Our Environment

A back-to-basics overview of our environment

Explore the water, land, and air around us with this entertaining and informative look at our magnificent planet—and learn how your experiments, activities, and everyday actions can help save the environment. This book looks at the wide variety of ecosystems and environmental regions of the Earth, from deserts and forests, to cities and farms, to oceans and ice caps, as well as the atmosphere, weather, energy sources, plants, and animals of each area. Michael Driscoll and professor of meteorology Dennis Driscoll explain the changes to our planet that are currently taking place, including rising temperatures and sea levels, and the effects they can have on our environment. They also profile young environmental activists like Greta Thunberg and Isra Hirsi, and highlight important, everyday actions such as water conversion and recycling that kids can do on their own or with their parents. Also included are fun projects and experiments to do at home like brewing sun tea, creating lightning, and making a smog detector. Packed with facts, experiments, and a removable poster with tips on how to save the planet, this comprehensive guide will inspire kids and their families to think about our planet in new ways and help keep it beautiful and healthy for years to come.

This inspiring book presents the true stories of 12 people from across North America who have done great things for the environment. Heroes include a teenage girl who figured out how to remove an industrial pollutant from the Ohio River, a Mexican superstar wrestler who works to protect turtles and whales, and a teenage boy from Rhode Island who helped his community and his state develop effective e-waste recycling programs. Plenty of photographs and illustrations bring each compelling story vividly to life.

This 2nd edition of Understanding Our Environment has been reworked and greatly updated, providing a modern introductory level text for students of pollution and environmental chemistry. The book describes the basic concepts in relation to the chemistry of the atmosphere, freshwaters, oceans and soils, as well as the ways in which pollutants behave in these media (exemplified by case studies based upon topical environmental problems). It also examines the transfer of pollutants between different environmental compartments, the monitoring of the environment, the ecological and human health effects of chemical pollution, economics and regulatory control. Again case studies are used throughout. This unique introductory text is essential reading for students on undergraduate and first year postgraduate courses dealing with pollution and environmental chemistry, as well as for scientists and engineers in industry, public service and consultancy who require a basic understanding of environmental processes.

Environment has become one of the major concerns of today’s life. In the urban areas especially in metropolitan cities, pollution is found in various forms. Air-pollution, water-pollution, sound-pollution and chemical-pollution are the issues that create a lot of health problems. Keeping in view the importance of environment almost all the education boards, universities and institutions have included environmental studies as one of the subjects of study. To provide the broad knowledge of Environmental studies, Dr. R.S. Shrivastava has developed very systematic contents not only to students but also to general readers. Bio-chemical cycle, Bio-Geo chemical cycle, Solid Waste Management, Plastic Waste Management, Genetically Engineered Foods, Water Wars in 21st century, Ecological Globalization, Narmada Dam Projects, Neem– the wonder tree, and ‘B’ Urja for Rural Development are the highlights of the book. Tabulation, charting and figure works make the book very appealing.

We rely on willpower to create change in our lives...but what if we're thinking about it all wrong? In Willpower Doesn't Work, Benjamin Hardy explains that willpower is nothing more than a dangerous fad-one that is bound to lead to failure. Instead of "white-knuckling" your way to change, you need to instead alter your surroundings to support your goals. This book shows you how. The world around us is fast-paced, confusing, and full of distractions. It's easy to lose focus on what you want to achieve, and your willpower won't last long if your environment is in conflict with your goals--eventually, the environment will win out. Willpower Doesn't Work is the needed guided for today's over-stimulating and addicting environment. Willpower Doesn't Work will specifically teach you: How to make the biggest decisions of your life--and why those decisions must be made in specific settings How to create a daily "sacred" environment to live your life with intention, and not get sucked into the cultural addictions How to invest big in yourself to upgrade your environment and mindset How to put "forcing functions" in your life--so your default behaviors are precisely what you want them to be How to quickly put yourself in proximity to the most successful people in the world--and how to adapt their knowledge and skills to yourself even quicker How to create an environment where endless creativity and boundless productivity is the norm Benjamin Hardy will show you that nurture is far more powerful than your nature, and teach you how to create and control your environment so your environment will not create and control you.

What on Earth? The Environment is a simple first introduction to the environment – the air, soil, water, plants and animals. How do we as humans slot into the natural world around us and how do our actions affect the environment? What on Earth can we do about it? The book contains three different types of pages: Explore, Investigate and Create. This structure provides a child-led and hands-on way for children to learn about the world around them. Create pages consist of fun crafts and activities to give children a chance to play and have fun while learning.

The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.

Significant changes in how the world approaches global environmental problems have occurred since the late 1970s. Countries have become increasingly aware of the "borderless" nature of environmental issues, i.e., that production and consumption in one country can spill over to affect another country's environment. Protecting Our Environment considers the successes that have been achieved in the European Union (EU), as well as issues the Union still faces regarding the protection of the environment in the future. Authors Janet R. Hunter and Zachary A. Smith identify the factors that have allowed the EU to form a successful environmental regime, including the development of the environmental management approach and the principles upon which it is based. They examine in detail the challenges that have been encountered in the implementation of environmental programs, and the solutions that have been developed to address those challenges. Also considered is how economic development and environmental protection have been reconciled within the EU. By analyzing the successful example of the EU, Protecting Our Environment provides a model for a contemporary approach to global environmental problems.