Environment: Books & Ebooks

This issue of The Reference Shelf looks at the renewable energy debate and draws from the press and politics to gather opinions about subjects like wind and wave energy, the future of solar energy, the challenge of designing eco-friendly energy storage, and the difficulties in tackling fossil fuel dominance in the energy industry. -- Provided by Publisher.

A thought-provoking look at science denialism “for popular science readers who want better to be able to explain and defend science and scientific methods to others” (Library Journal). The battles over evolution, climate change, childhood vaccinations, and the causes of AIDS, alternative medicine, oil shortages, population growth, and the place of science in our country—all are reaching a fevered pitch.

From a scientific point of view, several challenges to renewable energy come from the intermittent nature of energy sources such as wind, solar photovoltaic and solar thermal. These problems are currently being addressed with research on power electronics converters, storage systems, Artificial Intelligence techniques, new materials and production technologies, numerical analysis techniques, among others. This research endeavours to reduce costs and find alternative energy sources that are competitive with fossil fuels.

Constantly in the news and the subject of much public debate, fracking, as it is known for short, is one of the most promising yet controversial methods of extracting natural gas and oil. Today, 90 percent of natural gas wells use fracking. Though highly effective, the process-which fractures rock with pressurized fluid-has been criticized for polluting land, air, and water, and endangering human health.

More and more frequent extreme weather events occur each year, and wildlife everywhere is increasingly endangered. Science fiction or science fact, most climate experts see this as our world on climate change—and, according to polls, a majority of people around the globe agree. Climate Change For Dummies allows you to investigate this hottest of hotly debated issues for yourself—examining its causes, the way it affects our lives, and what we can all do to make a difference.

This straightforward guide—cowritten by the former leader of Canada's Green Party and the Canadian Chief of Staff to the Minister of Natural Resources—sifts the fact from the fiction: Is climate change caused by human activity or by natural elements beyond our control? What contribution can clean energy make? What are our best and worst-case scenarios?

The book considers issues of climate change, energy, food security, toxins, waste, and resource conflict to explore how political, economic, ideological and military power have contributed to the generation of environmental issues and the formation of dominant narratives about them. The book encourages the reader to think critically about the power dynamics that shape (and limit) how we think about environmental issues and to expand the reader's understanding of why it matters that these issues are discussed at particular spatial scales.

Field biologist Christopher Wills explains the rules by which ecosystems thrive, shining light on a set of ecological balancing acts that he calls "green equilibria," rules which keep our world vibrant, verdant, and ecologically intact. Traveling to many different ecosystems, from coral reefs to the high Himalayas, and drawing on his own on-the-ground research, the author illuminates ecological laws in action. Perhaps most important, he introduces us to people, in many countries around the world, who are now using this new knowledge to help heal the planet.

Historian Kevin C. Armitage reveals how the story of American environmentalism -- part philosophy, part social movement -- is in no small way a story of America itself, the way citizens have self-organized, how they have thought of their communities and their government, and how they have used their power to protect and enrich the land.

On a Farther Shore reveals a shy yet passionate woman more at home in the natural world than in the literary one that embraced her.

"On the surface, it seems that genetically modified (GM) foods are a reasonable defense against world hunger and malnutrition. They may offer solutions to other global problems as well. But critics argue that GM foods are unsafe and potentially hazardous to human health. They also claim that the engineering of GM foods harms the environment. So what is the truth? The curated essays in this volume present viewpoints from different sides of the debates surrounding GMs and a shrinking food supply"