Nature Conservation

In this groundbreaking book, Thomas M. Kostigen reveals the vital missing link in today's environmental crisis: how we as individuals are connected to the most tenuous geography on the planet. Despite the recent prominence of "green" issues in the news, we continue to ignore the raw relationship between the earth and our actions. But the seemingly insignificant things we do every day have the power to literally alter the landscape in the ongoing battle to resuscitate the planet.

Having access to natural, green spaces is vital to our physical and mental wellbeing. But, as urban development spreads, grey has become the new green. Already, concrete outweighs every tree, bush and shrub on Earth. Nature deprivation is a fast-growing epidemic, harming the health and happiness of hundreds of millions of people worldwide—especially vulnerable and marginalized groups.

Welcome aboard, young explorers, on another expedition with Discoveropolis. Strap on your safari hat and fasten your seatbelts! This immersive audiobook is a gateway to ignite your imagination and curiosity as you explore the captivating wonders of the African continent.

Proper stewardship of natural assets and liabilities is a matter of planetary urgency: natural resources have the potential either to transform the poorest countries or to tear them apart, while the carbon emissions and agricultural follies of the rich world could further impoverish them. The Plundered Planet charts a course between unchecked profiteering on the one hand and environmental romanticism on the other to offer realistic and sustainable solutions to dauntingly complex issues.

Did you know that one well-placed giraffe kick is strong enough to kill a lion? How about that an adult giraffe can eat a hundred pounds of leaves in a day? Or that some giraffes hum to each other at night? Perfect for all animal lovers—and giraffe fans in particular—this book is filled with all the facts you need to know to become a giraffe expert! Where are giraffes found? What's it like to be a giraffe? Why are giraffes endangered, and who has been working hard to save them?

Ever gazed at the sky during a downpour and dreamed of turning those raindrops into a treasure trove, more than just soggy shoes? What if you could make rain your ally, helping you dodge hefty water bills while transforming your garden into the neighborhood's crown jewel? Prepare to become the Rain Whisperer with this revolutionary guide! Whether you're a seasoned green thumb or a newbie embarking on your sustainability quest, this audiobook is your ultimate companion.

Why spend countless hours indoors in front of screens when being in nature feels so good? In learning why and how to nurture our emotional connection with nature, we can also regenerate the ecosystems on which we depend for our survival. Renewal explores the science behind why being in nature makes us feel alive and helps us thrive.

In brave and unforgettable terms, Al Gore, the passionate and lifelong defender of the environment, describes how human actions and decisions can endanger or safeguard the vulnerable ecosystem that sustains us.

Rat Island rises from the icy gray waters of the Bering Sea, a mass of volcanic rock covered with tundra, midway between Alaska and Siberia. Once a remote sanctuary for enormous flocks of seabirds, the island gained a new name when shipwrecked rats colonized, savaging the nesting birds by the thousands. Now, on this and hundreds of other remote islands around the world, a massive - and massively controversial - wildlife rescue mission is underway.

"Our Choice gathers in one place all of the most effective solutions that are available now and that, together, will solve this crisis. It is meant to depoliticize the issue as much as possible and inspire readers to take action - not only on an individual basis but as participants in the political processes by which every country, and the world as a whole, makes the choice that now confronts us." (Al Gore, from the Introduction)

Leif Bersweden has always been fascinated by wild plants. From a young age, his afternoons were spent hunting for and cataloguing the plants in his local area. But it is a landscape that is fast disappearing. Climate change, habitat destruction and declining pollinator populations mean that the future for plant life looks bleaker than ever before. Many of us are also unable to identify, or even notice, the plants that grow around us. Now a botanist, Leif decides to go on a mission, to explore the plants that Britain and Ireland have to offer.

The Chernobyl power plant was the hope for energy in the Ukraine. Years after the 1986 meltdown, Ukraine is still feeling the effects of its radiation. The Nuclear Disaster at Chernobyl is part of the Disasters series. These moments in history recall the death and destruction caused by both natural and manmade disasters around the world.

In Paddleways of Mississippi: Rivers and People of the Magnolia State, listeners will discover flowing details of virtually every waterway in the state—the features, wildlife, vegetation, geology, hydrology, and specific challenges to be expected—alongside many wonderful historical and social accounts specific to each system.

Luck follows the long migration north to Siberia of a young sandhill crane rescued from a six-pack holder in the Texas marsh by the girl who names him. The Wolves Are Back covers the topic of the persecution, near-extinction, and ultimately, the restoration of wolves in the United States.

This book shows that the quantitative mathematical models policy makers and government administrators use to form environmental policies are seriously flawed. Based on unrealistic and sometimes false assumptions, these models often yield answers that support unwise policies. Writing for the general, nonmathematician reader, the authors begin with a riveting account of the extinction of the North Atlantic cod on the Grand Banks of Canada.

The last decade has seen an explosion of urban beekeeping in the US, Canada, and Europe, a well-intentioned response to perceived threats to the global honey bee population. Many thousands of people have taken up this seemingly environmentally friendly hobby, tending backyard and rooftop hives (or paying a company to do so) and encouraging honey bees to make honey and pollinate flowers. What could be wrong with that? Quite a lot, in fact. In The Honey Trap, scientist and author Dana Church demonstrates that despite reports to the contrary, honey bees are nowhere near extinction.

In Wild Winter, John D. Burns, best-selling author of The Last Hillwalker and Bothy Tales, sets out to rediscover Scotland’s mountains, remote places and wildlife in the darkest and stormiest months. He traverses the country from the mouth of the River Ness to the Isle of Mull, from remote Sutherland to the Cairngorms, in search of rutting red deer, pupping seals, minke whales, beavers, pine martens, mountain hares, and otters.

When a beloved place is decimated by physical damage, many hit the donate button or call their congressperson. But award-winning author Trebbe Johnson argues that we need new methods for coping with these losses and invites listeners to reconsider what constitutes “worthwhile action”. She discusses real wounded places ranging from weapons-testing grounds at Eglin Air Force Base to Appalachian mountain tops destroyed by mining. These stories, along with tools for community engagement, show us how we can find beauty in these places and discover new sources of meaning and community.

For the Birds offers listeners a glimpse behind the binoculars and reveals birders to be important allies in the larger environmental conservation movement. With a wealth of data from in-depth interviews and over three years of observing birders in the field, environmental sociologist Elizabeth Cherry argues that birders learn to watch wildlife in ways that make an invaluable contribution to contemporary conservation efforts. She investigates how birders develop a “naturalist gaze” that enables them to understand the shared ecosystem that intertwines humans and wild animals.

A dozen years into his dream job keeping watch over the Gila National Forest of New Mexico, Philip Connors bore witness to the blaze he had always feared: a megafire that forced him off his mountain by helicopter and forever changed the forest and watershed he loved. It was one of many transformations that arrived in quick succession, not just fire and flood, but the death of a fellow lookout in a freak accident and a tragic plane crash that rocked the community he called home.