Download or read book A World of Rivers written by Ellen Wohl and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-11-15 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Far from being the serene, natural streams of yore, modern rivers have been diverted, dammed, dumped in, and dried up, all in efforts to harness their power for human needs. But these rivers have also undergone environmental change. The old adage says you can’t step in the same river twice, and Ellen Wohl would agree—natural and synthetic change are so rapid on the world’s great waterways that rivers are transforming and disappearing right before our eyes. A World of Rivers explores the confluence of human and environmental change on ten of the great rivers of the world. Ranging from the Murray-Darling in Australia and the Yellow River in China to Central Europe’s Danube and the United States’ Mississippi, the book journeys down the most important rivers in all corners of the globe. Wohl shows us how pollution, such as in the Ganges and in the Ob of Siberia, has affected biodiversity in the water. But rivers are also resilient, and Wohl stresses the importance of conservation and restoration to help reverse the effects of human carelessness and hubris. What all these diverse rivers share is a critical role in shaping surrounding landscapes and biological communities, and Wohl’s book ultimately makes a strong case for the need to steward positive change in the world’s great rivers.
Download or read book Great Rivers of the World written by Volker Mehnert and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2021-03-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spend hours navigating the world's great rivers in this vibrant, fact-filled book for kids that blends geography, history, and culture. Where in the Rhein does the Nibelung Treasure lie? What river helps mark the prime meridian? Why do people make pilgrimages to the Indian city of Benares? Why is the Mekong called the "Nine Dragon" river in Vietnam? How does the Mississippi divide and unite the United States? These and hundreds of other facts are explored in this wonderfully illustrated atlas of the world's great rivers. Each spread in this book, which includes a goregeous gatefold page, offers a colorful map packed with drawings, figures, and facts. Cities that border the rivers are highlighted, as are distinct flora and fauna, significant natural and human-made features, and fascinating historical details. A "biography" of each river describes where it flows, and its importance to the communities it passes through. Special attention is given to the ecological health of the rivers--those that are thriving and those in danger of losing their valuable habitats. Along the way, young readers will come to understand the enormous impact that rivers have on our lives, while learning valuable information in a way that will spark their curiosity and imagination.
Download or read book Rivers of the World written by James Penn and published by ABC-CLIO. This book was released on 2001-12-12 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rivers of the World, vividly written and meticulously researched, is a rich and thorough treatment of nearly 200 of the world's rivers
Download or read book Rivers for Life written by Sandra Postel and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The conventional approach to river protection has focused on water quality and maintaining some "minimum" flow that was thought necessary to ensure the viability of a river. In recent years, however, scientific research has underscored the idea that the ecological health of a river system depends not on a minimum amount of water at any one time but on the naturally variable quantity and timing of flows throughout the year. In Rivers for Life, leading water experts Sandra Postel and Brian Richter explain why restoring and preserving more natural river flows are key to sustaining freshwater biodiversity and healthy river systems, and describe innovative policies, scientific approaches, and management reforms for achieving those goals. Sandra Postel and Brian Richter: explain the value of healthy rivers to human and ecosystem health; describe the ecological processes that support river ecosystems and how they have been disrupted by dams, diversions, and other alterations; consider the scientific basis for determining how much water a river needs; examine new management paradigms focused on restoring flow patterns and sustaining ecological health; assess the policy options available for managing rivers and other freshwater systems; explore building blocks for better river governance. Sandra Postel and Brian Richter offer case studies of river management from the United States (the San Pedro, Green, and Missouri), Australia (the Brisbane), and South Africa (the Sabie), along with numerous examples of new and innovative policy approaches that are being implemented in those and other countries. Rivers for Life presents a global perspective on the challenges of managing water for people and nature, with a concise yet comprehensive overview of the relevant science, policy, and management issues. It presents exciting and inspirational information for anyone concerned with water policy, planning and management, river conservation, freshwater biodiversity, or related topics.
Download or read book Great Rivers of the World written by Paolo Novaresio and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The courses of the great rivers recount the history of the Earth and mankind. This book is dedicated to 25 of the world's longest, most important rivers, from the Ganges, Mekong, Tigris, and Euphrates to the Nile and Amazon, from the Mississippi to Danube. This lavish volume aims to portray them as never before. It alternates aerial and panoramic photographs with detailed close-ups and hidden views that instil in the reader the sights and impressions that can be enjoyed when travelling along these great rivers from their sources to their estuaries. Historic photographs and archival documents make it possible to relive the decisive moments in the evolution of individual watercourses; enthralling narratives describe the characteristics and location of each river. Great Rivers of the World is a nature book, brimming with facts and information; it is also a history book that discusses humankind and its age-old relationship with rivers - it is even an art book, given its magical and emotive evocations of memorable riverscape.
Download or read book Rivers written by Michael Farris Smith and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-09-10 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For fans of Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx, “a wonderfully cinematic story” (The Washington Post) set in the post-Katrina South after violent storms have decimated the region. It had been raining for weeks. Maybe months. He had forgotten the last day that it hadn’t rained, when the storms gave way to the pale blue of the Gulf sky, when the birds flew and the clouds were white and sunshine glistened across the drenched land. The Gulf Coast has been brought to its knees. Years of catastrophic hurricanes have so punished and depleted the region that the government has drawn a new boundary ninety miles north of the coastline. Life below the Line offers no services, no electricity, and no resources, and those who stay behind live by their own rules—including Cohen, whose wife and unborn child were killed during an evacuation attempt. He buried them on family land and never left. But after he is ambushed and his home is ransacked, Cohen is forced to flee. On the road north, he is captured by Aggie, a fanatical, snake-handling preacher who has a colony of captives and dangerous visions of repopulating the barren region. Now Cohen is faced with a decision: continue to the Line alone, or try to shepherd the madman’s prisoners across the unforgiving land with the biggest hurricane yet bearing down—and Cohen harboring a secret that poses the greatest threat of all. Eerily prophetic in its depiction of a Southern landscape ravaged by extreme weather, Rivers is a masterful tale of survival and redemption in a world where the next devastating storm is never far behind.“This is the kind of book that lifts you up with its mesmerizing language then pulls you under like a riptide” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
Download or read book River Planet written by Martin Gibling and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive introduction to the epic geological history of the world’s rivers, from the first drop of rain on the Earth to the modern environmental crisis.
Download or read book For the Love of Rivers written by Kurt D. Fausch and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In For the Love of Rivers, stream ecologist Kurt Fausch draws readers across the reflective surface of streams to view and ponder what is beneath, and how they work. While celebrating their beauty and mystery, he uses his many years of experience as a field biologist to explain the underlying science connecting these aquatic ecosystems to their streamside forests and the organisms found there--including humans. More than a book about stream ecology, For the Love of Rivers is a celebration of the interconnectedness of life. It is an authoritative and accessible look at the science of rivers and streams, but it also ponders the larger questions of why rivers are important to humans, why it is in our nature to want to be near them, and what we can do now to ensure the future of these essential ecosystems.
Download or read book Rivers of North America written by Michael D. Delong and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2023-04-20 with total page 1109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rivers of North America, Second Edition features new updates on rivers included in the first edition, as well as brand new information on additional rivers. This new edition expands the knowledge base, providing readers with a broader comparative approach to understand both the common and distinct attributes of river networks. The first edition addressed the three primary disciplines of river science: hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology. This new edition expands upon the interactive nature of these disciplines, showing how they define the organization of a riverine landscape and its processes. An essential resource for river scientists working in ecology, hydrology, and geomorphology. Provides a single source of information on North America’s major rivers Features authoritative information on more than 200 rivers from regional specialists Includes full-color photographs and topographical maps to illustrate the beauty, major features, and uniqueness of each river system Offers one-page summaries help readers quickly find key statistics and make comparisons among rivers
Download or read book Rivers in History written by Christof Mauch and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2008-07-27 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout history, rivers have run a wide course through human temporal and spiritual experience. They have demarcated mythological worlds, framed the cradle of Western civilization, and served as physical and psychological boundaries among nations. Rivers have become a crux of transportation, industry, and commerce. They have been loved as nurturing providers, nationalist symbols, and the source of romantic lore but also loathed as sites of conflict and natural disaster.Rivers in History presents one of the first comparative histories of rivers on the continents of Europe and North America in the modern age. The contributors examine the impact of rivers on humans and, conversely, the impact of humans on rivers. They view this dynamic relationship through political, cultural, industrial, social, and ecological perspectives in national and transnational settings. As integral sources of food and water, local and international transportation, recreation, and aesthetic beauty, rivers have dictated where cities have risen, and in times of flooding, drought, and war, where they've fallen. Modern Western civilizations have sought to control rivers by channeling them for irrigation, raising and lowering them in canal systems, and damming them for power generation. Contributors analyze the regional, national, and international politicization of rivers, the use and treatment of waterways in urban versus rural environments, and the increasing role of international commissions in ecological and commercial legislation for the protection of river resources. Case studies include the Seine in Paris, the Mississippi, the Volga, the Rhine, and the rivers of Pittsburgh. Rivers in History is a broad environmental history of waterways that makes a major contribution to the study, preservation, and continued sustainability of rivers as vital lifelines of Western culture.
Download or read book Rivers written by Peter Goes and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looks at the major rivers around the world, describing the myths, events, popular culture, and historical figures associated with each.
Download or read book Rivers of Power written by Laurence C. Smith and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'As fascinating as it is beautifully written' JARED DIAMOND, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs and Steel Rivers, more than any road, technology or political event, have shaped the course of civilization. Rivers have opened frontiers, defined borders, supported trade, generated energy and fed billions. Most of our greatest cities stand on river banks or deltas, and our quest for mastery has spurred staggering advances in engineering, science and law. Rivers and their topographic divides have shaped the territories of nations and the migration of peoples, and yet - as their resources become ever more precious - can foster cooperation even among enemy states. And though they become increasingly domesticated, they remain a formidable global force: these vast arterial powers promote life but are capable of destroying everything in their path. From ancient Egypt to our growing contemporary metropolises, Rivers of Power reveals why rivers matter so profoundly to human civilization, and how they continue to be indispensable to our societies and wellbeing. 'Takes readers on a tour of the world's great rivers - past, present and future. The result is fascinating, eye-opening, sometimes alarming, and ultimately inspiring' Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction 'A tour de force ... From Herodotus musing on the Nile to the dam makers of modern China, this is their story' Fred Pearce, author of When the Rivers Run Dry 'Instructive and entertaining' The Times
Download or read book Renewing Our Rivers written by Mark K. Briggs and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2021-01-05 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our rivers are in crisis and the need for river restoration has never been more urgent. Water security and biodiversity indices for all of the world’s major rivers have declined due to pollution, diversions, impoundments, fragmented flows, introduced and invasive species, and many other abuses. Developing successful restoration responses are essential. Renewing Our Rivers addresses this need head on with examples of how to design and implement stream-corridor restoration projects. Based on the experiences of seasoned professionals, Renewing Our Rivers provides stream restoration practitioners the main steps to develop successful and viable stream restoration projects that last. Ecologists, geomorphologists, and hydrologists from dryland regions of Australia, Mexico, and the United States share case studies and key lessons learned for successful restoration and renewal of our most vital resource. The aim of this guidebook is to offer essential restoration guidance that allows a start-to-finish overview of what it takes to bring back a damaged stream corridor. Chapters cover planning, such emerging themes as climate change and environmental flow, the nuances of implementing restoration tactics, and monitoring restoration results. Renewing Our Rivers provides community members, educators, students, natural resource practitioners, experts, and scientists broader perspectives on how to move the science of restoration to practical success.
Download or read book Rivers Seas and Oceans written by Mack and published by Mack's World of Wonder. This book was released on 2017-10-16 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses the importance of water to planet Earth, including what animals live in water and where the most beautiful bodies of water are.
Download or read book Rivers written by Emily K. Green and published by Blastoff! Readers. This book was released on 2006-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Simple text and photographs introduce beginning readers to the physical characteristics of rivers.
Download or read book Great Rivers of the World written by and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the rivers of the world, their ecology, and the people who live near them.
Download or read book Rivers written by Emilie Dufresne and published by Greenhaven Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2021-07-15 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where do rivers start? This answer and more can be found within the pages of this colorful, engaging introduction to the world’s rivers! Readers explore how rivers form and how they affect other geography around them, as well as what parts of a river are called and how humans use and change rivers from their natural state. The main content highlights famous rivers, such as the Ganges, showing them on simple globes to engage readers’ in map reading, an essential social studies skill.
