How the dirt below our feet can save us from extinction.Conventional agriculture destroys our soils, pollutes our water and is a major contributor to climate change. What if our agricultural practices could stabilize, or even reverse these trends?The Biochar Solution explores the dual function of biochar as a carbon-negative energy source and a potent soil-builder. Created by burning biomass in the absence of oxygen, this material has the unique a...

A blend of history, science, philosophy, and environmentalism, The Tree is an engaging and elegant look at the life of the tree and what modern research tells us about their future.There are redwoods in California that were ancient by the time Columbus first landed, and pines still alive that germinated around the time humans invented writing. There are Douglas firs as tall as skyscrapers, and a banyan tree in Calcutta as big as a football field.Fr...

**• New York Times bestseller •The 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world“At this point in time, the Drawdown book is exactly what is needed; a credible, conservative solution-by-solution narrative that we can do it. Reading it is an effective inoculation against the widespread perception of doom that humanity cannot and will not solve the clima...

"The vertical farm is a world-changing innovation whose time has come. Dickson Despommier's visionary book provides a blueprint for securing the world's food supply and at the same time solving one of the gravest environmental crises facing us today."--StingImagine a world where every town has their own local food source, grown in the safest way possible, where no drop of water or particle of light is wasted, and where a simple elevator ride can transport you to nature's grocery sto...

The history behind our growing water crisis: "A gem . . . An erudite romp through two millennia of water and sanitation practice and technology." — NatureTurn on the faucet, and water pours out. Pull out the drain plug, and the dirty water disappears. Most of us give little thought to the hidden systems that bring us water and take it away when we're done with it. But these underappreciated marvels of engineering face an array of challenges that cannot be s...

**Sixty easty-to-read essays that enlarge our understanding of how climate change affects our daily lives, and arms us with the incontrovertible facts we need to make informed decisions about the future of the planet, and of humankind.“A breath of fresh air: just the facts, efficient and easy to understand.” —Scientific American**Global Weirdness summarizes everything we know about the science of climate change, explains what is likely to happen to the cli...

How much do we really know about the species that make up the natural world?All over the world, biodiversity is gravely threatened – by overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change. Yet life on Earth has previously experienced five episodes of mass extinction, and nature has repeatedly proved itself to be a resilient, regenerative force.In this fascinating book, ecologist Dr. Ken Thompson surveys the Earth's biodiversity, its origins and s...

The world's population is increasing; but its supply of water is not. Empires have grown and declined due to discovery and exhaustion of their water sources, and now the West is at last catching on to the fact that abundance of water can no longer be taken for granted. For the last fifty years, wars have been fought over oil; for the next fifty, they may be fought over water (in fact, some local wars already have been). Remarkably, this new book is the first to bring together the ecologica...

During recent years, environmental debate worldwide has been dominated by climate change, carbon emissions and eff orts to achieve low carbon economies. But a number of academic, technical, political, business and NGO initiatives indicate that there is a new wave of environmental attention focused on a wholly different set of subjects: namely that of natural capital, ecosystem services and biodiversity, or in other words, what Nature does for us. From recycling miracles in the soil to the ...

How an ordinary mammal manipulated nature to become technologically sophisticated city-dwellers -- and why our history points to an optimistic future in the face of environmental crisisOur species long lived on the edge of starvation. Now we produce enough food for all 7 billion of us to eat nearly 3,000 calories every day. This is such an astonishing thing in the history of life as to verge on the miraculous. The Big Ratchet is the story of how it happene...

The science is in: Global warming is for real. But what does it all really mean and what can or should we do about it? This clear fluid narrative by a leading scientist and educator takes a scrupulously balanced approach in explaining for the reader the history of global climate monitoring and change and the who's how's what's when's where's and why's of the interaction between human activity and recent trends in the Earth's climate.Global Warming For Beginners is organized into fi...

If we are unable to limit, in a humane and intelligent way, the world’s human populations we will not escape our history of growth and collapse. And the next collapse will be like no other. It will not be restricted to the remote Easter Island. It will not give us the chance to expand to another area as with the collapse of the Samarian civilization. The next collapse will be a worldwide one, epic in proportion, and perhaps the final one for the human race. However, if some of us do make i...