Showing titles in Ecosystems & Habitats

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated our fragility as a species. Humanity was attacked by a previously unknown virus that spread very rapidly, thanks to a speed of population mobility never before seen in human history. It succeeded in creating the complete upset of the global socioeconomic system. Such an event gives us an important stimulus to reevaluate health in the context of a circular system that encompasses humans and the environment in which we live. The key challenge we face is the discovery of novel paths to crisis resolution.

"Die einzigen Tiere, denen ich auf gar keinen Fall begegnen wollte, waren Fische." Eine Sardine, strahlend und zerbrechlich, befreite Bill François einst als Kind von seiner Angst vor den Fischen und dem offenen Meer. "Sie bat mich, sie zu begleiten, und hob an, mir ihre Geschichte zu erzählen." Seither ist er nie wieder vollständig auf festen Boden zurückgekehrt. Seither lauscht er den Wundergeschichten der blauen Welt, die er uns in seinem betörenden Buch weitergibt. Die Meeresbewohner sind keineswegs stumm. Ihre Sprache ist im Gegenteil so vielfältig wie unsere Sinne.

From best-selling author James Raffan comes an enlightening and original story about a polar bear’s precarious existence in the changing Arctic, reminiscent of John Vaillant’s The Golden Spruce.

The Mississippi. The Missouri. The Ohio. America’s rivers are the very lifeblood of our country. We need them for nourishing crops, for cheap bulk transportation, for hydroelectric power, for fresh drinking water. Rivers are also part of our mythology, our collective soul; they are Mark Twain, Led Zeppelin, and the Delta Blues. But as infrastructure across the nation fails and climate change pushes rivers and seas to new heights, we’ve arrived at a critical moment in our battle to tame these often-destructive forces of nature.

For over 50,000 years, the Great Hunt has shaped human existence, creating a vital spiritual reality where people, animals, and the land share intimate bonds. Author Larry Frolick takes the listener deep into one of the last refuges of hunting societies: Canada’s far north. Based on his experiences travelling with First Nations Elders in remote communities across the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut, this vivid narrative combines accounts of daily life, unpublished archival records, First Nations' stories and Traditional Knowledge with personal observation....

An intimate account of the beauty, mystery, and amazing science of the ocean.

In Monarchs and Milkweed, Anurag Agrawal presents a vivid investigation into how the monarch butterfly has evolved closely alongside the milkweed - a toxic plant named for the sticky white substance emitted when its leaves are damaged - and how this inextricable and intimate relationship has been like an arms race over the millennia, a battle of exploitation and defense between two fascinating species.

The Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah, created by President Obama in 2016 and eviscerated by the Trump administration in 2017, contains more archaeological sites than any other region in the United States. In The Bears Ears, acclaimed adventure writer David Roberts takes listeners on a tour of his favorite place on Earth, as he unfolds the rich and contradictory human history of the 1.35 million acres of the Bears Ears domain. Weaving personal memoir with archival research, Roberts sings the praises of the outback he's explored for the last 25 years.

Rivers have acted as cradles for civilization and agents of disaster; a river may be a barrier or a highway, it can support trade and sediment, culture and conflict. This Very Short Introduction is a celebration of rivers in all their diversity. Geographer Nick Middleton covers a wide and eclectic range of river-based themes, from physical geography to mythology, to industrial history and literary criticism.

The Maine Woods is based on Henry David Thoreau’s lengthy experiences in the forests of Maine in the years 1846, 1853, and 1857. Thoreau describes the area in exquisite detail: the native people and their languages, the loggers and their labors, the rivers, the trees, the plants, and the birds. Experiencing all the joys of the woods, he padded in a canoe, climbed hills, and tried the local foods. The journey also makes him contemplative of his own weaknesses and strengths.

Original stories of mountain men between 1833 and 1837 traveling from the Missouri River, through the plains and Rocky Mountains, to the Pacific and back, with all the different Indians and Indian wars they observed from the opposite point of view - from Indians themselves, like Zitkala-Sa, in American Indian Stories and Old Indian Legends.

Hummingbirds are a glittering, sparkling collective of over 300 wildly variable species. For centuries, they have been revered by indigenous Americans, coveted by European collectors, and admired worldwide for their unsurpassed metallic plumage and immense character. Traveling the full length of the hummingbirds' range, from the cusp of the Arctic Circle to near-Antarctic islands, acclaimed nature writer Jon Dunn encounters birders, scientists, and storytellers in his quest to find these beguiling creatures, immersing us in the world of one of Earth's most charismatic bird families.

From conservation to protecting endangered species to sustainable living, A Christian's Guide to Planet Earth offers a faith-based framework for viewing our responsibility to the natural world as well as practical, biblical ways we can care for the magnificent creation around us. Drawing on science and Scripture, this hope-filled and listener-friendly guide helps us navigate questions about caring for and respecting God's world.

Deep in the jungles of the Venezuelan Rainforest, a dying phytopharmacologist has begun a search that could change the fate of humanity forever. Joining depraved scientists and ruthless mercenaries, he seeks to overcome humanity's one common enemy: Mortality. Meanwhile, plans have been laid by an eco-revolutionary group, led by rebel Faye Moanna, to put an end to the illegal deforestation taking place in the Amazon. But her true motives may compromise much more than their sociopolitical agenda.

À l'heure du questionnement sur le retour à la nature et de la prééminence des enjeux écologiques, ce coffret propose pour la première fois un entretien avec le plus grand audio-naturaliste français ; Jean-Claude Roché, mis en perspective avec les extraits sonores de chants d'oiseaux et de biotopes, qu'il a collectés tout au long de sa vie.

Was ist Waldbaden überhaupt? Als Waldbaden bezeichnet man das bewusste Eintauchen in die einzigartige Atmosphäre des Waldes. Wir nehmen den Wald achtsam und mit allen Sinnen wahr - um auf diese Weise Körper, Geist und Seele zu nähren und zu stärken. Wir schwimmen gleichsam im grünen Ozean des Waldes, sinken immer tiefer in den Wald ein. Wie auf einer Welle lassen wir uns treiben und nehmen intuitiv die heilenden Kräfte des Waldes in uns auf Der Wald als Ort der Entschleunigung und der Heilung.

From cocoa farming in Ghana to the orchards of Kent and the desert badlands of Pakistan, taking a practical approach to sustaining the landscape can mean the difference between prosperity and ruin. Working with Nature is the story of a lifetime of work, often in extreme environments, to harvest nature and protect it - in effect, gardening on a global scale.

Inspired by August Derleth’s seminal book The Wisconsin, Richard D. Cornell traveled the Chippewa River from its two sources south of Ashland to where it joins the Mississippi. Over several decades he returned time and again in his red canoe to immerse himself in the stories of the Chippewa River and document its valley, from the Ojibwe and early fur traders and lumbermen to the varied and hopeful communities of today.

Over the past 100 years, gulls have been brought ashore by modernity. They now live not only on the coasts, but in our slipstream following trawlers, barges, and garbage trucks. They are more our contemporaries than most birds, living their wild lives among us in towns and cities. In many ways, they live as we do, walking the built-up world and grabbing a bite where they can. Yet this disturbs us. We’ve started fearing gulls for getting good at being among us. We see them as scavengers, not entrepreneurs; oceangoing aliens, not refugees.

The life story of Billy Dixon, a buffalo hunter and scout from the Texas Panhandle who was active as far as Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma, offers a genuine depiction of life on the old western frontier. Billy helped found the town of Adobe Walls, ended a siege during the Second Battle of Adobe Walls with a long-distance shot, and received the US Medal of Honor for his bravery at the Buffalo Wallow Fight. Billy later served as postmaster at Adobe Walls, sheriff of Hutchinson County, Texas, and state land commissioner.