Island Press began with a simple idea: knowledge is power—the power to imagine a better future and find ways for getting us there. Founded in 1984, Island Press’ mission is to provide the best ideas and information to those seeking to understand and protect the environment and create solutions to its complex problems.
Showing 241-270 of 322 items.
Getting to the Heart of Science Communication
A Guide to Effective Engagement
By Faith Kearns
Island Press
Scientists today working on controversial issues from climate change to drought to COVID-19 are finding themselves more often in the middle of deeply traumatizing or polarized conflicts they feel unprepared to referee. It is no longer enough for scientists to communicate a scientific topic clearly. They must now be experts not only in their fields of study, but also in navigating the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of members of the public they engage with, and with each other. And the conversations are growing more fraught.
In Getting to the Heart of Science Communication, Faith Kearns has penned a succinct guide for navigating the human relationships critical to the success of practice-based science. This meticulously researched volume takes science communication to the next level, helping scientists to see the value of listening as well as talking, understanding power dynamics in relationships, and addressing the roles of trauma, loss, grief, and healing.
In Getting to the Heart of Science Communication, Faith Kearns has penned a succinct guide for navigating the human relationships critical to the success of practice-based science. This meticulously researched volume takes science communication to the next level, helping scientists to see the value of listening as well as talking, understanding power dynamics in relationships, and addressing the roles of trauma, loss, grief, and healing.
A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation
Uniting Design, Economics, and Policy
Island Press
Tens of millions of Americans are at risk from sea level rise, increased tidal flooding, and intensifying storms. A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation identifies a bold new research and policy agenda and provides implementable options for coastal communities responding to these threats. In this book, coastal adaptation experts present a range of climate adaptation policies that could protect coastal communities against increasing risk, including concrete financing recommendations. Coastal adaptation will not be easy, but it is achievable using varied approaches. A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation will inspire innovative and cross-disciplinary thinking about coastal policy at the state and local level while providing actionable, realistic policy and planning options for adaptation professionals and policymakers.
Overtourism
Lessons for a Better Future
Edited by Martha Honey and Kelsey Frenkiel
Island Press
COVID-19 put a temporary stop to the crisis of overtourism. Yet there is no question that travel will resume; the only question is, when it does, what will it look like?
Overtourism: Lessons for a Better Future charts a path toward tourism that is truly sustainable, focusing on the triple bottom line of people, planet, and prosperity. This practical book examines the causes and effects of overtourism before turning to emerging management strategies. Visitor education, traffic planning, and redirection to lesser known sites are among the measures that can protect the economic benefit of tourism without overwhelming local communities.
As tourism revives around the world, these innovations will guide government agencies, parks officials, site managers, civic groups, environmental NGOs, tourism operators, and others with a stake in protecting our most iconic places.
Overtourism: Lessons for a Better Future charts a path toward tourism that is truly sustainable, focusing on the triple bottom line of people, planet, and prosperity. This practical book examines the causes and effects of overtourism before turning to emerging management strategies. Visitor education, traffic planning, and redirection to lesser known sites are among the measures that can protect the economic benefit of tourism without overwhelming local communities.
As tourism revives around the world, these innovations will guide government agencies, parks officials, site managers, civic groups, environmental NGOs, tourism operators, and others with a stake in protecting our most iconic places.
Schools That Heal
Design with Mental Health in Mind
Island Press
What would a school look like if it was designed with mental health in mind? Too many public schools look and feel like prisons, designed out of fear of vandalism and truancy. But we know that nurturing environments are better for learning. Access to nature, big classroom windows, and open campuses consistently reduce stress, anxiety, disorderly conduct, and crime, and improve academic performance. Backed by decades of research, Schools That Heal showcases clear and compelling ways—from furniture to classroom improvements to whole campus renovations—to make supportive learning environments for our children and teenagers. With invaluable advice for school administrators, public health experts, teachers, and parents Schools That Heal is a call to action and a practical resource to create nurturing and inspiring schools for all children.
The Economics of Sustainable Food
Smart Policies for Health and the Planet
Edited by Nicoletta Batini
Island Press
Producing food industrially like we do today causes tremendous global economic losses in terms of malnutrition, diseases, and environmental degradation. But because the food industry does not bear those costs and the price tag for these losses does not show up at the grocery store, it is too often ignored by economists and policymakers.
The Economics of Sustainable Food details the true cost of food for people and the planet. It illustrates how to transform our broken system, alleviating its severe financial and human burden. The key is smart macroeconomic policy that moves us toward methods that protect the environment like regenerative land and sea farming, low-impact urban farming, and alternative protein farming, and toward healthy diets. The book’s multidisciplinary team of authors lay out detailed fiscal and trade policies, as well as structural reforms, to achieve those goals.
The Economics of Sustainable Food details the true cost of food for people and the planet. It illustrates how to transform our broken system, alleviating its severe financial and human burden. The key is smart macroeconomic policy that moves us toward methods that protect the environment like regenerative land and sea farming, low-impact urban farming, and alternative protein farming, and toward healthy diets. The book’s multidisciplinary team of authors lay out detailed fiscal and trade policies, as well as structural reforms, to achieve those goals.
New Mobilities
Smart Planning for Emerging Transportation Technologies
By Todd Litman
Island Press
In New Mobilities: Smart Planning for Emerging Transportation Technologies, transportation expert Todd Litman examines 12 emerging transportation modes and services that are likely to significantly affect our lives: bike- and carsharing, micro-mobilities, ridehailing and micro-transit, public transit innovations, telework, autonomous and electric vehicles, air taxis, mobility prioritization, and logistics management.
Public policies around New Mobilities can either help create heaven, a well-planned transportation system that uses new technologies intelligently, or hell, a poorly planned transportation system that is overwhelmed by conflicting and costly, unhealthy, and inequitable modes. His expert analysis will help planners, local policymakers, and concerned citizens to make informed choices about the New Mobility revolution.
Public policies around New Mobilities can either help create heaven, a well-planned transportation system that uses new technologies intelligently, or hell, a poorly planned transportation system that is overwhelmed by conflicting and costly, unhealthy, and inequitable modes. His expert analysis will help planners, local policymakers, and concerned citizens to make informed choices about the New Mobility revolution.
Recast Your City
How to Save Your Downtown with Small-Scale Manufacturing
By Ilana Preuss
Island Press
In Recast Your City: How to Save Your Downtown with Small-Scale Manufacturing, community development expert Ilana Preuss explains how local leaders can revitalize their downtowns or neighborhood main streets by bringing in and supporting small-scale manufacturing. Small-scale manufacturing businesses help create thriving places, with local business ownership opportunities and well-paying jobs that other business types can’t fulfill.
Preuss draws from her experience working with local governments, large and small, from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Columbia, Missouri, to Fremont, California. She provides tools, such as her five-step method for recasting your city, that local leaders in government, business, and real estate as well as entrepreneurs and advocates in every community can use.
Preuss draws from her experience working with local governments, large and small, from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Columbia, Missouri, to Fremont, California. She provides tools, such as her five-step method for recasting your city, that local leaders in government, business, and real estate as well as entrepreneurs and advocates in every community can use.
Curbing Traffic
The Human Case for Fewer Cars in Our Lives
By Chris Bruntlett and Melissa Bruntlett
Island Press
In Curbing Traffic: The Human Case for Fewer Cars in Our Lives, mobility experts Melissa and Chris Bruntlett chronicle their experience living in the Netherlands and the benefits that result from treating cars as visitors rather than owners of the road. They weave their personal story with research and interviews with experts and Delft locals to help readers share the experience of living in a city designed for people.
Their insights will help decision makers and advocates to better understand and communicate the human impacts of low-car cities: lower anxiety and stress, increased independence, social autonomy, inclusion, and improved mental and physical wellbeing.
Curbing Traffic provides relatable, emotional, and personal reasons why it matters and inspiration for exporting the low-car city.
Their insights will help decision makers and advocates to better understand and communicate the human impacts of low-car cities: lower anxiety and stress, increased independence, social autonomy, inclusion, and improved mental and physical wellbeing.
Curbing Traffic provides relatable, emotional, and personal reasons why it matters and inspiration for exporting the low-car city.
The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom
Essential Lessons for Collective Action
By Erik Nordman
Island Press
Fifty years ago, conventional thinking among economists and environmentalists was that depletion of natural resources could only be prevented through the free market or government regulation. This notion was upended by Elinor Ostrom, whose work to show that regular people could sustainably manage their community resources won her the Nobel Prize in Economics. Ostrom’s revolutionary proposition fundamentally changed how we think about environmental governance.
In The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom, author Erik Nordman brings to life Ostrom’s brilliant mind. Ostrom’s research proved that people can and do act in collective interest, and her ideas about common resources have played out around the world, from Maine lobster fisheries to taxicab use in Nairobi. Ostrom broke barriers at a time when women were regularly excluded from academia. Her message of shared collective action is more relevant than ever for solving today’s most pressing environmental problems.
In The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom, author Erik Nordman brings to life Ostrom’s brilliant mind. Ostrom’s research proved that people can and do act in collective interest, and her ideas about common resources have played out around the world, from Maine lobster fisheries to taxicab use in Nairobi. Ostrom broke barriers at a time when women were regularly excluded from academia. Her message of shared collective action is more relevant than ever for solving today’s most pressing environmental problems.
Trains, Buses, People, Second Edition
An Opinionated Atlas of US and Canadian Transit
Island Press
Transit expert Christof Spieler has fully updated and expanded his popular book Trains, Buses, People to include eight Canadian cities and two new US cities (Indianapolis and San Juan, Puerto Rico).
In Trains, Buses, People, Second Edition: An Opinionated Atlas of US and Canadian Transit, Spieler profiles the 49 metropolitan areas in the US and eight metropolitan areas in Canada that have rail transit or BRT, using data, photos, and maps for easy comparison. The best and worst systems are ranked and Spieler offers analysis of how geography, politics, and history complicate transit planning.
Trains, Buses, People, Second Edition will help any citizen, professional, or policymaker with a vested interest evaluate a transit proposal and understand what makes transit effective and how to make it inclusive.
In Trains, Buses, People, Second Edition: An Opinionated Atlas of US and Canadian Transit, Spieler profiles the 49 metropolitan areas in the US and eight metropolitan areas in Canada that have rail transit or BRT, using data, photos, and maps for easy comparison. The best and worst systems are ranked and Spieler offers analysis of how geography, politics, and history complicate transit planning.
Trains, Buses, People, Second Edition will help any citizen, professional, or policymaker with a vested interest evaluate a transit proposal and understand what makes transit effective and how to make it inclusive.
A Good Drink
In Pursuit of Sustainable Spirits
Island Press
“Insightful tour de force… Farrell’s writing is as informative as it is intoxicating” -- Publishers Weekly
As a bartender, Shanna Farrell not only poured spirits, but learned their stories—who made them and how. In A Good Drink, Farrell goes in search of the bars, distillers, and farmers who are driving a transformation to sustainable spirits. She meets mezcaleros in Guadalajara who are working to preserve traditional ways of producing mezcal; a London bar owner who has eliminated individual bottles and ice; and distillers in South Carolina who are bringing a rare variety of corn back from near extinction, among many others.
For readers who have ever wondered who grew the pears that went into their brandy or why their cocktail is an unnatural shade of red, A Good Drink will be an eye-opening tour of the spirits industry. For anyone who cares about the future of the planet, it offers a hopeful vision of change, one pour at a time.
Tech to Table
25 Innovators Reimagining Food
Island Press
Imagine eating a burger grown in a laboratory, a strawberry picked by a robot, or a pastry created with a 3-D printer. You would never taste the difference, but these inventions might just save your health and the planet’s. Today, landmark technological advances are driving solutions to the biggest problems created by industrialized food.
Tech to Table introduces readers to twenty-five of the most creative entrepreneurs innovating these solutions. They come from various places and professions, identities and backgrounds. But they share an outsider’s perspective and an idealistic, often disruptive, ambition to reinvent the food system.
The pace and breadth of change is astonishing, as investors pump billions of dollars into ag-tech. Not every innovator will prosper long-term, but each marks a fundamental change in our approach to feeding a growing population—sustainably.
Tech to Table introduces readers to twenty-five of the most creative entrepreneurs innovating these solutions. They come from various places and professions, identities and backgrounds. But they share an outsider’s perspective and an idealistic, often disruptive, ambition to reinvent the food system.
The pace and breadth of change is astonishing, as investors pump billions of dollars into ag-tech. Not every innovator will prosper long-term, but each marks a fundamental change in our approach to feeding a growing population—sustainably.
Bet the Farm
The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America
By Beth Hoffman
Island Press
“Eloquent and detailed…precise and well-thought-out...Read her book — and listen.” — Jane Smiley, The Washington Post.
In her late 40s, Beth Hoffman decided to upend her comfortable life as a professor and journalist to move to her husband’s family ranch in Iowa—all for the dream of becoming a farmer. There was just one problem: money. Half of America's two million farms made less than $300 in 2019, and many struggle just to stay afloat.
Bet the Farm chronicles this struggle through Beth’s eyes. She must contend with her father-in-law, who is reluctant to hand over control of the land. Growing oats is good for the environment but ends up being very bad for the wallet. And finding somewhere, in the midst of COVID-19, to slaughter grass finished beef is a nightmare.
If Beth can’t make it, how can farmers who confront racism, lack access to land, or don’t have other jobs to fall back on hack it? Bet the Farm is a first-hand account of the perils of farming today and a personal exploration of more just and sustainable ways of producing food.
In her late 40s, Beth Hoffman decided to upend her comfortable life as a professor and journalist to move to her husband’s family ranch in Iowa—all for the dream of becoming a farmer. There was just one problem: money. Half of America's two million farms made less than $300 in 2019, and many struggle just to stay afloat.
Bet the Farm chronicles this struggle through Beth’s eyes. She must contend with her father-in-law, who is reluctant to hand over control of the land. Growing oats is good for the environment but ends up being very bad for the wallet. And finding somewhere, in the midst of COVID-19, to slaughter grass finished beef is a nightmare.
If Beth can’t make it, how can farmers who confront racism, lack access to land, or don’t have other jobs to fall back on hack it? Bet the Farm is a first-hand account of the perils of farming today and a personal exploration of more just and sustainable ways of producing food.
Swamplands
Tundra Beavers, Quaking Bogs, and the Improbable World of Peat
Island Press
In a world filled with breathtaking beauty, we have often overlooked the elusive magic of certain landscapes. A cloudy river flows into an Arctic wetland where sandhill cranes and muskoxen dwell. Further south, cypress branches hang low over dismal swamps. Places like these–collectively known as swamplands or peatlands–often go unnoticed for their ecological splendor. They are as globally significant as rainforests and have an important role to play in addressing climate change, yet, because of their reputation as wastelands, they are being systematically drained and degraded.
Swamplands celebrates these wild places, as journalist Edward Struzik highlights the unappreciated struggle to save peatlands by scientists, conservationists, and landowners around the world. An ode to peaty landscapes in all their offbeat glory, the book is also a demand for awareness of the myriad threats they face. It inspires us to see the beauty and importance in these least likely of places. Our planet’s survival might depend on it.
Swamplands celebrates these wild places, as journalist Edward Struzik highlights the unappreciated struggle to save peatlands by scientists, conservationists, and landowners around the world. An ode to peaty landscapes in all their offbeat glory, the book is also a demand for awareness of the myriad threats they face. It inspires us to see the beauty and importance in these least likely of places. Our planet’s survival might depend on it.
Autonorama
The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving
By Peter Norton
Island Press
In Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving, historian Peter Norton argues that driverless cars cannot be the safe, sustainable, and inclusive “mobility solutions” that tech companies and automakers are promising us. The salesmanship behind the “driverless future” is distracting us from better ways to get around that we can implement now. Unlike autonomous vehicles, these alternatives are inexpensive, safe, sustainable, and inclusive.
Norton takes the reader on an engaging ride—from the GM Futurama exhibit to “smart” highways and vehicles—to show how we are once again being sold car dependency in the guise of mobility.
Autonorama is hopeful, advocating for wise, proven, humane mobility that we can invest in now, without waiting for technology that is forever just out of reach.
Norton takes the reader on an engaging ride—from the GM Futurama exhibit to “smart” highways and vehicles—to show how we are once again being sold car dependency in the guise of mobility.
Autonorama is hopeful, advocating for wise, proven, humane mobility that we can invest in now, without waiting for technology that is forever just out of reach.
Cities for Life
How Communities Can Recover from Trauma and Rebuild for Health
Island Press
In cities around the world, planning and health experts are beginning to understand the role of social and environmental conditions that lead to trauma. By respecting the lived experience of those who were most impacted by harms, some cities have developed innovative solutions for urban trauma.
In Cities for Life, public health expert Jason Corburn shares lessons from three of these cities: Richmond, California; Medellín, Colombia; and Nairobi, Kenya. Corburn draws from his work with citizens, activists, and decision-makers in these cities over a ten-year period, as individuals and communities worked to heal from trauma—including from gun violence, housing and food insecurity, poverty, and other harms. Cities for Life is about a new way forward with urban communities that rebuilds our social institutions, practices, and policies to be more focused on healing and health.
In Cities for Life, public health expert Jason Corburn shares lessons from three of these cities: Richmond, California; Medellín, Colombia; and Nairobi, Kenya. Corburn draws from his work with citizens, activists, and decision-makers in these cities over a ten-year period, as individuals and communities worked to heal from trauma—including from gun violence, housing and food insecurity, poverty, and other harms. Cities for Life is about a new way forward with urban communities that rebuilds our social institutions, practices, and policies to be more focused on healing and health.
Pathways to Success
Taking Conservation to Scale in Complex Systems
Island Press
As environmental problems grow larger and more pressing, conservation work has increasingly emphasized broad approaches to combat global-scale crises of biodiversity loss, invasive species, and climate change. Pathways to Success is a modern guide to building large-scale transformative conservation programs capable of tackling the complex issues we now face.
In this strikingly illustrated volume, coauthors Nick Salafsky and Richard Margoluis walk readers through fundamental concepts of effective program-level design, helping them to think strategically about project coordination, funding, and stakeholder input. Pathways to Success is the definitive guide for conservation program managers and funders who want to increase the effectiveness of their work combating climate change, species extinctions, and the many challenges we face to keep our planet livable.
In this strikingly illustrated volume, coauthors Nick Salafsky and Richard Margoluis walk readers through fundamental concepts of effective program-level design, helping them to think strategically about project coordination, funding, and stakeholder input. Pathways to Success is the definitive guide for conservation program managers and funders who want to increase the effectiveness of their work combating climate change, species extinctions, and the many challenges we face to keep our planet livable.
From the Ground Up
Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities
By Alison Sant
Island Press
In From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities, design expert Alison Sant focuses on the unique ways in which US cities are working to mitigate and adapt to climate change while creating equitable and livable communities.
Sant presents 12 case studies, drawn from research and over 90 interviews with people who are working in these communities to make a difference. These efforts show how US cities are reclaiming their streets from cars, restoring watersheds, growing forests, and adapting shorelines to improve people’s lives while addressing our changing climate.
From the Ground Up is a call to action. When we make the places we live more climate resilient, we need to acknowledge and address the history of social and racial injustice. Advocates, non-profit organizations, community-based groups, and government officials will find examples of how to build alliances to support and embolden this vision together.
Sant presents 12 case studies, drawn from research and over 90 interviews with people who are working in these communities to make a difference. These efforts show how US cities are reclaiming their streets from cars, restoring watersheds, growing forests, and adapting shorelines to improve people’s lives while addressing our changing climate.
From the Ground Up is a call to action. When we make the places we live more climate resilient, we need to acknowledge and address the history of social and racial injustice. Advocates, non-profit organizations, community-based groups, and government officials will find examples of how to build alliances to support and embolden this vision together.
American Urbanist
How William H. Whyte's Unconventional Wisdom Reshaped Public Life
Island Press
American Urbanist shares the remarkable life and wisdom of William H. Whyte, whose advocacy reshaped many of the places we know and love today—from New York’s bustling Bryant Park to preserved forests and farmlands around the country. Over his five decades of research and writing, his wide-ranging work changed how people thought about careers and companies, cities and suburbs, urban planning, open space preservation, and more. In a time when most Americans were eager to fit in, he advocated for oddball ideas and unconformity. His ideas influenced everything from corporate hiring practices to designs of city plazas. “We need the kind of curiosity that blows the lid off everything,” he once said. This fascinating biography offers a rare glimpse into the mind of an iconoclast whose healthy skepticism of the status quo can help guide our efforts to create the kinds of places we want to live in today.
Dream Play Build
Hands-On Community Engagement for Enduring Spaces and Places
By James Rojas and John Kamp
Island Press
People love their communities and want them to become safer, healthier, more prosperous places. But the standard approach to public meetings somehow makes everyone miserable. Conversations that should be inspiring can become shouting matches. So what would it look like to facilitate truly meaningful discussions? What if they could be fun?
For twenty years, James Rojas and John Kamp have been using art, creative expression, and storytelling to shake up the classic community meeting. In Dream Play Build, they share their insights into building common ground and inviting active participation among diverse groups. Their approach, “Place It!,” draws on three methods: the interactive model-building workshop, the pop-up, and site exploration using our senses. Inspirational and fun, this book celebrates the value of engaging with the dreams we have for our communities.
For twenty years, James Rojas and John Kamp have been using art, creative expression, and storytelling to shake up the classic community meeting. In Dream Play Build, they share their insights into building common ground and inviting active participation among diverse groups. Their approach, “Place It!,” draws on three methods: the interactive model-building workshop, the pop-up, and site exploration using our senses. Inspirational and fun, this book celebrates the value of engaging with the dreams we have for our communities.
Bird Brother
A Falconer's Journey and the Healing Power of Wildlife
Island Press
In Bird Brother, Rodney Stotts shares his unlikely journey to becoming a conservationist and one of America’s few Black master falconers. Rodney grew up in Washington, D.C. during the crack epidemic, with guns, drugs, and the threat of incarceration affecting the lives of everyone he knew. He was no exception, but he was also employed by the newly founded Earth Conservation Corps, helping to restore and conserve the polluted Anacostia River. This work eventually sent his life in a different direction, as he began to train to become a master falconer and to develop his own raptor education program and sanctuary. Eye-opening, witty, and moving, Bird Brother is a testament to the healing power of nature, and a reminder that no matter how much heartbreak we’ve endured, we still have the capacity to give back to our communities and follow our dreams.
Healing Grounds
Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming
By Liz Carlisle; Foreword by Ricardo Salvador
Island Press
Today, a new generation of farmers are working to heal both the land and agriculture’s legacy of racism. In Healing Grounds, Liz Carlisle tells the stories of Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian American farmers who are reviving their ancestors’ methods of growing food—techniques long suppressed by the industrial food system.
This, Carlisle shows, is the true regenerative agriculture: a holistic approach that values diversity in both plants and people. It has the power to combat climate change, but only if we reckon with agriculture’s history of oppression. Through rich storytelling, Carlisle lays bare that painful history, while lifting up the voices of farmers who are working to restore our soil, our climate, and our humanity.
This, Carlisle shows, is the true regenerative agriculture: a holistic approach that values diversity in both plants and people. It has the power to combat climate change, but only if we reckon with agriculture’s history of oppression. Through rich storytelling, Carlisle lays bare that painful history, while lifting up the voices of farmers who are working to restore our soil, our climate, and our humanity.
Effective Conservation
Parks, Rewilding, and Local Development
Island Press
“Full Nature” is a new approach to conservation that connects the well-being of the natural world with the human communities in its midst. Pioneered by conservationist Ignacio Jiménez, it offers a pragmatic approach that puts the focus on working with people—neighbors, governments, politicians, businesses, media—to ensure communities have a stake in the long-term protection and restoration of their local parks and wildlife.
Effective Conservation is based on Jiménez’s experience managing conservation projects on three continents over thirty years. It guides readers through the practical considerations of designing, analyzing, and managing effective conservation programs. This highly readable manual, newly translated into English after successful Spanish and Portuguese editions, provides a practical, time-proven formula for successful conservation.
Effective Conservation is based on Jiménez’s experience managing conservation projects on three continents over thirty years. It guides readers through the practical considerations of designing, analyzing, and managing effective conservation programs. This highly readable manual, newly translated into English after successful Spanish and Portuguese editions, provides a practical, time-proven formula for successful conservation.
No Farms, No Food
Uniting Farmers and Environmentalists to Transform American Agriculture
By Don Stuart
Island Press
Since 1980, American Farmland Trust (AFT) has been bringing farmers and environmentalists together to work for healthy land and a healthy food system. No Farms, No Food traces the development of this powerful coalition, responsible for landmark achievements in farmland preservation and conservation practices.
With leadership from AFT, that constituency drove through Congress the first “Conservation Title” in the history of the U.S. Farm Bill; oversaw the development of agriculture conservation easement programs throughout the country; and continues to develop innovative approaches to sustainable agriculture.
No Farms, No Food is both an inspiring history of agricultural conservation and a practical guide to creating an effective advocacy organization. This is an essential read for everyone who cares about the future of our food, farms, and environment.
With leadership from AFT, that constituency drove through Congress the first “Conservation Title” in the history of the U.S. Farm Bill; oversaw the development of agriculture conservation easement programs throughout the country; and continues to develop innovative approaches to sustainable agriculture.
No Farms, No Food is both an inspiring history of agricultural conservation and a practical guide to creating an effective advocacy organization. This is an essential read for everyone who cares about the future of our food, farms, and environment.
The Blue Revolution
Hunting, Harvesting, and Farming Seafood in the Information Age
Island Press
For the world’s oceans, overfishing is a worrisome problem. Many global fish stocks are at a dangerous tipping point, some spiraling toward extinction. But there is a new way to think about fish, food, and oceans. The Blue Revolution tells the story of the recent transformation of commercial fishing, where entrepreneurs are applying newer, smarter technologies to modernize fisheries in unprecedented ways that relieve overstressed oceans.
Nicholas P. Sullivan presents this new way of thinking by profiling the people and policies transforming an aging industry into one fueled by “sea-foodies” and locavores interested in sustainable, traceable, quality seafood. The Blue Revolution brings encouraging news for conservationists and seafood lovers about the transformation of an industry historically averse to change, and it presents fresh inspiration for entrepreneurs and investors eager for new opportunities in a blue-green economy.
Nicholas P. Sullivan presents this new way of thinking by profiling the people and policies transforming an aging industry into one fueled by “sea-foodies” and locavores interested in sustainable, traceable, quality seafood. The Blue Revolution brings encouraging news for conservationists and seafood lovers about the transformation of an industry historically averse to change, and it presents fresh inspiration for entrepreneurs and investors eager for new opportunities in a blue-green economy.
Applied Panarchy
Applications and Diffusion across Disciplines
Island Press
Although humans desire stability in our lives to help us understand the world and survive, nothing in nature is permanently stable. How can society anticipate and adjust to the changes we see around us? Scientists use panarchy theory to understand how systems—whether forests, electrical grids, agriculture, coastal surges, public health, or human economies and governance—interact together in unpredictable ways. Applied Panarchy, the much-anticipated successor to Lance Gunderson and C.S. Holling’s seminal 2002 volume Panarchy, documents the extraordinary advances in interdisciplinary panarchy scholarship and applications over the past two decades.
Intended as a text for graduate courses in environmental sciences and related fields, Applied Panarchy picks up where Panarchy left off, inspiring new generations of scholars, researchers, and professionals to put its ideas to work in practical ways.
Intended as a text for graduate courses in environmental sciences and related fields, Applied Panarchy picks up where Panarchy left off, inspiring new generations of scholars, researchers, and professionals to put its ideas to work in practical ways.
30 Animals That Made Us Smarter
Stories of the Natural World That Inspired Human Ingenuity
Island Press
Did you know that mosquitoes’ mouthparts are helping to develop pain-free surgical needles? Who'd have thought that the humble mussel could inspire so many useful things, from plywood production to a “glue” that can cement the crowns on teeth? Or that the design of polar bear fur may one day help keep humans warm in space? In everything from fashion to architecture, medicine to transportation, it may surprise you how many extraordinary inventions have been inspired by the natural world. In 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter, join wildlife biologist, TV host, and BBC podcaster Patrick Aryee as he tells stories of biomimicry, or innovations inspired by the natural world, that enrich our lives every day—and in some cases, save them.
A Road Running Southward
Following John Muir's Journey through an Endangered Land
By Dan Chapman
Island Press
"Engaging hybrid - part lyrical travelogue, part investigative journalism and part jeremiad, all shot through with droll humor." --The Atlanta Journal Constitution
In 1867, John Muir set out on foot to explore the botanical wonders of the South, from Kentucky to Florida. One hundred and fifty years later, veteran Atlanta reporter Dan Chapman recreated Muir’s journey to see for himself how nature has fared since Muir’s time. He uses humor, keen observation, and a deep love of place to celebrate the South’s natural riches. But he laments the long-simmering struggles over misused resources and seeks to discover how Southerners might balance surging population growth with protecting the natural beauty Muir found so special.
A Road Running Southward is part travelogue, part environmental cri de coeur—a passionate appeal to save one of the loveliest and most biodiverse regions of the world by understanding what we have to lose if we do nothing.
The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change, Revised Edition
By Yoram Bauman and Grady Klein
Island Press
When The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change was first published in 2014, it offered something entirely new: a fun, illustrated guide to a planetary crisis. If that sounds like an oxymoron, you’ve never seen the carbon cycle demonstrated through yoga poses or a polar bear explaining evolution to her cubs.
That creativity comes from the minds of Yoram Bauman, the world’s first and only “stand-up economist,” and award-winning illustrator Grady Klein. After seeing their book used in classrooms and the halls of Congress alike, the pair has teamed up again to fully update the guide with the latest scientific data.
Sociologists have argued that we don’t address climate change because it’s too big and frightening to get our heads around. The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change takes the intimidation and gloom out of one of the most important challenges of our time.
That creativity comes from the minds of Yoram Bauman, the world’s first and only “stand-up economist,” and award-winning illustrator Grady Klein. After seeing their book used in classrooms and the halls of Congress alike, the pair has teamed up again to fully update the guide with the latest scientific data.
Sociologists have argued that we don’t address climate change because it’s too big and frightening to get our heads around. The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change takes the intimidation and gloom out of one of the most important challenges of our time.
Build Beyond Zero
New Ideas for Carbon-Smart Architecture
By Bruce King and Chris Magwood
Island Press
In Build Beyond Zero, carbon pioneers Bruce King and Chris Magwood re-envision buildings as one of our most practical and affordable climate solutions instead of a leading driver of climate change. They make a case for a “carbon smart” built environment that absorbs more greenhouse gases than it emits. While the industry pursues net zero emissions focused on improving the energy efficiency of buildings, a carbon-smart approach also considers what we make all those buildings with, and the supply chains that deliver all those products and materials.
Build Beyond Zero offers an exciting vision of climate-friendly architecture, along with practical advice for professionals working to address the carbon footprint of our built environment.
Build Beyond Zero offers an exciting vision of climate-friendly architecture, along with practical advice for professionals working to address the carbon footprint of our built environment.
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