Environment and Nature Books

Anyone who has heard Karl-Henrik Robert speak in person will want to read this personal account of the evolution of TNS to date. He writes boldly and brightly - from his heart. I enjoyed it immensely and gained further insights into how to share The Natural Step story with others. Buy it!

The founder of The Natural Step has written what is partly a history of its foundation and growth, partly an explanation of the principles by which it operates and partly a guide to the future of the move towards sustainable operation. It is also partly autobiographical and gives a fascinating insight into an extraordinary career.
Of interest to those concerned with sustainability, to systems thinkers, business strategist and to the general reader who seeks to understand the underlying principles that are elsewhere so well concealed in complexity. Robèrt's genius is in two fields: the first is in revealing the easy to understand (but less easy to apply) principles that provide a guide to moving toward sustainability, and the second is in developing and applying a form of dialogue that invites people into the creative process.
The Natural Step is an international movement which provides education and support for commercial and government organizations seeking to move to sustainability. It does this by providing a framework, a process and case and other materials for assessing sustainability and developing a strategy to move towards full sustainability while maintaining or enhancing commercial viability.
It offers a proven methodology for moving toward sustainability, which is valid at every level from the global to the personal, and is applied in a way that recognizes the requirements that the business (or whatever) remain viable at every step. This book by its founder is a valuable addition to an important literature.
While the whole book is useful, Chapter 2 (Systems Thinking and Consensus), the second half of Ch. 5 on Communication tools, Chapter 6 (The System Conditions for Sustainability), and Chapter 10 (The TNS Framework) are vital to understanding the principles and their application. The metaphor of the tree and branches in chapter 2 is absolutely fundamental to understanding the approach - get away from arguing specific detail (the 'leaves') and focus on the few driving principles ('the 'trunk and branches') that drive the complexity in the leaves.
Each case study makes a particular point. If you choose only one, Ch. 11 the McDonald's case is the one to go for, but each is carefully constructed to illustrate a specific principle.

The recipient of the year 2000 Blue Planet Prize (aka the Ecology Nobel), Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert has offered the world a delightful peak at his decade-long adventure in making visible the possibility of a just and sustainable future for all. Beyond skillfully describing the beginnings of the idea of The Natural Step and its framework's scientific basis, he also shares some remarkable stories that express his deep social consciousness and longing for a world that works for everyone.

He lets the reader know, among other things, that
--his heroes are Greenpeace activisits
--participants at the World Economic Forum at Davos (to which he was invited) for the most part seemed unaware of the plight of the world's poor
--the apathy and helplessness that most people feel with regard to our global dilemma may be one of the most serious problems we face in resolving the dilemma
--the economic paradigm must change
--new business leaders may be key to shifting current mass media reluctance to cover issues of social and ecological sustainability
--and so much more!

The materials in the Appendixes are worth the price of the book itself. Invaluable in understanding the core values of The Natural Step, applying its framework, and learning how the agricultural sector (one of many, by the way, who have explored this approach to strategic planning) in Sweden arrived at consensus on developing a sustainable future, the back matter will fascinate as much as the growing pains and other stories in the main portion of this singular, thought-provoking publication.

Essential reading for anyone concerned about our common future.

this is the kind of book that should be mandatory in classrooms !
the world as it is...

The photos of this book have the technical excellence of Ansel Adams pictures (except they are not B+W). But they are not vistas of pristine, pretty National parks that Adams shot; here the hand of man is all too present.

Beahan and McPhee have eloquently captured both our enmeshment with nature, and Her attempts to hold fast. Photos so beautiful you catch your breath.

I enjoyed this book so much! The rhymes were wonderful and seemed to just flow off my tongue as I read them to my child! I loved the illustrations---so bright and cheery! I would highly recommend this book to anyone. It's a perfect bedtime story for any child.

What a beautiful book! It's filled with joy and a sense of wonder at this home all humans share. The illustrations go perfectly with the text, offering young readers (and non-readers) delightful images to spend long moments studying. The rhymes are gentle and flowing, like the message. A great gift for anyone sharing our precious, living home.

"Our Big Home: An Earth Poem" is a delight for both children and adults. The words and images on each page joyfully engage the child in each of us to awaken to the interconnectedness of all life. If you're looking for a book to inspire and reinforce a young child's sense of wonder, I recommmend "Our Big Home." Linda Glaser's text is poetic, informative and sunny, with an enticing, playful lilt throughout. The accompanying illustrations by noted children's book artist Elisa Kleven are brimful of charming details that children will enjoy discovering and re-examining over and over. The poet Hopkins once said, "There lives the dearest freshness deep down things." Remember how a book in your childhood opened up a whole new world? This book captures that "dearest freshness" of our "big home" in a magical way.

Its a great book i needed it for a science fair project and it helped me out alot i had 1 day and it practically did it for me!!

Let me get right to the point--this is a great book for learning about aquatic ecology. It's all the things many conventional textbooks are not--readable, concise, interesting and useful in the field. I highly recommend this book for kids in grade 8 and up, for adults who need a concise and thorough introduction to ecology and environmental issues, and for anyone with a naturalist bent. If I were going to teach a high school or community college course in ecology, this is the book I would use.

Great ecology guide to aquatic life. It takes you from the chemistry of water through a section on glaciers and into life in a pond, stream, and a wetland. Great guide for elementary/middle school teachers and would make a great text for a high school course.

Primarily a photography book, PRIMATES offers an intimate and often humorous (but not condescendingly so) look into wild primate life. Even the brief text, by Barbara Sleeper, is first-rate, revealing details about each species not often encountered by lay people. This is not meant to be a comprehensive text, however, but a celebration of some of our closest relatives. The photography is at times stunning, capturing intelligence, emotion, innovation, and above all personality. If you love primates, or are even vaguely attracted to their study, this is a must-have book.

This book is suitable for all ages. I just loved Art Wolfe's photographs. With so much emphasis on "trendy" primate species like gorillas and chimpanzees, this book introduces readers to the dozens of primate species of which you may never have heard. Like the gibbons, the lesser and often forgotten apes - whose domestic lives are lived by the standards humans so often fail to meet (sexual equality, no color bars, paternal role in infant rearing, monogamy)! Plus tiny marmosets you can old in the palm of your hand. All these animals are there. I loved this book. It is not a comprehensive guide or identification manual like Noel Rowe's book which I also like. It is a pleasant and readable book! Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman, International Primate Protection League

Filled with excellent photographs by Art Wolfe, this book shows more than 100 species of monkeys, apes, and lemurs. Seperated by geographical location and family, each specie represented has a short and comprehensible synopsis accompanying one or more beautiful photos. A great introductory book to the world of primates, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the field. Thomas R. Null, A Walk on the Wild Side: International Nature and Wildlife

I took an Ecotoxicology course as a fun class, so far the class is great and the book helps clarify some of the topics we are discussing. The chapters are short compared to other textbooks, making it much easier to read. The book contains great diagrams and illustrations/pictures, there are also additional reading suggestions that helped when I was trying to find a project topic. I am glad I decided to take the class and happier that I purchased the suggested book.

This text does an excellent job of addressing the subject from a multi-discipline perspective. It is well written but requires some background in chemistry; as it addresses the biological fate of many chemical/organic compounds. It does so in a format that does not prepare the reader for immediate sleep but does require active participation on the part of the reader. This is not a High School or Doctorate level reference but aimed well at the BS level reader.

I received the text book very quickly and the book was in mint condition. The service was perfect.

I have read many of the reviews of Reading the Mountains of Home--both before and after I studied the book itself--in various magazines and newspapers, and, while many of them summarize accurately and manage to convey fairly clearly its complex and compelling structures, the musical grace of the sentences, the unique of John Elder's vision about the interlinking of language and place and time and family, of Robert Frost's "Directive" and of the concept of wilderness in America. There is a sense also in which he has taken nature writing--a broad genre forever in evolution--and brought it to new heights through this creative interweaving.

But what I notice most is the book's quiet heroism. By this I mean simply that the author exhibits the courage to put all of his deepest convictions, his most strongly held beliefs, the raw stuff of his very life in a place for all to see. One does not see this very often in books. We need more writers like John Elder. We need people like John Elder, people who have the courage to write from the deepest parts of themselves for the greater good of all of us and the larger home we call earth. If there were six stars I would give it six stars.

This is an unusual book. John Elder has written a book that blends the rhythms of life with the rhythms of nature.

Using Robert Frost's poem "Directive" as a springboard, Elder guides the reader through a series of year-long hikes that provide a rare glimpse into the writer soul, family and surroundings. His musings transport the reader from the glaciers that shaped his the plateau for the Village of Bristol, VT., the farmers who struggled and more often than not, failed to scratch a living from the rocky soil that surrounds his adopted home.

He carries us from broken china to Abenaki settlements, meditating on family relationships and deeper relationships with the land.

This is a beautiful example of nature writing, a work that draws a balance between the machinations of civilization and the beauties of wilderness. By inviting the reader to follow the last line of Frost's "Directive," to "Drink and be whole again beyond confusion.", Elder creates a sense of hope that Vermont's balance between nature and culture can speak to the rest of the nation.

I learned much about New England from this fine book -- and about Robert Frost.

Two-time Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Winona LaDuke presents Recovering The Sacred: The Power Of Naming And Claiming, a discussion of the struggles Native Americans have made particularly in modern history to reclaim their rights and cave a path that balances personal, ecological, and cultural integrity. From "Vampire" biopiracy incidents such as taking samples of Native Blood under the pretext that it will be used to research diabetes and selling it to bidders who actually use it as evidence for the Bering Strait land bridge theory - in direct conflict with the religious beliefs of those who provided the donation - to corrupting public regard of Native tribes through using their names at sporting events (it would be unthinkable to wave crucifixes or the Torah at heated game, yet spiritual Native American objects such as the feather headdress are freely worn), to modern land grabs for any coal, oil, or valuable materials remaining on any Native reservation and more, Recovering The Sacred sheds a spotlight on the disdainful to hostile manner in which America regards its Native peoples. A carefully researched and persuasively presented accounting of the inequities of the past, what Native peoples are courageously doing now to protect their rights and their culture, and what challenges the future may bring. Highly recommended.

Leading activist/scholar writing from among the Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) of northern Minnesota, Winona LaDuke brings to all of us the ecological wisdom of Native Americans.

The sacred has to be "recovered" by "naming and claiming" a people's land, its holy sites, and its "relatives" among other creatures (such as sturgeon, horse, and manoomin or wild rice).

In a splendid blend of wit, good humor, necessary polemic, personal experience (not only as Founding Director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, but also as world traveler), and copious research, this book lays down its assertive challenge to a dehumanizing materialism that has relegated "the sacred" to an allegedly peripheral irrelevancy.

LaDuke's book describes here how the Native American community has begun to "heal itself from the ravages of the past." Vigorous pro-active efforts emerge in her stories about naming and claiming what is sacred to that community.

Heart-wrenching and heart-warming. Winona LaDuke's straightforward descriptions of how the indigenous plant, animal, and human peoples of North America were decimated will take your breath away and her inspiring accounts of the steps that are being taken to rebuild and restore will have you breathing a sigh of relief.

Every page is a WOW moment - there are none that disappoint here! For anyone who likes to watch moving water AND waterfalls, this is 'the' book for you. It's also an excellent reference for painting or sewing these landscape scenes. Picture composition is top notch and careful attention was paid to the 'seasonal' influence of the pictures as well.

You cannot find a more comprehensible photo book showing gorgeous landscapes with the emphasis on the moving water aspect - the cover shot gives you a good idea of the content. The only thing possibly missing is an included cd of rushing water sounds, but then again you could buy that IF you don't already have one! Outstanding work of nature art, you will NOT be disappointed!

I also highly recommend the book 'Waterfalls & gorges of the Finger Lakes' by Derek Doeffinger, a smaller book than 'Rivers' but just as enjoyable!

A photographer with the eye of an artist, Tim Palmer has spent a lifetime photographing rivers. He has gone to extremes to get just the right view, at the right time of day, the right time of the year. He has combines these photographs with prose that is almost poetic to add in our understanding of what he sees, what he feels.

I don't know just how many states he covers in these photographs, but perhaps the most dramatic pictures are those taken in Alaska. From the bears fishing for salmon, to the young wolf who has found a drowned sheep, the broad expanse of the mountains the pictures show nature at its most attractive.

Surprisingly though his pictures show the beauty that remains in the rivers of the lower 48. In spite of what has happened in terms of polution, concrete channalizing by the Corp of Engineers, there is beauty to be found. And Mr. Palmer has the eye to find that beauty.

A prolific author, gifted outdoor photographer and a nationally-renowned river conservationist, this is Tim Palmer's ode to America's bountiful and beautiful rivers. No one writes about rivers -- or captures their magical essence in photos -- like Tim, because no one knows and cares as much about them as he clearly does. If you love rivers, then you will love this book! Learn more about Tim's love affair with rivers by visiting: www.americanrivers.org/palmerprofile.

This book is written for those of us who are not architects or engineers. It illustrates how to live more sustainably on this fragile planet. The process described of incremental learning based on experimenting with small changes over time to find the most efficacious approach to sustainable building, agriculture, food production and zero waste is a lesson in itself. Learning came from doing, carefully recording results, applying lessons learned and improving results. In addition, the book describes how sustainable practices can also be economic engines for new product development and cost reduction.

I've recently been in Tanzania looking at community development projects and I plan to send this book to several of the people that I met. It's the way to build and live for the future survival of our species.

Nancy Jack Todd eloquently relates the history of her and husband John Todd's New Alchemy Institute (NAI) for ecological design starting in 1969 to the present day incarnation of Ocean Arks International. This book has many photographs and drawings showing systems, buildings both at their research facilities and installations around the world and many of the dedicated people who have worked with the Todd's over the years.

The original focus of their research was to develop sustainable organic food production, bioremediation, off-grid energy production, and efficient building construction methods for a virtual stand-alone closed-loop system capable of self-sufficiency without any toxic side-effects, especially, effluent. Through trial and error and much research they met their goals and became internationally recognized for the high state of efficiency their various systems achieved. NAI became a successful format and influence for many colleges to replicate on campuses all over the U.S. and abroad.

Eventually, they turned their focus almost exclusively to natural effluent and pollution remediation techniques developing the "eco-machine" system that utilizes plants, micro-organisms and fish to convert sewage to re-usable water and fish for food production.

The Todd's contributions to solving many of the world's toughest environmental problems and influence on ecological study cannot be understated, especially in the area of bioremediation. If every municipality, farm, and industrial site in the world were join the ranks of those who have already installed "eco-machine" type water purification systems to clean-up their toxic run-off, a huge chunk of global pollution could be eliminated.

This book is a must have for all those interested bioremediation and that should be everyone- a clean environment requires it.

Ecological design issues were in the news in the late 1960s, the height of ecological understanding; yet today it remains relatively in the background. A Safe And Sustainable World: The Promise Of Ecological Design provides a personal account of those who set out to discover more sustainable methods of shelter and energy - and comes from research and work of a couple who served as sustainable leaders of ecological design for thousands. What can be done and what should/will be done is discussed in chapters defining elements of success and ecological failure.