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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 51-100 of 322 items.

The World's Water Volume 7

The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources

Island Press

Produced biennially, The World's Water is the most comprehensive and up-to-to date source of information and analysis on freshwater resources. Each new volume examines critical global trends and offers the best data available on a variety of topics related to water. 
 
Volume 7 features chapters on U.S. water policy, transboundary waters, and the effects of fossil fuel production on water resources, among other timely issues. Water briefs provide concise updates on topics including bottled water, The Great Lakes Water Agreement, and the state of the Colorado River. 
 
Since the first volume of The World's Water appeared in 1998, the series has become an indispensable resource for professionals in government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, researchers, students, and anyone concerned with water and its use.

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Urban Ecological Design

A Process for Regenerative Places

Island Press
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City Rules

How Regulations Affect Urban Form

Island Press

City Rules offers a challenge to students and professionals in urban planning, design, and policy to change the rules of city-building, using regulations to reinvigorate, rather than stifle, our communities.

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Human Transit

How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich OurCommunities and Our Lives

Island Press

This book explains the fundamental geometry of transit that shapes successful systems; the process for fitting technology to a particular community; and the local choices that lead to transit-friendly development.

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Environmental Land Use Planning and Management, Second Edition

Creating Sustainable Communities, Watersheds, and Ecosystems

Island Press
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State of the World 2012

Creating Sustainable Prosperity

By The Worldwatch Institute
Island Press

An incisive assessment of environmental successes and failures over the past twenty years—and what we should do next.

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Vital Signs 2012

The Trends that are Shaping Our Future

By The Worldwatch Institute
Island Press

From obesity to ecosystem services, from grain production to nuclear power, this book offers the sometimes-shocking facts that need to guide our stewardship of the Earth’s resources.

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Evolution in a Toxic World

How Life Responds to Chemical Threats

Island Press
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Cooler, Smarter

Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living

By The Union of Concerned Scientists
Island Press

This science-based guide shows you the most effective ways to cut your own global warming emissions by twenty percent or more, and explains why your individual contribution is so vital to addressing this global problem.

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Green Cities of Europe

Global Lessons on Green Urbanism

Edited by Timothy Beatley
Island Press

With Green Cities of Europe, Beatley offers the North American planning community not only a vision of holistic sustainability, but a clear guide to accomplishing it at home.

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Climate and Conservation

Landscape and Seascape Science, Planning, and Action

Island Press

Climate and Conservation offers readers tangible, place-based examples of projects designed to protect large landscapes as a means of conserving biodiversity in the face of the looming threat of global climate change.

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The Shape of Green

Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design

Island Press

The Shape of Green argues that beauty is inherent to sustainability, for how things look and feel is as important as how they’re made.

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Stewardship of the Built Environment

Sustainability, Preservation, and Reuse

Island Press

Stewardship of the Built Environment shows how rehabilitating and reusing existing structures holds untapped potential for achieving sustainable communities.

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Resilience Practice

Building Capacity to Absorb Disturbance and Maintain Function

Island Press

In this follow-up to Resilience Thinking, Brian Walker and David Salt explore how systems can be managed to promote and sustain resilience.

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Planning as if People Matter

Governing for Social Equity

Island Press

This book goes beyond theory to give real-world examples of how better planning can level inequities.

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Corporation 2020

Transforming Business for Tomorrow's World

Island Press
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Tibet Wild

A Naturalist’s Journey on the Roof of the World

Island Press

Follows Dr. George Schaller’s expeditions to the Tibetan Plateau from 1984 until the present day, including an inside look at Schaller’s current and possibly most ambitious project: the creation of the Pamir International Peace Park at the junction of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, and Tajikistan.

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Global Farms Race

Land Grabs, Agricultural Investment, and the Scramble for Food Security

Island Press

The first book to examine the burgeoning trend of buying up huge swaths of farmland abroad in all its complexity, considering the implications for investors, host countries, and the world as a whole.

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River Notes

A Natural and Human History of the Colorado

Island Press

Combining science and adventure with glorious imagery, this book follows environmental advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis on a rafting adventure down the Colorado.

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The Kingdom of Rarities

Island Press

An original and important investigation of rarity and its relationship to conservation.

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To Conserve Unimpaired

The Evolution of the National Park Idea

Island Press
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State of the World 2013

Is Sustainability Still Possible?

By The Worldwatch Institute
Island Press
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Designing Suburban Futures

New Models from Build a Better Burb

Island Press
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Measuring Urban Design

Metrics for Livable Places

Island Press
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Vital Signs 2013

By The Worldwatch Institute
Island Press
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Common Ground on Hostile Turf

Stories from an Environmental Mediator

Island Press
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The Hidden Potential of Sustainable Neighborhoods

Lessons from Low-Carbon Communities

Island Press
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Food, Genes, and Culture

Eating Right for Your Origins

Island Press
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Urban Street Design Guide

By National Association of City Transportation Officials
Island Press
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How to Study Public Life

Methods in Urban Design

Island Press
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The World's Water, Volume 8

The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources

Island Press
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State of the World 2014

Governing for Sustainability

By The Worldwatch Institute
Island Press
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The Carnivore Way

Coexisting with and Conserving North America’s Predators

Island Press
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Land Use and Society, Third Edition

Geography, Law, and Public Policy

Island Press

This third edition has been updated with data from the 2010 U.S. Census and revised with the input of academics and professors to address the changing issues in land use, policy, and law today.

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Forests in Our Changing World

New Principles for Conservation and Management

Island Press
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An Indomitable Beast

The Remarkable Journey of the Jaguar

Island Press

The jaguar is one of the most mysterious and least-known big cats of the world. The largest cat in the Americas, it has survived an onslaught of environmental and human threats partly because of an evolutionary history unique among wild felines, but also because of a power and indomitable spirit so strong, the jaguar has shaped indigenous cultures and the beliefs of early civilizations on two continents.
 
In An Indomitable Beast: The Remarkable Journey of the Jaguar, big-cat expert Alan Rabinowitz shares his own personal journey to conserve a species that, despite its past resilience, is now on a slide toward extinction if something is not done to preserve the pathways it prowls through an ever-changing, ever-shifting landscape dominated by humans. Rabinowitz reveals how he learned from newly available genetic data that the jaguar was a single species connected genetically throughout its entire range from Mexico to Argentina, making it unique among all other large carnivores in the world. In a mix of personal discovery and scientific inquiry, he sweeps his readers deep into the realm of the jaguar, offering fascinating accounts from the field. Enhanced with maps, tables, and color plates, An Indomitable Beast brings important new research to life for scientists, anthropologists, and animal lovers alike.
 
This book is not only about jaguars, but also about tenacity and survival. From the jaguar we can learn better strategies for saving other species and also how to save ourselves when faced with immediate and long-term catastrophic changes to our environment.

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Connecting to Change the World

Harnessing the Power of Networks for Social Impact

Island Press

Nuts-and-bolts advice for organizations on how to build relationships and create networks to enhance their reach and effectiveness, written by experts in the non-profit world.

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Smart Power

Climate Change, the Smart Grid, and the Future of Electric Utilities, Anniversary Edition

Island Press

This pivotal work offers a clear and accessible vision of how we can transform the electric power industry to adapt to twenty-first century challenges.

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Urban Acupuncture

Island Press

During his three terms as mayor of Curitiba, Brazil in the 1970s and ‘80s, architect and urbanist Jaime Lerner transformed his city into a global model of the sustainable and livable community. Through his pioneering work, Lerner has learned that changes to a community don’t need to be large-scale and expensive to have a transformative impact—in fact, one block, park, or a single person can have an outsized effect on life in the surrounding city. In Urban Acupuncture, his first work published in English, Lerner celebrates these “pinpricks” of urbanism—projects, people, and initiatives from around the world that ripple through their communities to uplift city life. With meditative and descriptive prose, Lerner brings readers around the world to streets and neighborhoods where urban acupuncture has been practiced best, from the bustling La Boqueria market in Barcelona to the revitalization of the Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul, South Korea. Through this journey, Lerner invites us to re-examine the true building blocks of vibrant communities—the tree-lined avenues, night vendors, and songs and traditions that connect us to our cities and to one another.

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Public Produce

Cultivating Our Parks, Plazas, and Streets for Healthier Cities, Revised Edition

Island Press

An updated look at the advantages and possibilities of urban agriculture in public spaces.

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Toms River

A Story of Science and Salvation

Island Press
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Unnatural Selection

How We Are Changing Life, Gene by Gene

Island Press

Gonorrhea. Bed bugs. Weeds. Salamanders. People. All are evolving, some surprisingly rapidly, in response to our chemical age. In Unnatural Selection, Emily Monosson shows how our drugs, pesticides, and pollution are exerting intense selection pressure on all manner of species. And we humans might not like the result.

Monosson reveals that the very code of life is more fluid than once imagined. When our powerful chemicals put the pressure on to evolve or die, beneficial traits can sweep rapidly through a population. Species with explosive population growth—the bugs, bacteria, and weeds—tend to thrive, while bigger, slower-to-reproduce creatures, like ourselves, are more likely to succumb.

Unnatural Selection is eye-opening and more than a little disquieting. But it also suggests how we might lessen our impact: manage pests without creating super bugs; protect individuals from disease without inviting epidemics; and benefit from technology without threatening the health of our children.

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Future Arctic

Field Notes from a World on the Edge

Island Press

In one hundred years, or even fifty, the Arctic will look dramatically different than it does today. As polar ice retreats and animals and plants migrate northward, the Arctic landscape is morphing into something new and very different from what it once was. While these changes may seem remote, they will have a profound impact on a host of global issues, from international politics to animal migrations. In Future Arctic, journalist and explorer Edward Struzik offers a clear-eyed look at the rapidly shifting dynamics in the Arctic region, a harbinger of changes that will reverberate throughout our entire world. A unique combination of extensive on-the-ground research, compelling storytelling, and policy analysis, Future Arctic offers a new look at the changes occurring in this remote, mysterious region and their far-reaching effects.

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Tactical Urbanism

Short-term Action for Long-term Change

Island Press
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Roads Were Not Built for Cars

How cyclists were the first to push for good roads & became the pioneers of motoring

Island Press

In Roads Were Not Built for Cars, Carlton Reid reveals the pivotal—and largely unrecognized—role that bicyclists played in the development of modern roadways. Reid introduces readers to cycling personalities, such as Henry Ford, and the cycling advocacy groups that influenced early road improvements, literally paving the way for the motor car. When the bicycle morphed from the vehicle of rich transport progressives in the 1890s to the “poor man’s transport” in the 1920s, some cyclists became ardent motorists and were all too happy to forget their cycling roots. But, Reid explains, many motor pioneers continued cycling, celebrating the shared links between transport modes that are now seen as worlds apart. In this engaging and meticulously researched book, Carlton Reid encourages us all to celebrate those links once again.

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