Exceptional Women Environmentalists

Exceptional Women Environmentalists
Author: Frances Rooney
Publisher: Second Story Press
Total Pages: 124
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1926739183

From Rachel Carson, the woman who started the modern environmental movement, to Severn Cullis-Suzuki, former host of Suzuki's Nature Quest, to Marina Silva, who fights to keep the Brazilian rain forest from disappearing, read about these ten amazing women who prove how ordinary people can do extraordinary things. While the threat of environmental crises becomes more dominant in the media and popular culture, these trailblazing women have taken action to make a vital difference for our planet.

Rachel Carson and Her Sisters

Rachel Carson and Her Sisters
Author: Robert K Musil
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2014-04-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0813571766

In Rachel Carson and Her Sisters, Robert K. Musil redefines the achievements and legacy of environmental pioneer and scientist Rachel Carson, linking her work to a wide network of American women activists and writers and introducing her to a new, contemporary audience.Rachel Carson was the first American to combine two longstanding, but separate strands of American environmentalism—the love of nature and a concern for human health. Widely known for her 1962 best-seller, Silent Spring, Carson is today often perceived as a solitary “great woman,” whose work single-handedly launched a modern environmental movement. But as Musil demonstrates, Carson’s life’s work drew upon and was supported by already existing movements, many led by women, in conservation and public health. On the fiftieth anniversary of her death, this book helps underscore Carson’s enduring environmental legacy and brings to life the achievements of women writers and advocates, such as Ellen Swallow Richards, Dr. Alice Hamilton, Terry Tempest Williams, Sandra Steingraber, Devra Davis, and Theo Colborn, all of whom overcame obstacles to build and lead the modern American environmental movement.

Planet Savers

Planet Savers
Author: Kevin Desmond
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2017-09-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1351280309

Protecting the planet is everyone's work. But we all have our own heroes in whatever area we are working. Planet Savers brings together the varied stories of the hundreds of movers and shakers that have spoken up throughout history and taken action to defend the world from pollution, deforestation, species loss and climate change. From Theodore Roosevelt to Al Gore; from Francis of Assisi to David Attenborough – and from hundreds more men and women that you will know little, if anything, about. Scientists, artists, business people, priests, lawyers, poets, politicians, activists and more, from every continent of the world. Their work has enthused us about the natural world and warned us that we must do much more to preserve it. The Indian woman who became the world's first environmental martyr; the Baptist Reverend who asked "What Would Jesus Drive?"; the Quaker big game hunter who set up the first conservation organisation; the Shakespearian actor who revolutionised organic gardening; and the housewife whose campaign against toxic waste forced a President to act. The book is a cornucopia of people who from time immemorial have put their careers, reputations and lives on the line to protect our planet from its governing inhabitants – the human race. Today, as thousands of species of animals and plants are faced with extinction, thousands of years of indigenous knowledge is lost in the face of technological advance, and we become more and more aware of the potential doomsday scenario of a warming world, we need Planet Savers more than ever. Our inspiration can be the 301 environmental lives portrayed in this book. These people cared enough to do something about it. Planet Savers is both a tribute and a catalyst: a tribute to the people that loved the planet enough to want to act to save it, and a catalyst for the people who will be inspired to act after reading it. New Planet Savers are at work right now in rainforests and megacities; in community centres and boardrooms; at road protests and in courtrooms, all over the world. If this book has one great aim it is to inspire you, the reader, to join them. It is a book that every home should own.

Citizen Environmentalists

Citizen Environmentalists
Author: James Longhurst
Publisher: UPNE
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2012-06-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1584659114

A telling look at the lives and strategies of women environmental activists in the long 1960s, solidly grounded in a national context

Marjorie Harris Carr

Marjorie Harris Carr
Author: Peggy Macdonald
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2014-03-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0813047552

Marjorie Harris Carr (1915-1997) is best known for leading the fight against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Cross Florida Barge Canal. In this first full-length biography, Peggy Macdonald corrects many long-held misapprehensions about the self-described “housewife from Micanopy,” who struggled to balance career and family with her husband, Archie Carr, a pioneering conservation biologist. Born in Boston, Carr grew up in southwest Florida, exploring marshes and waterways and observing firsthand the impact of unchecked development on the state’s flora and fauna. Macdonald’s work depicts a determined woman and Phi Beta Kappa scholar who earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in zoology only to see her career thwarted by institutionalized gender discrimination. Carr launched her conservation career in the 1950s while raising five children and eventually became one of the century’s leading environmental activists. A series of ecological catastrophes in the 1960s placed Florida in the vanguard of the burgeoning environmental revolution as the nation’s developing eco-consciousness ushered in a wave of revolutionary legislation. With Carr serving as one of the most effective leaders of a powerful contingent of citizen activists who opposed dredging a canal across the state, “Free the Ocklawaha” became a rallying cry for environmentalists throughout the country. Marjorie Harris Carr is an intimate look at this remarkable woman who dedicated her life to conserving Florida’s wildlife and wild places. It is also a revelation of how the grassroots battle to save a small but vitally important river in central Florida transformed the modern environmental movement.

The Green Belt Movement

The Green Belt Movement
Author: Wangari Maathai
Publisher: Lantern Books
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2003
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781590560402

Wangari Maathai, founder of The Green Belt Movement, tells its story including the philosophy behind it, its challenges, and objectives.

Green Illusions

Green Illusions
Author: Ozzie Zehner
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 462
Release: 2012
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0803243367

We don’t have an energy crisis. We have a consumption crisis. And this book, which takes aim at cherished assumptions regarding energy, offers refreshingly straight talk about what’s wrong with the way we think and talk about the problem. Though we generally believe we can solve environmental problems with more energy—more solar cells, wind turbines, and biofuels—alternative technologies come with their own side effects and limitations. How, for instance, do solar cells cause harm? Why can’t engineers solve wind power’s biggest obstacle? Why won’t contraception solve the problem of overpopulation lying at the heart of our concerns about energy, and what will? This practical, environmentally informed, and lucid book persuasively argues for a change of perspective. If consumption is the problem, as Ozzie Zehner suggests, then we need to shift our focus from suspect alternative energies to improving social and political fundamentals: walkable communities, improved consumption, enlightened governance, and, most notably, women’s rights. The dozens of first steps he offers are surprisingly straightforward. For instance, he introduces a simple sticker that promises a greater impact than all of the nation’s solar cells. He uncovers why carbon taxes won’t solve our energy challenges (and presents two taxes that could). Finally, he explores how future environmentalists will focus on similarly fresh alternatives that are affordable, clean, and can actually improve our well-being. Watch a book trailer.

Guardians of the Planet

Guardians of the Planet
Author: Clive Gifford
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2020-11-10
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1438089619

Encourage children to engage with environmental problems and inspire them to take care of our planet! This book will help readers gain love and appreciation for our home and all who live here. It offers information on pollution, extinction, climate change, and ways to help and feel hopeful! Parents, teachers, and gift givers will find: the perfect book for Earth Day! a perfect choice for kids who love nature books! great homeschool material Kids can learn how to become keepers of the coasts, friends of the forests, home heroes and much more through a mix of compelling facts, creative activities and proactive tips. Key environmental topics are clearly explained, and the easy-to-follow projects and suggestions help to put the issues in an everyday context. From recycling and composting food to reducing water waste and giving wildlife a helping hand!

The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom

The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom
Author: Erik Nordman
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2021-07-08
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1642831557

In the 1970s, the accepted environmental thinking was that overpopulation was destroying the earth. Prominent economists and environmentalists agreed that the only way to stem the tide was to impose restrictions on how we used resources, such as land, water, and fish, from either the free market or the government. This notion was upended by Elinor Ostrom, whose work to show that regular people could sustainably manage their community resources eventually won her the Nobel Prize. Ostrom’s revolutionary proposition fundamentally changed the way we think about environmental governance. In The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom, author Erik Nordman brings to life Ostrom’s brilliant mind. Half a century ago, she was rejected from doctoral programs because she was a woman; in 2009, she became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics. Her research challenged the long-held dogma championed by Garrett Hardin in his famous 1968 essay, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” which argued that only market forces or government regulation can prevent the degradation of common pool resources. The concept of the “Tragedy of the Commons” was built on scarcity and the assumption that individuals only act out of self-interest. Ostrom’s research proved that people can and do act in collective interest, coming from a place of shared abundance. Ostrom’s ideas about common resources have played out around the world, from Maine lobster fisheries, to ancient waterways in Spain, to taxicabs in Nairobi. In writing The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom, Nordman traveled extensively to interview community leaders and stakeholders who have spearheaded innovative resource-sharing systems, some new, some centuries old. Through expressing Ostrom’s ideas and research, he also reveals the remarkable story of her life. Ostrom broke barriers at a time when women were regularly excluded from academia and her research challenged conventional thinking. Elinor Ostrom proved that regular people can come together to act sustainably—if we let them. This message of shared collective action is more relevant than ever for solving today’s most pressing environmental problems.

Apocalypse Never

Apocalypse Never
Author: Michael Shellenberger
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2020-06-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0063001705

Now a National Bestseller! Climate change is real but it’s not the end of the world. It is not even our most serious environmental problem. Michael Shellenberger has been fighting for a greener planet for decades. He helped save the world’s last unprotected redwoods. He co-created the predecessor to today’s Green New Deal. And he led a successful effort by climate scientists and activists to keep nuclear plants operating, preventing a spike of emissions. But in 2019, as some claimed “billions of people are going to die,” contributing to rising anxiety, including among adolescents, Shellenberger decided that, as a lifelong environmental activist, leading energy expert, and father of a teenage daughter, he needed to speak out to separate science from fiction. Despite decades of news media attention, many remain ignorant of basic facts. Carbon emissions peaked and have been declining in most developed nations for over a decade. Deaths from extreme weather, even in poor nations, declined 80 percent over the last four decades. And the risk of Earth warming to very high temperatures is increasingly unlikely thanks to slowing population growth and abundant natural gas. Curiously, the people who are the most alarmist about the problems also tend to oppose the obvious solutions. What’s really behind the rise of apocalyptic environmentalism? There are powerful financial interests. There are desires for status and power. But most of all there is a desire among supposedly secular people for transcendence. This spiritual impulse can be natural and healthy. But in preaching fear without love, and guilt without redemption, the new religion is failing to satisfy our deepest psychological and existential needs.