World Resources Institute
World Resources Institute. One of the most impressive of all the global institutions largely for the quality of its research and database. It started with the World Resources series which, when it was new in the mid 1980s was one of the best sources for data, gathering material from the best research around the world. This continues today through its online database – Earthtrends.
Worldwatch Institute
Worldwatch Institute was founded in 1974. Since that time it’s made its name dealing with global issues and focussing on sustainable development. The main part of its work has been the publication of State of the World series, a biennial roundup of key global issues. The latest is the 2012 volume which focusses on the idea of sustainable prosperity.
Urban Ecology
Rating: Kevin J Gaston. (ed). 20120. Urban Ecology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978 0 521 74349 5. Since, as the author asserts, this is the ‘urban century’ it follows that urban ecology should be a flourishing sub-discipline. It might be that ‘real’ ecologists study ‘real’ i.e. wild places but the increasing impact of the human population and the general growth of urbanisation makes this problematic on two levels. Firstly, we cannot appreciate the impact of urban areas unless we can […]
Principles of Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology
Rating: F Stuart Chapin III, Pamela A Matson and Peter M Vitousek. 2011. Principles of Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology 2e. Springer. ISBN 978 1 4419 9502 5 “Humans have directly modified half of the ice-free terrestrial surface and use 40% of terrestrial production. We are causing the sixth major extinction event in the history of life on Earth…” If you’re going to justify any text, that is probably the most focussing! Taken from the back cover information, this quote very much […]
The Renewable Revolution
Rating: Sajad Kamal. 2011. The Renewable Revolution. Earthscan. ISBN 978 1 84971 195 1. It must be admitted that any text with a sub-title like ‘how we can fight climate change, prevent energy wars, revitalise the economy and transition to a sustainable future’ is going to have an uphill battle convincing many readers that it’s a serious text. However, these are difficult times and although the signs of climate change etc. were seen by many scientists over 30 years ago […]
State of the World 2010-2011
Rating: Worldwatch Institute: State of the World 2010. Earthscan. ISBN 978 1 84971 054 1 State of the World 2011. Earthscan. ISBN 987 1 84971 352 8 There are few more reliable annual guides to the environment than The Worldwatch Institute’s “State of the World” series. This review looks at the two most recent State of the World 2010 and State of the World 2011.Since their inception in 1994, these annual reports have set the benchmark for environmental analysis not […]
