of China; the world of algae and wakame, and the journeys they’ve made to reach us.Each of the plants considered in this collection are somehow perceived as being "out of place"—weeds, samples collected through imperial science, crops introduced and transformed by our hand. Lee looks at these plant species in their own context, even when we find them outside of it.Dispersals draws a gorgeous, sprawling map of the diaspora of flora. Combining memoir, history, and scientific research in poetic prose, Jessica J. Lee meditates on the question of how both plants and people come to belong, why both cross borders, and how our futures are more entwined than we might imagine.Marine Greens: Environmental, Agricultural, Industrial and Biomedical Applications
By Sesan Abiodun Aransiola, Oluwafemi Adebayo Oyewole, Naga Raju Maddela, Udeme Joshua Josiah Ijah, and Bangeppagari Manjunatha. 2024
This book provides an in-depth overview of marine greens and their environmental and biotechnological applications. It addresses concepts such as…
the niche adaptation strategies of marine greens in their natural habitats, as well as their global distribution, and factors affecting their distribution and proliferation.Marine greens are posited as an alternative to fossil fuels, mitigating global climate change and thereby fostering future environmental sustainability. In addition, the book explains the remediation of xenobiotics, wastewater, microplastics, marine debris and marine green contamination. Expert authors from around the world explore the industrial and agricultural applications of marine greens in the production of enzymes and marine bioenergy, and what is needed to improve its production potential.This is important reading for government and non-governmental organizations as well as industries and research institutions looking for ways to combat current industrial and environmental challenges.The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier
By Colin Woodard. 2024
&“A thorough and engaging history of Maine&’s rocky coast and its tough-minded people.&”—Boston Herald&“[A] well-researched and well-written cultural and ecological…
history of stubborn perseverance.&”—USA TodayFor more than four hundred years the people of coastal Maine have clung to their rocky, wind-swept lands, resisting outsiders&’ attempts to control them while harvesting the astonishing bounty of the Gulf of Maine. Today&’s independent, self-sufficient lobstermen belong to the communities imbued with a European sense of ties between land and people, but threatened by the forces of homogenization spreading up the eastern seaboard.In the tradition of William Warner&’s Beautiful Swimmers, veteran journalist Colin Woodard (author of American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good) traces the history of the rugged fishing communities that dot the coast of Maine and the prized crustacean that has long provided their livelihood. Through forgotten wars and rebellions, and with a deep tradition of resistance to interference by people &“from away,&” Maine&’s lobstermen have defended an earlier vision of America while defying the &“tragedy of the commons&”—the notion that people always overexploit their shared property. Instead, these icons of American individualism represent a rare example of true communal values and collaboration through grit, courage, and hard-won wisdom.Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging
By Jessica J. Lee. 2024
INSTANT TORONTO STAR BESTSELLERThe prize-winning and bestselling author of Two Trees Make a Forest turns to the lives of plants…
entangled in our human world to explore belonging, displacement, identity, and the truths of our shared futureA seed slips beyond a garden wall. A tree is planted on a precarious border. A shrub is stolen from its culture and its land. What happens when these plants leave their original homes and put down roots elsewhere?The themes in these fourteen essays become invigorating and intimate in Lee&’s hands, centering on the lives of plants like seaweed, tangelos, and soy, and their entanglement with our human worlds. Lee explores the rich backstory of cherry trees in Berlin; a tea plant that grows in the Himalayan foothills just southwest of China; the world of algae and wakame, and the journeys they&’ve made to reach us.Each of the plants considered in this collection are somehow perceived as being &“out of place&”—weeds, samples collected through imperial science, crops introduced and transformed by our hand. Lee looks at these plant species in their own context, even when we find them outside of it.Dispersals draws a gorgeous, sprawling map of the diaspora of flora. Combining memoir, history, and scientific research in poetic prose, Jessica J. Lee meditates on the question of how both plants and people come to belong, why both cross borders, and how our futures are more entwined than we might imagine.The Eagle Mother (Mothers of Xsan)
By Hetxw’ms Gyetxw Huson. 2020
Return to the valleys of the River of Mists with author Hetxw'ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson) and his award-winning, richly…
illustrative Mothers of Xsan series. &“An incredible celebration of the deep connections that are essential to the relationships between mothers and their children&”—The Globe and MailNox xsgyaak, the eagle mother, cares for her brood in the embrace of a black cottonwood with the help of her mate. Will both eaglets survive the summer in an environment that is both delicate and unforgiving?Learn about the life cycle of these stunning birds of prey, the traditions of the Gitxsan, and how bald eagles can enrich their entire ecosystem. Evocative illustration brings the Xsan's flora and fauna to life for middle years readers in book three of the Mothers of Xsan series.The Frog Mother (Mothers of Xsan)
By Hetxw’ms Gyetxw Huson. 2021
To the Gitxsan of Northwestern British Columbia, Nox Ga&’naaw is a storyteller, speaking truths of the universe. After Nox Ga&’naaw,…
the frog mother, releases her eggs among the aquatic plants of a pond, the tiny tadpoles are left to fend for themselves. As they hatch, grow legs, and transform into their adult selves, they must avoid the mouths of hungry predators. Will the young frogs survive to spawn their own eggs, continuing a cycle 200 million years in the making?Book four of the Mothers of Xsan series follows the life cycle of the columbia spotted frog. Learn about why this species is of special significance to the Gitxsan and how Nox Ga'naaw and her offspring are essential to the balance that is life.The Raven Mother (Mothers of Xsan)
By Hetxw’ms Gyetxw Huson. 2022
★ Starred selection for CCBC's Best Books for Kids & Teens 2023! Hoarders. Scavengers. Clever foragers. Bringers of new life.…
Ravens have many roles, both for the land and in Gitxsan story and song. The sixth book in Hetxw'ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson)&’s Mothers of Xsan series transports young readers to Northwestern British Columbia, where they will learn about the traditions of the Gitxsan, the lives of ravens, and why these acrobatic flyers are so important to their ecosystem. Follow along as Nox Gaak, the raven mother, teaches her chicks what they need to survive with the help of her flock.The Wolf Mother (Mothers of Xsan #5)
By Hetxw’ms Gyetxw Huson. 2021
Follow along as award-winning author Hetxw&’ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson) introduces young readers to a pack of grey wolves. New…
pups have just begun to open their eyes, one of which is a striking black female. Every day, her ears grow larger, her eyesight gets sharper, and her legs stretch farther. As she learns to hunt, play, and run with her pack, instinct pulls her to explore beyond her home territory. Will the young wolf&’s bold spirit help her find a new pack of her very own?Learn about the life cycle of these magnificent canines, the traditions of the Gitxsan, and how grey wolves contribute to the health of their entire ecosystem.The Grizzly Mother (Mothers of Xsan)
By Hetxw’ms Gyetxw Huson. 2019
Book two in the award-winning Mothers of Xsan series, The Grizzly Mother uses striking illustration and lyrical language to bring…
the poetry of the Xsan ecosystem to life.To the Gitxsan people of Northwestern British Columbia, the grizzly is an integral part of the natural landscape. Together, they share the land and forests that the Skeena River runs through, as well as the sockeye salmon within it. Follow mother bear as she teaches her cubs what they need to survive on their own.Amina Khan believes that nature does it best. In Adapt, she presents fascinating examples of how nature effortlessly solves the…
problems that humans attempt to solve with decades worth of the latest and greatest technologies, time, and money. Humans are animals too, and animals are incredibly good at doing more with less. If a fly’s eye can see without hundreds of fancy lenses, and termite mounds can stay cool in the desert without air conditioning, it stands to reason that nature can teach us a thing or two about sustainable technology and innovation. In Khan’s accessible voice, these complex concepts are made simple. There is so much we humans can learn from nature’s billions of years of productive and efficient evolutionary experience. This field is growing rapidly and everyone from architects to biologists to nano-technicians to engineers are paying attention. Results from the simplest tasks, creating Velcro to mimic the sticking power of a burr, to the more complex like maximizing wind power by arranging farms to imitate schools of fish can make a difference and inspire future technological breakthroughs.Adapt shares the weird and wonderful ways that nature has been working smarter and not harder, and how we can too to make billion dollar cross-industrial advances in the very near future.This new and unique encyclopedia is an amazing new visual guide to the planet's seas and oceans. Using amazing photography…
and cutting edge CG images, readers can explore every aspect of our oceans, from the submarines that explore them to the vast array of life that lives in them.Discover the plants and animals that exist in every ocean habitat, from the shore to the lowest trenches. You'll learn about sealife including crustaceans, coral, anenomes, every kind of fish, as well as mammals like sealions, dolphins and orcas, and ocean giants like the Blue Whale.Readers will also be able to see how humans have lived with the ocean for millennia, and how our actions today can doom or save our amazing oceans in the years ahead. This brand new encyclopedia is packed with stunning images that truly bring the wonder and majesty of the world's oceans to life.How the Rose Got Its Thorns: And Other Botanical Stories
By Dr Andrew Ormerod. 2024
Have you ever wondered why the rose has thorns and other flowers don't; why the daffodil is the colour it…
is; or why some plants have shiny leaves and others matt?How The Rose Got its Thorns reveals the inner workings of our favourite flowers and trees. Designed to help gardeners, both novice and experienced, better understand how plants grow, the book is easy to navigate - it is divided into 50 chapters, each one a story.Accompanied by specially commissioned colour illustrations, each chapter explains the science behind how plants work and the extraordinary processes they have evolved: such as protecting themselves from predators using chemicals; attracting pollinators using scent, shape and colour; growing in low or high temperatures; their relationship with the wind; the size and pattern of their leaves; the distribution of their seeds and survival strategies; their relationship with insects; how they allocate their resources; and how they retain water efficiently.This delightful and intriguing book offers readers an accessible way to better understand how our plants evolved into the species of today.How the Rose Got Its Thorns: And Other Botanical Stories
By Dr Andrew Ormerod. 2024
Have you ever wondered why the rose has thorns and other flowers don't; why the daffodil is the colour it…
is; or why some plants have shiny leaves and others matt?How The Rose Got its Thorns reveals the inner workings of our favourite flowers and trees. Designed to help gardeners, both novice and experienced, better understand how plants grow, the book is easy to navigate - it is divided into 50 chapters, each one a story.Accompanied by specially commissioned colour illustrations, each chapter explains the science behind how plants work and the extraordinary processes they have evolved: such as protecting themselves from predators using chemicals; attracting pollinators using scent, shape and colour; growing in low or high temperatures; their relationship with the wind; the size and pattern of their leaves; the distribution of their seeds and survival strategies; their relationship with insects; how they allocate their resources; and how they retain water efficiently.This delightful and intriguing book offers readers an accessible way to better understand how our plants evolved into the species of today.Good Food, Bad Waste: Let's Eat for the Planet (Orca Think #9)
By Erin Silver. 2023
A deep dive into why humans waste so much food and the consequences for people and the planet Around the…
world, a billion tons of food gets thrown away every year, even when hundreds of millions of people suffer from hunger. A lot of what we don't eat ends up rotting in landfills which contributes to global warming. The good news is that many governments, communities and individuals are working hard to tackle this giant problem. You can be part of the solution, starting in your own home—and working together, we can decrease our overall waste and make sure all people have food security. Plus, by reducing food waste, we can also fight climate change! With inspiring profiles of food-waste activists and tasty tidbits on things like best-before dates, Good Food, Bad Waste offers much food for thought. The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.Ferns and Fern Allies of California (California Natural History Guides #16)
By Steve J. Grillos. 1966
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out…
and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1966.Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence
By Paco Calvo. 2022
“Weaves science and history into an absorbing exploration of the many ways that plants rise to the challenge of living.”…
—Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life An astonishing window into the inner world of plants, and the cutting-edge science in plant intelligence. Decades of research document plants’ impressive abilities: they communicate with each other, manipulate other species, and move in sophisticated ways. Lesser known, however, is that although plants may not have brains, their internal workings reveal a system not unlike the neuronal networks running through our own bodies. They can learn and remember, possessing an intelligence that allows them to behave in flexible, forward-looking, and goal-directed ways. In Planta Sapiens, Paco Calvo, a leading figure in the philosophy of plant signaling and behavior, offers an entirely new perspective on plants’ worlds, showing for the first time how we can use tools developed to study animal cognition in a quest to understand plant intelligence. Plants learn from experience: wild strawberries can be taught to link light intensity with nutrient levels in the soil, and flowers can time pollen production to pollinator visits. Plants have social intelligence, releasing chemicals from their roots and leaves to speak to and identify one another. They make decisions about where to invest their growth, judging risk based on the resources available. Their individual preferences vary, too—plants have personalities. Calvo also illuminates how plants inspire technological advancements, from robotics to AI. Most importantly, he demonstrates that plants are not objects: they have their own agency. If we recognize plants as actors alongside us in the climate crisis—rather than seeing them simply as resources for carbon capture and food production—plants may just be able to help us tackle our most urgent problems.The Adirondacks: A History of America's First Wilderness
By Paul Schneider. 1997
His book is a romance, a story of first love between Americans and a thing they call "wilderness." For it…
was in the Adirondacks that masses of non-Native Americans first learned to cherish the wilderness as a place of recreation and solace.In this lyrical narrative history, the author reveals that the affair between Americans and the Adirondacks was by no means one of love at first sight. And even now, Schneider shows that Americans' relationship with the glorious mountains and rivers of the Adirondacks continues to change. As in every good romance, nothing is as simple as it appears.South Jersey Legends & Lore: Tales from the Pine Barrens and Beyond (American Legends)
By William J. Lewis. 2024
Plants And Society
By Estelle Levetin, Karen McMahon. 2020
This introductory, one quarter/one-semester text takes a multidisciplinary approach to studying the relationship between plants and people. The authors strive…
to stimulate interest in plant science and encourage students to further their studies in botany. Also, by exposing students to society's historical connection to plants, Levetin and McMahon hope to instill a greater appreciation for the botanical world. Plants and Society covers basic principles of botany with strong emphasis on the economic aspects and social implications of plants and fungi.The most comprehensive field guide available to the Pacific Northwest--a portable, essential companion for visitors and residents alike--from the go-to…
reference source for over 18 million nature lovers. This compact volume contains: An easy-to-use field guide for identifying 1,000 of the region's wildflowers, trees, mushrooms, mosses, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, butterflies, mammals, and much more; A complete overview of the Pacific Northwest's natural history, covering geology, wildlife habitats, ecology, fossils, rocks and minerals, clouds and weather patterns and night sky; An extensive sampling of the area's best parks, preserves, beaches, forests, islands, and wildlife sanctuaries, with detailed descriptions and visitor information for 50 sites and notes on dozens of others. The guide is packed with visual information -- the 1,500 full-color images include more than 1,300 photographs, 14 maps, and 16 night-sky charts, as well as 150 drawings explaining everything from geological processes to the basic features of different plants and animals. For everyone who lives or spends time in Washington or Oregon, there can be no finer guide to the area's natural surroundings than the National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Pacific Northwest.