Böcker utgivna av Island Press

The Santa Cruz River that once flowed through Tucson, Arizona is today a sad mirage. Except for brief periods following heavy rainfall, it is bone dry. The cottonwood and willow trees that once lined its banks have died, and the profusion of wildlife recorded by early settlers is nowhere to be seen. As Robert Glennon explains in Water Follies, what killed the Santa Cruz River -- and could devastate other surface waters across the United States -- was groundwater pumping. From 1940 to 2000, the volume of water drawn annually from underground aquifers in Tucson jumped more than six-fold, from 50,000 to 330,000 acre-feet per year. And Tucson is hardly an exception -- similar increases in groundwater pumping have occurred across the country and around the world. In a striking collection of stories that bring to life the human and natural consequences of our growing national thirst, Robert Glennon provides an occasionally wry and always fascinating account of groundwater pumping and the environmental problems it causes. He sketches the culture of water use in the United States, explaining how and why we are growing increasingly reliant on groundwater. Glennon offers a dozen stories, ranging from Down East Maine to San Antonio's River Walk to Atlanta's burgeoning suburbs that clearly illustrate the array of problems groundwater pumping causes. Each episode poses a conflict of values that reveal the complexity of how and why we use water. These poignant and sometimes perverse tales tell of human foibles such as greed, stubbornness, and the unlimited human capacity to ignore reality. As Robert Glennon explores the folly of our actions and the laws governing them, he suggests common-sense legal and policy reforms that could help avert potentially catastrophic effects. Water Follies, the first book to focus on the environmental impacts of groundwater pumping, brings this widespread but underappreciated problem to the attention communities across America.

While overconsumption by the developed world's roughly one billion inhabitants is an abiding problem, another one billion increasingly afflu"e;new consumers"e; in developing countries will place additional strains on the earth's resources, argue authors Norman Myers and Jennifer Kin this important new book. The New Consumers examines the environmental impacts of this increased consumption, with particular focus on two commodities -- cars and meat -- that stand to have the mfar-reaching effects. It analyzes consumption patterns in a number of differcountries, with special emphasis on China and India (whose surging economies, as well as their large populations, are likely to account for exceptional growth in humanity's ecological footprint), and surveys big-picture issues such as the globalization of economies, consumer goods, and lifestyles. Ultimately, according to the orman Myers and Jennifer Kent, the challenge will be for all of humanity to transition to sustainable levels of consumption, for it is unrealistic to expect "e;new"e; consumers not to aspire to be like the "e;old"e; ones. Cogin its analysis, The New Consumers issues a timely warning of a major and developing environmental trend, and suggests valuable strategies for ameliorating its effects.

In this reissue of the environmental classic The Burning Season, with a new introduction by the author, Andrew Revkin artfully interweaves the moving story of Chico Mendes's struggle with the broader natural and human history of the world's largest tropical rain forest. "e;It became clear,"e; writes Revkin, acclaimed science reporter for The New York Times, "e;that the murder was a microcosm of the larger crime: the unbridled destruction of the last great reservoir of biological diversity on Earth."e; In his life and untimely death, Mendes forever altered the course of developmin the Amazon, and he has since become a model for environmental campaigners everywhere.

First published in 1977, this volume caused a sensation because of Daly's radical view that "e;enough is best."e; Today, his ideas are recognized as the key to sustainable development, and Steady-State Economics is universally acknowledged as the leading book on the economics of sustainability.