Part of Nature, Part of Us


Book Description

A collection of book reviews and essays on more than forty modern American poets.




Nature Anatomy


Book Description

See the world in a whole new way! Acclaimed illustrator Julia Rothman combines art and science in this exciting and educational guide to the structure, function, and personality of the natural world. Explore the anatomy of a jellyfish, the inside of a volcano, monarch butterfly migration, how sunsets work, and much more. Rothman’s whimsical illustrations are paired with interactive activities that encourage curiosity and inspire you to look more closely at the world all around you. Nature Anatomy is the second book in Rothman's Anatomy series – you'll love Nature Anatomy Notebook, Ocean Anatomy, Food Anatomy, and Farm Anatomy, too!




I Am a Part of Nature


Book Description

The Primary Ecology Series focuses on instilling in children a deep respect for the living world and the earth's natural resources. Children will take part in composting and learn why waters, air, trees and even color are so essential to life. The Primary Ecology Series does not use a band-aid approach in solving environmental problems and allows children to understand connections between themselves and other living and non-living things.-- Experiments-- Respecting each other, respecting nature-- A non-polluting attitude-- How to observe nature-- Bringing nature inside-- The school weed garden-- The food-web game-- What is a life cycle?-- How people interfere with nature-- Looking at changes-- People are animals, too-- A native legend




Part of Nature


Book Description

Spinoza's doctrine of the uniqueness of substance has been interpreted as absorbing individual self-consciousness into an all-embracing whole.




What's Left of Human Nature?


Book Description

A philosophical account of human nature that defends the concept against dehumanization, Darwinian, and developmentalist challenges. Human nature has always been a foundational issue for philosophy. What does it mean to have a human nature? Is the concept the relic of a bygone age? What is the use of such a concept? What are the epistemic and ontological commitments people make when they use the concept? In What's Left of Human Nature? Maria Kronfeldner offers a philosophical account of human nature that defends the concept against contemporary criticism. In particular, she takes on challenges related to social misuse of the concept that dehumanizes those regarded as lacking human nature (the dehumanization challenge); the conflict between Darwinian thinking and essentialist concepts of human nature (the Darwinian challenge); and the consensus that evolution, heredity, and ontogenetic development result from nurture and nature. After answering each of these challenges, Kronfeldner presents a revisionist account of human nature that minimizes dehumanization and does not fall back on outdated biological ideas. Her account is post-essentialist because it eliminates the concept of an essence of being human; pluralist in that it argues that there are different things in the world that correspond to three different post-essentialist concepts of human nature; and interactive because it understands nature and nurture as interacting at the developmental, epigenetic, and evolutionary levels. On the basis of this, she introduces a dialectical concept of an ever-changing and “looping” human nature. Finally, noting the essentially contested character of the concept and the ambiguity and redundancy of the terminology, she wonders if we should simply eliminate the term “human nature” altogether.




Sounds of Nature: World of Forests


Book Description

Travel the world with the Sounds of Nature series – press the note in each of the 10 forest habitats to hear vivid recordings of over 60 different animal sounds. The Sounds of Nature series brings the natural world to life with the sounds of real animals recorded in the wild. Captivating edge-to-edge illustrations show animals in action in their habitats around the globe. The animals are numbered in the order they can be heard, with fascinating facts and descriptions of the sounds they make, so you can listen out for each one. A speaker set into the back cover plays a sound clip when you press firmly on the note in each illustration. The battery is already installed, so simply open and explore. In World of Forests, discover these amazing habitats: evergreen forest of Germany; redwood forest of California, USA; deciduous forest of England, UK; Amazon rainforest of South America; cloud forest of the Virunga mountains, Africa; desert forest of Socotra Island, Yemen; beech forest in Brussels, Belgium; mangrove forest in the Sundarbans, India; and boreal forest of Alaska, USA. Listen to these wooded places come to life as you hear the: Low-pitched growls of the Eurasian lynx (evergreen forest) Flute-like sound of the varied thrush (redwood forest) Neighing and snorting of a wild pony (deciduous forest) Raucous howls and grunts of the red howler monkey (rainforest) Scratchy sound of a blue-baboon spider moving to find an insect meal (desert forest) Chewing and snapping sounds of a giant panda having a meal (bamboo forest) Step under the trees, where 80 percent of the world's land species make their home, to take in the glorious sights and sounds!




Planetary Health


Book Description

Human health depends on the health of the planet. Earth’s natural systems—the air, the water, the biodiversity, the climate—are our life support systems. Yet climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of land and freshwater, pollution and other threats are degrading these systems. The emerging field of planetary health aims to understand how these changes threaten our health and how to protect ourselves and the rest of the biosphere. Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves provides a readable introduction to this new paradigm. With an interdisciplinary approach, the book addresses a wide range of health impacts felt in the Anthropocene, including food and nutrition, infectious disease, non-communicable disease, dislocation and conflict, and mental health. It also presents strategies to combat environmental changes and its ill-effects, such as controlling toxic exposures, investing in clean energy, improving urban design, and more. Chapters are authored by widely recognized experts. The result is a comprehensive and optimistic overview of a growing field that is being adopted by researchers and universities around the world. Students of public health will gain a solid grounding in the new challenges their profession must confront, while those in the environmental sciences, agriculture, the design professions, and other fields will become familiar with the human consequences of planetary changes. Understanding how our changing environment affects our health is increasingly critical to a variety of disciplines and professions. Planetary Health is the definitive guide to this vital field.




Dazzle Gradually


Book Description

At the crossroads of philosophy and science, the sometimes-dry topics of evolution and ecology come alive in this new collection of essays--many never before anthologized. Learn how technology may be a sort of second nature, how the systemic human fungus Candida albicans can lead to cravings for carrot cake and beer, how the presence of life may be why there's water on Earth, and many other fascinating facts. The essay "Metametazoa" presents perspectives on biology in a philosophical context, demonstrating how the intellectual librarian, pornographer, and political agitator Georges Bataille was influenced by Russian mineralogist Vladimir Vernadsky and how this led to his notion of the absence of meaning in the face of the sun--which later influenced Jacques Derrida, thereby establishing a causal chain of influence from the hard sciences to topics as abstract as deconstruction and post-modernism. In "Spirochetes Awake" the bizarre connection between syphilis and genius in the life of Friedrich Nietzsche is traced. The astonishing similarities of the Acquired-Immune-Deficiency-Syndrome symptoms with those of chronic spirochete infection, it is argued, contrast sharply with the lack of evidence that "HIV is the cause of AIDS". Throughout these readings we are dazzled by the intimacy and necessity of relationships between us and our other planetmates. In our ignorance as "civilized" people we dismiss, disdain, and deny our kinship with the only productive life forms that sustain this living planet.




People and Nature


Book Description

Now updated and expanded, People and Nature is a lively, accessible introduction to environmental anthropology that focuses on the interactions between people, culture, and nature around the world. Written by a respected scholar in environmental anthropology with a multi-disciplinary focus that also draws from geography, ecology, and environmental studies Addresses new issues of importance, including climate change, population change, the rise of the slow food and farm-to-table movements, and consumer-driven shifts in sustainability Explains key theoretical issues in the field, as well as the most important research, at a level appropriate for readers coming to the topic for the first time Discusses the challenges in ensuring a livable future for generations to come and explores solutions for correcting the damage already done to the environment Offers a powerful, hopeful future vision for improved relations between humans and nature that embraces the idea of community needs rather than consumption wants, and the importance of building trust as a foundation for a sustainable future




Nature Based Strategies for Urban and Building Sustainability


Book Description

Nature Based Strategies for Urban and Building Sustainability reviews the current state-of-the-art on the topic. In the introduction, the editors review the fundamental concepts of nature elements in the built environment, along with the strategies that are necessary for their inclusion in buildings and cities. Part One describes strategies for the urban environment, discussing urban ecosystems and ecosystem services, while Part Two covers strategies and technologies, including vertical greening systems, green roofs and green streets. Part Three covers the quantitative benefits, results, and issues and challenges, including energy performances and outdoor comfort, air quality improvement, acoustic performance, water management and biodiversity. - Provides an overview of the different strategies available to integrate nature in the built environment - Presents the current state of technology concerning systems and methodologies on how to incorporate nature in buildings and cities - Features the latest research results on operation and ecosystem services - Covers both established and new designs, including those still in the experimental stage