Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2024 -

An oceanographer and a science writer collaborate on this series of stories that focuses as much on humans as they do on the watery depths. The ocean is the "main character but it needs a voice," and the stories come from scientists, Indigenous peoples, shellfish farmers, fisheries workers, coastal community members, and others who know the oceans best. The book is organized by different oceanic environments, from shallow bays and inlets to the dark, frigid Arctic and Southern Oceans. These are stories of observed and documented rapid changes: rising temperatures, increased acidification, degradation from pollution and overfishing, and the resulting disruption in species composition and worldwide abundance. Every chapter imparts astonishing new understanding of the impacts of human activity on ocean environments, once seen as infinitely vast and inscrutable. The authors hope that conveying these stories will alert readers to the need to slow climate change, decrease use of plastic and the fossil fuels used to produce them, and recognize that human health and environmental stability are directly dependent on healthy oceans. Well written, thoroughly researched and documented, this compilation would enhance any collection serving adult readers.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

Parsons's lively and accessible synthesis debunks the myth of a livable and just future under carbon colonialism, which he defines as "the system in which the environmental cost of wealth generation is paid in places far from where that wealth is accumulated." For Parsons (geography, Univ. of London), the green growth strategy is not "environmental progress" but rather "environmental trade"--an export of the concealed externalities that produce climate security for wealthy nations. Eight chapters draw on critical political economy literature to unpack the spatial politics of greenwashing and carbon capitalism. Additionally, Parsons deftly integrates insights from science and technology studies to discuss the role of technical evidence, risk assessment, and climate science in the context of these problems and their solutions to remind the reader that "the social narratives we use to interpret, explain, and justify the world play a crucial role in what we do and don't see about environmental breakdown." Parsons's use of first-person voice and accessible examples (the reader tours, among other sites, a garment factory, a landfill, and an upscale sock store) make this an especially readable introduction and will be valuable for undergraduates in the social sciences.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates and general readers.

Recent advances in remote sensing have improved the detection of megafans, which are large, low-gradient fluvial fans. They have only recently been recognized as geomorphological features as they tend to occur in remote places and be very large, some even reaching 700 km long. This well-edited and comprehensive volume presents the most up-to-date work on megafans from researchers around the world. It even includes a chapter on megafans of Mars. The book is organized in four sections. Following two introductory chapters in part 1, the second section presents the description of megafans in different parts of the world, including Africa, South America, southern and central Europe, France, India, and Australia. For some reason, megafans appear to be mostly absent from North America. The third section describes the application of the knowledge being gained on megafans to other areas of study, such as economic geology and groundwater in semi-arid to arid environments. The last section presents the results of a global survey of megafans describing their major morphological characteristics and their importance as separate erosional landscapes. A chapter on possible future megafan research is also included in this section.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

Wiebe (Univ. of Victoria, Canada), a self-described activist whose work is informed by a critical ecofeminist perspective, reports in detail the Ontario government's deplorable neglect of its treaty obligations and the "enduring harm" of Canada's colonial policy on Indigenous people and their homelands. Wiebe focuses on the daily "states of emergency" the Attawapiskat suffers and, in particular, on the public fast of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence meant to draw Ottawa's attention to the unacceptable conditions that plague her community. In the early 1900s, Ontario's government negotiated "Treaty 9," a document that allowed the government "control over rich mineral, hydro, and timber resources" and displaced Indigenous communities. Sustained neglect of these communities has resulted in myriad crises that continue to the present. As world economies demand more and more minerals essential for the support of their technologies, Ontario's mineral-rich "Ring of Fire" is slated for even more resource extraction, which will assuredly further impact the quality of life and the health of the Indigenous inhabitants of the area. Wiebe calls it "slow violence," the steady abrogation of Indigenous rights in the territory. Wiebe's book will, perhaps, provide an awakening for some decision-makers and other activists.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates, graduate students, professionals, and general readers.

Mnemonic Ecologies offers a deep dive into the establishment and meaning of Germany's Green Belt, land that was the militarized border between East Germany and West Germany during the Cold War. Since the reunification of Germany, the former borderland has become a protected area and it has generated debates about the balance and tensions among conservation, the need and desire to preserve historical memories, and who makes those decisions. Over six chapters, Pieck (human geography, Bates College) applies a geographic lens and offers a new framework she terms "mnemonic ecologies," which shows how memory, memorialization, ecological restoration, and conservation intersect in ways that shift over time for a given landscape. In the early chapters, she focuses on the history of the Green Belt project, showing that its origins are rooted in 19th-century German conservationism. In the later chapters, she provides an analysis of memory and ecology of the region, a discussion she punctuates with broader global lessons that can be applied to other formerly militarized landscapes. The prose is accessible, and a few photographs are scattered throughout. The text is extensively documented and supplemented by a rich bibliography.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

The goal of Old Materials, New Climate by Pranger (Boston Architectural College) is to provide a "more in-depth understanding of traditional materials, why they behave the way they do, and what we might expect in the future." Over 24 chapters in five sections, materials ranging from wood, stone, earth, and lime to cement, metals, and coatings are thoroughly examined, from their history, characteristics, and chemistry to their deterioration and repair. Insightful case studies follow, where use of materials is intimately analyzed, including incompatible and impervious materials like Portland cement, and the systemic damage occurring from protracted periods of neglect. Early chapters outline climate conditions, including carbon cycles; the integrity of conservation worldwide; and the urgent need for comprehensive preservation plans--a detailed example of which serves as the conclusion. The invaluable depth and knowledge expressed throughout this book are enhanced with clear and detailed color and black-and-white charts, diagrams, and photographs. Readers, for example, do not just learn about wood and fungus/rot, but the various types of wood as well as the types, location, and appearance of fungus/rot. This book is an excellent, all-in-one companion to many of the technical papers published by Historic Environment Scotland. Includes references.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals; two-year technical programs.

This is a timely exploration of the history, science, and management of fire-dependent ecosystems at Yosemite National Park by America's preeminent fire historian. In six chapters, Pyne (emer., Arizona State Univ.) interweavesa historical analysis of land use and fire with a personal report on a contemporary prescribed burn in the park. Indigenous peoples managed vegetation with fire on Yosemite and the surrounding Sierra Nevada mountains before Yosemite became a park. The historical narrative emphasizes the federal government policy requiring fire suppression, resulting in a changed landscape, primarily in the Yosemite Valley. Pyne profiles key individuals involved in establishing fire science and significant historical fire events. Once Yosemite was designated a park and until the mid-1960s, policy required putting out all fires by 10 AM the day after ignition. This changed the landscape, creating dense vegetation. The prescribed burn project in the Illilouette Valley was a combination seminar of senior agency and academic fire specialists and fuels reduction action. Short biographies of project participants articulate how fire science in national parks has evolved. The project itself is a model of how such projects can be conducted for resource benefit. A valuable contribution to ecology and fire studies, park and recreation management, and environmental history.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

The theme of this superbly written, thoroughly researched, and thoughtful book is that the salient harm of climate change isn't so much the singular cataclysm of the titular, insidious, creeping harms from the world getting hotter. Increased mortality leads the list, but higher crime rates, violent behavior, and reduced productivity (including student test performance) are significant and long-term. The author cites numerous studies, using techniques for replicating "natural experiments," to support his findings, but always with a perspective on their limits. These effects are most pronounced for the poor, the elderly, and where it is already hot. The author notes the need not just to mitigate carbon emissions leading to global warming, but also to support measures to help the most vulnerable adapt to climate change. His discussion of the differential harms is somewhat repetitive, but this may be a message meriting repetition. The author's "optimism born of incrementalism"--that focus on catastrophe inhibits climate policy while recognizing the gradual but massive harms just from the world getting hotter--is perhaps the most speculative part of this book. It it one of the best books on climate policy.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Unprecedented climate stability at the beginning of the Holocene epoch some 11,700 years ago ushered in the "gift" of Eden--a planet of "extraordinarily diverse, productive, nurturing ecosystems governed by reliable, knowable seasons." The current reality of climate breakdown marks the "end of Eden" as intricate systems of balance among species are disrupted or destroyed. Naturalist Adam Welz (independent scholar) elucidates the existential threat of climate breakdown with beautifully written stories of nonhuman species struggling (and often failing) to adapt, revealing how humanity's future is dependent on the success of other species. His empathetic, yet dispassionate, consideration of coinhabitants of Earth is informed by peer-reviewed scientific research, reports from government and intergovernmental agencies, personal observation, and a deep understanding of evolution and environmental history. A chapter-by-chapter outline of sources provides context; the helpful index enhances academic use. The book is highly acclaimed by many notable authors, and comparable to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) in its call to action. Important reading for anyone who loves life, seeks understanding, and wants future generations to thrive.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

Perhaps nowhere in the United States have the familiar clashes of environmental politics reached the level of Onondaga Lake in Upstate New York. The site is the Central Fire of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois), which was established there in 1142 CE according to research by Barbara Mann and Jerry Fields. No sooner did European immigrants take up residence in the area than it became a convenient location for industrial waste from salt-mining companies and urban sewage from the Syracuse area. This book centers on the battle waged by environmentalists and their Native American allies to restore integrity to the lake. Shevory (emer., politics, Ithaca College) does an outstanding job of arraying the participants on both sides in the context of national environmental conflicts, from Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) to a reinvigorated environmental movement during the 1980s and to the 1990s, when Onondaga Lake finally reached the stage where people could swim and fish in it again without risking their health. Until then, however, it was like a sewage pit, which one activist called "beautiful but dangerous" (p. 118). Shevory offers a splendidly researched account of a major environmental conflict that should be read by anyone with an interest in environmental politics and history.Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty.

As a part of a relatively new category of research into why climate change is so hard to mitigate, Cain (political science, Stanford Univ.) offers a scholarly investigation into how social and political polarization complicates solving climate problems. Cain focuses on the American West, where the presence of special interests and the difficulty of agreement and compromise among political constituencies make climate change action increasingly hard to achieve. Chapter 1 summarizes the roles physical geography, energy production, governmental influences, and crises play in environmental problem-solving and policy making. Chapter 2 explores the evolution of water as a policy issue in the western interior. Water management has multiple constituencies seeking to control and benefit from scarce resources, and policies haven't evolved to reflect social and economic change. Chapter 3 adds the complexity of wildfire to partisan approaches to resource management. Chapter 4 presents the dilemma of coastal population centers having too much water due to rising sea levels. Chapter 5 synthesizes the challenges of seeking solutions to increasingly immediate crises. Ultimately, local and regional constituencies in crisis require recognition and compromise from elsewhere and from multiple levels of government. This volume is replete with research opportunities for political, environmental, and geographic studies.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

Buizza (physics, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy) walks readers through the basic tenets of weather forecasting, giving clear explanations of weather observation data, computer modeling, Earth system modeling, numerical modeling, and chaos theory. Additionally, he explains why there is no perfect weather forecast and most likely will never be. Applying new theories and models to weather prediction has greatly improved forecast modeling over the last few decades. Powerful computers are now able to process numerous variables and multiple data points and calculate complex variables. Ensemble forecasting can run weather prediction algorithms numerous times using slight data variations to create more accurate predictions. Forecasts now can predict the intensity, track, and probabilities of impact. As a result of multiple computer enhancements, large-scale global events such as El Nino can be forecast months in advance. Systems that affect entire continents, such as heat and cold waves, can now be predicted two to three weeks in advance. Extreme weather events, including tropical cyclones and tornado outbreaks, often can accurately be predicted a week out. Overall, this book is a valuable resource for a solid introduction to weather forecasting and prediction for the lay person.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates and general readers only.