Download or read book How Nature Matters written by Simon P. James and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-08-25 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HOW NATURE MATTERS presents an original theory of nature's value based on part--Lwhole relations. James argues that when natural things have cultural value, they do not always have it as means to valuable ends. In many cases, they have value as parts of valuable wholes -- as parts of traditions, for instance, or cultural identities. James develops his theory by investigating twelve real-world cases, ranging from the veneration of sacred trees to the hunting of dugongs. He also analyses some key policy-related debates and explores various fundamental issues in environmental philosophy, including the question of whether anything on earth qualifies as natural. This accessible, engagingly written book will be essential reading for all those who wish to understand the moral and metaphysical dimensions of environmental issues.
Download or read book The Nature Fix Why Nature Makes Us Happier Healthier and More Creative written by Florence Williams and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2017-02-07 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Highly informative and remarkably entertaining." —Elle From forest trails in Korea, to islands in Finland, to eucalyptus groves in California, Florence Williams investigates the science behind nature’s positive effects on the brain. Delving into brand-new research, she uncovers the powers of the natural world to improve health, promote reflection and innovation, and strengthen our relationships. As our modern lives shift dramatically indoors, these ideas—and the answers they yield—are more urgent than ever.
Download or read book Hope Matters written by Elin Kelsey and published by Greystone Books Ltd. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This book comes at just the right moment. It is NOT too late if we get together and take action, NOW.” —Jane Goodall Fears about climate change are fueling an epidemic of despair across the world: adults worry about their children’s future; thirty-somethings question whether they should have kids or not; and many young people honestly believe they have no future at all. In the face of extreme eco-anxiety, scholar and award-winning author Elin Kelsey argues that our hopelessness—while an understandable reaction—is hampering our ability to address the very real problems we face. Kelsey offers a powerful solution: hope itself. Hope Matters boldly breaks through the narrative of doom and gloom to show why evidence-based hope, not fear, is our most powerful tool for change. Kelsey shares real-life examples of positive climate news that reveal the power of our mindsets to shape reality, the resilience of nature, and the transformative possibilities of individual and collective action. And she demonstrates how we can build on positive trends to work toward a sustainable and just future, before it’s too late. Praise for Hope Matters “Whether you consider yourself a passionate ally of nature, a busy bystander, or anything in between, this book will uplift your spirits, helping you find hope in the face of climate crisis.” —Veronica Joyce Lin, North American Association for Environmental Education “30 Under 30” “A tonic in hard times.” —Claudia Dreyguis, author of Scientific Conversations: Interviews on Science from the New York Times “Beautifully written and an effective antidote against apathy and inaction.” —Christof Mauch, Director, Rachel Carson Center for the Environment and Society Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.
Download or read book Movement Matters written by Katy Bowman and published by Uphill Books. This book was released on 2016-11-29 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human beings have always moved for what they need until recently. We know how a lack of movement impacts our bodies but how does culture-wide sedentarism impact the world? Movement Matters is an award-winning collection of essays in which biomechanist Katy Bowman continues her groundbreaking presentation on the interconnectedness of nature, human movement, and the environment. Winner: Foreword Indies Book Award (Gold) Here Bowman widens her there is more to movement than exercise message presented in Move Your DNA and invites us to consider this idea: human movement is a part of the ecosystem. Movement Matters explores how we make ourselves, our communities, and our planet healthier all at the same time by moving our bodies more–as well as: How did we become so sedentary? (Hint: Convenience often saves us movement, not time.) the missing movement nutrients in our food how to include more nature in education why ecosystem models need to include human movement the human need for Vitamin Community and group movement Unapologetically direct, often hilarious, and always compassionate, Movement Matters demonstrates that human movement is powerful and important, and that living a movement-filled life is perhaps the most joyful and efficient way to transform your body, community, and world. A must read for exercise teachers, environmentalists, and those wanting simple, accessible ways to take action for a better world.
Download or read book The Serengeti Rules written by Sean B. Carroll and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2024-08-20 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of today's most accomplished biologists and gifted storytellers reveals the rules that regulate all life How does life work? How does nature produce the right numbers of zebras and lions on the African savanna, or fish in the ocean? How do our bodies produce the right numbers of cells in our organs and bloodstream? In The Serengeti Rules, award-winning biologist and author Sean Carroll tells the stories of the pioneering scientists who sought the answers to such simple yet profoundly important questions, and shows how their discoveries matter for our health and the health of the planet we depend upon. One of the most important revelations about the natural world is that everything is regulated—there are rules that regulate the amount of every molecule in our bodies and rules that govern the numbers of every animal and plant in the wild. And the most surprising revelation about the rules that regulate life at such different scales is that they are remarkably similar—there is a common underlying logic of life. Carroll recounts how our deep knowledge of the rules and logic of the human body has spurred the advent of revolutionary life-saving medicines, and makes the compelling case that it is now time to use the Serengeti Rules to heal our ailing planet. Bold and inspiring, The Serengeti Rules illuminates how life works at vastly different scales. Read it and you will never look at the world the same way again.
Download or read book Nature matters in conversation written by The Open University and published by The Open University. This book was released on with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 12-hour free course looked at where responsibility lies in matters of conservation and what should now constitute the primary focus of attention.
Download or read book Why Human Nature Matters written by Matteo Mameli and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-01-11 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does human nature constrain social and political change, or do social and political changes transform human nature? Why Human Nature Matters argues that the answer to both questions is 'yes'. This philosophical account offers new tools for connecting biological and political perspectives on humanity. The focus is on the construction of human relations and environments, and on the complex materiality of these transformations. The structure and history of the philosophical and scientific debates on human nature show that political praxis and ideas about human nature interact in a variety of ways. Ideas about human nature affect how people live their lives, organize their societies, and imagine their futures. The book explores these processes and their implications for the present state of our species. Appeals to human nature can uphold the status quo or advocate for change, and they can be wielded for exclusion or inclusion. The book proposes ways of thinking about human nature that stress the importance of diversity, plasticity, cooperation, and freedom.
Download or read book Nature matters systems thinking and experts written by The Open University and published by The Open University. This book was released on with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 15-hour free course explored the conceptual tools that can be applied to the question of what matters. The notion of 'framing' was introduced.
Download or read book Nature matters caring and accountability written by The Open University and published by The Open University. This book was released on with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 15-hour free course considered the question of environmental responsibility from the perspectives of caring and accountability.
Download or read book The Future of Nature written by Libby Robin and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-22 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology provides an historical overview of the scientific ideas behind environmental prediction and how, as predictions about environmental change have been taken more seriously and widely, they have affected politics, policy, and public perception. Through an array of texts and commentaries that examine the themes of progress, population, environment, biodiversity and sustainability from a global perspective, it explores the meaning of the future in the twenty-first century. Providing access and reference points to the origins and development of key disciplines and methods, it will encourage policy makers, professionals, and students to reflect on the roots of their own theories and practices.
Download or read book Modes of Thought written by Alfred North Whitehead and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1938 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modes of Thought was written 20 years ago from lectures delivered by Whitehead at Wellesley, the University of Chicago, and Harvard. In it Whitehead developed the brilliant new concepts of clarity and precision of statement which have since become fundamental principles of construction underlying all of the fields of modern intellectual analysis.
Download or read book Oxford Textbook of Nature and Public Health written by Matilda van den Bosch and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-05 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human beings have always been affected by their surroundings. There are various health benefits linked to being able to access to nature; including increased physical activity, stress recovery, and the stimulation of child cognitive development. The Oxford Textbook of Nature and Public Health provides a broad and inclusive picture of the relationship between our own health and the natural environment. All aspects of this unique relationship are covered, ranging from disease prevention through physical activity in green spaces to innovative ecosystem services, such as climate change adaptation by urban trees. Potential hazardous consequences are also discussed including natural disasters, vector-borne pathogens, and allergies. This book analyses the complexity of our human interaction with nature and includes sections for example epigenetics, stress physiology, and impact assessments. These topics are all interconnected and fundamental for reaching a full understanding of the role of nature in public health and wellbeing. Much of the recent literature on environmental health has primarily described potential threats from our natural surroundings. The Oxford Textbook of Nature and Public Health instead focuses on how nature can positively impact our health and wellbeing, and how much we risk losing by destroying it. The all-inclusive approach provides a comprehensive and complete coverage of the role of nature in public health, making this textbook invaluable reading for health professionals, students, and researchers within public health, environmental health, and complementary medicine.
Download or read book Colors of Nature written by Alison H. Deming and published by Milkweed Editions. This book was released on 2011-02-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An anthology of nature writing by people of color, providing deeply personal connections to—or disconnects from—nature.” —NPR From African American to Asian American, indigenous to immigrant, “multiracial” to “mixed-blood,” the diversity of cultures in this world is matched only by the diversity of stories explaining our cultural origins: stories of creation and destruction, displacement and heartbreak, hope and mystery. With writing from Jamaica Kincaid on the fallacies of national myths, Yusef Komunyakaa connecting the toxic legacy of his hometown, Bogalusa, LA, to a blind faith in capitalism, and bell hooks relating the quashing of multiculturalism to the destruction of nature that is considered “unpredictable”—among more than thirty-five other examinations of the relationship between culture and nature—this collection points toward the trouble of ignoring our cultural heritage, but also reveals how opening our eyes and our minds might provide a more livable future. Contributors: Elmaz Abinader, Faith Adiele, Francisco X. Alarcón, Fred Arroyo, Kimberly Blaeser, Joseph Bruchac, Robert D. Bullard, Debra Kang Dean, Camille Dungy, Nikky Finney, Ray Gonzalez, Kimiko Hahn, bell hooks, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Pualani Kanaka’ole Kanahele, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Jamaica Kincaid, Yusef Komunyakaa, J. Drew Lanham, David Mas Masumoto, Maria Melendez, Thyllias Moss, Gary Paul Nabhan, Nalini Nadkarni, Melissa Nelson, Jennifer Oladipo, Louis Owens, Enrique Salmon, Aileen Suzara, A. J. Verdelle, Gerald Vizenor, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Al Young, Ofelia Zepeda “This notable anthology assembles thinkers and writers with firsthand experience or insight on how economic and racial inequalities affect a person’s understanding of nature . . . an illuminating read.” —Bloomsbury Review “[An] unprecedented and invaluable collection.” —Booklist
Download or read book Natural Capital written by Dieter Helm and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-12 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural capital is what nature provides to us for free. Renewables—like species—keep on coming, provided we do not drive them towards extinction. Non-renewables—like oil and gas—can only be used once. Together, they are the foundation that ensures our survival and well-being, and the basis of all economic activity. In the face of the global, local, and national destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems, economist Dieter Helm here offers a crucial set of strategies for establishing natural capital policy that is balanced, economically sustainable, and politically viable. Helm shows why the commonly held view that environmental protection poses obstacles to economic progress is false, and he explains why the environment must be at the very core of economic planning. He presents the first real attempt to calibrate, measure, and value natural capital from an economic perspective and goes on to outline a stable new framework for sustainable growth. Bristling with ideas of immediate global relevance, Helm’s book shifts the parameters of current environmental debate. As inspiring as his trailblazing The Carbon Crunch, this volume will be essential reading for anyone concerned with reversing the headlong destruction of our environment.
Download or read book The End of Nature written by Bill McKibben and published by Random House. This book was released on 2014-09-03 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reissued on the tenth anniversary of its publication, this classic work on our environmental crisis features a new introduction by the author, reviewing both the progress and ground lost in the fight to save the earth. This impassioned plea for radical and life-renewing change is today still considered a groundbreaking work in environmental studies. McKibben's argument that the survival of the globe is dependent on a fundamental, philosophical shift in the way we relate to nature is more relevant than ever. McKibben writes of our earth's environmental cataclysm, addressing such core issues as the greenhouse effect, acid rain, and the depletion of the ozone layer. His new introduction addresses some of the latest environmental issues that have risen during the 1990s. The book also includes an invaluable new appendix of facts and figures that surveys the progress of the environmental movement. More than simply a handbook for survival or a doomsday catalog of scientific prediction, this classic, soulful lament on Nature is required reading for nature enthusiasts, activists, and concerned citizens alike.
Download or read book How Nature Matters written by Simon P. James and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-07-28 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HOW NATURE MATTERS presents an original theory of nature's value based on part—whole relations. James argues that when natural things have cultural value, they do not always have it as means to valuable ends. In many cases, they have value as parts of valuable wholes — as parts of traditions, for instance, or cultural identities. James develops his theory by investigating twelve real-world cases, ranging from the veneration of sacred trees to the hunting of dugongs. He also analyses some key policy-related debates and explores various fundamental issues in environmental philosophy, including the question of whether anything on earth qualifies as natural. This accessible, engagingly written book will be essential reading for all those who wish to understand the moral and metaphysical dimensions of environmental issues.
Download or read book Nature s Best Hope written by Douglas W. Tallamy and published by Timber Press. This book was released on 2020-02-04 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Tallamy lays out all you need to know to participate in one of the great conservation projects of our time. Read it and get started!” —Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction Douglas W. Tallamy’s first book, Bringing Nature Home, awakened thousands of readers to an urgent situation: wildlife populations are in decline because the native plants they depend on are fast disappearing. His solution? Plant more natives. In this new book, Tallamy takes the next step and outlines his vision for a grassroots approach to conservation. Nature’s Best Hope shows how homeowners everywhere can turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats. Because this approach relies on the initiatives of private individuals, it is immune from the whims of government policy. Even more important, it’s practical, effective, and easy—you will walk away with specific suggestions you can incorporate into your own yard. If you’re concerned about doing something good for the environment, Nature’s Best Hope is the blueprint you need. By acting now, you can help preserve our precious wildlife—and the planet—for future generations.
