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The great degeneration: how institutions decay and economies die
By Niall Ferguson. 2013
An examination of institutional dysfunction in the Western world argues that such values as a free market and representative government…
are being compromised while future generations are inheriting unmanageable levels of debt. 2013.The global forest
By Diana Beresford-Kroeger. 2010
Weaving together ecology, ethnobotany, horticulture, spirituality, science, and alternative medicine, the author describes trees' untapped ecological and pharmaceutical potential. Beresford-Kroeger…
proposes how trees can be planted in urban and rural areas to promote health and counteract pollution and global warming. c2010.The geography of hope: a tour of the world we need
By Chris Turner. 2007
To offset the grim predictions of environmentalists, Turner describes solutions already at work around the world, from Canada's largest wind…
farm to Asia's greenest building and Europe's most eco-friendly communities. He also seeks out the next generation of political, economic, social, and spiritual institutions that could provide the global foundations for a sustainable future, including the parliament houses of Scandinavia and the villages of southern India, where microcredit finance has remade the social fabric. Some descriptions of sex and some strong language. 2007.The frackers: the outrageous inside story of the new billionaire wildcatters
By Gregory Zuckerman. 2014
In five years, the United States has seen a historic burst of oil and natural gas production, easing our insatiable…
hunger for energy. A new drilling process called fracking has made us the world's fastest growing energy power, on track to pass Saudi Arabia by 2020. But despite headlines and controversy, no previous book has shown how the revolution really happened. The Frackers tells the dramatic tale of how a group of ambitious and headstrong wildcatters ignored the ridicule of experts and derision of colleagues to pursue massive, long-overlooked deposits. Against all odds, they changed the world- and made astonishing fortunes in the process. Zuckerman's exclusive access enabled him to get close to men like George Mitchell, who developed a new way to drill for gas in shale rock; Harold Hamm, who discovered so much oil he's now worth more than the estate of Steve Jobs; and Aubrey McClendon, who lost more than billion on a misguided gambit. Zuckerman shows how the frackers are now using their wealth to shake up Hollywood, education, politics, sports, and other fields, much like the Rockefellers and Gettys before them. He also explores the debate over the environmental risks of fracking, and whether those risks are worth it for the United States to achieve energy independence and for the rest of the world to follow. 2014.The final forest: the battle for the last great trees of the Pacific Northwest
By William Dietrich. 1992
The forgotten man: a new history of the Great Depression
By Amity Shlaes. 2007
Economics reporter analyzes the Great Depression era in the United States and posits that federal intervention in the economy lengthened…
its duration. Considers economic plans from members of Franklin Roosevelt's brain trust and alternate solutions of outsiders such as African American Father Divine and Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson. 2007.The end of the line: how overfishing is changing the world and what we eat
By Charles Clover. 2006
Clover describes how fishing with modern technology has nearly destroyed entire ocean ecosystems: New England's fisheries have collapsed, the fish…
stocks of West Africa's continental shelf are overexploited, and few cod are left in Newfoundland's Grand Banks. He blames trawlers with huge nets that destroy everything in their wake, celebrity chefs with endangered species on their menus, the European Union, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, and countries like Japan and Spain that persist in illegal fishing. 2006.The Everglades: river of grass
By Marjory Stoneman Douglas. 1997
Fiftieth-anniversary edition of the 1947 history and folklore of a North American region that had been viewed as a swampy…
"wasteland." This volume includes two new chapters, describing efforts to restore and preserve this valuable source of wildlife and water. c1997.The energy of slaves: oil and the new servitude
By Andrew Nikiforuk. 2012
A radical analysis of our master-and-slave relationship to energy and a call for change. Nikiforuk makes a comparison between slavery…
and fossil fuels. Like slaveholders, we feel entitled to surplus energy and rationalize inequality, even barbarity, to get it. But endless growth is an illusion, and now that half of the world's oil has been burned, our energy slaves are becoming more expensive by the day. What we need, the author argues, is a radical new emancipation movement. c2012.The end of the river: dams, drought and déjà vu on the Rio São Francisco
By Brian J Harvey. 2008
A biologist searches for a solution that will save many fish species from life-threatening dams. His adventures take him from…
a fisheries patrol boat on the Fraser River to the great Tsukiji fish market in Japan, with stops in the Philippines, Thailand, and assorted South American countries. Portrays fishermen, fish farmers, and even fish cops in a new light, as well as scientists, shysters, and some very drunk, hairy Brazilian men in thongs. Some strong language, some descriptions of sex, and some descriptions of violence. c2008.The end of growth
By Jeff Rubin. 2012
Economist and resource analyst Jeff Rubin is certain that the world's governments are getting it wrong - instead of moving…
us toward economic recovery, measures being taken around the globe right now are digging us into a deeper hole. Both politicians and economists are missing the fact that the real engine of economic growth has always been cheap, abundant fuel and resources, but that era is over. The end of cheap oil signals the end of growth - and the end of easy answers to renewing prosperity. c2012.The curse of Akkad: climate upheavals that rocked human history
By Peter Christie. 2008
The world's first empire, Akkad, was toppled 4,000 years ago by a disastrous drought in Mesopotamia, Ancient Rome experienced 18…
months of darkness, possibly from a volcanic eruption half a world away, and Mayan society in Mexico began to crumble when fresh water became scarce. Christie explores climate shifts of the past, from ice ages to a World War II El Niño that frustrated the battle plans of Hitler. Grades 4-7. 2008.The hot topic: what we can do about global warming
By Gabrielle Walker, D. A King. 2008
A concise guide to both the problems and the solutions of global warming. Guiding us past a blizzard of information…
and misinformation, Walker and King explain the science of warming, the most cutting-edge technological solutions from small to large, and the national and international politics that will affect our efforts. They propose specific ideas to fix a very specific problem, and offer hope that we can still do something about it. 2008.The Greenpeace to Amchitka: an environmental odyssey
By Robert Hunter. 2004
Eleven landlubbing environmentalists and one old sea captain planned to pilot a small, aging fishing boat across 3,800 kilometres of…
the Gulf of Alaska in the middle of storm season to try to stop a hydrogen bomb test - and possibly be incinerated in the process. Launched from Vancouver, the 1971 odyssey failed to stop the bomb but did ignite a world-wide environmental movement. Written by a member of the expedition, the book captures the idealism and hope of the psychedelic '60s, while also telling a sea story, full of the debates and misadventures of the characters on board. Some strong language, some descriptions of sex and violence. 2004.The down-to-earth guide to global warming
By Laurie David, Cambria Gordon. 2008
Laurie David educates young listeners about the ecological crisis called Global Warming.The dangers posed are very real, and the planet…
may undergo drastic changes within this century. People do, however, have the power to fight back and save the earth, and they can start by listening to this audiobook. Grades 4-7. 2008.The ecological planet: an introduction to Earth's ecosystems (The modern scholar)
By John C Kricher. 2008
Wheaton College professor John Kricher presents an absorbing analysis of the diverse ecosystems that exist on Planet Earth. He provides…
a factual study of the many fragile and threatened portions of our biosphere while describing the interaction between each system and the effect of man's presence in these ecosystems. He also explains the amazing variety of flora and fauna that inhabit the individual ecosystems and addresses current ecological issues facing mankind. 2008.The ecology of commerce: a declaration of sustainability
By Paul Hawken. 1993
Provides a blueprint for a marketplace where businesses and environmentalists work together, showing companies how to redesign and manufacture products…
in innovative ways, re-educate customers, and work closely with government toward a profitable, productive, and ecologically sound future. 2005, c1993.The Darwin economy: liberty, competition, and the common good (Your coach in a box)
By Robert H Frank. 2011
Frank looks at how economic competition is actually hindering the "common good." He explains that Charles Darwin's theory on the…
clash between individual and group interests is a perfect analogy for today's economic landscape. 2011.The cult of impotence: selling the myth of powerlessness in the global economy
By Linda McQuaig. 1998
McQuaig looks into the popular belief that the Canadian economy is beyond Canada's control, held at the mercy of globalization…
and technology. Instead, she argues, the international community has the tools to regulate the world financial system to everyone's benefit, as was done in the decades after World War II. 1998.The collapse of globalism: and the reinvention of the world
By John Ralston Saul. 2005
Globalism, where world markets would supplant nation-states, has failed even as it succeeded, by increasing GDP or individual wealth in…
some countries while allowing the paralyzing accumulation of debt in the third world. In the meantime, economies have artificially inflated and imploded. The author also faults a system where multinational corporations attempt to replace government infrastructure and "overly complex" management is mistaken for leadership. 2005.