Book Description
An inspiring celebration of courageous American innovators who are transforming the way we protect and care for the world we live in.
The environment, and the movement that grew up to protect it, is under attack--concerted and purposeful. Yet the need for solutions to pressing environmental problems grows more urgent each day. Teresa Heinz Kerry and Senator John Kerry traveled across the country in a national campaign to see at first hand how these issues unite people across party and ideological lines. From the San Juan Basin to the Gulf of Mexico to the South Bronx, from mothers on Cape Cod to Colorado ranchers, they found a vibrant coalition of people and communities deploying ingenuity, technology, and sheer will power to save the world they know and love. Now, in this passionate and personal book, Senator John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry shine the spotlight on an inspiring crosssection of these new environmental pioneers.
The book combines intensive research with keenly observed personal experiences to present a portrait of Americans devoted to the natural diversity and spectacular uniqueness of our country. It also includes an extensive guide on where and how readers can get involved.
Customer Reviews:
May A Republican Say Something?.......2007-10-06
Senator Kerry, this is one of the best books I've read in a long time, and I read a lot of books. The common sense, lack of passion, and optimism did my old heart good. Since I'm not as optimistic as you, I believe if we're to come out of this tailspin that my party has put us in, your approach, not mine, is the key. As a Vietnam veteran who was shot down twice in Vietnam 1968-69, I hope you understand that the Swift Boat guys were exploited by sociopaths. The weak minded simply cannot refuse even the briefest moment in the limelight. They well forsake God and country without hesitation. Supporting you in 2004 has turned out to be one of the smartest things I have ever done. Believe me, it wasn't easy. It temporarily cost me the goodwill of friends and family. Thousands of Americans are still cheering Bush and Cheney not even aware that all their savings may be wiped out before these two leave office. Saudi Arabia on this very day--10/06/2007--has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signaling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East. As you know, Israel has already refused aid (free money) in Dollars. When Americans turned their backs on International laws, they turned their backs on God's laws as well. The price for doing so will be incomprehensible for most. Another book, please.
Required Reading.......2007-08-08
The material in this book should be put in the public's face daily via media, billboards, etc. It should be required reading. Every mother should understand that a disposable diaper takes 500 years to biodegrade (and as those chemicals in the diaper biodegrade, they pollute and cause potential carcinogens).
I would not call the book "bipartisan" as per some of the other reviews, and I think its bashing of the Bush administration (even though I am not a fan) detracted from the overall book. However, it is important reading; it had an impact on my behavior.
Stories of Hope.......2007-08-02
I was a little skeptical with this book being written by John Kerry. I wasn't sure what to expect. It gives some really good stories of everyday people who just wanted to make a change for the better. They weren't any sort of extremists or hippies. Just people with common sense and the determination to stand up for their right to live in a clean world.
KERRY gETS IT RIGHT.......2007-06-18
Kerry analyzes today;s environmental experts and gets it right. The book is passionate, well researched, spot on and well written. I was pleasantly surprised.
I think Kerry was at his best early in the book when he evaluated some of the current plans for saving the Earth. He got a little off track as the book progressed, then veered back on track in the last 100 pages.
I highly recommend this book for anybody who cares about the planet. Also recommended: "Earth In The Balance" by Al Gore. Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit
Encouragement for activism.......2007-06-09
This book is both inspiring and upsetting. Inspiring for the stories of success in opposing pollution and degradation of the environment and restoration to a more healthy one. It is upsetting to read of the abuses and pollution creating dangerous places to live.
It is a call to action that we all need to consider. I got many good ideas about issues I hadn't thought about and it made me think about my local situation. It's good to know people have won battles and corrected abuses.
Book Description
This latest installment in the P.I.G. series provides a provocative, entertaining, and well-documented expose of some of the most shamelessly politicized pseudo-science we are likely to see in our relatively cool lifetimes.
Customer Reviews:
Trolls.......2007-10-12
This book is not only false, but completely irresponsible. The people who wrote this book are probably just a bunch of trolls who are in a tizzy because they don't want to give up their SUV's or their money they are earning from oil.
Good Book.......2007-10-01
It's about time someone brought to light the other side of the story. A must read for liberals.
Exceedingly one-sided attempt to suggest warming is beneficial and/or not man-made.......2007-09-23
The issue of global warming has long been in the news. From the perspective of Australia the issue is critical, as rainfall in my home city of Melbourne has declined by forty percent in the past eleven years. Such a decline is totally unparalleled in the 150 years of instrumental record.
At the same time, the northwest of Australia has seen dramatic increases in rainfall ever since the late 1960s, so much so that seven of its eight wettest years (since 1885) have occurred since 1995.
In this context, even though able usually to listen to anybody (actually, I generally dislike moderate views because they tend to be wishy-washy) it is not possible for me to take most of the claims made by Horner seriously.
Horner's contention, basically, is that global warming is either not man-made or will in the long-term benefit human society. As to the first point, he greatly exaggerates the proportion of greenhouse gases that is naturally occurring. For instance, my prior knowledge of science tell me that it impossible that more than minute quantities (like, say, a few grams per year) of sulfur hexafluoride or other exceedingly potent fluorine-containing greenhouse gases could be naturally produced each year. Because there is no natural sink for them, natural production of fluorine-containing greenhouse gases in the quantities asserted by Horner would inevitably turn the Earth into an inferno with temperatures hot enough, say, to melt copper. He also understates the proportion of other greenhouse gases that are man-made, notably carbon dioxide where emissions from combustion are far greater than those from biological decay, fires, volcanoes and oceanic release.
Horner's viewpoints about the extent and effects of global warming are also very poorly done. For instance, he suggests that increases in global temperatures have been due to closures of stations in the Russian Arctic. As a person with knowledge of how mean temperatures for an area are calculated, I know well that is unlikely unless every single station in Arctic Russia was closed (which is not what he says): the few that remain would be always given greater weight owing to the large areas they represent and the closures would not affect the average. Although he rightly asserts that the Southern Hemisphere is warming much less than the Northern, my knowledge of Australian climatology suggests this is almost certainly due to the large increases in rainfall that have occurred not only over pastoral areas of Western Australia but also in similar latitudes of South America. Large increases in rainfall naturally lead to reduced temperatures because it has become much cloudier. For example, 2000, whilst the fifth warmest year on record globally, was one of the coolest on record in pastoral areas of Western Australia owing to general record-breaking annual rainfall. In areas of Australia that have dried out, there has been as much warming as in the Northern Hemisphere.
Horners' idea about the question of "global cooling" is similarly weak. The issue rose form the fact that it was thought upon studying previous glacial-interglacial cycles where 10,000 years of interglacial were followed by 90,000 years of glacial that we were near the end of the Holocene and that the next ice age was due to begin soon. Recent data show that we are moving towards an era of longer - but cooler - interglacials (and relatively shorter, less cold glacial periods).
Horner's other chief thesis is that warming always benefits civilisations. He cites the effects of the Medieval Warm Period upon European civilisation as an example - for instance the settlement of Greenland by the Norse and its ending with cooling and the Little Ice Age. However, there is little evidence that this rule holds in hotter and more fragile environments. For instance, the Hohokam of Arizona declined after reaching a peak in the eighth century just before the Medieval Warm Period, and some Mesoamerican societies also declined from the ninth century, apparently due to climate change. In any case, because many areas that are major agricultural regions today were not farmed in the Middle Ages, comparisons are not possible.
Horner's viewpoint that reducing greenhouse emissions would be immensely costly is also impossible to accept. Government welfare to polluting corporations is extremely large, as are budgets for building utterly unnecessary freeways. These could easily be completely redirected to supporting renewable energy and public transit at great benefit to everybody except some exceedingly powerful vested interests in car and fossil fuel corporations. Although Horner is actually right in saying the US' per capita emissions show greater decline than Europe's, the difference is not significant and if it reflects anything at all, it is probably the greater willingness of Americans to accept less comfortable lifestyles.
The way in which Horner accepts only the evidence that suits his viewpoints is really the worst kind of science you will ever see. It recurs time and time against throughout this book and for this reason alone I would not recommend "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming".
What the media won't tell you about this farce called globla warming.......2007-09-22
This book covers all the stuff you need to know to become informed about so called global warming. Yes the climate does change but it is cyclic not due to man made causes!!!! The powers that be that worship this religion are only in it to pick your pockets and gain power!!!
It is a fallacy that man is causing this to the degree that the greens and the great Goreacle want you to believe.
Read this and become informed to put to rest the misinformation that they want you to believe.
Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming is Well Written.......2007-09-22
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming answers the unscientific and alarmist notions by Al Gore and the environmentalists. The book proposes reasoned thought instead of arm-waving and rhetoric. It proposes that no science is "settled" and everything is still open to question and should be studied in order to improve the human condition. The human condition can be improved by studying the previous history of the planet,finding out how the environment changed and adapted through time and various challenges. Tne human condition cannot be improved by adopting some apocalyptic measures thought out at 2 A.M. and not reexamined in the light of day.
Product Description
An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
Customer Reviews:
Incedibly Riveting, Powerful Warning!.......2007-10-15
I came here to write a review and was surprised to see some of the negative comments, especially those written in the style of an elementary school student. Al Gore has written an incredibly revealing look into what lies before us if we leave things the the way they are and ignore the majority of reputable scientists who have the same predictions that Gore espouses. Any idiot can see that the pace of damage that we are experiencing now in the environment cannot be equated to any other time in history. The pictures in Gore's book are not fake. He is not the only one who discusses the issue of future loss of land due to the rising waters. The biggest problem for him is that being involved in politics unfortunately invites those who are on the other side of the aisle to criticize him, even when they know he's right. It's an infantile attitude - one that may very well be responsible for the ultimate destruction of our world as we know it. Next, they will be attacking the Nobel Prize Committee for giving their award to Gore. He well deserves it for his hard work and worthy work. Shame on those who find the need to put their childishly damning comments on here. It reveals so much more about them than it does about Gore.
All fluff, no content.......2007-10-14
There is a great deal of fluff and hysteria, accompanied by lots of heatstring-jerking pictures, in this book. Unfortunately, there is no useful/factual content: the only relevant graph amounts to a prime example for the book "How To Lie With Statistics".
Essential facts which Gore ignores and which destroys his case: (1) the long-term change feared is just one degree per _century_, (2) carbon dioxide is plant food, and (3) climate changes - cope.
SO..... what caused the Mini-ice-age of 1250-1850?.......2007-10-14
Between the years 1250-1850, the earth experienced a Mini Ice Age that froze-over rivers, destroyed England's wine industry, and nearly starved Europe (until they discovered how to use potatoes for nourishment). Al Gore admits in this book, "I don't know."
And that's the fundamental problem.
How can scientists claim, "We can predict future weather", when they don't even know how to explain the past weather events? They know there was a Mini Ice Age, they know the effects it had on humanity, but they don't know WHY it happened. The scientists don't know.
Until scientists learn to explain past Climate Changes,
they shouldn't be making guesses about the future.
One more example of religious fundamentalism and its not Christian or Muslim.......2007-10-14
Wind farms covering the great plains, how many birds do you want to kill, oh come on already! More corn farming driving up food prices. Solar cells that produce more toxic waste in manufacture than the petroleum products they deplore. And the only solution, nuclear power, buried in the fine print. Truly these people are loony , there are conspiracies everywhere, and I have to buy a rowboat now so I can get to Wall Street in few years. Please, 500 years ago the Thames was frozen over. Get a grip, give Al a pill, and remainder this nonsense.
An Incoherent Crock.......2007-10-13
What is important to remember above all else is that Al Gore is a politician and a journalist. He is decidedly NOT a scientist. In short, he is not even remotely qualified to be discussing the science behind global warming. Well, I suppose he's qualified to give a lecture to the average 3rd grade class, but that's about it.
So how do we explain the fact that so many gushing, starry-eyed brethren embrace Gore as some kind of prophet of global warming? More than anything, I suspect it is a reflection of just how incredibly ignorant and naive the American people are. Remember, a British court has ruled that his book is riddled with factual errors (and it is likely worse than the court's ruling). It is a real life manifestation of P.T. Barnum's famous dictum that "A sucker is born every minute."
Our society needs to stop equating fame with expertise. Gore is a famous politician, and his true expertise is as a con man. The scientific arena is the last place he either understands or belongs.
I suspect that in 25 years time the expression "the sky is falling" will pass out of vogue, to be replaced by "that's an inconvenient truth."
I wish I could have rated this piece of scat zero stars.
Average customer rating:
- Workbook - Environmental Science
- Highly disappointing
- Interestign articles with a thick political spin
- One of the Best
- Making environmental science relevant
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Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future (9th Edition)
Richard T. Wright
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
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Student Lecture Notebook Environmental Science
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ASIN: 0131442007 |
Book Description
This classic book explores the interactions of humans within the natural environment and probes issues thoroughly, examining their scientific basis, history, and society's response. Strong science, sustainability, and stewardship of Earth remain the underlying themes. Accompanies each copy of the book with the new Global City CD, built around the concepts of a large city that shows many of the environmental problems presented in the book. Includes an extensively revised layout and design. Keeps readers abreast of the latest developments or most pressing issues in the field, such as Global Climate Change. Offers "Environment on the Web" exercises that help readers access additional information on the Internet; important Web references are keyed to each chapter. An interesting reference for anyone interested in learning more about today's crucial environmental issues.
Customer Reviews:
Workbook - Environmental Science.......2007-08-21
It is a workbook and not what I was attempting to order. I expected a reading/learning media. This is only for use in classroom setting.
Highly disappointing.......2006-08-05
While the class I took that used this textbook was informative, this book was full of what seemed to be the authors' personal opinons. Like another person said here in the reviews about blame on the Bush administration, and lack of references aside from photo credits, this book seemed to be geared more towards giving you the biased outlook of the author than an unbiased view of environmental science.
I agree that this book is not fit for a college textbook, or any other type of education.
Interestign articles with a thick political spin.......2006-04-27
This revision must have been specially produced just to include all the anti-Bush rhetoric. In nearly every chapter, responsibility for the current state of the environment is laid squarly on President Bush's administration.
In addition, there are no references given for any of the information presented in the book. As a student, we are expected to take this author's word for it that everything he has presented is true and accurate, and that he is simply a repository for all of this accurate information. In fact, the lack of references is absolutely striking when you consider this is a textbook that is supposedly presenting facts. The only references given are those for photo credits.
Unfit as a college textbook.
One of the Best.......2005-08-16
This is one of the most readable environmental texts I've seen.
It is very comprehnsive and the coverage of the newest scientific results in the science of resource conservation is simply excellent. The content is oriented around a group of themes and applied to the concept of ecosystems and their management. Is almost as if the author has takrn the first halting steps toward a unified environmental theory.
Two negative points though. Coverage of forest resources is a little thin, and like most textbooks, the price is way too high.
Making environmental science relevant.......2004-11-28
Professor Richard Wright has succeeded where so many others have failed, by creating a textbook that makes the subject of environmental science relevant. After all, most students taking a course that uses this book are doing so because it's required, rather than as an elective.
As an adjunct professor of environmental science at Endicott College, I have reviewed many textbooks for possible use in introductory courses. This one is a standout, and based on feedback from students over the past four years, they, too, agree.
The text is easy to read, and enhanced by many graphs, charts and photographs.
David Liscio, adjunct professor, Endicott College, Beverly, MA
Amazon.com
Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is the glass-half-empty follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. While Guns, Germs, and Steel explained the geographic and environmental reasons why some human populations have flourished, Collapse uses the same factors to examine why ancient societies, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest and the Viking colonies of Greenland, as well as modern ones such as Rwanda, have fallen apart. Not every collapse has an environmental origin, but an eco-meltdown is often the main catalyst, he argues, particularly when combined with society's response to (or disregard for) the coming disaster. Still, right from the outset of Collapse, the author makes clear that this is not a mere environmentalist's diatribe. He begins by setting the book's main question in the small communities of present-day Montana as they face a decline in living standards and a depletion of natural resources. Once-vital mines now leak toxins into the soil, while prion diseases infect some deer and elk and older hydroelectric dams have become decrepit. On all these issues, and particularly with the hot-button topic of logging and wildfires, Diamond writes with equanimity.
Because he's addressing such significant issues within a vast span of time, Diamond can occasionally speak too briefly and assume too much, and at times his shorthand remarks may cause careful readers to raise an eyebrow. But in general, Diamond provides fine and well-reasoned historical examples, making the case that many times, economic and environmental concerns are one and the same. With Collapse, Diamond hopes to jog our collective memory to keep us from falling for false analogies or forgetting prior experiences, and thereby save us from potential devastations to come. While it might seem a stretch to use medieval Greenland and the Maya to convince a skeptic about the seriousness of global warming, it's exactly this type of cross-referencing that makes Collapse so compelling. --Jennifer Buckendorff
Book Description
In his runaway bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond brilliantly examined the circumstances that allowed Western civilizations to dominate much of the world. Now he probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to fall into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates? Using a vast historical and geographical perspective ranging from Easter Island and the Maya to Viking Greenland and modern Montana, Diamond traces a fundamental pattern of environmental catastrophe—one whose warning signs can be seen in our modern world and that we ignore at our peril. Blending the most recent scientific advances into a narrative that is impossible to put down, Collapse exposes the deepest mysteries of the past even as it offers hope for the future.
“DiamondÂ's most influential gift may be his ability to write about geopolitical and environmental systems in ways that donÂ't just educate and provoke, but entertain.” —The Seattle Times
“Extremely persuasive . . . replete with fascinating stories, a treasure trove of historical anecdotes [and] haunting statistics.” —The Boston Globe
“Extraordinary in erudition and originality, compelling in [its] ability to relate the digitized pandemonium of the present to the hushed agrarian sunrises of the far past.” —The New York Times Book Review
Customer Reviews:
Collapse.......2007-10-17
The author did research into the ancient societies to come up with some lessons for our own future. Very interesting reading.
A Life-Changing Book.......2007-10-13
This extraordinary book will change the way you look at life and man's fate. Unlike Al Gore, Diamond deliberately under-argues his case, which makes it all the more compelling. And unlike Gore, he does not open himself to easy and cheap criticism by focusing on just one factor like climactic warming. He clearly believes in global warming from man-made effects. But what he demonstrates is the full range of our environmental quandary.
Putting aside global warming, how do we deal with the inherent limits on absolutely vital commodities -- sunlight, fossil fuels, fresh water,building materials, clean air, clean water, good land, the productive value of agricultural land? Then he shows the pressure of and irreversible momentum of population growth and the ambition of third world peoples to achieve the standard of living of first world peoples. Then he shows how even the first world cannot continue to sustain that standard.
Combined with this are the examples of past civlizations that failed by not solving their environmental problems. Most chilling is how those societies could remain in denial and do nothing until too late.
Diamond does include examples of successful societies that managed their environmental challenges. And he professes to be an optimist. But I find myself increasingly pessimistic about man's fate after reading this book. The Earth is a jealous mistress, and we cannot afford to take her for granted and to ignore the fragility of the environment and resources on which we depend.
The book is also extraordinary for its exploration of political and cultural issues. One of the most interesting chapters is his comparison of the Dominican Republic and Haiti -- two very different societies on two halves of the same island. He argues quite convincingly that the very different fates of the two societies are attributable to political, historical, and cultural developments. Though there are some differences between each half of the island, each is blessed with the same essential environment. Hence this is a great test case for proving or disproving environmental determinism -- and Diamond comes out against determinism.
Similarly compelling is the Rwanda chapter, which demonstrates that while the small differences and petty resentments between races can be the spark for genocidal conflict, race really doesn't explain the conflict. What explains the conflict is political manipulation of race and the great pressure asserted by declining wealth and resource limitations.
Diamond predicts that wars may well become more common in the new century given the competition for resources. This is a depressing observation for those who hoped that the lessons of the Twentieth Century would make wars far less common.
This is a terrific book and a must-read.
Brilliant. Engaging. Informative.........2007-10-01
Amazing book. He manages to hold my interest while providing a wealth of facts.
Mostly on the mark.......2007-09-28
Diamond hits pretty much on the mark all the way across the board. Weakness: for the most part ignores or minimizes the effect of marketing/advertising/propaganda on human consumption patterns. Strengths: one of the few books on this broad subject that actually deals with over-population; indeed, had he concentrated more on this one most important issue, I would have given "Collapse" 5 stars.
I would strongly recommend this book for anyone concerned with the future of the human race.
Collapse review.......2007-09-24
Another excellent book. I realized when I bought this book that I own and have enjoyed all of Jared Diamond's books. His topics and hypostheses are fascinating and compelling.
Book Description
In this edition of Miller's ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, a new Student CD-ROM, INTERACTIVE CONCEPTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, has been added! This groundbreaking addition integrates nearly 100 engaging animations and interactions with chapter summaries, flashcards, and Web-based quizzes. Organized by chapter, students will find links to relevant resources, narrated animations, interactive figures, and prompts to review material and test themselves. The animations show complex processes and relationships unfolding on screen, such as the effects of acid rain, smog formation, and the phosphorus cycle. Narration allows students to focus on what is changing on screen while interactions allow students to explore figures in more depth. This Tenth Edition is a significant, all-encompassing revision providing continuing focus on the basic scientific content necessary to understand environmental issues in clear, straightforward language. It provides the latest developments and reflects several major shifts in environmental science education this century. Designed as a foundational text for environmental science courses, Miller's flexible book is adaptable to almost any approach, and is the most widely embraced approach to environmental science in print. With fair and balanced coverage and Internet tools integrated throughout, the book features an extensively developed art program, writing that communicates scientific information clearly and effectively, and the most current coverage of the subject. The book's flexible organization means that it can be adapted to fit almost any syllabus. Miller's more than 30 years of research and teaching expertise make this the definitive book on the subject. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: WORKING WITH THE EARTH, Tenth Edition is a concise alternative to G. Tyler Miller?s best-selling text LIVING IN THE ENVIRONMENT, which redefines the environmental science course and sets the standard by which every other book for this course is judged.
Customer Reviews:
great seller!.......2007-05-14
I received the product in the condition stated and in a short time.
New.......2006-07-19
Environmental Science/Tenth Edition.Excellent condition. No highlighting, torn pages or other marks. Sealed CD (Interactive Concepts in Environmental Science) included with book.
A great text for teaching Environmental Science.......2006-05-05
I began teaching with Miller's thicker text "living in the environment" but found that the main material was covered by this thinner and less expensive version. The graphics are helpful and the students enjoy reading the material as it is presented in an accessible and applicable fashion. The guest essays and case studies are from some of the top names speaking at conferences and so students are getting some really current views and information. Although there is not much of a lab book or teacher text-- there are plenty of other sources for field work and activity inspiration. The students also liked the website for activities and practice problems.
Excellent from multiple excellent thoughts ..........2006-03-01
Thyler Miller's books (I have 5 of them) are always the source of inspiration for me. I started reading his book when I took my Environmental Health Class for my Master of Public Helath Program.
The contents are clear, concise, correct, courtesy and full with critical thouught that has facilitated my curiosity to know more and more ....
Santa-Fe-Red
explains issues like population growth and global warming.......2006-02-25
Miller stresses the intricate interrelationships with the Earth's environment. Vital issues like population growth and its impact on the environment are gone into. Here, there is perhaps cautious optimism. But only if we as a species moderate our growth rate (maybe even turn it negative!) and resource consumption.
There is a natural flow from this issue to a discussion about global warming. The scientific basis for concern is explained, and the evidence for warming presented. While not absolutely conclusive, it is seen as very strong. In fact, in the 5 years since the book came out, even more evidence has appeared to indicate a continuing and possibly accelerating trend. Miller also suggests several ways that global warming might be slowed.
Average customer rating:
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Our Changing Planet: An Introduction to Earth System Science and Global Environmental Change (3rd Edition)
Fred T. Mackenzie
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
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ASIN: 0130651729 |
Book Description
This book offers a general, interdisciplinary discussion of global environmental change oriented toward the non-specialist in science. The unifying theme of the book is consideration of aspects of both natural and human-induced global environmental change. The two part organization according to this distinction allows for easy reading on specific topics. This book is useful for anyone interested in learning more about Earth's systems.
Customer Reviews:
Mislead by index.......2007-03-22
I purchased this book after looking at several on the web. Of course all you get to see is the index. The index for this book looked great so I ordered it. It is filled cover to cover with general philosophy and no real application or even a difinitive solution to a problem. Even trying to edeucate yourself on a pinpoint subject matter requires going through several chapters to get the whole scoop. I'd gladly sell mine back at a loss, but I like bon fires.
Average customer rating:
- made me angry
- Policical retoric and not science
- Good Practical Book
- Schoolbook review
- Reviews, anyone?
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Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and Solutions (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)
G. Tyler Miller Jr.
Manufacturer: Brooks Cole
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0534997295 |
Book Description
Miller's LIVING IN THE ENVIRONMENT, 14th Edition is the most comprehensive and up-to-date environmental science text on the market. It has the most balanced approach to environmental science instruction, with bias-free comparative diagrams throughout and a focus on prevention of and solutions to environmental problems. Tyler Miller is the most successful author in academic writing on environmental science because of his attention to currency, trend setting presentation of content, ability to predict student and instructor needs for new and different supplements, and his ability to retain the hallmarks on which instructors have come to depend. The content in the 14th edition of LIVING IN THE ENVIRONMENT is everything you have come to expect and more. In this edition, the author has added the "How Would You Vote?" feature, which is an application of environmental science-related topics in the news. Students apply their environmental science knowledge from the book to a Web activity, which helps them investigate environmental science issues in a structured manner. They then cast their votes on the Web. Results are then tallied. Also found at the Miller website is the much used "Updates on Line." Updated twice a year with articles from InfoTrac College Edition service, CNN® Today Video Clips, and Web links, instructors can seamlessly incorporate the most current news articles and research findings to support text presentations. This is a time saver for instructors and part-time teachers who can quickly determine what ancillary materials they want to utilize in just minutes. As with the last edition, this text is packaged with a free Student CD-ROM entitled "Interactive Concepts in Environmental Science." Organized by chapter, the CD gives students links to relevant resources, narrated animations, interactive figures, and prompts to review material and test themselves.
Customer Reviews:
made me angry.......2007-09-23
I have not read the whole book yet, and I have the 2004 edition (#13). I truly hope the newer editions are better. This is a review of Chapter 1 only.
The chapter annoyed me. It even made me angry. It is milquetoast, unable to just say we, the human population, is depleting too many resources to be sustainable. Adding the statement "other analysts do not believe we are living unsustainably" to an Environmental Science textbook is like saying "some people believe the earth is flat," in a geography textbook, or, something that unfortunately seems to happen in some biology textbooks these days, "evolution is just one theory, there are other theories as well, some experts believe god created all life on earth as it is today." A similar statement was made in part 1-6, "Is our Present Course Sustainable?." "Are things getting better or worse? Experts disagree..." Experts paid by huge resource exploiting corporations? Experts who like to bury their heads in the sand?
There were a number of interesting facts in the text that the general statements did not reflect. These inconsistencies really got to me. It seemed as if it were trying to write about what was outside the box but writing from inside the box. I particularly disliked the sentence that included: "... how much more we need to do to help make the earth more sustainable..." Wait a second, if you were writing from a viewpoint that "Nature does not exist just for us and we only think we are in charge. We need the earth, but the earth does not need us," how can you talk about "making the earth more sustainable?" The earth is what it is and is bountiful, it is our resource exploitation and pollution that are not sustainable for human survival.
I found the first part of the side bar "Free-Access Resources and the Tragedy of the Commons" quite interesting, but the second part on solutions seemed to missing a lot. The first of the two listed solutions was: "Use free-access resources at rates well below their estimated sustainable yields or overload limits by reducing population, regulating access, or both." It then went on to say how this is rarely used since it means we would have to establish and enforce rules and regulations, and it is hard to figure out a sustained yield. But it doesn't mention that educating people about these resources that they take for granted could go along way. Also not mentioned is that regulating the devices that allow people to exploit these resources (such as clean air, the atmosphere, water and wildlife) so easily and unthinkingly would be much easier than regulating their actual use. A lot of the resources mentioned are being depleted by pollution not use in a strict sense. The other solution listed is: "Convert free-access resources to private ownership," since if someone owns something they will protect it, has so many problems which are not addressed. The books lists the problem with this solution as being that "it is not practical for global common resources (such as the atmosphere, the open ocean, most wildlife species, and migratory birds) that can not be divided up and converted to private property." What about the fact that people do exploit the resources that they do own, and the fact that it would no doubt cause even more problems with poverty, and sharing things in common is what brings people together as a community (e.g. they all go to the park and see each other), and so many other problems that I get overwhelmed just thinking about them.
There was a lot of talk about overpopulation as a major problem, but not so much talk about overconsumption by certain parts of the population, even though there were sections on this. There was a section on ecological foot print and how the people in the USA have such a large one, but this didn't seem to get integrated into the text. There was also the statement: "Thus poor parents in a developing country would need 70 - 200 children to have the same lifetime resource consumption as 2 children in a typical U.S. family," but there was a lot of emphasis on population as a major problem and how in underdeveloped countries populations are growing as such a fast rate, when slight rises in US middle/upper class populations can make so much more difference. It felt to me like too much blame poor people in poor countries when it is people in the US and corporations based in the US enriching people in the US who are causing so much of the problems, even exporting our TV and advertisements to other countries which makes people want our unsustainable lifestyle.
There was also no mention of empowering women as a major tool to deal with high birthrates. There is overwhelming evidence that when you empower women to choses when they want to get pregnant and give them education and job skills birthrates do down. The paragraph on why poor people have so many children basically says the reason is to have their labor, with no mention of lack of birth control or power of women to make choices. It also seemed racist and disrespectful.
While we are on the subject of racist and disrespectful, what is with the developed and developing labels? The societies in all countries are developed, it is just industrial manufacturing and certain kinds of resource exploitation that are not as developed.
One last perhaps picky complaint. Figure 1-13 mentions "Traditional decision making" and "traditional societies" but it really does not mean traditional, it means modern industrialized hierarchical societies. This may seem picky but I feel it really does matter, we need to keep remembering that these societies we are living in are new, not traditional. True traditional societies did merge social, economic and environmental issues when making decisions, in fact, they did so in all aspects of living their lives. What we need to do is get back to them.
Policical retoric and not science.......2007-04-29
The state of Washington mails each registered voter a "Voter's Pamphlet" with statements for and against each initiative and candidate.
This book has the same format as a page for initiative X complete with rebuttals, but no page against initiative X.
This is completely one sided political rhetoric.
Why are high school students being given 815 pages of brainwashing?
I can understand some political extremest writing this book, but why would the Mercer Island school district buy this book?
I know science.
This ain't science.
Maybe political science.
Good Practical Book.......2007-04-20
Being a chemistry student, I've read this book as part of my classes. I've got to say, it's an excellent book, definitely worth reading by itself. It offers concrete, pragmatic solutions and an unbiased collection of scientificly supported descriptions of environmental problems and how to deal with them. It's also almost completely devoid of gloom and doom, as opposed to some of today's green movements. Very much recommended.
Schoolbook review.......2007-01-03
I found this book to be fairly well written with only a little bias toward evolution, an unproven scientific theory.
Reviews, anyone?.......2006-01-18
This is an excellent textbook, one that I have used in two of my Environmental Science classes (namely, Environmental Problems of Man [Bio 11], and Energy for the Future [Envi Sci 1].) While not completely without bias (which is mostly subtle, and not totally incorrect), the book offers a solid introduction to many environmental issues. The introduction chapter of the textbook states that environmental science is interdisciplinary, and the book is laid out accordingly. Chapters run the gamut from biology, chemisty, simple physics, and pure ecological common sense. An excellent purchase for any serious scientist and/or conscientious environmentalist.
Book Description
Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming convincingly demonstrates the remarkable differences between what we commonly read about global warming and what is really happening. Nine chapters describe major problems with computer simulations of future climate that are the basis for wrenching policies being proposed by world leaders. Anyone who reads this book will come away with a new appreciation of the complexity of the climate issue and will question the need for expensive policies that are likely to have little or no detectable effect on the planet's temperature. Published in cooperation with the George C. Marshall Institute.
Customer Reviews:
The inconvenient truth about An Inconvenient Truth .......2007-08-06
I highly recommend this book. But I suspect that this book will not appeal to most readers. There's none of the intense hyperbole that infects both global warming fanatics and many of their deniers. There are no grand apocalyptic scenarios that garner such strong public appeal. No terrifying future, no living on the brink of disaster. Only quiet nuanced science from those who spend their life in research. One suspects that the politics of global warming has now superseded the science and sad to say, when politics enters the room, truth shuffles its way into the background. This is unfortunate since there are many things about the environment with which we should be concerned - not the least being our consumption of non renewable resources. My fervent hope is that we can move past the exaggerated apocalypse of global warming while addressing the necessary issues of the environment - i.e., the rest of the environment aside from climate change.
In this case of Shattered Consensus, all ten contributors are scientists and experts in their field. Each chapter, and scientific report, covers a separate and distinct aspect of climate. This is really a collection of reports, not a coherent "story". Each contributor has their own style, some being more accessible than others. They present the science as they understand it and in that regard the average reader may find the information dry, or indeed undecipherable. Most of the ten authors include a short conclusion which may be helpful for those unwilling to plow through the science. Nonetheless the reader is left in the end overwhelmed not by the certainty of any position, but by the staggering uncertainty in all aspects related to this Earth's climate. Our ability to measure past trends in climate are dependent on woefully scant data. Our ability to project future trends have no unambiguous models yet. In fact, the variability of the results of the different models are so big as to render them basically useless for anything other than further research. They certainly shouldn't be used to make definitive statements as to future trends. The effects of CO2 are still highly uncertain with some models suggesting no impact and some observations linking CO2 to an indicator of climate change not a driver - i.e., CO2 changes as a result of climate change, not the other way around. Much more research is needed to understand why these discrepancies are observed. Even if global warming is happening, and even if CO2 is at least partly to blame, the impact of global warming in some scenarios is actually beneficial to not only humans, but to some species. Indeed, in all of Earth's history through warming and cooling periods, some species benefit and other lose.
The reader is left with the question, since scientists tell us that the unknowns vastly outweigh the things that are known about climate, what should our policy decisions making framework be based on. Is seems to me that we need to base it on what is known. Air quality, water quality, land use, availability of non renewable resources, are all things we can measure and for which policies can be made. Having a single enemy (CO2, in this case) is certainly more appealing and simple for the average consumer to understand. But simple is not always best.
It should be noted that none of these scientists is involved in the petroleum industry (a favorite disclaimer by those wanting to discredit the validity of anyone critical of global warming science). Some have even been involved in the IPCC directly (the UN Intergovernmental protocol on climate change). Scientists are by nature a conservative lot. A hypothesis lasts as long as the next set of experiments that disprove it, or tenuously as long as further experiments continue to confirm it. Most scientists don't seek a public profile and most are uncomfortable playing the role of a nay-sayer, especially in the face of such publicly popular resources as Al Gore's an Inconvenient Truth. I will rely on the scientific truth to work its way to the surface. I just hope we don't waste too much in the way of public funds on chasing windmills when there are so many important issues in this world that need attention.
Consensus? Right........2007-04-18
This book perfectly illustrates how there is dissent in the thinking of many climate scientists, showing information that proves there is no consensus, or at least none as to the overall causes, specific effects and actions to take on "anthropogenic global warming".
It's like the AAAS's 'Science' magazine publishing an op/ed in their "Essays on Science and Society" section by Naomi Oreskes (Associate professor of history and director of the Program in Science Studies at the University of California at the time). In that piece, it was reported an analysis was made of abstracts in the ISI database under science and with the phrase "global climate change" in them. The keywords specified in the op/ed 3 times were "climate change" (In another issue of 'Science' that was corrected to "global climate change". I would include that, but you have to join AAAS to get to it.) Her closing paragraph in the essay uses the words "anthropogenic climate change".
Although she takes quite a while to say it, in two or more convoluted paragraphs, she claims consensus because of the actions of some organizations; that we can prove statements and reports by the AMS, AGU, AAAS and others don't downplay legitimate disenting opinions, thus proving a consensus. I'm not sure I follow that train of logic, but there you go.
So, how does she "prove" it? By grabbing those publications that are in the ISI database that are in the science section and have abstracts that have the words "global climate change" in the abstract. Do those contradict what the organizations say? No? Consensus!
Not in ISI database? Not in science section? No abstract? Doesn't have "global climate change" in the abstract? Not looked at.
She does make two interesting points in her closing paragraph, although the two have nothing to do with each other. I've broken the paragraph into the two points; while the first is true, the second is not anything she's proven in the op/ed (although it seems she's hoping we will think so):
1. Many details about climate interactions are not well understood, and there are ample grounds for continued research to provide a better basis for understanding climate dynamics. The question of what to do about climate change is also still open.
2. But there is a scientific consensus on the reality of anthropogenic climate change. Climate scientists have repeatedly tried to make this clear. It is time for the rest of us to listen.
That op/ed, Richard Lindzen's op/ed in the WSJ and her rebuttal op/ed in the Washington Post, as well as letters between Roger Pielke Jr and her printed in 'Science' give even more light on the entire issue of the lack of a consensus and the lengths the cult of global warming will go to to keep everyone thinking there is. This book goes a long way towards fighting the misconceptions, and is an excellent strike in the battle against global warming propaganda.
[...]
Down with Globaloney.......2007-04-03
Point-by-point rebuttal of the fallacy of ''global warming''/''climate change'' brought about by human endeavors. Puts paid to AlGores' Oscar-winning docufantasy. Yes, all of us anti-global warming folks are in the pay of Giant Oil and the moral equivalent of Holocaust deniers. NOT!!! Your belief in half-baked computer models (as opposed to real-life atmospheric happenings) and over-blown do-gooder falsehoods doesn't make ''global warming'' a catastrophic happening.
Sample of Scientific Discussions.......2007-03-14
Interesting series of papers on topics of ongoing discussion regarding global warming. The title is a bit overblown, but I guess it matches the assumption, so often printed over and over in the media, that there is a consensus on global warming (or more correctly, human-caused global warming). There's lots of citations given and places to dig into this as deep as you want. I particularly like the part about trying to develop some sort of heat balance between the earth's surface, the various layers in the atmosphere, and the universe to which the earth radiates heat, and all the unexplained measurement error and missing information associated with that.
There was allusion to the plans to try to "Command and Control" the world's economy, based on averting global warming, basically concluding that nothing we can do will change the outcome much anyway, at least in any predictable way. It makes one wonder if the global warming phenomena is being used as a pretext to try "Command and Control" again. This book does not really get into that, but does give a taste of endless unresolved topics associated with global warming.
religion of enviromentalism challenged.......2007-03-01
any book that challenges to apriori assumptions of the enviromentalist religious dogma of man made global warming is needed. Al Gore and his celebrity loving, psuedo scientific friends need to be mocked for their hypocrisy and stupidity
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