Books

Stuart Chape

This is the thirteenth list produced by the United Nations since 1962, and the first version to attempt a comprehensive presentation of all the world's known protected areas. The introductory text presents an analysis and the accompanying CD...

44 pages
8 x 10

30 Animals That Made Us Smarter by Patrick Aryee | An Island Press book
Stories of the Natural World That Inspired Human Ingenuity

Did you know that mosquitoes’ mouthparts are helping to develop pain-free surgical needles? Who'd have thought that the humble mussel could inspire so many useful things, from plywood production to a “glue” that can cement...

384 pages
6 x 9
42 illustrations

5 Easy Pieces
The Impact of Fisheries on Marine Ecosystems

5 Easy Pieces features five contributions, originally published in Nature and Science, demonstrating the massive impacts of modern industrial fisheries on marine ecosystems. Initially published over an eight-year period...

208 pages
7 x 10
38 illustrations

A Healthy Nature Handbook Edited by Justin Pepper and Don Parker | An Island Press book
Illustrated Insights for Ecological Restoration from Volunteer Stewards of Chicago Wilderness

The Chicago metropolitan area is home to far more protected nature than most people realize. Over half a million acres of protected land known as the Chicago Wilderness are owned and managed by county forest preserve districts and other public...

168 pages
7 x 10
216 photos and illustrations

Strategies for Responding to Devastating Storms and Rising Seas

“This is a timely book… [It] should be mandatory reading..." — Minnesota Star Tribune More severe storms and rising seas will inexorably push the American coastline inland with profound impact on communities...

408 pages
7 x 10
20 illustrations

A Road Running Southward by Dan Chapman | An Island Press book
Following John Muir's Journey through an Endangered Land

"Engaging hybrid - part lyrical travelogue, part investigative journalism and part jeremiad, all shot through with droll humor." --The Atlanta Journal Constitution In 1867, John Muir set out on foot to explore the...

256 pages
6 x 9
2 illustrations + au photo

A Web Of Connections

One of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century is to develop a means of satisfying the water demands of an ever-expanding human population while at the same time protecting the aquatic ecosystems and ecological services upon which all...

312 pages
6 x 9

Explorations In Collaborative Conservation And The American West

Amid the policy gridlock that characterizes most environmental debates, a new conservation movement has emerged. Known as “collaborative conservation,” it emphasizes local participation, sustainability, and inclusion of the...

256 pages
6 x 9

Act III in Patagonia
People and Wildlife

Patagonia. The name connotes the exotic and a distance that seems nearly mythical. Tucked toward the toe of South America, this largely unsettled landscape is among the most varied and breathtaking in the world-aching in its beauty as it sweeps...

360 pages
6 x 9

Green and Gray Strategies

Stefan Al; Foreword by Edgar Westerhof

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy floods devastated coastal areas in New York and New Jersey. In 2017, Harvey flooded Houston. Today in Miami, even on sunny days, king tides bring fish swimming through the streets in low-lying areas. These types of events...

160 pages
8 x 9
full color, 150 photos and illustrations

Mediterranean Forests

This report is currently available in an electronic format only. To view the report and others published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), please visit...

253 pages
6.5 x 9.2

Tales of Ocean Fragility

ANDREW HURD and JULIE GRIFFIN; Edited by Claudio Campagna, YVONNE SADOVY DE MITCHESON, and NOCOLAS PILCHER

This book is a product of the Marine Conservation Sub-Committee, an advisory body on marine species issues within IUCN. The book features twelve stories of different ocean animals that highlight the latest issues in marine conservation. The tales...

136 pages
8 x 10

An Affair with Africa: Expeditions and Adventures Across a Continent by Alzada Carlisle Kistner | An Island Press book
Expeditions and Adventures Across a Continent

In June 1960, a young faculty wife named Alzada Kistner and her husband David, a promising entomologist, left their 18-month old daughter in the care of relatives and began what was to be a four month scientific expedition in the Belgian Congo....

262 pages
5.5 x 8.25

Strategies for Putting Housing Within Reach (and Keeping it There)

From Los Angeles to Boston and Chicago to Miami, US cities are struggling to address the twin crises of high housing costs and household instability. Debates over the appropriate course of action have been defined by two poles: building more...

280 pages
6 x 9

Edited by Rod East

Although most antelope species still exist in large numbers in sub-Saharan Africa (some in hundreds of thousands), up to three-quarters of the species are in decline. Threats to their survival arise from the rapid growth of human and livestock...

444 pages
5.5 x 7

The Hidden Luddite Tradition in Literature, Art, and Individual Lives

From the cars we drive to the instant messages we receive, from debate about genetically modified foods to astonishing strides in cloning, robotics, and nanotechnology, it would be hard to deny technology's powerful grip on our lives. To stop...

240 pages
6 x 9

The Agile City
Building Well-being and Wealth in an Era of Climate Change

In a very short time America has realized that global warming poses real challenges to the nation's future. The Agile City engages the fundamental question: what to do about it?   Journalist and urban analyst James S. Russell...

312 pages
6 x 9
43 photos

Assessing the Impacts of Fertilizer Use on Food Production and the Environment

Nitrogen is an essential element for plant growth and development and a key agricultural input-but in excess it can lead to a host of problems for human and ecological health. Across the globe, distribution of fertilizer nitrogen is very uneven,...

344 pages
6 x 9

Agroforestry and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Landscapes

Agroforestry -- the practice of integrating trees and other large woody perennials on farms and throughout the agricultural landscape -- is increasingly recognized as a useful and promising strategy that diversifies production for greater social...

575 pages
6 x 9

Rediscovering the Author of A Sand County Almanac

A household icon of the environmental movement, Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) may be the most quoted conservationist in history. A Sand County Almanac has sold millions of copies and Leopold's writings are venerated for their perceptions about...

504 pages
6 x 9
46 photos and illustrations

Rediscovering the Author of A Sand County Almanac

Julianne Lutz Warren; Foreword by Bill McKibben

In 2006, Julianne Lutz Warren (née Newton) asked readers to rediscover one of history’s most renowned conservationists. Aldo Leopold’s Odyssey was hailed by The New York Times as a “biography of...

528 pages
6 x 9
46 photos and illustrations

The Evolutionary Ecology of Exotic Plants, Animals, Microbes, and Interacting Native Species

In Alien Species and Evolution, biologist George W. Cox reviews and synthesizes emerging information on the evolutionary changes that occur in plants, animals, and microbial organisms when they colonize new geographical areas, and on the...

400 pages
6 x 9

The Classic Polar Adventure

When Admiral Richard E. Byrd set out on his second Antarctic expedition in 1934, he was already an international hero for having piloted the first flights over the North and South Poles. His plan for this latest adventure was to spend six months...

310 pages
6 x 9
12 illustrations

Alternative Futures for Changing Landscapes
The Upper San Pedro River Basin In Arizona And Sonora

Leading landscape architect and planner Carl Steinitz has developed an innovative GIS-based simulation modeling strategy that considers the demographic, economic, physical, and environmental processes of an area and projects the consequences to...

200 pages
11 x 8.5

America by Rivers

Photographer and writer Tim Palmer has spent more than 25 years researching and experiencing life on the waterways of the American continent. He has travelled by canoe or raft on more than 300 different rivers, down wide placid streams and rough...

349 pages
6 x 9

Status And Stewardship

Nearly 430 million acres of forests in the United States are privately owned, but the viability, and indeed the very existence, of these forests is increasingly threatened by population growth, sprawling urbanization, and patchwork development...

224 pages
6 x 9

Lessons from North of the Border

The headlines about cities celebrating their resurgence—with empty nesters and Millennials alike investing in our urban areas, moving away from car dependence, and demanding walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods. But, in reality,...

312 pages
6 x 9
30 illustrations

American Urbanist by Richard K. Rein | An Island Press book
How William H. Whyte's Unconventional Wisdom Reshaped Public Life

On an otherwise normal weekday in the 1980s, commuters on busy Route 1 in central New Jersey noticed an alarming sight: a man in a suit and tie dashing across four lanes of traffic, then scurrying through a narrow underpass as cars whizzed by...

352 pages
6 x 9
14 photos

Elliott A. Norse and The Wilderness Society; Foreword by Peter H. Raven

Ancient Forests of the Pacific Northwest provides a global context for what is happening in the Pacific Northwest, analyzing the remaining ancient forest and the threats to it from atmospheric changes and logging. It shows how human...

344 pages
6 x 9

Efforts to conserve wildlife populations and preserve biological diversity are often hampered by an inadequate understanding of animal behavior. How do animals react to gaps in forested lands, or to sport hunters? Do individual differences...

322 pages
6 x 9

Apollo's Fire
Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy ignited America’s Apollo Project and sparked a revolution in space exploration. Today the New Apollo Energy Project is poised to revolutionize the production of energy and thereby save our planet. The...

416 pages
6 x 9
19 photos and illustrations

Applications and Diffusion across Disciplines

After a decades-long economic slump, the city of Flint, Michigan, struggled to address chronic issues of toxic water supply, malnutrition, and food security gaps among its residents. A community-engaged research project proposed a resilience...

344 pages
6 x 9
34 illustrations

This report is currently available in an electronic format only. To view the report and others published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), please visit...

106 pages
x

Responsible Practices and Certification

Over the past decade, there has been growing concern among international stakeholders, particularly in Mediterranean countries, about aquaculture product quality, knowledge management, interaction with the environment, technology and systems,...

70 pages
6 x 8.5

Arbitrary Lines by Nolan Gray | An Island Press book
How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It

What if scrapping one flawed policy could bring US cities closer to addressing debilitating housing shortages, stunted growth and innovation, persistent racial and economic segregation, and car-dependent development?   It’s time for...

256 pages
6 x 9
20 illustrations

A Tool for Building Great Neighborhoods

Documents the revival of the traditional architectural pattern book as a means of implementing urban design. From the firm that produced The Urban Design Handbook comes a practical guide to developing and using pattern books—a tradition...

208 pages
8 x 10

The Architecture of Community

Leon Krier is one of the best-known—and most provocative—architects and urban theoreticians in the world. Until now, however, his ideas have circulated mostly among a professional audience of architects, city planners, and academics....

496 pages
6.25 x 10
500 photos and illustrations

Artful Rainwater Design
Creative Ways to Manage Stormwater

Stormwater management as art? Absolutely. Rain is a resource that should be valued and celebrated, not merely treated as an urban design problem—and yet, traditional stormwater treatment methods often range from ugly to forgettable. ...

296 pages
8 x 10
Full color, 220 photos

Assembly Rules and Restoration Ecology
Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice

Understanding how ecosystems are assembled -- how the species that make up a particular biological community arrive in an area, survive, and interact with other species -- is key to successfully restoring degraded ecosystems. Yet little attention...

464 pages
6 x 9

Fumito Koike, Mick N. Clout, Mieko Kawamichi, Maj De Poorter, and Kunio Iwatsuki

Biological invasion, an issue of growing importance due to the significant increase in international transportation and trade, can disturb the balance of local ecosystems and even destroy them. This collection of papers presented at the...

216 pages
8.25 x 11.75

A Report Prepared for the National Climate Assessment

Angela Jardine, Robert Merideth, Mary Black, and Sarah LeRoy; Edited by Gregg Garfin

Prepared for the 2013 National Climate Assessment and a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage, this report blends the contributions of 120 experts in climate science, economics, ecology, engineering, geography, hydrology,...

528 pages
8 x 10

At Road's End
Transportation And Land Use Choices For Communities

At Road's End is a timely guide to a new era of holistic transportation. It presents new models for transportation planning, describes effective strategies for resolving community disputes, and offers inspiration by clearly demonstrating...

182 pages
10 x 8

At the Table: The Chef's Guide to Advocacy by Katherine Miller | An Island Press book
The Chef's Guide to Advocacy

When Katherine Miller was first asked to train chefs to be advocates, she thought the idea was ludicrous. This was a group known for short tempers and tattoos, not for saving the world. But she quickly learned that chefs and other leaders in the...

242 pages
5 x 8
1 au photo

Autonorama | Island Press
The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving

“The foundation has been laid for fully autonomous,” Elon Musk announced in 2016, when he assured the world that Tesla would have a driverless fleet on the road in 2017. “It’s twice as safe as a human, maybe better....

320 pages
5 x 8
8 figures

Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities

Increasing numbers of Americans are fleeing cities and suburbs for the small towns and open spaces that surround national and state parks, wildlife refuges, historic sites, and other public lands. With their scenic beauty and high quality of life...

176 pages
6 x 9

Balancing on the Brink of Extinction
Endangered Species Act And Lessons For The Future

Edited by Kathryn A. Kohm

Balancing on the Brink of Extinction presents a comprehensive overview of the Endangered Species Act -- its conception, history, and potential for protecting the remaining endangered species.

329 pages
6 x 9

Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry by Austin Frerick | An Island Press book
Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry

Austin Frerick; Foreword by Eric Schlosser

“In this eye-opening debut study, Frerick, an agricultural policy fellow at Yale University, reveals the ill-gained stranglehold that a handful of companies have on America’s food economy…It’s a disquieting critique of...

248 pages
6 x 9

In this provocative collection of essays, renowned architect Daniel Solomon delves into the complexities of what makes a city vibrant. Acknowledging that a city is not a static thing, he argues we need to pay more attention to nurturing what he...

68 pages
6 x 9

Edited by Michelle Rodrigues, Steve Unwin, Dominic Travis, Tara Stoinski, Benjamin Beck, and Kristina Walkup

Re-introduction is one tool for conserving great apes and their natural habitats. These guidelines adapt other IUCN documents to pertain specifically to the re-introduction of great apes.

48 pages
8 x 11.5

Bet the Farm by Beth Hoffman | An Island Press book
The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America

“Eloquent and detailed…precise and well-thought-out...Read her book — and listen.” — Jane Smiley, The Washington Post. Beth Hoffman was living the good life: she had a successful career as a...

272 pages
5 x 8
5 figures

Betrayal of Science and Reason
How Anti-Environmental Rhetoric Threatens Our Future

Despite widespread public support for environmental protection, a backlash against environmental policies is developing. Fueled by outright distortions of fact and disregard for the methodology of science, this backlash appears as an outpouring...

348 pages
6 x 9

How to Plan, Run, and Win the Fight for Effective Transit

"Better Buses, Better Cities is likely the best book ever written on improving bus service in the United States." — Randy Shaw, Beyond Chron "The ultimate roadmap for how to make the bus great...

184 pages
6 x 9
20 photos

How To Design And Conduct More Effective Analyses

Environmental policy studies commissioned by government agencies or other stakeholders can play a vital role in environmental decisionmaking; they provide much-needed insight into policy options and specific recommendations for action. But the...

256 pages
6 x 9

Better Trout Habitat
A Guide To Stream Restoration And Management

Montana Land Reliance and Christopher J. Hunter

Better Trout Habitat explains the physical, chemical, and biological needs of trout, and shows how climate, geology, vegetation, and flowing water all help to create trout habitat.

352 pages
6 x 9

A Better Way to Zone: Ten Principles to Create More Livable Cities by Donald L. Elliot | An Island Press book
Ten Principles to Create More Livable Cities

Nearly all large American cities rely on zoning to regulate land use. According to Donald L. Elliott, however, zoning often discourages the very development that bigger cities need and want. In fact, Elliott thinks that zoning has become so...

256 pages
6 x 9
53 photos and illustrations

Record-Setting Recycling And Composting Programs

Beyond 40% is a practical guide for communities trying to solve their solid waste disposal problems.

280 pages
8.5 x 11

Beyond Greenways: The Next Step for Urban Trails and Walking Routes by Robert M. Searns | An Island Press book
The Next Step for City Trails and Walking Routes

If your doorstep were a trailhead, how would you experience your city? With this newfound freedom, you might head in a new direction—walk to a restaurant in an area you’ve never explored, begin to savor your daily walk to work, or set...

246 pages
6 x 9
44 photos and illustrations

Planning Cities for People and Places

Cities across the globe have been designed with a primary goal of moving people around quickly—and the costs are becoming ever more apparent. The consequences are measured in smoggy air basins, sprawling suburbs, unsafe pedestrian...

296 pages
7 x 10

Beyond Naturalness
Rethinking Park and Wilderness Stewardship in an Era of Rapid Change

The central concept guiding the management of parks and wilderness over the past century has been “naturalness”—to a large extent the explicit purpose in establishing these special areas was to keep them in their “natural...

304 pages
6 x 9
17 illustrations

Public Process and the Unlikely Story of California's Marine Protected Areas

In a time when the United States is divided and positive collective action feels out of our grasp, Beyond Polarization tells a story of hope and hard work. That story goes back to 1999, when California passed a landmark piece of...

512 pages
6 x 9
24 illustrations

A Journey Of Discovery In Asia's Forbidden Wilderness

In 1993, Alan Rabinowitz, called "the Indiana Jones" of wildlife science by The New York Times, arrived for the first time in the country of Myanmar, known until 1989 as Burma, uncertain of what to expect. Working under the...

336 pages
6 x 9

A Reader on Population, Consumption and the Environment

Edited by Laurie Ann Mazur; Foreword by Timothy Wirth

Beyond the Numbers presents a thought-provoking series of essays by leading authorities on issues of population and consumption. The essays both define the poles of debate and explore common ground beyond the polarized rhetoric.

Specific...

460 pages
6 x 9

Scouting an Eastern Wildway from the Everglades to Quebec

In 2011, adventurer and conservationist John Davis walked, cycled, skied, canoed, and kayaked on an epic 10-month, 7,600-mile journey that took him from the keys of Florida to a remote seashore in northeastern Quebec. Davis was motivated by a...

240 pages
6 x 9
3 photos, 1 illustration

Part 2: From the Central Appalachians to the Catskill Mountains

This E-ssential is a three-part series that covers John Davis's epic journey from Florida to Maine. In 2011, with support from the Wildlands Network, Davis traveled 7,600 miles in 10 months from Florida to Maine by foot, bicycle, skis, and...

83 pages
6 x 9
13 photos, 1 illustration

Part 1: From the Florida Peninsula to the Coastal Plain

This E-ssential is a three-part series that covers John Davis's epic journey from Florida to Maine. In 2011, with support from the Wildlands Network, Davis traveled 7,600 miles in 10 months from Florida to Maine by foot, bicycle, skis, and...

100 pages
6 x 9
20 illustrations

Part 3: From the Adirondack Mountains to the Gaspé Peninsula

This E-ssential is a three-part series that covers John Davis's epic journey from Florida to Maine. In 2011, with support from the Wildlands Network, Davis traveled 7,600 miles in 10 months from Florida to Maine by foot, bicycle, skis, and...

100 pages
6 x 9
18 photos, 1 illustration

The Unexpected Resurgence of Cycling

Bicycling advocates envision a future in which bikes are a widespread daily form of transportation. While many global cities are seeing the number of bike commuters increase, this future is still far away; at times, urban cycling seems to be...

272 pages
6 x 9
one 8-page color insert, 95 photos

Edited by Francesca Grifo and Joshua Rosenthal; Foreword by Thomas Lovejoy

The implications of biodiversity loss for the global environment have been widely discussed, but only recently has attention been paid to its direct and serious effects on human health. Biodiversity loss affects the spread of human diseases,...

397 pages
6 x 9

Biodiversity and the Law

Edited by William J. Snape

Biodiversity and the Law is a timely and provocative volume that combines historical perspective and cutting-edge legal analysis in an authoritative and broad discussion of biodiversity and the law. Leading legal and policy experts...

286 pages
6 x 9

From Ecosystem Services to Spread of Disease

Biodiversity Change and Human Health brings together leading experts from the natural science and social science realms as well as the medical community to explore the explicit linkages between human-driven alterations of biodiversity and...

320 pages
6 x 9

Implementing the Convention on biological diversity in marine and coastal habitats

Edited by Charlotte De Fontaubert, David R. Downes, and Tundi Agardy

Intended to promote effective application of the biodiversity Convention in coastal and marine environments. It is based in large part on the recommendation of the "Jakarta Mandate" agreed to by the Parties to the Convention at their...

87 pages
x

Biodiversity Planning and Design
Sustainable Practices

How do you measure biodiversity, and why should landscape architects and planners care? What are the essential issues, the clearest terminology, and the most effective methods for biodiversity planning and design? How can they play a role in...

128 pages
8 x 10
One 16-page color insert, 16 illustrations

A Guide to Sustainable Use of Biological Resources

Biodiversity plays an important role in the day-to-day life of a hotel. From the food in the restaurant and wood in furniture and fittings, to the amenities in the spa, the products of biodiversity are everywhere inside hotels. Outside, plants...

126 pages
8 x 9

The Biophilia Hypothesis

"Biophilia" is the term coined by Edward O. Wilson to describe what he believes is humanity's innate affinity for the natural world. In his landmark book Biophilia, he examined how our tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes might...

496 pages
6 x 9
6 illustrations

Integrating Nature into Urban Design and Planning

Tim Beatley has long been a leader in advocating for the "greening" of cities. But too often, he notes, urban greening efforts focus on everything except nature, emphasizing such elements as public transit, renewable energy production,...

208 pages
6 x 9
31 illustrations

Bird Brother | Island Press
A Falconer's Journey and the Healing Power of Wildlife

To escape the tough streets of Southeast Washington, D.C. in the late 1980s, young Rodney Stotts would ride the metro to the Smithsonian National Zoo. There, the bald eagles and other birds of prey captured his imagination for the first time. In...

224 pages
5 x 8
11 photos

Bird Migration and Global Change

Changes in seasonal movements and population dynamics of migratory birds in response to ongoing changes resulting from global climate changes are a topic of great interest to conservation scientists and birdwatchers around the world. Because of...

304 pages
6 x 9
9 illustrations

How Fewer, Smarter Laws Would Make Our Food System More Sustainable

Baylen J. Linnekin; Foreword by Emily Broad Leib

Food waste, hunger, inhumane livestock conditions, disappearing fish stocks—these are exactly the kind of issues we expect food regulations to combat. Yet, today in the United States, laws exist at all levels of government that actually...

280 pages
6 x 9

The Blue Revolution by Nicholas Sullivan | An Island Press book
Hunting, Harvesting, and Farming Seafood in the Information Age

Overfishing. For the world’s oceans, it’s long been a worrisome problem with few answers. Many of the global fish stocks are at a dangerous tipping point, some spiraling toward extinction. But as older fishing fleets retire and new...

272 pages
6 x 9
14 illustrations, 1 au photo

Blue Urbanism
Exploring Connections Between Cities and Oceans

What would it mean to live in cities designed to foster feelings of connectedness to the ocean? As coastal cities begin planning for climate change and rising sea levels, author Timothy Beatley sees opportunities for rethinking the relationship...

216 pages
6 x 9
44 photos, 1 illustration

Uniting Design, Economics, and Policy

Tens of millions of Americans are at risk from sea level rise, increased tidal flooding, and intensifying storms. The design and policy decisions that have shaped coastal areas are in desperate need of updates to help communities better adapt to...

312 pages
6 x 9
35 figures

Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing

Blueprint for Green Affordable Housing is a guide for housing developers, advocates, public agency staff, and the financial community that offers specific guidance on incorporating green building strategies into the design, construction,...

232 pages
8.0 x 10.5

Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing, Revised Edition by Walker Wells and Kimberly Vermeer | An Island Press book

The lack of affordable housing and the climate crisis are two of the most pressing challenges facing cities today. Green affordable housing addresses both by providing housing stability, safety, and financial predictability while constructing and...

240 pages
7 x 10
25 photos, 25 illustrations

Bottled and Sold
The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water

Peter Gleick knows water. A world-renowned scientist and freshwater expert, Gleick is a MacArthur Foundation "genius," and according to the BBC, an environmental visionary. And he drinks from the tap. Why don’t the rest of us?...

232 pages
6 x 9
9 photos and illustrations

Breaking New Ground

Gifford Pinchot

Vigorous, colorful, bold and highly personal, Breaking New Ground is the autobiography of Gifford Pinchot, founder and first chief of the Forest Service. He tells a fascinating tale of his efforts, under President Theodore Roosevelt, to...

542 pages
6 x 9

Bridging Scales and Knowledge Systems
Concepts and Applications in Ecosystem Assessment

Bridging the gap between local knowledge and western science is essential to understanding the world's ecosystems and the ways in which humans interact with and shape those ecosystems. This book brings together a group of world-class scientists...

368 pages
6 x 9

The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence

Stefano Mancuso and Alessandra Viola; Translated by Joan Benham; Foreword by Michael Pollan

Are plants intelligent? Can they solve problems, communicate, and navigate their surroundings? Or are they passive, incapable of independent action or social behavior? Philosophers and scientists have pondered these questions since ancient Greece...

192 pages
5 x 8
20 illustrations

Bring Back the Buffalo!
A Sustainable Future For America's Great Plains

In Bring Back the Buffalo!, Ernest Callenbach argues that the return of the bison is the key to a sustainable future for the Great Plains. Vast stretches of the region have seen a steady decline in population and are ill-suited for...

280 pages
7 x 9

Blueprint for a New Environmentalism

Allen Hershkowitz; Foreword by Maya Lin

"The Bronx Community Paper Company teaches us that we have the power, if we muster the will, creativity, and cooperation, to recover lost pieces of America's environment, return them to good health, protect other lands and resources from being...

200 pages
6 x 9

Build Beyond Zero by Bruce King and Chris Magwood | An Island Press book
New Ideas for Carbon-Smart Architecture

“Net Zero” has been an effective rallying cry for the green building movement, signaling a goal of having every building generate at least as much energy as it uses. Enormous strides have been made in improving the performance of...

280 pages
8.5 x 10
64 photos

Building an Emerald City
A Guide to Creating Green Building Policies and Programs

In 2000, Seattle, Washington, became the first U.S. city to officially adopt the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) “Silver” standards for its own major construction projects. In...

224 pages
8 x 10.5
36 photos and illustrations

Joshua Bishop, SACHIN KAPILA, FRANK HICKS, PAUL MITCHELL, and Frank Vorhies

The challenge of building biodiversity business is not trivial. Biodiversity is still largely neglected by private finance. There is a need to develop new business models and market mechanisms for biodiversity conservation, and to persuade the...

159 pages
8 x 10

Our current food system has decimated rural communities and confined the choices of urban consumers. Even while America continues to ramp up farm production to astounding levels, net farm income is now lower than at the onset of the Great...

304 pages
6 x 9
20 figures

Building for Life
Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection

Sustainable design has made great strides in recent years; unfortunately, it still falls short of fully integrating nature into our built environment. Through a groundbreaking new paradigm of "restorative environmental design," award-winning...

264 pages
7 x 10

No cover image available
Ecosystem-Based Adaptation and Lessons from the Field

Angela Andrade Pйrez, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Bernal Herrera Fernбndez, and Roberto Cazzolla

With climate change now a certainty, the question is how much change there will be and what can be done about it. One of the answers is through adaptation. Many of the lessons that are being learned in adaptation are from success stories from the...

The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality

In car-clogged urban areas across the world, the humble bicycle is enjoying a second life as a legitimate form of transportation. City officials are rediscovering it as a multi-pronged (or -spoked) solution to acute, 21st-century problems,...

240 pages
6.5 x 8.375

The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest

"In the rain forests of the western Amazon," writes author Andrew Revkin, "the threat of violent death hangs in the air like mist after a tropical rain. It is simply a part of the ecosystem, just like the scorpions and snakes...

344 pages
6 x 9

The Handbook For Corporate Action

This handbook provides information on the business case for biodiversity, as well as current biodiversity issues for business, and guidance on corporate biodiversity strategies. The current status of the debate is illustrated by specific case...

56 pages
7 x 10

Analyses And Case Studies

Sustainable Forestry Working Group

In 1996, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation brought together leading experts from business, environmental groups, universities, and foundations to explore the restructuring of the forest products industry into a more sustainable...

353 pages
9 x 11

Menominee Tribal Enterprises Sustainable Forestry To Improve Forest Health And Create Jobs

Catherine M. Mater

"The Menominee Tribe has lived in northeast Wisconsin and on Michigan's Upper Peninsula for generations, where ancestral tribal lands once encompassed more than 10 million acres. Following several treaties and land cessions, the...

19 pages
9 x 11

Cities are the world’s future. Today, more than half of the global population—3.7 billion people—are urban dwellers, and that number is expected to double by 2050. There is no question that cities are growing; the only debate is...

448 pages
6.5 x 8.38
35 photos, 35 illustrations

On November 2, 2011, Richard Alley participated in The National Climate Seminar, a series of webinars sponsored by Bard College’s Center for Environmental Policy. The online seminars provide a forum for leading scientists, writers, and...

23 pages
x

Coexisting with and Conserving North America's Predators

What would it be like to live in a world with no predators roaming our landscapes? Would their elimination, which humans have sought with ever greater urgency in recent times, bring about a pastoral, peaceful human civilization? Or in fact is...

328 pages
6 x 9
15 photos, 28 illustrations

 The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change, Revised Edition by  Yoram Bauman and Grady Klein | An Island Press book

When The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change was first published in 2014, it offered something entirely new: a fun, illustrated guide to a planetary crisis. If that sounds like an oxymoron, you’ve never seen the carbon cycle...

224 pages
7 x 10
illustrations throughout

Getting Past Our Hang-ups to Effective Climate Policy

There's a simple, straightforward way to cut carbon emissions and prevent the most disastrous effects of climate change-and we're rejecting it because of irrational political fears. That's the central argument of The Case for a...

248 pages
6 x 9
3 illustrations

Catastrophe in the Making
The Engineering of Katrina and the Disasters of Tomorrow

When houses are flattened, towns submerged, and people stranded without electricity or even food, we attribute the suffering to “natural disasters” or “acts of God.” But what if they’re neither? What if we, as a...

224 pages
6 x 9
27 photos and illustrations

Challenge of Global Warming

Natural Resources Defense Council; Edited by Dean E. Abrahamson; Foreword by Timothy Wirth

Challenge of Global Warming examines the causes and effects of global climate change.

376 pages
6 x 9

30 years of Modernisation in Rotterdam

Urban renewal plans need to respond to new conditions and requirements, caused by changes in the population and in social structure.   Changing Contexts in Urban Regeneration presents a comprehensive overview of relevant theory, including...

288 pages
6.69 x 9.44

Urbanity, Citizenship, and Ideology in the New European Neighbourhoods

Edited by Frank Eckhardt and Marco Cremaschi

This book investigates the process of change in European neighbourhoods over the last twenty years, both newly and purposely built neighbourhoods and redeveloped ones. It shows that change takes many varied and complex paths, rather than the...

256 pages
6.8 x 9.5

Changing the Boundaries
Women-Centered Perspectives On Population And The Environment

Changing the Boundaries explores gender relations with respect to education, reproductive health services, and agricultural resources -- three factors that are widely recognized as being central to the struggle for gender equity,...

311 pages
6 x 9

Chasing Molecules
Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry

Each day, headlines warn that baby bottles are leaching dangerous chemicals, nonstick pans are causing infertility, and plastic containers are making us fat. What if green chemistry could change all that? What if rather than toxics, our economy...

288 pages
6 x 9

The Struggle to Save Thailand's Wild Cats

In 1987, zoologist Alan Rabinowitz was invited by the Thai government to study leopards, tigers, and other wildlife in the Huai Kha Khaeng valley, one of Southeast Asia's largest and most prized forests. It was hoped his research would help...

264 pages
6 x 9
16 photos and illustrations

The Evolutionary Race Between Agricultural Pests and Poisons

In the race to feed the world’s seven billion people, we are at a standstill. Over the past century, we have developed increasingly potent and sophisticated pesticides, yet in 2014, the average percentage of U.S. crops lost to agricultural...

240 pages
6 x 9
1 illustration

A Guide for Moving from Scarcity to Sustainability

Water scarcity is spreading and intensifying in many regions of the world, with dire consequences for local communities, economies, and freshwater ecosystems. Current approaches tend to rely on policies crafted at the state or national level,...

192 pages
6 x 9
25 illustrations

Proceedings of an international symposium on "The relevance of CBNRM to the conservation and sustainable use of CITES-listed species in exporting countries"

Edited by Max Abensperg-Traun, Dilys Roe, and Colman O'Criodain

This output from a symposium on community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) for the conservation of CITES-listed species aims to provide the necessary knowledge base for broad policy discussions within the European Union on the relevance...

157 pages
8.5 x 11.8

Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems
Principles and Practices

Modern city dwellers are largely detached from the environmental effects of their daily lives. The sources of the water they drink, the food they eat, and the energy they consume are all but invisible, often coming from other continents, and...

296 pages
7 x 10
56 photos and illustrations

Cities for Life by Jason Corburn | An Island Press book
How Communities Can Recover from Trauma and Rebuild for Health

Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) Place Book Award Winner (2022) What if cities around the world actively worked to promote the health and healing of all of their residents? Cities contribute to the traumas that cause...

288 pages
6 x 9
49 figures/photos

Cities for People

Jan Gehl; Foreword by Lord Richard Rogers

For more than forty years Jan Gehl has helped to transform urban environments around the world based on his research into the ways people actually use—or could use—the spaces where they live and work. In this revolutionary book, Gehl...

288 pages
7.5 x 10
483 photos, 41 illustrations

Cities in the Wilderness
A New Vision of Land Use in America

In this brilliant, gracefully written, and important new book, former Secretary of the Interior and Governor of Arizona Bruce Babbitt brings fresh thought--and fresh air--to questions of how we can build a future we want to live in.

We've...

224 pages
6 x 9

City Forward by Matt Enstice with Mike Gluck | An Island Press book
How Innovation Districts Can Embrace Risk and Strengthen Community

Matt Enstice with Mike Gluck

Innovation districts and anchor institutions—like hospitals, universities, and technology hubs—are celebrated for their ability to drive economic growth and employment opportunities. But the benefits often fail to reach the very...

258 pages
6 x 9
2 photos, 1 illustration

City Rules
How Regulations Affect Urban Form

City Rules offers a challenge to students and professionals in urban planning, design, and policy to change the rules of city-building, using regulations to reinvigorate, rather than stifle, our communities. Emily Talen demonstrates that...

256 pages
7 x 10
77 photos, 73 illustrations

The Clean Water Act 20 Years Later

This volume explores the issues associated with the complex subject of water quality protection in an assessment of the successes and failures of the Clean Water Act over the past twenty years. In addition to examining traditional indicators of...

333 pages
6 x 9

A Guide to Creating Low-Carbon, Resilient Communities

Climate change continues to impact our health and safety, the economy, and natural systems.  With climate-related protections and programs under attack at the federal level, it is critical for cities to address climate impacts locally. Every...

384 pages
6 x 9
20 photos, 25 illustrations

Climate and Conservation
Landscape and Seascape Science, Planning, and Action

Climate and Conservation presents case studies from around the world of leading-edge projects focused on climate change adaptation-regional-scale endeavors where scientists, managers, and practitioners are working to protect biodiversity...

392 pages
7 x 10
43 photos and illustrations

On October 5, 2011, L. Hunter Lovins participated in The National Climate Seminar, a series of webinars sponsored by Bard College’s Center for Environmental Policy. The online seminars provide a forum for leading scientists, writers, and...

27 pages
x

Climate Change
The Ipcc Response Strategies

Climate Change is the report of Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and UNEP to address the threat of global warming on an international...

333 pages
8.5 x 11

Technical Report for the U.S. Department of Energy in Support of the National Climate Assessment

Developed to inform the 3rd National Climate Assessment, and a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage and conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, Climate Change and Energy Supply and Use...

86 pages
8 x 10

Technical Report for the U.S. Department of Energy in Support of the National Climate Assessment

Hurricane Irene ruptured a Baltimore sewer main, resulting in 100 million gallons of raw sewage flooding the local watershed. Levee failures during Hurricane Katrina resulted in massive flooding which did not recede for months. With temperatures...

108 pages
8 x 10

Report for the 2012 Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment

Prepared for the 2013 National Climate Assessment and a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage, Climate Change and the Pacific Islands was developed by the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment, a collaborative...

196 pages
8 x 10

Climate Change and U.S. Cities | Island Press
Urban Systems, Sectors, and Prospects for Action

Approximately 80% of the U.S. population now lives in urban metropolitan areas, and this number is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. At the same time, the built infrastructure sustaining these populations has become increasingly...

328 pages
6 x 9
15 figures

A Synthesis Report for the National Climate Assessment

Jerry L. Hatfield, Bidwell, and Daniel Brown; Edited by Julie A. Winkler and Jeffrey A. Andresen

Developed to inform the 2013 National Climate Assessment, and a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage and conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Climate Change in the Midwest...

272 pages
8 x 10
32 illustrations

Climate Change in the Northwest
Implications for Our Landscapes, Waters, and Communities

Edited by Meghan M. Dalton, Philip Mote, and Amy K. Snover

Climate Change in the Northwest: Implications for Our Landscapes, Waters, and Communities is aimed at assessing the state of knowledge about key climate impacts and consequences to various sectors and communities in the northwest United...

270 pages
8 x 10

Pioneering Approaches to Science and Management

Scientists have been warning for years that human activity is heating up the planet and climate change is under way. In the past century, global temperatures have risen an average of 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit, a trend that is expected to only...

408 pages
6 x 9
68 illustrations

A Survey

Questions surrounding the issue of climate change are evolving from "Is it happening?" to "What can be done about it?" The primary obstacles to addressing it at this point are not scientific but political and economic; nonetheless a quick...

584 pages
6 x 9

Variability, Change, Impacts, and Vulnerability

Prepared for the 2013 National Climate Assessment and a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage, Climate of the Southeast United States is the result of a collaboration among three Regional Integrated Sciences and...

342 pages
8 x 10

Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation by Danielle Arigoni | An Island Press book

Climate change is having an immediate and sometimes life-threatening impact, especially for older adults – generally speaking, people 65 or older. Older adults often face mobility, cognitive, and resource challenges, which contribute to a...

236 pages
6 x 9
20 black-and-white illustrations, photographs, line art, and maps

Climate Savvy
Adapting Conservation and Resource Management to a Changing World

Climate change demands a change in how we envision, prioritize, and implement conservation and management of natural resources. Addressing threats posed by climate change cannot be simply an afterthought or an addendum, but must be integrated...

256 pages
7 x 10
60 illustrations

What We Know and What To Do About It

In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize (with former Vice President Al Gore) for its reporting on the human causes of climate change. In 2008, the National Council for Science and the Environment...

336 pages
7 x 10
48 photos and illustrations

Coastal Alert
Energy Ecosystems And Offshore Oil Drilling

Coastal Alert explains how citizens can protect coastal resources from the damaging effects of offshore oil drilling.

140 pages
6 x 9

Coastal Governance

Coastal Governance provides a clear overview of how U.S. coasts are currently managed and explores new approaches that could make our shores healthier. Drawing on recent national assessments, Professor Richard Burroughs explains why traditional...

256 pages
5.5 x 8.75
21 illustrations

A Technical Input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment

Developed to inform the 2013 National Climate Assessment, and a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage and conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Coastal Impacts, Adaptation, and...

216 pages
8 x 10

Coastal Waters of the World
Trends, Threats, and Strategies

Don Hinrichsen; Foreword by Stephen Olsen

Nearly 60% of the world's population lives and works within 100 miles of a coast, and even those who don't are connected to the world's oceans through an intricate drainage of rivers and streams. Ultimately the whole of humankind is coastal.

...

298 pages
7 x 10

Lessons From Greater Yellowstone

As in the rest of the United States, grizzly bears, wolves, and mountain lions in and around Yellowstone National Park were eliminated or reduced decades ago to very low numbers. In recent years, however, populations have begun to recover,...

290 pages
6 x 9

Collaborative Planning for Wetlands and Wildlife
Issues And Examples

Edited by Douglas R. Porter and David Salvesen; Foreword by John De Grove

Collaborative Planning for Wetlands and Wildlife presents numerous case studies that demonstrate how different communities have creatively reconciled problems between developers and environmentalists. It answers questions asked by...

303 pages
6 x 9

Early Years in Modern Conservation Biology

In the early 1970s, the environmental movement was underway. Overpopulation was recognized as a threat to human well-being, and scientists like Michael Soulé believed there was a connection between anthropogenic pressures on natural...

376 pages
6 x 9
14 illustrations

The Coming Democracy
New Rules For Running A New World

National governments are proving ill-equipped to manage an increasingly complicated suite of global problems, from infectious diseases to climate change to conflicts over international trade. In The Coming Democracy, leading political...

272 pages
6 x 9

"When we grasp fully that the best expressions of our humanity were not invented by civilization but by cultures that preceded it, that the natural world is not only a set of constraints but of contexts within which we can more fully...

206 pages
6 x 9

Common Ground on Hostile Turf
Stories from an Environmental Mediator

In our increasingly polarized society, there are constant calls for compromise, for coming together. For many, these are empty talking points—for Lucy Moore, they are a life's work. As an environmental mediator, she has spent the past...

216 pages
6 x 9

An Assessment and Case Studies

National governments and research scientists may be equally concerned with issues of global environmental change, but their interests-and their timelines-are not the same. Governments are often focused on short-term effects and local impacts of...

240 pages
6 x 9

Communicating Nature
How We Create and Understand Environmental Messages

A broader and more comprehensive understanding of how we communicate with each other about the natural world and our relationship to it is essential to solving environmental problems. How do individuals develop beliefs and ideologies about the...

368 pages
6 x 9
7 photos, 6 illustrations

Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals

Whether you are managing wetlands, protecting endangered species, or restoring ecosystems, you need to be able to communicate effectively in order to solve conservation and resource management problems. Communication Skills for Conservation...

480 pages
6 x 9
49 photos and illustrations

Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals

Community and public support are essential to the success of conservation and resource management programs. Often, the level of support received depends on whether or not the goals and importance of the program have been clearly explained to the...

367 pages
6 x 9

Edited by Mark Poffenberger

Second in the series, this Regional Profile focuses on five South Asian countries including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This Profile seeks to explain why and how some of the earth’s poorest people have been able to...

Principles for Design and Planning

Community Character provides a design-oriented system for planning and zoning communities but accounts for how people who participate in a community live, work, and shop there. The relationships that Lane Kendig defines here reflect the...

208 pages
8.5 x 10
197 photos and illustrations

Learning from the Past, Crafting the Future

Across the United States, people are developing new relationships with the forest ecosystems on which they depend, with a common goal of improving the health of the land and the well-being of their communities. Practitioners and supporters of...

264 pages
6 x 9

An Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan, Second Edition

This book introduces community planning as practiced in the United States, focusing on the comprehensive plan. Sometimes known by other names—especially master plan or general plan—the type of plan described here is the predominant...

424 pages
8 x 10.5
37 photos, 58 illustrations

Essential Resources for an Era of Upheaval

Edited by Daniel Lerch

The sustainability challenges of yesterday have become today’s resilience crises. National and global efforts have failed to stop climate change, transition from fossil fuels, and reduce inequality. We must now confront these and other...

336 pages
6 x 9

Compass and Gyroscope
Integrating Science And Politics For The Environment

Kai N. Lee; Foreword by Philip Shabecoff

Using the Columbia River Basin in the Pacific Northwest as a case study, Kai Lee describes the concept and practice of "adaptive management," as he examines the successes and failures of past and present management experiences. Throughout the...

255 pages
6 x 9

The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers in the 21st Century

Compiled by the acknowledged leaders in environmental career information, The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers in the 21st Century is a completely revised and updated edition of what has become the standard reference on the subject...

463 pages
6 x 9

Completing Our Streets
The Transition to Safe and Inclusive Transportation Networks

Across the country, communities are embracing a new and safer way to build streets for everyone—even as they struggle to change decades of rules, practice, and politics that prioritize cars. They have discovered that changing the design of...

224 pages
6 x 9
36 photos, 2 illustrations

Profits, People, Purpose - Doing Business by Respecting the Earth

In 1994, Interface founder and chairman Ray Anderson set an audacious goal for his commercial carpet company:  to take nothingfrom the earth that can’t be replaced by the earth.  Now, in the most inspiring business book of our...

320 pages
6 x 9

Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan

IUCN/SSC Conifer Specialist Group

 Conifers are one of the world's most important resources of timber. If managed wisely and used sustainably, these resources will provide wood for a multitude of purposes, virtually indefinitely. Additional products include resins and...

130 pages
8.5 x 10.8

Harnessing the Power of Networks for Social Impact

Something new and important is afoot. Nonprofit and philanthropic organizations are under increasing pressure to do more and to do better to increase and improve productivity with fewer resources. Social entrepreneurs, community-minded leaders,...

256 pages
6 x 9
13 photos and illustrations

Biodiversity in an Interdependent World

Conservationists have long been aware that political boundaries rarely coincide with natural boundaries. From the establishment of early "peace parks" to the designation of continental migratory pathways, a wide range of transborder...

280 pages
6 x 9

Conservation by Proxy
Indicator, Umbrella, Keystone, Flagship, and Other Surrogate Species

The vast scope of conservation problems has forced biologists and managers to rely on "surrogate" species to serve as shortcuts to guide their decision making. These species-known by a host of different terms, including indicator,...

400 pages
6 x 9
63 illustrations

Conservation Design for Subdivisions
A Practical Guide To Creating Open Space Networks

In most communities, land use regulations are based on a limited model that allows for only one end result: the production of more and more suburbia, composed of endless subdivisions and shopping centers, that ultimately covers every bit of...

203 pages
11 x 8.5

The conservation easement is an effective and flexible technique for land preservation. The Conservation Easement in California, written by California attorneys expert in conservation law for The Trust for Public Land, is an...

186 pages
6 x 9

Conservation for a New Era outlines the critical issues facing us in the 21st century, developed from the results of the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona in October 2008. The landmark publication takes on the pressing issues of today and...

220 pages
6.5 x 9.2
Full color, 43 photos, 12 illustrations

Conservation for a New Generation
Redefining Natural Resources Management

In hundreds of watersheds and communities across the United States, conservation is being reinvented and invigorated by collaborative efforts between federal, state, and local governments working with nongovernmental organizations and private...

336 pages
6 x 9
9 photos, 7 illustrations

How to Plan & Build Natural Infrastructure

It's time to think differently about cities and nature. Understanding how to better connect our cities with the benefits nature provides will be increasingly important as people migrate to cities and flourish in them. All this urban growth,...

280 pages
6 x 9
2 photos, 23 illustrations

Threats And Opportunities

Edited by James N. Levitt; Foreword by Tom Vilsack

Since the earliest days of our nation, new communications and transportation networks have enabled vast changes in how and where Americans live and work. Transcontinental railroads and telegraphs helped to open the West; mass media and...

300 pages
6 x 9

Conservation of Rare or Little-Known Species
Biological, Social, and Economic Considerations

Edited by Martin G. Raphael and Randy Molina; Foreword by Nancy Molina

Some ecosystem management plans established by state and federal agencies have begun to shift their focus away from single-species conservation to a broader goal of protecting a wide range of flora and fauna, including species whose numbers are...

392 pages
6 x 9

Conservation of the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog
Saving North America's Western Grasslands

Edited by John Hoogland

The prairie dog is a colonial, keystone species of the grassland ecosystem of western North America. Myriad animals regularly visit colony-sites to feed on the grass there, to use the burrows for shelter or nesting, or to prey on the prairie dogs...

342 pages
6 x 9

The Conservation Professional's Guide to Working with People

Successful natural resource management is much more than good science; it requires working with landowners, meeting deadlines, securing funding, supervising staff, and cooperating with politicians. The ability to work effectively with people is...

224 pages
6 x 9
1 illustration

The Conservation Program Handbook
A Guide for Local Government Land Acquisition

Between 1996 and 2007, voters approved almost $24 billion for local government park, open space, and other conservation purposes. Despite this substantial sum for land protection, there was at that time no book available to guide officials as...

264 pages
6 x 9
193 photos and illustrations

Conservation Through Cultural Survival
Indigenous Peoples And Protected Areas

Edited by Stanley Stevens

For more than a century the establishment of national parks and protected areas was a major threat to the survival of indigenous people. The creation of parks based on wilderness ideals outlawed traditional ways of life and forced from their...

383 pages
6 x 9

A Comprehensive Multiscaled Approach

While most efforts at biodiversity conservation have focused primarily on protected areas and reserves, the unprotected lands surrounding those area—the "matrix"—are equally important to preserving global biodiversity and...

352 pages
8 x 10

The developed countries, particularly the United States, consume a disproportionate share of the world's resources, yet high and rising levels of consumption do not necessarily lead to greater satisfaction, security, or well-being, even for...

423 pages
6 x 9

Consumption, Culture, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Edited by Roger Rosenblatt

Consider this paradox: Ecologists estimate that it would take three planets Earth to provide an American standard of living to the entire world. Yet it is that standard of living to which the whole world aspires.

In Consuming Desires,...

238 pages
6 x 9

Perspectives From Science And Religion

The combined contributions of science and religion to resolving environmental problems are far greater than each could offer working in isolation. Scientific findings are central to understanding the impact of human populations on the environment...

300 pages
6 x 9

Scientific Foundations Of Regional Reserve Networks

The Wildlands Project is a far-reaching effort by scientists and activists to develop better ways of protecting nature, wilderness, and biodiversity. Its ultimate goal is to establish an effective network of nature reserves throughout North...

238 pages
6 x 9

The Legal and Scientific Implications of Bioprospecting Contracts

Shakeel Bhatti, Tomme Young, Santiago Carrizosa, and Patrick McGuire

Contracts relating to scientific/technical development are effective only where they are enforceable or valid under relevant law, can be practically implemented by the parties, and address matters arising from the relevant scientific/technical...

307 pages
8 x 11.5

Management, Project Delivery, Documentation, and Risk Reduction

Thomas E. Glavinich

Written specifically for contractors, this "how-to" book enables you to meet the challenges of green building construction. You'll discover how constructing environmentally friendly, sustainable buildings influences project management, delivery,...

288 pages
9 x 8

How The Best Businesses Boost Profits And Productivity By Cutting Greenhouse-Gas Emissions

Despite ongoing negotiations, consensus has not yet been reached on what action will be taken to combat global warming. A number of companies have looked beyond the current stalemate to see the prospect of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions not as...

287 pages
6 x 9

Cooler Smarter
Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living

How can each of us live Cooler Smarter? While the routine decisions that shape our days—what to have for dinner, where to shop, how to get to work—may seem small, collectively they have a big effect on global warming. But which...

336 pages
6 x 9
34 photos and illustrations

The Definitive Guide to Global Bicycle Urbanism

The bicycle enjoyed a starring role in urban history over a century ago, but now it is back, stronger than ever. It is the single most important tool for improving our cities. Designing around it is the most efficient way to make our cities ...

296 pages
8 x 9
200 color photographs and figures

Sriyanie Miththapala

Corals are a vital component of marine ecosystems. They provide food and protection for a huge variety of fish and marine life; are crucial to sustaining livelihoods among coastal populations; and a key mechanism for ensuring the protection of...

Cork Oak Woodlands on the Edge
Ecology, Adaptive Management, and Restoration

Cork oak has historically been an important species in the western Mediterranean—ecologically as a canopy or “framework” tree in natural woodlands, and culturally as an economically valuable resource that underpins local...

352 pages
6 x 9
One 16-page color insert, 2 photos, 41 illustrations

Corporation 2020
Transforming Business for Tomorrow's World

There is an emerging consensus that all is not well with today’s market-centric economic model. Although it has delivered wealth over the last half century and pulled millions out of poverty, it is recession-prone, leaves too many...

296 pages
6 x 9
21 photos and illustrations

Essays on Land, Leopold, and Conservation

The last fifteen years have been a period of dramatic change, both in the world at large and within the fields of ecology and conservation. The end of the Cold War, the dot-com boom and bust, the globalizing economy, and the attacks of September...

245 pages
6 x 9

Linking Landscapes for Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Adaptation

Migrating wildlife species across the globe face a dire predicament as their traditional migratory routes are cut off by human encroachment. Forced into smaller and smaller patches of habitat, they must compete more aggressively for dwindling...

368 pages
6 x 9
25 photos, 25 illustrations

Sharing the World with a Successful Predator

The relationship between humans and mountain lions has always been uneasy. A century ago, mountain lions were vilified as a threat to livestock and hunted to the verge of extinction. In recent years, this keystone predator has made a remarkable...

280 pages
6 x 9
48 photos

Addressing the Need for Sectoral, Geographical, Legal, and International Integration

Tomme Young

The most difficult and least addressed ABS implementation issue is that of coverage. On the one hand, the CBD’s ABS provisions appear to give every country full rights over all genetic resources found in the country, even if the exact...

184 pages
8 x 10

The Science Of Ecosytem Management

Edited by Kathryn A. Kohm and Jerry F. Franklin; Foreword by Jack Ward Thomas

Over the past decade, a sea change has occurred in the field of forestry. A vastly increased understanding of how ecological systems function has transformed the science from one focused on simplifying systems, producing wood, and managing at the...

496 pages
8 x 10
One 16-page color insert

Creating Green Roadways
Integrating Cultural, Natural, and Visual Resources into Transportation

Roads and parking lots in the United States cover more ground than the entire state of Georgia. And while proponents of sustainable transit often focus on getting people off the roads, they will remain at the heart of our transportation systems...

296 pages
8.5 x 10
217 photos, 24 illustrations

Creating Successful Communities
A Guidebook To Growth Management Strategies

Creating Successful Communities is a practical compendium of techniques for effective land use and growth management. It offers a framework for land-use decisionmaking and growth management: techniques for protecting key resources such as...

248 pages
8.5 x 11

Creating Vibrant Public Spaces
Streetscape Design in Commercial and Historic Districts

Public space and street design in commercial districts can dictate the success or failure of walkable community centers. Instead of focusing our efforts on designing new “compact town centers,” many of which are located in the suburbs...

238 pages
7 x 10

A Critique of Silviculture
Managing for Complexity

The discipline of silviculture is at a crossroads. Silviculturists are under increasing pressure to develop practices that sustain the full function and dynamics of forested ecosystems and maintain ecosystem diversity and resilience while still...

208 pages
6 x 9
1 photo, 13 illustrations

Crossing the Next Meridian
Land, Water, and the Future of the West

In Crossing the Next Meridian, Charles F. Wilkinson, an expert on federal public lands, Native American issues, and the West's arcane water laws explains some of the core problems facing the American West now and in the years to come. He...

389 pages
6 x 9

Crossroads
Environmental Priorities For The Future

Edited by Peter Borrelli

The environmental movement today is at a critical crossroads. Crossroads: Environmental Priorities for the Future is an in-depth assessment of the movement's successes and failures, and also offers prescriptions for the future. It includes...

353 pages
6 x 9

Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan for Cracids 2000-2004

IUCN/SSC Cracid Specialist Group

190 pages
8.8 x 11

The Human Case for Fewer Cars in Our Lives

In 2019, mobility experts Melissa and Chris Bruntlett began a new adventure in Delft in the Netherlands. They had packed up their family in Vancouver, BC, and moved to Delft to experience the biking city as residents rather than as visitors. A...

240 pages
6 x 9
50 photos, 5 figures

A Conservation Story from the Bottom of the World

"Makes you feel as if you're part of an engaging dinnertime conversation." —Science News Krill—it’s a familiar word that conjures oceans, whales, and swimming crustaceans. Scientists say they...

216 pages
6 x 9
14 photos, 4 illustrations

A Story of Revival

Anyone who has ever stood on the shores of Monterey Bay, watching the rolling ocean waves and frolicking otters, knows it is a unique place. But even residents on this idyllic California coast may not realize its full history. Monterey began as a...

224 pages
6 x 9
One 8-page color insert, one 8-page B&W insert, 25 illustrations

Death in the Marsh

Selenium, essential in microscopic doses, can be deadly in larger amounts. Death in the Marsh explains how federal irrigation projects have altered selenium's circulation in the environment, allowing it to accumulate in marshes, killing...

259 pages
6 x 9

A Challenge To Ecology And Ethics

The present rate and extent of species extinction -- estimated by some scientists as one species every 20 minutes -- are unprecedented in the history of mankind. Human activities are responsible for nearly all species loss, yet ethical aspects...

424 pages
6 x 9

Defending the Environment
Civil Society Strategies to Enforce International Environmental Law

Defending the Environment provides the means for nongovernmental organizations, community groups, and individuals to bring environmental and public health problems to the attention of international courts, tribunals, and commissions, or to...

384 pages
6 x 9

Defining Sustainable Forestry

Before the transition in forestry can be made from conventional approaches of the past century to the ecosystem approach of the next, a consensus must be reached on the meaning of "sustainable forestry." Defining Sustainable Forestry...

341 pages
6 x 9

An Agenda For Action

Edited by Linda Glover and Sylvia Earle; Foreword by Graeme Kelleher

If humankind were given a mandate to do everything in our power to undermine the earth's functioning, we could hardly do a better job than we have in the past thirty years on the world's oceans, both by what we are putting into it-millions of...

250 pages
8 x 10

Techniques for Collective Creativity

Winner of the Environmental Design Research Association's 2018 Book Award How can we design places that fulfill urgent needs of the community, achieve environmental justice, and inspire long-term stewardship? By bringing community...

344 pages
8 x 10
Full color, 143 photos and illustrations

Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities

A step-by-step guide to more synthetic, holistic, and integrated urban design strategies, Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities is a practical manual to accomplish complex community design decisions and create more green, clean, and...

192 pages
7 x 10

Design for an Empathic World
Reconnecting People, Nature, and Self

Sim Van der Ryn; Foreword by Jason McLennan

Despite an uncertain economy, the market for green building is exploding. The US green building market has expanded dramatically since 2008 and is projected to double in size by 2015 (from $42 billion in construction starts to $135 billion). But...

192 pages
7.25 x 8.25
23 illustrations

A New Era of Architecture for Everyone

"I can't recommend John Cary's book, Design for Good, highly enough. His argument...is clear and revolutionary." —Melinda Gates “That’s what we do really: we do miracles,” said Anne-...

280 pages
8 x 10

Landscape, Land Use, and Natural Resources

John Lyle; Foreword by Joan Woodward

For more than 30 years, John Tillman Lyle (1934-1998) was one of the leading thinkers in the field of ecological design. Design for Human Ecosystems, originally published in 1985, is his classic text that explores methods of designing...

288 pages
8.5 x 11

In the United States, direct energy use in buildings accounts for 39% of carbon dioxide emissions per year—more than any other sector. Buildings contribute to a changing climate and warming of the earth in ways that will significantly...

272 pages
6 x 9
20 photos, 60 illustrations

The Secret to Comfortable Outdoor Space

Robert Brown helps us see that a "thermally comfortable microclimate" is the very foundation of well-designed and well-used outdoor places. Brown argues that as we try to minimize human-induced changes to the climate and reduce our...

192 pages
6 x 9
42 photos and illustrations

The Designer's Atlas of Sustainability

Designing for sustainability is an innovation shaping both the design industry and design education today.Yet architects, product designers, and other key professionals in this new field have so far lacked a resource that addresses their...

240 pages
8 x 10
Full color

A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy

With the effects of climate change already upon us, the need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions is nothing less than urgent. It’s a daunting challenge, but the technologies and strategies to meet it exist today. A small set of energy...

376 pages
6.5 x 8.38
Full color throughout. 60 illustrations

Anyone working in biodiversity conservation or field ecology should understand and utilize the common-sense process of scientific inquiry: observing surroundings, framing questions, answering those questions through well-designed studies, and...

236 pages
8.5 x 11

Designing Greenways
Sustainable Landscapes for Nature and People, Second Edition

How are greenways designed? What situations lead to their genesis, and what examples best illustrate their potential for enhancing communities and the environment? Designing greenways is a key to protecting landscapes, allowing wildlife to move...

288 pages
8.25 x 10.5

Making a city that works for children creates a city that better serves all of its residents across ages and abilities. Yet we have created unsafe street conditions for children in cities around the world. Every day, more than 500 children...

216 pages
8.25 x 10.75
Full color

Designing Suburban Futures
New Models from Build a Better Burb

June Williamson; Foreword by Ellen Dunham-Jones

Suburbs deserve a better, more resilient future. June Williamson shows that suburbs aren't destined to remain filled with strip malls and excess parking lots; they can be reinvigorated through inventive design. Drawing on award-winning design...

160 pages
8 x 10
25 illustrations

Designing Sustainable Communities
Learning From Village Homes

Michael Corbett and Judy Corbett; Foreword by Robert L. Thayer

The movement toward creating more sustainable communities has been growing for decades, and in recent years has gained new prominence with the increasing visibility of planning approaches such as the New Urbanism. Yet there are few examples of...

254 pages
6 x 9

Designing the City
A Guide For Advocates And Public Officials

Written in a clear and engaging style, Designing the City is a practical manual for improving the way communities are planned, designed, and built. It presents a wealth of information on design and decision-making, including advice on how...

210 pages
6 x 9

Meeting Urban Challenges at a New Scale

The US population is estimated to grow by more than 110 million people by 2050, and much of this growth will take place where cities and their suburbs are expanding to meet the suburbs of neighboring cities, creating continuous urban megaregions...

184 pages
6 x 9

Money, Politics, and Poison

One morning in 2000, Dr. Jane Hightower walked into her exam room to find a patient with disturbing symptoms she couldn’t explain. The woman was nauseated, tired, and had difficulty concentrating, but a litany of tests revealed no apparent...

328 pages
6 x 9

Diatoms to Dinosaurs
The Size And Scale Of Living Things

In Diatoms to Dinosaurs, Chris McGowan takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the natural world, and examines life in all its various forms. He imparts the excitement of discovery and the joy of understanding as he demonstrates...

301 pages
7 x 9

Disasters and Democracy
The Politics Of Extreme Natural Events

In recent years, the number of presidential declarations of “major disasters” has skyrocketed. Such declarations make stricken areas eligible for federal emergency relief funds that greatly reduce their costs. But is federalizing the...

344 pages
6 x 9

On the trail of tigers and snow leopards

With their elusive and solitary nature, tigers and snow leopards are a challenge for even the most seasoned field biologists to track and study. Yet scientist and conservation leader Eric Dinerstein began his career in the heart of Nepal’s...

53 pages
6 x 9

Discovering the Unknown Landscape
A History Of America's Wetlands

The rapidly disappearing wetlands that once spread so abundantly across the American continent serve an essential and irreplaceable ecological function. Yet for centuries, Americans have viewed them with disdain. Beginning with the first European...

445 pages
6 x 9

Why We Need Antiracist, Feminist Leadership on Climate and Energy

Jennie C. Stephens; Foreword by Ted Landsmark

The climate crisis is a crisis of leadership. For too long too many leaders have prioritized corporate profits over the public good, exacerbating climate vulnerabilities while reinforcing economic and racial injustice. Transformation to a just,...

200 pages
6 x 9
6 photos

Poverty and Prosperity in Urban America

Who really benefits from urban revival? Cities, from trendy coastal areas to the nation’s heartland, are seeing levels of growth beyond the wildest visions of only a few decades ago. But vast areas in the same cities house thousands of...

344 pages
6 x 9

The Collective Power of Small Actions

Some utopian plans have shaped our cities —from England’s New Towns and Garden Cities to the Haussmann plan for Paris and the L’Enfant plan for Washington, DC. But these grand plans are the exception, and seldom turn out as...

184 pages
5.25 x 8.125
one 4-page color insert, 25 photos

Human Evolution and the Environment

In humanity’s more than 100,000 year history, we have evolved from vulnerable creatures clawing sustenance from Earth to a sophisticated global society manipulating every inch of it. In short, we have become the dominant animal. Why, then,...

440 pages
6.125 x 9.25
41 photos and illustrations

Talking Substance in an Age of Style

When Randy Olson first described his life-changing encounter with an acting teacher in Don’t Be Such a Scientist, it seemed like the world of science was on the cusp of gaining new respect in the public eye. Through his writing,...

248 pages
6 x 9
18 photos and illustrations

Draft International Covenant on Environment and Development

IUCN Commission on Environmental Law

The Draft Covenant is a blueprint for an international framework (or umbrella) agreement consolidating and developing existing legal principles related to environment and development. Since the publication of the second edition in 2000, there...

206 pages
6 x 9

A Practitioner's Guide To Planning For Biodiversity

The Nature Conservancy and Craig Groves; Foreword by Malcolm Hunter

Drafting a Conservation Blueprint lays out for the first time in book form a step-by-step planning process for conserving the biological diversity of entire regions. In an engaging and accessible style, the author explains how to...

404 pages
6 x 9

Dream Play Build by  James Rojas and John Kamp | An Island Press book
Hands-On Community Engagement for Enduring Spaces and Places

The room is dim, the chairs are in perfectly lined rows. The city planner puts up a color-coded diagram of the street improvement project, dreading the inevitable angry responses. Jana loves her community and is glad to be able to attend the...

216 pages
6 x 9
57 figures

Drylands cover 41 percent of the earth’s terrestrial surface. The urgency of and international response to climate change have given a new place to drylands in terms both of their vulnerability to predicted climate change impacts and their...

98 pages
6.8 x 9.8
Full color, 15 photos, 6 illustrations

Earth in Mind
On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect

In Earth in Mind, noted environmental educator David W. Orr focuses not on problems in education, but on the problem of education. Much of what has gone wrong with the world, he argues, is the result of inadequate and misdirected...

240 pages
6 x 9

Rethinking Education on a Changing Planet

Earth education is traditionally confined to specific topics: ecoliteracy, outdoor education, environmental science. But in the coming century, on track to be the warmest in human history, every aspect of human life will be affected by our...

392 pages
6.5 x 8.38
30 photos, 30 illustrations

Eastern Old-Growth Forests
Prospects For Rediscovery And Recovery

Edited by Mary Byrd Davis; Foreword by John Davis

Eastern Old-Growth Forests is the first book devoted exclusively to old growth throughout the East. Authoritative essays from leading experts examine the ecology and characteristics of eastern old growth, explore its history and value --...

399 pages
6 x 9

Environmental Work For A Sustainable World

How can you make a real difference in the world and make a good living at the same time? The ECO Guide to Careers That Make a Difference: Environmental Work for a Sustainable World provides the answer. Developed by The Environmental...

320 pages
7 x 9

Ecoagriculture
Strategies to Feed the World and Save Wild Biodiversity

Future Harvest, Jeffrey A. McNeely, and Sara J. Scherr

Although food-production systems for the world's rural poor typically have had devastating effects on the planet's wealth of genes, species, and ecosystems, that need not be the case in the future. In Ecoagriculture, two of the world's...

352 pages
6 x 9

As world population grows, and more people move to cities and suburbs, they place greater stress on the operating system of our whole planet. But urbanization and increasing densities also present our best opportunity for improving sustainability...

280 pages
8.5 x 10
Full color, 145 photos, 32 illustrations

Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting

While certain ecological problems associated with artificial night lighting are widely known-for instance, the disorientation of sea turtle hatchlings by beachfront lighting-the vast range of influences on all types of animals and plants is only...

480 pages
6 x 9
53 photos and illustrations

From Henry David Thoreau to Rachel Carson, writers have long examined the effects of industrialization and its potential to permanently alter the world around them. Today, as we experience rapid global urbanization, pressures on the natural...

632 pages
7 x 10
21 photos, 51 illustrations

Ecological Design, Tenth Anniversary Edition

Ecological Design is a landmark volume that helped usher in an exciting new era in green design and sustainability planning. Since its initial publication in 1996, the book has been critically important in sparking dialogue and triggering...

256 pages
6 x 9
28 photos and illustrations

Ecological Economics
A Workbook for Problem-Based Learning

Ecological economics addresses one of the fundamental flaws in conventional economics--its failure to consider biophysical and social reality in its analyses and equations. Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications is an introductory-...

120 pages
7 x 10

Ecological Economics, Second Edition
Principles and Applications

In its first edition, this book helped to define the emerging field of ecological economics. This new edition surveys the field today. It incorporates all of the latest research findings and grounds economic inquiry in a more robust understanding...

544 pages
7 x 9
56 photos and illustrations

Integrating Environment, Conservation, and Health

Global Integrity Project has brought together leading scientists and thinkers from around the world to examine the combined problems of threatened and unequal human well-being, degradation of the ecosphere, and unsustainable economies. Based on...

448 pages
6 x 9

Ecological Restoration of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests

Ecological Restoration of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests brings together practitioners and thinkers from a variety of fields—including forestry, biology, philosophy, ecology, political science, archaeology, botany, and geography...

584 pages
6 x 9

Principles, Values, and Structure of an Emerging Profession

Ecological restoration is a rapidly growing discipline that encompasses a wide range of activities and brings together practitioners and theoreticians from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, ranging from volunteer backyard restorationists...

336 pages
7 x 10
59 illustrations

Frameworks For Learning

Edited by Bart Johnson and Kristina Hill; Foreword by Robert Melnick

Professionals, faculty, and students are aware of the pressing need to integrate ecological principles into environmental design and planning education, but few materials exist to facilitate that development.

Ecology and Design addresses...

560 pages
6 x 9

Ecology and Ecosystem Conservation

Meeting today’s environmental challenges requires a new way of thinking about the intricate dependencies between humans and nature. Ecology and Ecosystem Conservation provides students and other readers with a basic understanding of...

184 pages
5.5 x 8.75
22 photos and illustrations

Ecology and Management of a Forested Landscape
Fifty Years on the Savannah River Site

Edited by John Kilgo and John I. Blake; Foreword by H. Ronald Pulliam

Can land degraded by centuries of agriculture be restored to something approaching its original productivity and diversity? This book tells the story of fifty years of restoration and management of the forested landscape of the Savannah River...

479 pages
6 x 9

The landscapes of North America, including eastern forests, have been shaped by humans for millennia, through fire, agriculture, hunting, and other means. But the arrival of Europeans on America’s eastern shores several centuries ago...

360 pages
6 x 9
40 illustrations

From the Psalms in the Bible to the sacred rivers in Hinduism, the natural world has been integral to the world’s religions. John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker contend that today’s growing environmental challenges make the...

280 pages
5.5 x 8.75
18 photos and illustrations

The Ecology of Place
Planning for Environment, Economy, and Community

Current patterns of land use and development are at once socially, economically, and environmentally destructive. Sprawling low-density development literally devours natural landscapes while breeding a pervasive sense of social isolation and...

278 pages
6 x 9

Learning from experience

Edited by Gill Shepherd

This book follows applications of the Ecosystem Approach over a 5-10 year period in five locations. Key findings include the vital importance of a full stakeholder analysis, of market analysis and of the promotion of institutional evolution.

190 pages
6 x 9

Adaptive, Community-Based Conservation

Today's natural resource managers must be able to navigate among the complicated interactions and conflicting interests of diverse stakeholders and decisionmakers. Technical and scientific knowledge, though necessary, are not sufficient....

336 pages
8 x 10

Ecosystem-Based Management for the Oceans

Conventional management approaches cannot meet the challenges faced by ocean and coastal ecosystems today. Consequently, national and international bodies have called for a shift toward more comprehensive ecosystem-based marine management....

392 pages
7.5 x 10
10 photos, 25 illustrations

Ecosystems and Human Well-Being
A Framework For Assessment

Ecosystems and Human Well-being is the first product of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), a four-year international work program designed to meet the needs of decision-makers for scientific information on the links between ecosystem...

212 pages
6 x 9

Ecosystems and Human Well-Being
A Manual for Assessment Practitioners

Designed by a partnership of UN agencies, international scientific organizations, and development agencies, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is the most extensive study ever of the linkages between the world’s ecosystems and human...

288 pages
7 x 10
34 illustrations

Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Our Human Planet
Summary for Decision Makers

Our Human Planet summarizes the findings of the four working groups and serves as a reference guide to the four main volumes in the MA series. It presents the key findings of each of the working groups, providing an overview of the...

128 pages
8.5 x 11

Ecotourism and Sustainable Development, Second Edition
Who Owns Paradise?

Around the world, ecotourism has been hailed as a panacea: a way to fund conservation and scientific research, protect fragile ecosystems, benefit communities, promote development in poor countries, instill environmental awareness and a social...

568 pages
6 x 9
Tables, references, index

Effective Conservation by Ignacio Jiménez | An Island Press book
Parks, Rewilding, and Local Development

For most, “conservation” conjures the notion of minimizing human presence on wildlands to avoid harmful impacts. But too often, this defensive approach has pitted local communities against conservationists, wasting opportunities for...

280 pages
7 x 10
1 photo, 39 illustrations

"Proceedings Of The International Seminar And Workshop, Sabah, Malaysia, July 1997 "

Tim M. Reed, Frances A. Dipper, and Sarah L. Fowler

The Darwin Elasmobranch Biodiversity Conservation and Management project in Sabah held a three-day international seminar that included a one-day workshop in order to highlight freshwater and coastal elasmobranch conservation issues in the region...

285 pages
8.5 x 11

Case Studies in Green Building

A vital tool for everyone who wants to capitalize on the latest advances in sustainable design and construction, Emerald Architecture presents an abundance of “hard” information on the planning, design, and methods for green...

166 pages
8.5 x 11

Empathic Design: Perspectives on Creating Inclusive Spaces edited by Elgin Cleckley | An Island Press book
Perspectives on Creating Inclusive Spaces

Edited by Elgin Cleckley

How do you experience a public space? Do you feel safe? Seen? Represented? The response to these questions may differ based on factors including your race, age, ethnicity, or gender identity. In the architecture and design professions, decisions...

208 pages
6 x 9
40 photos

In The Empty Ocean, acclaimed author and artist Richard Ellis tells the story of our continued plunder of life in the sea and weighs the chances for its recovery. Through fascinating portraits of a wide array of creatures, he introduces us...

384 pages
6 x 9

How Cities are Moving Beyond Car-Based Planning

Cities will continue to accommodate the automobile, but when cities are built around them, the quality of human and natural life declines. Current trends show great promise for future urban mobility systems that enable freedom and connection, but...

320 pages
7 x 10
One 8-page color insert

The Endangered Species Act at Thirty
Vol. 2: Conserving Biodiversity in Human-Dominated Landscapes

A companion volume to The Endangered Species Act at Thirty: Renewing the Conservation Promise, this book examines the key policy tools available for protecting biodiversity in the United States by revisiting some basic questions in...

376 pages
6 x 9

The Endangered Species Act at Thirty
Vol. 1: Renewing the Conservation Promise

The Endangered Species Act at Thirty is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary review of issues surrounding the Endangered Species Act, with a specific focus on the act's actual implementation record over the past thirty years. The result of a...

392 pages
6 x 9

Science, Policy, and the Pursuit of Sustainability

In the early 2000s, energy prices have fluctuated wildly, from historic highs in the winter and spring of 2001 to the lowest wholesale prices in decades a few short months later. As the largest user of fossil-fuel energy, the United States is...

208 pages
6 x 9

Energy and the Ecological Economics of Sustainability

John Peet

Energy and the Ecological Economics of Sustainability examines the roots of the present environmental crisis in the neoclassical economics upon which modern industrial society is based. The author explains that only when we view ourselves...

327 pages
6 x 9

Advancing Equity in Clean Energy Solutions

A global energy war is underway. It is man versus nature, fossil fuel versus clean energy, the haves versus the have-nots, and, fundamentally, an extractive economy versus a regenerative economy. The near-unanimous consensus among climate...

288 pages
6 x 9
23 photos, 8 illustrations

Edited by David E. Naugle; Foreword by Mark S. Boyce

Energy Development and Wildlife Conservation in Western North America offers a road map for securing our energy future while safeguarding our heritage. Contributors show how science can help craft solutions to conflicts between wildlife...

344 pages
6 x 9
23 illustrations

Foundations for Technology, Planning, and Policy

Despite a 2016-18 glut in fossil fuel markets and decade-low fuel prices, the global transformation to sustainable energy is happening. Our ongoing energy challenges and solutions are complex and multidimensional, involving science, technology,...

664 pages
8.5 x 11
Color art

Policies for a Sustainable Future

The transformation from a carbon-based world economy to one based on high efficiency and renewables is a necessary step if human society is to achieve sustainability. But while scientists and researchers have made significant advances in energy...

256 pages
6 x 9

Balancing Global Development and Conservation

Over the next several decades, as human populations grow and developing countries become more affluent, the demand for energy will soar. Parts of the energy sector are preparing to meet this demand by increasing renewable energy production, which...

192 pages
6 x 9
15 photos, 40 illustrations

The Social and Ethical Aspects of Agricultural Biotechnology

Edited by Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey

Engineering the Farm offers a wide-ranging examination of the social and ethical issues surrounding the production and consumption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), with leading thinkers and activists taking a broad theoretical...

200 pages
6 x 9

Entering the Watershed
A New Approach To Save America's River Ecosystems

Entering the Watershed is the product of a two-year project established by the Pacific Rivers Council to develop new federal riverine protection and restoration policy alternatives. It recommends a comprehensive new approach to river protection...

504 pages
6 x 9

Community Involvement In Conflict Resolution

Environmental Disputes helps citizen groups, businesses, and governments understand how Environmental Dispute Settlement--a set of procedures for settling disputes over environmental policies without litigation--can work for them.

295 pages
6 x 9

Environmental Economics for Tree Huggers and Other Skeptics

Though many students and environmentalists shudder at even the thought of economics, a working knowledge of the basics can be a powerful ally. Economic arguments carry a great deal of weight, and putting them to work for environmental causes can...

304 pages
6 x 9

Environmental Justice
Issues, Policies, and Solutions

Edited by Bunyan Bryant

In Environmental Justice, leading thinkers of the environmental justice movement take a direct look at the failure of "top down" public policy to effectively deal with issues of environmental equity.

The book provides a startling look at...

288 pages
6 x 9

Second Edition

Since the first publication of this landmark textbook in 2004, it has received high praise for its clear, comprehensive, and practical approach.  The second edition continues to offer a unique framework for teaching and learning...

776 pages
8 x 10
Full Color, 450 photos and illustrations

Environmental Policy and Biodiversity

Scientists and policymakers must work together if solutions to the biodiversity crisis are to be found. Yet all too often, scientific data are unknown or incomprehensible to policymakers, and political realities are not fully appreciated by...

426 pages
6 x 9

Abou Bakr Ahmed Ba Kader, Abdul Latif Tawfik El Shirazy Al Sabbagh, Mohamed Al Sayyed Al Glenid, Mouel Yousef Samarrai Izzidien, and Othman Abd-ar-Rahman Llewellyn

It describes the Islamic view of environment and, in particular, the interaction between people and nature in achieving environmental conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Includes a section on basic Islamic legislative rules...

76 pages
6.8 x 9.8

Environmental Regulations and Housing Costs

Many communities across the nation still lack affordable housing. And many officials continue to claim that “affordable housing” is an oxymoron. Building inexpensively is impossible, they say, because there are too many regulations....

288 pages
6 x 9
7 illustrations

Environmental Restoration
Science And Strategies For Restoring The Earth

Edited by John Berger

Environmental Restoration is the product of a ground-breaking conference on ecological restoration, held in January 1988 at the University of California, Berkeley. It offers an overview from the nation's leading experts of the most current...

412 pages
6 x 9

Shaping The Next Industrial Revolution

We sit at the doorstep of multiple revolutions in robotic, genetic, information, and communication technologies, whose powerful interactions promise social and environmental transformations we are only beginning to understand. How can we...

208 pages
6 x 9

"In this book, I relate the pleasures, as well as the virtues and difficulties of a perhaps simpler than average North American life." So begins ecological thinker and writer Stephanie Mills's Epicurean Simplicity, a...

190 pages
5.75 x 8.5

Escape from the Ivory Tower
A Guide to Making Your Science Matter

Most scientists and researchers aren’t prepared to talk to the press or to policymakers—or to deal with backlash. Many researchers have the horror stories to prove it. What’s clear, according to Nancy Baron, is that scientists,...

272 pages
6 x 9
24 illustrations

The Essential Ian McHarg
Writings on Design and Nature

The Essential Ian McHarg brings together a series of short essays that reveal the full range of Ian McHarg's thoughts on design and nature. Adapted from the comprehensive book of his work, To Heal the Earth, these carefully selected...

192 pages
6 x 9

Evolution and Christian Faith
Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist

Click here to visit evolutionandchristianfaith.org "I'm an evolutionary biologist and a Christian," states Stanford professor Joan Roughgarden...

168 pages
4.5 x 7.25

Evolution in a Toxic World
How Life Responds to Chemical Threats

With BPA in baby bottles, mercury in fish, and lead in computer monitors, the world has become a toxic place. But as Emily Monosson demonstrates in her groundbreaking new book, it has always been toxic. When oxygen first developed in Earth's...

240 pages
6 x 9
10 illustrations

Supporting Species Survival In The Wild

Center for Plant Conservation; Edited by Edward O. Guerrant, Kayri Havens-Young, and Michael Maunder; Foreword by Peter H. Raven

Faced with widespread and devastating loss of biodiversity in wild habitats, scientists have developed innovative strategies for studying and protecting targeted plant and animal species in "off-site" facilities such as botanic...

536 pages
6 x 9

Expanding Partnerships in Conservation

Protected areas around the globe national parks, wildlife reserves, biosphere reserves will prosper only if they are supported by the public, the private sector, and the full range of government agencies. Yet such support is unlikely unless...

318 pages
6 x 9

Integrating Social And Scientific Responses To Save Endangered Species

In his 1998 book Consilience, E.O. Wilson set forth the idea that integrating knowledge and insights from across the spectrum of human study -- the humanities, social science, and natural sciences -- is the key to solving complex...

328 pages
6 x 9

The Tale Of A Grand Island Chippewa

Eight miles long and four miles wide, Grand Island lies off the south shore of Lake Superior. It was once home to a sizable community of Chippewa Indians who lived in harmony with the land and with each other. Their tragic demise began early in...

160 pages
5.5 x 9

The Dispersion Of Seeds And Other Late Natural History Writings

Henry D. Thoreau; Edited by Bradley P. Dean; Foreword by Gary Paul Nabhan

Faith in a Seed contains the hitherto unpublished work The Dispersion of Seeds, one of Henry D. Thoreau's last important research and writing projects, and now his first new book to appear in 125 years.

With the remarkable clarity and grace...

301 pages
7 x 9.25

Reconnecting Food Systems With Ecosystems

Edited by Dana L. Jackson and Laura Jackson; Foreword by Nina Leopold Bradley

The Farm as Natural Habitat is a vital new contribution to the debate about agriculture and its impacts on the land. Arising from the conviction that the agricultural landscape as a whole could be restored to a healthy diversity, the...

312 pages
6 x 9

A Citizen's Guide

The farm bill is one of the most important pieces of legislation the American president signs. Negotiated every five to seven years, it has tremendous implications for food production, nutrition assistance, habitat conservation, international...

280 pages
8 x 9
75 illustrations

An Ecological Approach To Agriculture

Judy Soule and Jon Piper; Foreword by Wes Jackson

˜Farming in Nature's Image provides, for the first time, a detailed look into the pioneering work of The Land Institute, the leading educational and research organization for sustainable agriculture.

The authors draw on case studies...

305 pages
6 x 9

Farming with Nature
The Science and Practice of Ecoagriculture

A growing body of evidence shows that agricultural landscapes can be managed not only to produce crops but also to support biodiversity and promote ecosystem health. Innovative farmers and scientists, as well as indigenous land managers, are...

472 pages
6 x 9

The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture

Edited by Andrew Kimbrell

Fatal Harvest takes an unprecedented look at our current ecologically destructive agricultural system and offers a compelling vision for an organic and environmentally safer way of producing the food we eat. It gathers together more than...

384 pages
6 x 9

A Field Guide to Conservation Finance

Finally, a comprehensive book on land conservation financing for community and regional conservation leaders. A Field Guide to Conservation Finance provides essential advice on how to tackle the universal obstacle to protecting private...

408 pages
6 x 9
65 photos and illustrations

The American Environmental Movement

In A Fierce Green Fire, renowned environmental journalist Philip Shabecoff presents the definitive history of American environmentalism from the earliest days of the republic to the present. He offers a sweeping overview of the...

352 pages
6 x 9

Fighting Toxics
A Manual for Protecting your Family, Community, and Workplace

National Toxics Campaign; Edited by Gary Cohen and John O'Connor; Foreword by Barry Commoner

Fighting Toxics is a step-by-step guide illustrating how to investigate the toxic hazards that may exist in your community, how to determine the risks they pose to your health, and how to launch an effective campaign to eliminate them.

363 pages
6 x 9

Fire Ecology in Rocky Mountain Landscapes

Fire Ecology in Rocky Mountain Landscapes brings a century of scientific research to bear on improving the relationship between people and fire. In recent years, some scientists have argued that current patterns of fire are...

628 pages
7 x 10
129 photos and illustrations

The structure of most virgin forests in the western United States reflects a past disturbance history that includes forest fire. James K. Agee, an expert in the emergent field of fire ecology, analyzes the ecological role of fire in the creation...

505 pages
6 x 9

Edited by Thomas Vale

For nearly two centuries, the creation myth for the United States imagined European settlers arriving on the shores of a vast, uncharted wilderness. Over the last two decades, however, a contrary vision has emerged, one which sees the country...

336 pages
6 x 9

How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future

"Frightening...Firestorm comes alive when Struzik discusses the work of offbeat scientists."  —New York Times Book Review "Comprehensive and compelling." —Booklist"A...

272 pages
6 x 9
26 photos

A Guide to Understanding and Restoring Global Aquatic Biodiversity and Fishery Resources

Fish Conservation offers, for the first time in a single volume, a readable reference with a global approach to marine and freshwater fish diversity and fishery resource issues. Gene Helfman brings together available knowledge on the decline and...

608 pages
8 x 10
133 illustrations

Fish, Markets, and Fishermen
The Economics Of Overfishing

A significant number of the world's ocean fisheries are depleted, and some have collapsed, from overfishing. Although many of the same fishermen who are causing these declines stand to suffer the most from them, they continue to overfish. Why is...

205 pages
6 x 9

Defining A New Era For American Fisheries Management

Fisheries management today is highly contentious. The interests of fishers and fish processors, coastal communities, the government, and environmental organizations are often different and can even be mutually incompatible.

Fishing Grounds...

256 pages
6 x 9
3 illustrations

Design in an Age of Urban Migration, Demographic Change, and a Disappearing Middle Class

How we design our cities over the next four decades will be critical for our planet. If we continue to spill excessive greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, we will run out of time to keep our global temperature from increasing. Since approximately...

240 pages
6 x 9
20 photos, 20 illustrations

How to Have Stuff without Breaking the Planet

Our massive, global system of consumption is broken. Our individual relationship with our stuff is broken. In each of our homes, some stuff is broken. And the strain of rampant consumerism and manufacturing is breaking our planet. We need big,...

216 pages
6 x 9
10 illustrations

Disaster or Renewal?

Shaped by fire for thousands of years, the forests of the western United States are as adapted to periodic fires as they are to the region's soils and climate. Our widespread practice of ignoring the vital role of fire is costly in both...

248 pages
6 x 9

Flames of Extinction by John Pickrell | An Island Press book
The Race to Save Australia's Threatened Wildlife

In the early months of 2020, the world’s attention was riveted on Australia, where the nation’s iconic wildlife fought for survival in the face of unprecedented wildfires. Images of koalas drinking from firefighters’ water...

296 pages
6 x 9

A New Approach for a New Era

A flooding river is very hard to stop. Many residents of the United States have discovered this the hard way. Right now, over five million Americans hold flood insurance policies from the National Flood Insurance Program, which estimates that...

256 pages
6 x 9
16 illustrations

The Florida Panther
Life And Death Of A Vanishing Carnivore

When the first field study of the Florida panther took place in 1973, so little was known about the animal that many scientists believed it was already extinct. During more extensive research conducted from 1981 to 1986, panthers were proven to...

278 pages
6 x 9

Healing Our Land and Communities

"Informational and inspirational." Booklist America has never felt more divided. But in the midst of all the acrimony comes one of the most promising movements in our country’s history. People of...

200 pages
6 x 9

How Start-Ups, Pop-Ups, and Co-Ops are Changing the Way We Eat

Marvin is a contract hog farmer in Iowa. He owns his land, his barn, his tractor, and his animal crates. He has seen profits drop steadily for the last twenty years and feels trapped. Josh is a dairy farmer on a cooperative in Massachusetts. He...

200 pages
6 x 9
4 illustrations

Seven Unlikely Cities That are Changing the Way We Eat

Look at any list of America’s top foodie cities and you probably won’t find Boise, Idaho or Sitka, Alaska. Yet they are the new face of the food movement. Healthy, sustainable fare is changing communities across this country,...

208 pages
6 x 9
no art

Eating Right for Your Origins

Vegan, low fat, low carb, slow carb: Every diet seems to promise a one-size-fits-all solution to health. But they ignore the diversity of human genes and how they interact with what we eat.

In Food, Genes, and Culture, renowned...

248 pages
5.5 x 8.25

Previously Unpublished Essays And Other Writings

Aldo Leopold; Edited by J. Baird Callicott and Eric T. Freyfogle; Foreword by Scott Russell Sanders

Aldo Leopold's classic work A Sand County Almanac is widely regarded as one of the most influential conservation books of all time. In it, Leopold sets forth an eloquent plea for the development of a "land ethic" -- a belief...

262 pages
5.5 x 8.25

Forcing the Spring
The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement

Originally published in 1993, Forcing the Spring was quickly recognized as a seminal work in the field of environmental history. The book links the environmental movement that emerged in the 1960s to earlier movements that had not...

448 pages
6 x 9

The World Bank and the Politics of Environmental Destruction

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has vowed that his institution will fight poverty and climate change, a claim that World Bank presidents have made for two decades. But if worldwide protests and reams of damning internal reports are any...

320 pages
6 x 9

Enhancing local livelihoods and protecting the environment in Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Edited by Maria Osbeck and Marisha Wojciechowska-Shibuya

This publication draws on lessons learned from Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea in forest management, community development, indigenous knowledge and access to resources and social networks within the broad framework of the sustainable...

Forest Patches in Tropical Landscapes

Edited by John Schelhas and Russell S. Greenberg

While tropical forests are being cleared at an alarming rate, the clearing is rarely complete and is often not permanent. A considerable amount of tropical forest exists as remnants that have significant value both for the conservation of...

498 pages
6 x 9

Climate Change and the Future of the American West

Climate change poses a huge threat to the West. The current mountain pine beetle epidemic with over 50 million acres of dying trees in western North America has created a powerful “teachable moment” across the region.

A...

37 pages
6 x 9
30 photos, 15 illustrations

Forests for the People
The Story of America's Eastern National Forests

Forests for the People tells one of the most extraordinary stories of environmental protection in our nation’s history: how  a diverse coalition of citizens, organizations, and business and political leaders worked to create a...

408 pages
6 x 9
35 illustrations

New Principles for Conservation and Management

Scientists tell us that climate change is upon us and the physical world is changing quickly with important implications for biodiversity and human well-being. Forests cover vast regions of the globe and serve as a first line of defense against...

224 pages
6 x 9
16 illustrations

Rethinking The History Of The Old West

Stewart L. Udall; Foreword by David Emmons

"…an impressive new book… [The Forgotten Founders] is a gem that encompasses virtually every aspect of the development of our region." -ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

"[Udall] offers a convincing argument that it wasn...

208 pages
6 x 9

Forgotten Grasslands of the South
Natural History and Conservation

Forgotten Grasslands of the South is a literary and scientific case study of some of the biologically richest and most endangered ecosystems in North America. Eminent ecologist Reed Noss tells the story of how southern grasslands arose and...

320 pages
7 x 10
One 16-page color insert, 42 illustrations

The Forgotten Pollinators

Consider this: Without interaction between animals and flowering plants, the seeds and fruits that make up nearly eighty percent of the human diet would not exist.

In The Forgotten Pollinators, Stephen L. Buchmann, one of the world's...

312 pages
6 x 9
34 illustrations

A Guide for Planners, Urban Designers, Municipalities, and Developers

Daniel G. Parolek, Karen Parolek, and Paul C. Crawford

Form-Based Codes are the latest evolutionary step in the practice of development and land-use regulation. A growing alternative to conventional zoning laws, Form-Based Codes go beyond land use to address not just the physical form of buildings...

336 pages
11 x 8

Foundations of Ecological Resilience

Ecological resilience provides a theoretical foundation for understanding how complex systems adapt to and recover from localized disturbances like hurricanes, fires, pest outbreaks, and floods, as well as large-scale perturbations such as...

496 pages
6 x 9
80 illustrations

Foundations of Environmental Physics
Understanding Energy Use and Human Impacts

Foundations of Environmental Physics is designed to focus students on the current energy and environmental problems facing society, and to give them the critical thinking and computational skills needed to sort out potential solutions. From its...

432 pages
7 x 10
66 illustrations

A Guide to Public-Private Partnerships

America’s landscape is undergoing a profound transformation as demand grows for a different kind of American Dream--smaller homes on smaller lots, multifamily options, and walkable neighborhoods. This trend presents a tremendous opportunity...

200 pages
6 x 9
30 photos and illustrations

Foundations of Restoration Ecology, Second Edition by Margaret A. Palmer, Joy B. Zedler, and Donald A. Falk | An Island Press book

The practice of ecological restoration, firmly grounded in the science of restoration ecology, provides governments, organizations, and landowners a means to halt degradation and restore function and resilience to ecosystems stressed by climate...

584 pages
7 x 10
16 photos, 83 illustrations

Foundations of Restoration Ecology

As the practical application of ecological restoration continues to grow, there is an increasing need to connect restoration practice to areas of underlying ecological theory. Foundations of Restoration Ecology is an important milestone in...

384 pages
7 x 10

Making the Region Work for All of Us

In the past two decades, the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region has prospered into one of the world’s leading economies. But the benefits of this economic resurgence have been uneven, leaving many behind and resulting in problems that...

408 pages
8.5 x 11
305 color photos, figures, and illustrations

The Freedom of the City by Charles Downing Lay, with introduction and essay by Thomas J. Campanella | An Island Press book

“Congestion is the life of the city . . . it is what we came for, what we stay for, what we hunger for”, wrote Charles Downing Lay, prominent American landscape architect and planner of the early 1920s. These words are relevant today...

168 pages
5 x 8
20 photos/illustrations

Freshwater Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar
A Conservation Assessment

As part of a global effort to identify those areas where conservation measures are needed most urgently, World Wildlife Fund has assembled teams of scientists to conduct ecological assessments of all seven continents. Freshwater Ecoregions of...

483 pages
8.5 x 11

The Freshwater Imperative
A Research Agenda

This volume summarizes the two-year effort of a working group of leading aquatic scientists sponsored by NSF, EPA, NASA, TVA, and NOAA to identify research opportunities and frontiers in freshwater sciences for this decade and beyond. The...

181 pages
6 x 9

A History Of U.S. Marine Fisheries Policy

The management of coastal and ocean fisheries is highly contentious. Industry interests focus on maximizing catches while conservationists and marine scientists have become increasingly concerned about dramatic declines in fish stocks and the...

320 pages
6 x 9

My Thirty Years With National Geographic

National Geographic has been called a window on the world and a passport to adventure. Each month an estimated forty million people in 190 countries open its pages and are transported to exotic realms that delight the eye and mind. Such...

287 pages
6 x 9

Our Public Lands Legacy

From Conquest to Conservation is a visionary new work from three of the nation’s most knowledgeable experts on public lands. As chief of the Forest Service, Mike Dombeck became a lightning rod for public debate over issues such as...

232 pages
6 x 9

From the Ground Up | Island Press
Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities

For decades, American cities have experimented with ways to remake themselves in response to climate change. These efforts, often driven by grassroots activism, offer valuable lessons for transforming the places we live. In From the...

304 pages
7 x 10
81 photos, 32 illustrations

From The Land
Articles Compiled From The Land 1941-1954

Edited by Nancy Pittman

Begun in 1941 as an outgrowth of Friends of the Land, the journal The Land was an attempt by editor Russell Lord to counteract -- through education, information, and inspiration -- the rampant abuse of soil, water, trees and rivers. But...

491 pages
6 x 9

From Walden to Wall Street
Frontiers of Conservation Finance

Edited by James N. Levitt

In the absence of innovation in the field of conservation finance, a daunting funding gap faces conservationists aiming to protect America's system of landscapes that provide sustainable resources, water, wildlife habitat, and recreational...

264 pages
6 x 9

Fundamentals of Sustainable Dwellings

Despite a prolonged slump in the housing market, the demand for residential green building remains strong. More than ever, professionals need reliable information about how to construct or retrofit livable, sustainable, and economical homes. With...

272 pages
8 x 10.5
98 photos, 149 illustrations

Field Notes from a World on the Edge

In one hundred years, or even fifty, the Arctic will look dramatically different than it does today. As polar ice retreats and animals and plants migrate northward, the arctic landscape is morphing into something new and very different from what...

216 pages
6 x 9
15 photos

Future Drive
Electric Vehicles And Sustainable Transportation

In Future Drive, Daniel Sperling addresses the adverse energy and environmental consequences of increased travel, and analyzes current initiatives to suggest strategies for creating a more environmentally benign system of transportation....

191 pages
6 x 9

Lessons from Sustaining Phoenix

There exists a category of American cities in which the line between suburban and urban is almost impossible to locate. These suburban cities arose in the last half of twentieth-century America, based largely on the success of the single-family...

208 pages
6 x 9
25 illustrations, 15 photos

The Future of U.S. Ocean Policy
Choices For The New Century

The United States is about to embark on the most thorough reconsideration of its ocean policy in more than three decades. With 1998 designated as the International Year of the Ocean by the United Nations, and with both the executive branch and...

400 pages
6 x 9

Getting to the Heart of Science Communication by Faith Kearns | An Island Press book
A Guide to Effective Engagement

At a community fire day in a northern California town several years ago, author Faith Kearns gave a talk on building fire-safe houses able to withstand increasingly common wildfires. Much to her surprise, Kearns was confronted by an audience...

280 pages
6 x 9

Exploring The Biodiversity Crisis

In Ghost Bears, R. Edward Grumbine looks at the implications of the widespread loss of biological diversity, and explains why our species-centered approach to environmental protection will ultimately fail. Using the fate of the endangered...

314 pages
6 x 9

Gifford Pinchot is known primarily for his work as first chief of the U. S. Forest Service and for his argument that resources should be used to provide the "greatest good for the greatest number of people." But Pinchot was a more...

384 pages
6 x 9

A Critical Appraisal of Catches and Ecosystem Impacts

Until now, there has been only one source of data on global fishery catches: information reported to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations by member countries. An extensive, ten-year study conducted by The Sea Around Us...

520 pages
8.5 x 11
full color, 612 illustrations

Integrating Humans, Climate, and the Natural World

Edited by Christopher B. Field and Michael R. Raupach; Foreword by Susan Hill MacKenzie

While a number of gases are implicated in global warming, carbon dioxide is the most important contributor, and in one sense the entire phenomena can be seen as a human-induced perturbation of the carbon cycle. The Global Carbon Cycle...

568 pages
6 x 9

Global City Blues

"This is a book about the making of cities and the buildings that compose them. It is about the conditions under which an architect engaged in those activities now works, how those conditions evolved and why they are changing. It is about...

272 pages
6 x 9

The Global Commons
An Introduction

Vast areas of valuable resources unfettered by legal rights have, for centuries, been the central target of human exploitation and appropriation. The global commons -- Antarctica, the high seas and deep seabed minerals, the atmosphere, and space...

240 pages
6 x 9

Global Environmental Governance
Foundations of Contemporary Environmental Studies

Today's most pressing environmental problems are planetary in scope, confounding the political will of any one nation. How can we solve them?Global Environmental Governance offers the essential information, theory, and practical insight...

192 pages
6 x 9
5 illustrations

The Global Farms Race
Land Grabs, Agricultural Investment, and the Scramble for Food Security

As we struggle to feed a global population speeding toward 9 billion, we have entered a new phase of the food crisis. Wealthy countries that import much of their food, along with private investors, are racing to buy or lease huge swaths of...

248 pages
6 x 9
3 illustrations

Global Marine Biological Diversity
A Strategy For Building Conservation Into Decision Making

Global Marine Biological Diversity presents the most up-to-date information and view on the challenge of conserving the living sea and how that challenge can be met.

415 pages
6 x 9

Each year, 1.2 million people die from traffic fatalities, highlighting the need to design streets that offer safe and enticing travel choices for all people. Cities around the world are facing the same challenges as cities in the US, and many of...

442 pages
8.25 x 10.75
Full color

On September 21, 2011, David Roberts participated in The National Climate Seminar, a series of webinars sponsored by Bard College’s Center for Environmental Policy. The online seminars provide a forum for leading scientists, writers, and...

21 pages
x

A Good Drink | Island Press
In Pursuit of Sustainable Spirits

“Insightful tour de force… Farrell’s writing is as informative as it is intoxicating”  -- Publishers Weekly

Shanna Farrell loves a good drink. As a bartender, she not only poured spirits, but...

200 pages
6 x 9

The Good Garden by Chris McLaughlin | An Island Press book
How to Nurture Pollinators, Soil, Native Wildlife, and Healthy Food—All in Your Own Backyard

What makes a garden good? For Chris McLaughlin, it’s about growing the healthiest, most scrumptious fruits and veggies possible, but it’s also about giving back. How can your little patch of Earth become a sanctuary for threatened...

312 pages
8 x 10
150 color photos and illustrations

Connecting Science, Religion, and Spirituality with the Natural World

Scientists, theologians, and the spiritually inclined, as well as all those concerned with humanity's increasingly widespread environmental impact, are beginning to recognize that our ongoing abuse of the earth diminishes our moral as well...

296 pages
6 x 9

Good Urbanism
Six Steps to Creating Prosperous Places

We all have a natural nesting instinct—we know what makes a good place. And a consensus has developed among urban planners and designers about the essential components of healthy, prosperous communities. So why aren’t these ideals...

184 pages
8 x 9
Two 8-page color inserts, 17 photos, 33 illustrations

Issues, Challenges, Successes

Klaus Bosselmann, Ron Engel, and Prue Taylor

This report is currently available in an electronic format only. To view the report and others published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), please visit...

260 pages
6.8 x 9.5

A Quest to Revive Ancient Wheat, Rural Jobs, and Healthy Food

"A compelling agricultural story skillfully told; environmentalists will eat it up." - Kirkus Reviews When Bob Quinn was a kid, a stranger at a county fair gave him a few kernels of an unusual grain. Little did he...

288 pages
6 x 9
16 photos

and the Mindless Drive for More

When it comes to food, Americans seem to have a pretty great deal. Our grocery stores are overflowing with countless varieties of convenient products. But like most bargains that are too good to be true, the modern food system relies on an...

344 pages
6 x 9
none

Grass Productivity

Grass Productivity is a prodigiously documented textbook of scientific information concerning every aspect of management "where the cow and grass meet." Andre Voisin's "rational grazing" method maximizes productivity in both grass and...

370 pages
6 x 9
40 photos, 35 illustrations

Gray to Green Communities: A Call to Action on the Housing and Climate Crises by Dana Bourland | An Island Press book
A Call to Action on the Housing and Climate Crises

US cities are faced with the joint challenge of our climate crisis and the lack of housing that is affordable and healthy. Our housing stock contributes significantly to the changing climate, with residential buildings accounting for 20 percent...

200 pages
6 x 9
13 figures

Ecology, Management, and Restoration

Edited by Jeanne C. Chambers and Jerry R. Miller; Foreword by James A. MacMahon

Established by the USDA Forest Service in 1993, the Great Basin Ecosystem Management Project for Restoring and Maintaining Sustainable Riparian Ecosystems is a large-scale research study that uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine the...

320 pages
6 x 9

The Great Lakes Water Wars, Revised & Expanded by Peter Annin | An Island Press book

The Great Lakes are the largest system of freshwater lakes in the world and America’s greatest freshwater resource. For over a century they have been the target of controversial diversion schemes designed to sell, send, or ship water to...

384 pages
6 x 9
20 photos, 31 illustrations

Prepared for the 2013 National Climate Assessment and a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage, Great Plains Regional Technical Input Report is the result of a collaboration among numerous local, state, federal, and...

224 pages
8 x 10
20 photos, 33 illustrations

Green at Work
Finding a Business Career that Works for the Environment

Green at Work, published by Island Press in 1992, was the first source of information to help nontechnical but environmentally concerned job seekers learn about career opportunities with environmental companies or within the newly emerging...

452 pages
6 x 9

From Vision to Reality

Andrew Terry, Karin Ullrich, and Uwe Riecken

The Iron Curtain, running from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, divided Europe for almost 40 years and no activity was allowed in this "forbidden" zone. When it fell in 1989, it left a strip of land that runs the entire length of...

214 pages
9.3 x 6.4

The Green Building Revolution

Jerry Yudelson; Foreword by S. Richard Fedrizzi

The “green building revolution’’ is happening right now. This book is its chronicle and its manifesto. Written by industry insider Jerry Yudelson, The Green Building Revolution introduces readers to the basics of green building...

272 pages
6 x 9

Green Building Trends
Europe

The “green building revolution” is a worldwide movement for energy-efficient, environmentally aware architecture and design. Europe has been in the forefront of green building technology, and Green Building Trends: Europe...

192 pages
8 x 10
58 photos and illustrations

Green Cities of Europe
Global Lessons on Green Urbanism

Edited by Timothy Beatley

In the absence of federal leadership, states and localities are stepping forward to address critical  problems like climate change, urban sprawl, and polluted water and air. Making a city fundamentally sustainable is a daunting task, but...

248 pages
6 x 9
38 photos, 9 illustrations

The Conservation Tillage Revolution In America

Green Fields Forever changes the way Americans think about agriculture. It is the story of 'conservation tillage'--a new way to grow food for the first time that works with, rather than against, the soil. Farmers who are...

209 pages
6 x 9

Natural Capital Policy and Finance Mechanisms Around the World

Rapid economic development has been a boon to human well-being. It has lifted millions out of poverty, raised standards of living, and increased life expectancies. But economic development comes at a significant cost to natural capital—the...

336 pages
6.5 x 8.38
48 illustrations

Green Infrastructure
Linking Landscapes and Communities

With illustrative and detailed examples drawn from throughout the country, Green Infrastructure advances smart land conservation: large scale thinking and integrated action to plan, protect and manage our natural and restored lands. From...

320 pages
7 x 10
60 photos and illustrations

Environmental Strategies for Schematic Design

Alison Kwok and Walter Grondzik

392 pages
11 x 9

Green Urbanism
Learning From European Cities

As the need to confront unplanned growth increases, planners, policymakers, and citizens are scrambling for practical tools and examples of successful and workable approaches. Growth management initiatives are underway in the U.S. at all levels,...

512 pages
6 x 9

Green Urbanism Down Under
Learning from Sustainable Communities in Australia

In this immensely practical book, Timothy Beatley sets out to answer a simple question: what can Americans learn from Australians about “greening” city life? Green Urbanism Down Under reports on the current state of “...

280 pages
6 x 9
59 photos, 23 illustrations

Green Versus Gold
Sources In California's Environmental History

While the state of California remains one of the most striking and varied landscapes in the world, it has experienced monumental changes since European settlers first set foot there. The past two centuries have witnessed an ongoing struggle...

512 pages
6 x 9

Greening Our Built World
Costs, Benefits, and Strategies

“Green” buildings—buildings that use fewer resources to build and to sustain—are commonly thought to be too expensive to attract builders and buyers. But are they? The answer to this question has enormous consequences,...

280 pages
8 x 10.5
65 illustrations

Greening the College Curriculum
A Guide To Environmental Teaching In The Liberal Arts

Edited by Jonathan Collett and Stephen Karakashian

Greening the College Curriculum provides the tools college and university faculty need to meet personal and institutional goals for integrating environmental issues into the curriculum. Leading educators from a wide range of fields,...

341 pages
6 x 9

Putting Conservation Into Local Plans And Ordinances

Growing Greener is an illustrated workbook that presents a new look at designing subdivisions while preserving green space and creating open space networks. Randall Arendt explains how to design residential developments that maximize land...

261 pages
11 x 8.5

A Guide for Desert and Dryland Restoration
New Hope for Arid Lands

Dryland degradation and desertification now affect almost a billion people around the world. Tragically, the biological resources and productivity of millions of acres of land are lost to desertification each year because people remain unaware of...

416 pages
8 x 10

Community development -- the economic, physical, and social revitalization of a community, led by the people who live in that community -- offers a wide range of exciting and rewarding employment options. But until now, there has been no "road...

328 pages
7.5 x 7.5

The Guide to Graduate Environmental Programs

The Student Conservation Association; Foreword by Scott D. Izzo

The Guide to Graduate Environmental Programs provides over 160 profiles of graduate programs across the country that offer curricula related to the environment. Because it was impossible to include every program in the book, and because...

462 pages
6 x 9

Superstorm Sandy sent a strong message that a new generation of urban development and infrastructure is desperately needed, and it must be designed with resilience in mind. As cities continue to face climate change impacts while growing in...

264 pages
7 x 10
33 photos, 11 illustrations

A Guide to Impact Fees and Housing Affordability

Arthur C. Nelson, Liza K. Bowles, Julian C. Juergensmeyer, and James C. Nicholas; Forewords by Craig Anthony Arnold and Dwight Merriam

Impact fees are one-time charges that are applied to new residential developments by local governments that are seeking funds to pay for the construction or expansion of public facilities, such as water and sewer systems, schools, libraries, and...

320 pages
6 x 9
20 photos, 10 illustrations

A Guide to Planning for  Community Character adds a wealth of practical applications to the framework that Lane Kendig describes in his previous book, Community Character. The purpose of the earlier book is to give citizens and planners a...

264 pages
8.5 x 10
220 photos and illustrations

Edited by Nigel Dudley

IUCN’s Protected Areas Management Categories, which classify protected areas according to their management objectives, are today accepted as the benchmark for defining, recording, and classifying protected areas. They are recognized by...

86 pages
8 x 10

WCPA Working Group on Cave and Karst Protection

Cave and karst landforms are distributed widely around the world. They have many values and are an integral component of the world's biodiversity. Some are habitats for a wide range of endemic species of flora and fauna, while others house...

63 pages
7 x 10

Graeme Kelleher and Richard Kenchington

This text offers authoritative advice on the present day planning, policies and practices for marine protected areas. The Guidelines are intended primarily to help nations and states to establish national representative systems of marine...

88 pages
11.5 x 8.1

Habitat Fragmentation and Landscape Change
An Ecological and Conservation Synthesis

Habitat loss and degradation that comes as a result of human activity is the single biggest threat to biodiversity in the world today. Habitat Fragmentation and Landscape Change is a groundbreaking work that brings together a wealth of...

352 pages
8 x 10
92 photos and illustrations

Handbook of Biophilic City Planning & Design by Timothy Beatley | An Island Press book

What if, even in the heart of a densely developed city, people could have meaningful encounters with nature? While parks, street trees, and green roofs are increasingly appreciated for their technical services like stormwater reduction, from a...

312 pages
7 x 10
69 photos, 3 illustrations

Hazardous Seas: A Sociotechnical Framework for Early Tsunami Detection and Warning  Edited by Louise K. Comfort and Harkunti P. Rahayu | An Island Press book
A Sociotechnical Framework for Early Tsunami Detection and Warning

Edited by Louise K. Comfort and Harkunti P. Rahayu; Forewords by Dwikorita Karnawati and Ir. Hammam Riza

Tsunamis are infrequent but terrifying hazards for coastal communities. Difficult to predict, they materialize with little warning, claiming thousands of lives and causing billions of dollars in damage. Recent mega-tsunamis in Japan and Indonesia...

360 pages
6 x 9
89 figures

Hazardous Waste Management
Reducing The Risk

Hazardous Waste Management: Reducing the Risk is the first book to study and rate toxic waste disposal sites and to provide step-by-step guidelines for evaluation, decision, and action. The innovative and practical ranking system...

336 pages
6 x 9

Healing Grounds by Liz Carlisle | An Island Press book
Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming

A powerful movement is happening in farming today—farmers are reconnecting with their roots to fight climate change. For one woman, that’s meant learning her tribe’s history to help bring back the buffalo. For another, it’...

200 pages
6 x 9
6 illustrations

The Impact Of The Built Environment On Physical Activity

Health and Community Design is a comprehensive examination of how the built environment encourages or discourages physical activity, drawing together insights from a range of research on the relationships between urban form and public...

271 pages
6 x 9

Healthy Homes, Healthy Kids
Protecting Your Children From Everyday Environmental Hazards

This comprehensive and authoritative handbook, written by scientists, identifies many hazards that parents tend to overlook. It translates technical, scientific information into an accessible how-to guide to help parents protect children from...

233 pages
6 x 9

Creating Vibrant Downtowns for a New Century

Downtowns are more than economic engines: they are repositories of knowledge and culture and generators of new ideas, technology, and ventures. They are the heart of the city that drives its future. If we are to have healthy downtowns, we need to...

264 pages
6 x 9
100 b/w figures and photos

Nature in an Age of Global Warming

In 2006, one of the hottest years on record, a “pizzly” was discovered near the top of the world. Half polar bear, half grizzly, this never-before-seen animal might be dismissed as a fluke of nature. Anthony Barnosky instead sees it...

288 pages
6 x 9

The Hidden Potential of Sustainable Neighborhoods
Lessons from Low-Carbon Communities

How do you achieve effective low-carbon design beyond the building level? How do you create a community that is both livable and sustainable? More importantly, how do you know if you have succeeded? Harrison Fraker goes beyond abstract principles...

248 pages
8.25 x 10
Full color, 63 photos, 121 illustrations

High Tech Trash
Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health

The Digital Age was expected to usher in an era of clean production, an alternative to smokestack industries and their pollutants. But as environmental journalist Elizabeth Grossman reveals in this penetrating analysis of high tech manufacture...

352 pages
6 x 9

The Historical Ecology Handbook
A Restorationist's Guide to Reference Ecosystems

Edited by Dave Egan and Evelyn A. Howell; Foreword by Curt Meine

The Historical Ecology Handbook makes essential connections between past and future ecosystems, bringing together leading experts to offer a much-needed introduction to the field of historical ecology and its practical application by on-...

488 pages
6 x 9

Regenerating Your Land and Growing Your Profits

Holistic management is a systems-thinking approach developed by biologist Allan Savory to restore the world’s grassland soils and minimize the damaging effects of climate change and desertification on humans and the natural world. This...

264 pages
8.5 x 11
23 photos, 47 illustrations

A Commonsense Revolution to Restore Our Environment

Fossil fuels and livestock grazing are often targeted as major culprits behind climate change and desertification. But Allan Savory, cofounder of the Savory Institute, begs to differ. The bigger problem, he warns, is our mismanagement of...

552 pages
6 x 9
One 12-page color insert, 67 photos, 40 illustrations

Hope Is an Imperative
The Essential David Orr

David W. Orr; Foreword by Fritjof Capra

For more than three decades, David Orr has been one of the leading voices of the environmental movement, championing the cause of ecological literacy in higher education, helping to establish and shape the field of ecological design, and working...

400 pages
6 x 9

Three Visions For Healing The American Land

At a time of widespread environmental pessimism, Hope's Horizon goes on an inspirational offensive. In this entertaining and thought-provoking book, author Chip Ward tells of his travels among a new generation of activists who are moving...

320 pages
6 x 9

Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth

Mark Hertsgaard; Edited by Eban Goodstein

On December 7, 2011, Mark Hertsgaard participated in The National Climate Seminar, a series of webinars sponsored by Bard College’s Center for Environmental Policy. The online seminars provide a forum for leading scientists, writers, and...

19 pages
x

A Guidebook Of Natural And Social Indicators For Evaluating Marine Protected Areas Management Effectiveness

Lani M. Watson, John E. Parks, and Robert S. Pomeroy

IUCN, WWF and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have developed this guidebook to assist marine protected area (MPA) managers in assessing the performance of their MPA. Based on this assessment, it shows how necessary...

215 pages
8.5 x 11

Edited by Jessica Eise and Ken Foster

By 2050, we will have ten billion mouths to feed in a world profoundly altered by environmental change. How can we meet this challenge? In How to Feed the World, a diverse group of experts from Purdue University break down this crucial...

256 pages
6 x 9
11 illustrations

How to Save a River
A Handbook For Citizen Action

How to Save a River presents in a concise and readable format the wisdom gained from years of river protection campaigns across the United States. The book begins by defining general principles of action, including getting organized,...

286 pages
6 x 9

How to Study Public Life

How do we accommodate a growing urban population in a way that is sustainable, equitable, and inviting? This question is becoming increasingly urgent to answer as we face diminishing fossil-fuel resources and the effects of a changing climate...

200 pages
8.25 x 10
Full color, 57 illustrations

Human Dimensions of Ecological Restoration
Integrating Science, Nature, and Culture

Edited by Dave Egan, Evan E. Hjerpe, and Jesse Abrams; Foreword by Eric Higgs

When it comes to implementing successful ecological restoration projects, the social, political, economic, and cultural dimensions are often as important as-and sometimes more important than-technical or biophysical knowledge.

Human...

432 pages
7 x 10
23 photos

How Nature and Culture Shape Our World

Humans have always been influenced by natural landscapes, and always will be—even as we create ever-larger cities and our developments fundamentally change the nature of the earth around us. In Human Ecology, noted city planner and...

256 pages
6 x 9
11 photos

Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect

The Bell Curve, The Moral Animal, The Selfish Gene -- these and a host of other books and articles have made a seemingly overwhelming case that our genes determine our behavior. Now, in a new book that is sure to stir...

576 pages
6.125 x 9.25

Human Transit
How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives

Public transit is a powerful tool for addressing a huge range of urban problems, including traffic congestion and economic development as well as climate change. But while many people support transit in the abstract, it's often hard to...

256 pages
6 x 9
3 photos, 56 illustrations

Human Transit Revised Edition by Jarrett Walker | An Island Press book
How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives

Transportation expert Jarrett Walker believes that transit can be simple, if we focus on the underlying geometry that all transit systems share. In Human Transit, Revised Edition, he provides the basic tools and critical questions...

288 pages
6 x 9

Edited by Frank Ackerman, David Kiron, Neva R. Goodwin, Jonathan Harris, and Kevin Gallagher; Foreword by Kenneth Arrow

What are the ends of economic activity? According to neoclassical theory, efficient interaction of the profit-maximizing "ideal producer" and the utility-maximizing "ideal consumer" will eventually lead to some sort of social optimum. But is that...

458 pages
6 x 9

Humanity's Moment: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope by Joëlle Gergis | An Island Press book
A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope

When climate scientist Joëlle Gergis set to work on the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, the research she encountered kept her up at night. Through countless hours spent with the...

336 pages
6 x 9

Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate

Lately it has become a matter of conventional wisdom that hydrogen will solve many of our energy and environmental problems. Nearly everyone -- environmentalists, mainstream media commentators, industry analysts, General Motors, and even...

256 pages
6 x 9

Simon Chevalking, Lenneke Knoop, and Frank Van Steenbergen

Groundwater is the earth’s largest accessible store of fresh water. The volume is almost 100 times that of surface water. In recent decades use of groundwater has grown exponentially. Over 2 billion people depend on it for their daily...

Ideas that Matter
The Worlds of Jane Jacobs

Edited by Max Allen

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) is history's most celebrated urban critic. In addition to her classic, Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs authored another half dozen influential books on urban planning, economics, and design. She...

248 pages
9.25 x 8

Ignition
What You Can Do to Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement

The evidence is irrefutable: global warming is real. While the debate continues about just how much damage spiking temperatures will wreak, we know the threat to our homes, health, and even way of life is dire. So why isn’t America doing...

304 pages
6 x 9
2 illustrations

The Science and Mystery of Freshwater Mussels

"This is nature writing at its best." —E.O. Wilson"Eloquent treatise...Landis's book is as much call to action as paean to mesmerizing molluscs." —Nature"Rich, accurate,...

256 pages
5 x 8
7 illustrations

In a Perfect Ocean
The State Of Fisheries And Ecosystems In The North Atlantic Ocean

Recent decades have been marked by the decline or collapse of one fishery after another around the world, from swordfish in the North Atlantic to orange roughy in the South Pacific. While the effects of a collapse on local economies and fishing-...

208 pages
6 x 9

In Praise of Nature

Edited by Stephanie Mills; Foreword by Tom Brokaw

Five thought-provoking essays by Stephanie Mills are followed by reviews and excerpts of the ten most important pieces of related literature written by experts in the various fields. Reviewers include Peter Borrelli, David Brower, Ernest...

284 pages
6 x 9

Perhaps more than any other scientist of our century, Edward O. Wilson has scrutinized animals in their natural settings, tweezing out the dynamics of their social organization, their relationship with their environments, and their behavior, not...

224 pages
5 x 7

In the Thick of It
My Life in the Sierra Club

In an age when many of the major environmental policies established over the past four decades are under siege, Michael McCloskey reminds us of better days. . .days when conservation initiatives were seen not as political lightning rods, but as...

416 pages
6 x 9

Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities by Veronica Davis | An Island Press book
A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities

Veronica Davis; Foreword by tamika l. butler

Transportation planners, engineers, and policymakers in the US face the monumental task of righting the wrongs of their predecessors while charting the course for the next generation. This task requires empathy while pushing against forces in the...

176 pages
6 x 9
20 photos

The Remarkable Journey of the Jaguar

The jaguar is one of the most mysterious and least-known big cats of the world. The largest cat in the Americas, it has survived an onslaught of environmental and human threats partly because of an evolutionary history unique among wild felines,...

264 pages
6 x 9
One 8-page color insert, 28 photos and illustrations

Brute Force Technology and the Transformation of the Natural World

The construction of the Three Gorges Dam on China's Yangtze River. The transformation of the Amazon into a site for huge cattle ranches and aluminum smelters. The development of Nevada's Yucca Mountain into a repository for nuclear waste. The...

276 pages
6 x 9

Instream Flow Protection
Seeking A Balance In Western Water Use

Instream Flow Protection is a comprehensive overview of Western water use and the issues that surround it. The authors explain instream flow and its historical, political, and legal context; describe current instream flow laws and policies...

427 pages
6 x 9

Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management
Concepts And Practices

Biliana Cicin-Sain and Robert Knecht; Foreword by Gunnar Kullenberg

Biliana Cicin-Sain and Robert W. Knecht are co-directors of the Center for the Study of Marine Policy at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware and co-authors of The Future of U.S. Ocean Policy (Island Press, 1998).

543 pages
7 x 10

Redefining the Practice of Sustainability

416 pages
9 x 8

Intelligent Tinkering
Bridging the Gap between Science and Practice

Robert J. Cabin uses the restoration of tropical dry forestland in Hawaii as an in-depth case study to investigate the scientific, practical, and philosophical issues associated with performing ecological restoration in the messy real world....

240 pages
6 x 9
2 illustrations

Guide for the sustainable

Aquaculture currently faces a significant challenge: how to fulfill the expectation of alleviating the pressure that fishing fleets exercise on fish populations without leading to environmental problems. It is particularly expected to develop...

110 pages
5 x 8

Global Change And Human Impacts

The circulation and interactions of major elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, oxygen, and hydrogen are critical for the maintenance of the earth's ecosystems. Human activities including agriculture, industry, and urbanization...

320 pages
6 x 9

Harnessing the Creative Potential of Social Design

“As homo sapiens’ entry in any intergalactic design competition, industrial civilization would be tossed out at the qualifying round.” — David Orr, Earth in Mind   Design has built global brands, disrupted...

264 pages
6 x 8
100 color figures and photos

Using international law and organizations to manage marine resources sustainably

Lee A. Kimball

Our oceans are slowly dying, and the instruments of governance are inadequate to stop it. The international dimensions of ocean problems loom larger as we learn more about threats to marine species and ecosystems - invasive species are...

International Wildlife Trade
A Cites Sourcebook

Edited by Ginette Hemley; Foreword by Kathryn Fuller

For more than two decades, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES, has been one of the largest and most effective conservation agreements in the world. By regulating international...

178 pages
6 x 9

Second Edition

An Introduction to Coastal Zone Management, Second Edition offers a comprehensive overview of coastal planning and management issues for students and professionals in the field. Since publication of the first edition in 1994, population...

352 pages
6 x 9

Restoration ecology is a young field that integrates theory and knowledge from a range of disciplines, including the biological, physical, and social sciences as well as the humanities. This new textbook, written for upper-division undergraduates...

436 pages
8.5 x 10
135 photos and illustrations

IUCN Enivornmental Policy and Law Paper

The African Convention on the conservation of nature and natural resources was adopted in 1968 in Algiers. Considered the most forward looking regional agreement of the time, it influenced significantly the development of environmental law in...

60 pages
6.5 x 9.2

Invasive Alien Species
A New Synthesis

Invasive alien species are among today's most daunting environmental threats, costing billions of dollars in economic damages and wreaking havoc on ecosystems around the world. In 1997, a consortium of scientific organizations including SCOPE,...

368 pages
6 x 9

Vectors and Management Strategies

Recent years have seen a steep rise in invasions of non-native species in virtually all major ecoregions on Earth. Along with this rise has come a realization that a rigorous scientific understanding of why, how, when, and where species are...

536 pages
6 x 9

Investing in Natural Capital
The Ecological Economics Approach To Sustainability

Investing in Natural Capital presents the results of a workshop held following the second biannual conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics. It focuses on the relation of human development to natural capital, and...

520 pages
6 x 9

Investing in Nature
Case Studies of Land Conservation in Collaboration with Business

In 2004, U.S. consumers spent $5.2 billion purchasing bottled water while the government only invested 5 percent of that amount to purchase critical watersheds, parks, and wildlife refuges-systems vital to clean water and healthy environments....

232 pages
6 x 9

Invisible No More: Voices from Native America by  Raymond Foxworth and Steve Dubb | An Island Press book
Voices from Native America

For too long, Native American people in the United States have been stereotyped as vestiges of the past, invisible citizens in their own land obliged to remind others, “We are still here!” Yet today, Native leaders are at the center...

320 pages
6 x 9
13 photos, 1 illustration

Islands at the Edge of Time
A Journey To America's Barrier Islands

Islands at the Edge of Time is the story of one man's captivating journey along America's barrier islands from Boca Chica, Texas, to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Weaving in and out along the coastlines of Texas, Louisiana,...

240 pages
6 x 9

James R Paine

This publication is a positive step in building up public awareness about an area of great diversity but beset with the problems of the vulnerability of small islands and the limited resources of micro-nations.

447 pages
6 x 9

One Man's Struggle To Establish The World's First Jaguar Preserve

In 1983, zoologist Alan Rabinowitz ventured into the rain forest of Belize, determined to study the little-known jaguar in its natural habitat and to establish the world's first jaguar preserve. Within two years, he had succeeded. In Jaguar...

416 pages
6 x 9
36 photos, 2 illustrations

The Jewel Box: How Moths Illuminate Nature’s Hidden Rules by Tim Blackburn | An Island Press book
How Moths Illuminate Nature’s Hidden Rules

A plastic box with a lightbulb attached may seem like an odd birthday present. But for ecologist Tim Blackburn, a moth trap is a captivating window into the world beyond the roof terrace of his London flat. Whether gaudy or drab, rare or common,...

288 pages
6 x 9
10 photographs

John Muir's Last Journey
South To The Amazon And East To Africa: Unpublished Journals And Selected Correspondence

"I am now writing up some notes, but when they will be ready for publication I do not know... It will be a long time before anything is arranged in book form." These words of John Muir, written in June 1912 to a friend, proved prophetic...

400 pages
6 x 9

Concepts, Strategies, and Applications

Just over two decades ago, research findings that environmentally hazardous facilities were more likely to be sited near poor and minority communities gave rise to the environmental justice movement. Yet inequitable distribution of the burdens of...

384 pages
6 x 9
3 illustrations

Justice and the Interstates  Edited by Ryan Reft, Amanda K. Phillips de Lucas and Rebecca C. Retzlaff | An Island Press book
The Racist Truth about Urban Highways

When the U.S. interstate system was constructed, spurred by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, many highways were purposefully routed through Black, Brown, and poor communities. These neighborhoods were destroyed, isolated from the rest of the...

254 pages
6 x 9
35 photos and illustrations

Keepers of the Spring
Reclaiming Our Water In An Age Of Globalization

Water has long been the object of political ambition and conflict. Recent history is full of leaders who tried to harness water to realize national dreams. Yet the people who most need water-farmers, rural villages, impoverished communities-are...

313 pages
6 x 9

Against the Domestication of Earth

Is it time to embrace the so-called “Anthropocene”—the age of human dominion—and to abandon tried-and-true conservation tools such as parks and wilderness areas? Is the future of Earth to be fully domesticated, an...

248 pages
6 x 9

The Kingdom of Rarities

When you look out your window, why are you so much more likely to see a robin or a sparrow than a Kirtland's warbler or a California condor? Why are some animals naturally rare and others so abundant? The quest to find and study seldom-seen...

312 pages
6 x 9
19 illustrations

Kitchen Literacy by Ann Vileisis | An Island Press book
How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes from and Why We Need to Get It Back

Ask children where food comes from, and they’ll probably answer: “the supermarket.” Ask most adults, and their replies may not be much different. Where our foods are raised and what happens to them between farm and supermarket...

352 pages
6 x 9
30 illustrations

An Action Plan For Its Conservation

John MacKinnon, Simon N. Stuart, and Vo Quy

The kouprey is one of the most endangered species of mammals in the world. This Action Plan has been developed by IUCN in collaboration with the Governments of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, and a number of zoos and conservation...

24 pages
8.2 x 10.5

Ecology And Management Of Savanna Heterogeneity

Kruger National Park in South Africa has one of the most extensive sets of records of any protected area in the world, and throughout its history has supported connections between science and management. In recognition of that long-standing...

536 pages
6 x 9

Two Sisters and a Town's Toxic Legacy

On her deathbed, Sue asked her sister for one thing: to write about the connection between the industrial pollution in their hometown and the rare cancer that was killing her. Fulfilling that promise has been Nancy Nichols’ mission for more...

192 pages
5.5 x 8.25

Land Conservation Financing

Written by two of the nation's leading experts on land conservation, Land Conservation Financing provides a comprehensive overview of successful land conservation programs -- how they were created, how they are funded, and what they've...

212 pages
5.5 x 8.5

Geography, Law, and Public Policy

The intersection between geography and law is a critical yet often overlooked element of land-use decisions, with a widespread impact on how societies use the land, water, and biodiversity around them. Land Use and Society, Third Edition...

320 pages
7 x 10
33 photos, 32 illustrations

Private Property And The Common Good

Is private ownership an inviolate right that individuals can wield as they see fit? Or is it better understood in more collective terms, as an institution that communities reshape over time to promote evolving goals? What should it mean to be a...

352 pages
6 x 9

An Ecological Approach

For decades, landscape architecture was driven solely by artistic sensibilities. But in these times of global change, the opportunity to reshape the world comes with a responsibility to consider how it can be resilient, fostering health and...

336 pages
6 x 9
20 photos, 40 illustrations

Present Trends and Perspectives in International and Comparative Law

IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, IUCN Environmental Law Centre, and IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas

The attention given to landscape in environmental law is new and the subject raises a series of interesting problems, which were highlighted at a Colloquium. Its central theme was the draft European Landscape Convention prepared by the Council of...

109 pages
6.8 x 9.5

Wenche Dramstad, James D. Olson, and Richard T.T. Forman

Landscape ecology has emerged in the past decade as an important and useful tool for land-use planners and landscape architects. While professionals and scholars have begun to incorporate aspects of this new field into their work, there remains a...

80 pages
7 x 9
16 photos, 86 illustrations

Landscape Linkages and Biodiversity

Defenders of Wildlife; Edited by Wendy E. Hudson; Foreword by Rupert Cutler

In Landscape Linkages and Biodiversity experts explain biological diversity conservation, focusing on the need for protecting large areas of the most diverse ecosystems, and connecting those ecosystems with land corridors to allow species...

222 pages
6 x 9

Large Carnivores and the Conservation of Biodiversity

Large Carnivores and the Conservation of Biodiversity brings together more than thirty leading scientists and conservation practitioners to consider a key question in environmental conservation: Is the conservation of large carnivores in...

526 pages
6 x 9

Ecological And Sociological Challenges In The 21St Century

Edited by David Maehr, Reed F. Noss, and Jeffery L. Larkin; Foreword by Melvin E. Sunquist

Evidence is mounting that top carnivores and other large mammals play a pivotal role in regulating ecosystem health and function, yet those are the species that are most likely to have been eliminated by past human activities. In recent...

336 pages
6 x 9

Large-Scale Ecosystem Restoration
Five Case Studies from the United States

Edited by Mary Doyle and Cynthia Drew

Large-Scale Ecosystem Restoration presents case studies of five of the most noteworthy large-scale restoration projects in the United States: Chesapeake Bay, the Everglades, California Bay Delta, the Platte River Basin, and the Upper Mississippi...

340 pages
6 x 9

Last Animals at the Zoo
How Mass Extinction Can Be Stopped

In Last Animals at the Zoo, Colin Tudge argues that zoos have become an essential part of modern conservation strategy, and that the only real hope for saving many endangered species is through creative use of zoos in combination with...

266 pages
6 x 9

The Last Refuge
Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror

"Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels" -SAMUEL JOHNSON, 1775

Updated and revised following the 2004 elections, The Last Refuge describes the current state of American politics against the backdrop of mounting ecological and social...

192 pages
5.5 x 8.25

Here is a vitally important book for anyone who is concerned with acid rain and the fate of our forests. In his fascinating investigation into the decline of the red spruce on Camel Hump in Vermont, Robert A. Mello explores an ecological mystery...

217 pages
6 x 9

Catalyst For Conservation

Despite his status as a scion of one of the wealthiest and most famous families in the United States and an enormously successful businessman in his own right, Laurance S. Rockefeller is unknown to all but a small circle of Americans. Yet while...

272 pages
6 x 9

The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services

The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services is the first comprehensive exploration of the status and future of natural capital and ecosystem services in American law and policy. The book develops a framework for thinking about ecosystem...

360 pages
6 x 9

Lawyers, Swamps, and Money
U.S. Wetland Law, Policy, and Politics

Lawyers, Swamps, and Money is an accessible, engaging guide to the complex set of laws governing America's wetlands. After explaining the importance of these critical natural areas, the book examines the evolution of federal law,...

280 pages
6 x 9
37 photos and illustrations

Strategies for Tackling Wicked Problems

Solving today’s environmental and sustainability challenges requires more than expertise and technology. Effective solutions will require that we engage with other people, wrestle with difficult questions, and learn how to adapt and make...

272 pages
6 x 9
14 figures

Leadville
The Struggle To Revive An American Town

Leadville explores the clash between a small mining town high up in Colorado's Rocky Mountains and the federal government, determined to clean up the toxic mess left from a hundred years of mining.

Set amidst the historic streets and...

312 pages
6 x 9

In this inspired collection, some of America's most provocative thinkers and writers reflect on nature and enviornmetnal science--reaching compelling conclusions about humanity's relationship to the earth. Balanced by science and fact,...

295 pages
6 x 9

Maria Socorro Z. Manguiat, Roda Verheyen, Jens Mackensen, and Gerald Scholz

Among the various innovative instruments linked to the Kyoto Protocol is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which offers developed countries a chance to offset some of their greenhouse gas emissions by funding development projects in areas...

70 pages
6 x 9

Design & Implementation at the National Level

This publication identifies and analyzes critical issues in the formulation and implementation of national and sub-national legal frameworks for REDD activities. It is based on substantive findings from four national case studies (Brazil,...

197 pages
6.8 x 9.5

Findings From Nine Case Studies

Joy E. Hecht

Environmental accounting – the modification of the national income accounts to take into consideration the economic role of the environment – has grown in importance over the past ten years. However, many countries have not yet...

48 pages
8.5 x 11

Wise Use And The Private Property Rights Movement

Edited by John Echeverria and Ray Eby

One of the most serious challenges to environmentalism that has emerged in the 1990s is the so-called Wise Use movement. While operating under the guise of an independent movement of small landowners, it is in reality a backlash against...

381 pages
6 x 9

Let Them Eat Shrimp
The Tragic Disappearance of the Rainforests of the Sea

What’s the connection between a platter of jumbo shrimp at your local restaurant and murdered fishermen in Honduras, impoverished women in Ecuador, and disastrous hurricanes along America’s Gulf coast? Mangroves. Many people have...

200 pages
6 x 9
One 4-page color insert

The Next Global Transformation of Cities

The future of our cities is not what it used to be. The modern-city model that took hold globally in the twentieth century has outlived its usefulness. It cannot solve the problems it helped to create—especially global warming. Fortunately...

304 pages
6 x 9

Life Between Buildings
Using Public Space

“. . .thoughtful, beautiful, and enlightening...” —Jane Jacobs   “This book will have a lasting infl uence on the future quality of public open spaces. By helping us better understand the larger public life of cities...

200 pages
x

The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed

Dubbed the Indiana Jones of wildlife science by The New York Times, Alan Rabinowitz has devoted—and risked—his life to protect nature’s great endangered mammals. He has journeyed to the remote corners of the earth in...

248 pages
6 x 9
One 16-page color insert, 3 illustrations

Lifelines
The Case For River Conservation

In Lifelines, Tim Palmer addresses the fate of our waterways. While proposals for gigantic federal dams are no longer common, and some of the worst pollution has been brought under control, myriad other concerns have appeared—many of...

266 pages
6 x 9

Limited Wants, Unlimited Means
A Reader On Hunter-Gatherer Economics And The Environment

Edited by John Gowdy

For roughly 99% of their existence on earth, Homo sapiens lived in small bands of semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, finding everything they needed to survive and thrive in the biological richness that surrounded them. Most if not all of the...

378 pages
6 x 9

A Primer on the Urban Sprawl Debate

One of the great debates of our time concerns the predominant form of land use in America today -- the all too familiar pattern of commercial and residential development known as sprawl. But what do we really know about sprawl? Do we know what it...

328 pages
7 x 10

A review of their conservation value

Graham Bennett

Until well into recent times, a high level of connectivity existed among ecosystems. Through the ever-increasing extent and intensity of human exploitation of natural resources, however, the pattern of human activities as islands in a sea of...

28 pages
6 x 11

The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction

How much would you pay for a gallon of gas? $4.00? $10.00? Would you pay with the health of your lungs or with years taken from your lifespan? The infamous "pain at the pump" runs much deeper than our wallets, argues Terry Tamminen, former...

272 pages
6 x 9

Livestock in a Changing Landscape, Volume 1
Drivers, Consequences, and Responses

The rapidly changing nature of animal production systems, especially increasing intensification and globalization, is playing out in complex ways around the world. Over the last century, livestock keeping evolved from a means of harnessing...

416 pages
8.5 x 11
54 illustrations

Experiences and Regional Perspectives

The rapidly changing nature of animal production systems, especially increasing intensification and globalization, is playing out in complex ways around the world. Over the last century, livestock keeping evolved from a means of harnessing...

208 pages
8.5 x 11
One 4-page color insert, 111 photos, 66 illustrations

Building a Business that Creates Value, Inspires Change, and Restores Land and Community

The economic crash of late 2008 is just the latest evidence of the truth that many have known for so long: that too much of our modern economy is based on a house of cards. We need businesses that not only factor their impact on people and places...

336 pages
6 x 9

The Living Landscape, Second Edition
An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning

The Living Landscape is a manifesto, resource, and textbook for architects, landscape architects, environmental planners, students, and others involved in creating human communities. Since its first edition, published in 1990, it has...

496 pages
8.5 x 11
39 photos, 168 illustrations

Living with the Genie
Essays On Technology And The Quest For Human Mastery

At a time when scientific and technological breakthroughs keep our eyes focused on the latest software upgrades or the newest cell-phone wizardry, a group of today's most innovative thinkers are looking beyond the horizon to explore both the...

352 pages
6 x 9

Local Climate Action Planning

Climate change is a global problem, but the problem begins locally. Cities consume 75% of the world's energy and emit 80% of the world's greenhouse gases. Changing the way we build and operate our cities can have major effects on...

304 pages
6 x 9
24 photos and illustrations

The most difficult questions of sustainability are not about technology; they are about values. Answers to such questions cannot be found by asking the "experts," but can only be resolved in the political arena. In The Local Politics of Global...

196 pages
6 x 9

Love Canal
and the Birth of the Environmental Health Movement

Today, “Love Canal” is synonymous with the struggle for environmental health and justice. But in 1972, when Lois Gibbs moved there with her husband and new baby, it was simply a modest neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York. How did...

248 pages
5.5 x 8.5
9 photos, 2 illustrations

The First Epidemic of Climate Change

"Superbly written and researched." Booklist"Builds a strong case." Kirkus Lyme disease is spreading rapidly around the globe as ticks move into places they...

304 pages
6 x 9

Making Climate Tech Work: Policies that Drive Innovation by Alon Tal | An Island Press book
Policies that Drive Innovation

Climate tech is critical for averting planetary chaos. Half the greenhouse gas reductions required to reach “net-zero” climate targets in 2050 will need to come from technologies that have not yet been invented.  Without...

312 pages
6 x 9
No illustrations

Making Collaboration Work
Lessons From Innovation In Natural Resource Management

Across the United States, diverse groups are turning away from confrontation and toward collaboration in an attempt to tackle some of our nation's most intractable environmental problems. Government agencies, community groups, businesses, and...

280 pages
6 x 9

Making Development Sustainable
Redefining Institutions Policy And Economics

Edited by Johan Holmberg

Making Development Sustainable is an integrated series of essays on the policies for sustainable development from one of the leading policy research institutes for environmental and development issues.

362 pages
6 x 9

Designing and Building for Health, Well-being, and Sustainability

The environment that we construct affects both humans and our natural world in myriad ways. There is a pressing need to create healthy places and to reduce the health threats inherent in places already built. However, there has been little...

440 pages
8 x 10
One 8-page color insert, 52 photos, 20 illustrations

Making Healthy Places, Second Edition: Designing and Building for Well-Being, Equity, and Sustainability edited by Nisha Botchwey, Andrew L. Dannenberg, and Howard Frumkin | An Island Press book
Designing and Building for Well-Being, Equity, and Sustainability

The first edition of Making Healthy Places offered a visionary and thoroughly researched treatment of the connections between constructed environments and human health. Since its publication over 10 years ago, the field of healthy...

552 pages
8.5 x 11
131 photos/figures

Making Nature Whole
A History of Ecological Restoration

Making Nature Whole is a seminal volume that presents an in-depth history of the field of ecological restoration as it has developed in the United States over the last three decades. The authors draw from both published and unpublished...

272 pages
6 x 9

Strategies for Preserving Tropical Nature

Most scientists and researchers working in tropical areas are convinced that parks and protected areas are the only real hope for saving land and biodiversity in those regions. Rather than giving up on parks that are foundering, ways must be...

511 pages
6 x 9

Concepts And Cases

Despite a vast amount of effort and expertise devoted to them, many environmental conflicts have remained mired in controversy, stubbornly defying resolution. Why can some environmental problems be resolved in one locale but remain contentious...

296 pages
6 x 9

How to Entice Motorists from Their Cars (and onto their feet, a bike, or bus)

Why do people in Stockholm prefer to take the stairs over the escalator?  Why do Londoners enjoy hanging out at bus stops? How do carmakers convince us to buy gas-guzzling, environmentally damaging, and wallet-draining machines? It's...

152 pages
6 x 9
39 photos, 1 illustration

Protected Areas Protected Landscapes / Seascapes,

Adrian Phillips

Protected Landscapes (IUCN Protected Area Category V) are lived-in working landscapes. In the past, there has been a tendency to see them as a rather Eurocentric approach to protected areas but increasingly the category is being designated in...

122 pages
8.2 x 11.5

Managing Growth in America's Communities

Communities across the country are turning to the concept of "growth management" to help plan for the future, as they seek to control the location, impact, character and timing of development in order to balance environmental and economic needs...

319 pages
6 x 9

Managing Growth in America's Communities
Second Edition

In this thoroughly revised edition of Managing Growth in America’s Communities,  readers will learn the principles that guide intelligent planning for communities of any size, grasp the major issues in successfully managing growth, and...

336 pages
6 x 9

Mats Björk, Fred Short, Elizabeth McLeod, and Sven Beer

Seagrasses are flowering plants that thrive in shallow oceanic and estuarine waters around the world. Although there are only about 60 species of seagrasses worldwide, these plants play an important role in many shallow, near-shore, marine...

55 pages
8 x 12

Managing the Climate Crisis by Jonathan Barnett and Matthijs Bouw | An Island Press book
Designing and Building for Floods, Heat, Drought, and Wildfire

The climate, which had been relatively stable for centuries, is well into a new and dangerous phase. In 2020 there were 22 weather and climate disasters in the United States, which resulted in 262 deaths.  Each disaster cost more than a...

296 pages
6 x 9
77 figures

Managing Tourism Growth
Issues And Applications

Tourism is by many measures the world's largest and fastest growing industry, and it provides myriad benefits to hosts and visitors alike. Yet if poorly managed, tourism can have serious negative impacts on tourist communities-their environment,...

316 pages
7 x 10

A Guide for Planners and Managers

John R. Clark and Rodney V. Salm

This is a new edition of the classic textbook on marine protected area (MPA) management in the tropics, originally produced as an output of the Bali World Parks Congress in 1982. Approaches to planning and managing MPAs have evolved considerably...

387 pages
7 x 10

Marine Conservation Biology
The Science of Maintaining the Sea's Biodiversity

Marine Conservation Biology Institute; Edited by Elliott A. Norse and Larry B. Crowder; Foreword by Michael E. Soulé

Humans are terrestrial animals, and our capacity to see and understand the importance and vulnerability of life in the sea has trailed our growing ability to harm it. While conservation biologists are working to address environmental problems...

496 pages
8 x 10
6 photos, 48 illustrations

Marine Ecosystem-Based Management in Practice
Different Pathways, Common Lessons

Julia Wondolleck and Steven Yaffee are hopeful.  Rather than lamenting the persistent conflicts in global marine ecosystems, they instead sought out examples where managers were doing things differently and making progress against great odds...

288 pages
6 x 9
4 illustrations

A Guide to Science, Design, and Use

Conventional fishery management practices have failed to prevent the collapse of numerous fish stocks around the world. Amid growing concern about our ability to protect marine biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, scientists and managers...

220 pages
7 x 10

How to Shine in Tough Times

It's a tough time to be a scientist: universities are shuttering science departments, federal funding agencies are facing flat budgets, and many newspapers have dropped their science sections altogether. But according to Marc Kuchner, this...

248 pages
6 x 9
12 illustrations

A clear grasp of economics is essential to understanding why environmental problems arise and how we can address them. So it is with good reason that Markets and the Environment has become a classic text in environmental studies since its...

328 pages
5.5 x 8.75
30 illustrations

Designing, Managing, and Monitoring Conservation and Development Projects

Measures of Success is a practical, hands-on guide to designing, managing, and measuring the impacts of community-oriented conservation and development projects. It presents a simple, clear, logical, and yet comprehensive approach to...

384 pages
8.5 x 11

Measuring Landscapes
A Planner's Handbook

This practical handbook bridges the gap between those scientists who study landscapes and the planners and conservationists who must then decide how best to preserve and build environmentally-sound habitats. Until now, only a small portion of the...

272 pages
6 x 9

Metrics for Livable Places

What makes strolling down a particular street enjoyable? The authors of Measuring Urban Design argue it's not an idle question. Inviting streets are the centerpiece of thriving, sustainable communities, but it can be difficult to pinpoint...

200 pages
7 x 10
Full color, 104 photos, 4 illustrations

A System Dynamics Approach To Environmental Consensus Building

Marjan van den Belt; Foreword by Thomas Dietz

Mediated modeling is an innovative new approach that enhances the use of computer models as invaluable tools to guide policy and management decisions. Rather than having outside experts dispensing answers to local stakeholders, mediated...

296 pages
7 x 10

Guidelines for Developing Action Plans

Pedro Regato and Rami Salman

This report is currently available in an electronic format only. To view the report and others published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), please visit IUCN's website. ...

88 pages
11.6 x 8.1

Oceanographic and Biological Processes, An Overview

Maurizio Wьrtz

This report is currently available in an electronic format only. To view the report and others published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), please visit...

88 pages
11.6 x 8

Megaregions
Planning for Global Competitiveness

Edited by Catherine Ross

The concept of “the city” —as well as “the state” and “the nation state” —is passé, agree contributors to this insightful book. The new scale for considering economic strength and growth...

336 pages
7 x 10
45 illustrations

Metapopulations and Wildlife Conservation

Edited by Dale Richard McCullough

Development of rural landscapes is converting once-vast expanses of open space into pockets of habitat where wildlife populations exist in isolation from other members of their species. The central concept of metapopulation dynamics -- that a...

439 pages
6 x 9

Connecting Open Space in North American Cities

In metropolitan areas across the country, you can hear the laments over the loss of green space to new subdivisions and strip malls. But some city residents have taken unprecedented measures to protect their open land, and a growing movement...

352 pages
7 x 10
46 photos, 46 illustrations

Mimicking Nature's Fire
Restoring Fire-Prone Forests In The West

The magnificent stands of old-growth trees that characterize the forests of western North America depend on periodic fires for their creation or survival. Deprived of that essential disturbance process eventually they die, leaving an overcrowded...

264 pages
6 x 9

Thinking Big and Building Small to Respond to Today’s Housing Crisis

Today, there is a tremendous mismatch between the available housing stock in the US and the housing options that people want and need. The post-WWII, auto-centric, single-family-development model no longer meets the needs of residents. Urban...

328 pages
8 x 9
Full color, 275 photos and illustrations

Mitigation Banking
Theory And Practice

Edited by David Salvesen, Lindell L. Marsh, and Douglas R. Porter; Foreword by John De Grove

Under the Clean Water Act, development that results in the permanent destruction of wetlands must, in most cases, be mitigated by the creation of a new wetland or the restoration of a degraded one. In recent years, the concept of "mitigation...

315 pages
6 x 9

Modeling the Environment was the first textbook in an emerging field—the modeling techniques that allow managers and researchers to see in advance the consequences of actions and policies in environmental management. This new edition...

488 pages
7 x 10
324 illustrations

A Brief Introduction to Contemporary Toxicology

Traditional toxicology textbooks tend to be doorstops: tomes filled with important but seemingly abstract chemistry and biology. Meanwhile, magazine and journal articles introduce students to timely topics such as BPA and endocrine disruption or...

224 pages
6 x 9

Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man’s Search for Justice

Lee Johnson was a man with simple dreams. All he wanted was a steady job and a nice home for his wife and children, something better than the hard life he knew growing up. He never imagined that he would become the face of a David-and-Goliath...

352 pages
6 x 9
2 figures

More
Population, Nature, and What Women Want

In the capital of Ghana, a teenager nicknamed “Condom Sister” trolls the streets to educate other young people about contraception. Her work and her own aspirations point to a remarkable shift not only in the West African nation,...

320 pages
6 x 9

More Tree Talk
The People, Politics, and Economics of Timber

More Tree Talk is an insightful and compelling look at the human dimension of the challenges facing forestry. First published in 1981, Tree Talk was widely hailed as the most even-handed and well-written introduction to forestry...

348 pages
6 x 9

The World Bank, Environmental Impoverishment, and the Crisis of Development

The 1992 Rio Earth Summit was supposed to be a turning point for the World Bank. Environmental concerns would now play a major role in its lending—programs and projects would go beyond economic development to “sustainable development...

379 pages
6 x 9

Menhaden and America

In this brilliant portrait of the oceans’ unlikely hero, H. Bruce Franklin shows how menhaden have shaped America’s national—and natural—history, and why reckless overfishing now threatens their place in both. Since Native...

280 pages
6 x 9
26 photos and illustrations

Mountain Goats
Ecology, Behavior, and Conservation of an Alpine Ungulate

Mountain goats have been among the least studied of North American ungulates, leaving wildlife managers with little information on which to base harvest strategies or conservation plans.   This book offers the first comprehensive assessment...

280 pages
6 x 9

Movement: How to Take Back our Streets and Transform our Lives by Thalia Verkade and Marco te Brömmelstroet | An Island Press book
How to Take Back Our Streets and Transform Our Lives

“This book will—no question—make you think in new ways. Why have we surrendered our cities to cars? What might it be like to inhabit a space designed for people instead? It’s exciting and hopeful—this we can do!...

288 pages
6 x 9

Collected Essays of Hank Dittmar

"Hank lived by the credo 'first listen, then design.'" —Scott Bernstein, Founder and Chief Strategy + Innovation Officer, Center for Neighborhood Technology   Hank Dittmar was a globally recognized urban planner...

256 pages
6 x 9

My Kind of Transit
Rethinking Public Transportation

In My Kind of Transit, Darrin Nordahl argues that like life itself, transportation isn't only about the destination, but the journey. Public transit reduces traffic and pollution, yet few of us are willing to get out of our cars and...

176 pages
7 x 9
Full color, 62 photos

Coordinating A Conservation System Through Law

The National Wildlife Refuges provides a comprehensive examination of the laws and policies governing management of the national wildlife refuges, offering for the first time a practical description and analysis of the management regime...

296 pages
6 x 9

Sustaining Home And Community In A Global Age

Meaningful places offer a vital counterbalance to the forces of globalization and sameness that are overtaking our world, and are an essential element in the search for solutions to current sustainability challenges. In Native to Nowhere,...

408 pages
6 x 9

Natural Assets
Democratizing Ownership Of Nature

Low-income communities frequently suffer from a lack of access to, or lack of control over, the natural resources that surround them. In many cases, their local environment has been degraded by years of resource extraction and pollution by...

368 pages
6 x 9

Natural Connections
Perspectives In Community-Based Conservation

Both realism and justice demand that efforts to conserve biological diversity address human needs as well. The most promising hope of accomplishing such a goal lies in locally based conservation efforts -- an approach that seeks ways to make...

600 pages
6 x 9

Enlisting Bugs and Germs to Protect Our Food and Health

For more than a century, we have relied on chemical cures to keep our bodies free from disease and our farms free from bugs and weeds. We rarely consider human and agricultural health together, but both are based on the same ecology, and both are...

200 pages
6 x 9

Natural Hazard Mitigation
Recasting Disaster Policy And Planning

The first half of the 1990s saw the largest and most costly floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes in the history of the United States. While natural hazards cannot be prevented, their human impacts can be greatly reduced through advance action that...

591 pages
6 x 9
37 illustrations

A Natural History of Nature Writing

A Natural History of Nature Writing is a penetrating overview of the origins and development of a uniquely American literature. Essayist and poet Frank Stewart describes in rich and compelling prose the lives and works of the most...

302 pages
6 x 9

Natural Resources for the 21st Century

American Forestry Association; Edited by R. Neil Sampson and Dwight Hair

Natural Resources for the 21st Century is an in-depth assessment by natural resource experts that offers a reliable status report on water, croplands, soil, forests, wetlands, rangelands, fisheries, wildlife, and wilderness.

350 pages
6 x 9

A Graphic Adaptation

"Poised to inspire a new generation of naturalists." - Publishers Weekly

A vibrant graphic adaptation of the classic science memoir Regarded as one of the world’s preeminent biologists, Edward O. Wilson...

240 pages
7 x 9
Full color throughout

Edward O. Wilson—winner of two Pulitzer prizes, champion of biodiversity, and Faculty Emeritus at Harvard University—is arguably one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century. Yet his celebrated career began not with an...

408 pages
6 x 9
52 illustrations

Capturing The Value Of Ecosystem Services

In recent years, scientists have begun to focus on the idea that healthy, functioning ecosystems provide essential services to human populations, ranging from water purification to food and medicine to climate regulation. Lacking a healthy...

224 pages
6 x 9

The Nature of a House
Building a World that Works

Is it possible for a group of the world’s most respected environmental scientists to truly practice what they preach? Can their expertise in climate change help them in transforming an old house and its nine acres into their new office...

160 pages
6 x 9
9 photos, 7 illustrations

A New York Perspective on Resilience

The best cities become an ingrained part of their residents' identities.  Urban design is the key to this process, but all too often, citizens abandon it to professionals, unable to see a way to express what they love and value in their...

264 pages
8.25 x 10.75
Full color, 121 photos, 21 illustrations

Biological Invasions In The Global Age

Though the forests are still green and the lakes full of water, an unending stream of invasions is changing many ecosystems around the world from productive, tightly integrated webs of native species to loose assemblages of stressed native...

352 pages
6 x 9

This directory provides details of measures taken to date to establish a system of protected areas in the region, which includes Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of Pakistan, India, Burma, China and the former USSR. Each national system is...

495 pages
6.2 x 9.5

Eight Conservationists Who Changed Our World

It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of big environmental challenges—but we need inspiration more than ever. With political leaders who deny climate change, species that are fighting for their very survival, and the planet’s...

272 pages
6 x 9
30 photos, 2 illustrations

How Business and Society Thrive By Investing in Nature

What is nature worth? The answer to this question—which traditionally has been framed in environmental terms—is revolutionizing the way we do business. In Nature’s Fortune, Mark Tercek, CEO of The Nature Conservancy and...

280 pages
5.25 x 8.5

Nature's Restoration
People and Places on the Front Lines of Conservation

With fewer and fewer pristine places on earth left to preserve, restoration is the "new" conservation. Yet the work is anything but easy. Ecology is complex, and restoration projects are often controversial. How do we know what's natural? What...

320 pages
6 x 9

Nature's Services
Societal Dependence On Natural Ecosystems

Edited by Gretchen Cara Daily; Forewords by John Peterson Myers and Joshua Reichert

Life itself as well as the entire human economy depends on goods and services provided by earth's natural systems. The processes of cleansing, recycling, and renewal, along with goods such as seafood, forage, and timber, are worth many trillions...

412 pages
6 x 9

Habitat Protection And Land Use Planning

Nature-Friendly Communities presents an authoritative and readable overview of the successful approaches to protecting biodiversity and natural areas in America's growing communities. Addressing the crucial issues of sprawl, open space...

421 pages
8.5 x 10

How To Avoid Escalating Confrontation Needless Costs And Unnecessary Litigation

When business leaders, government officials, and other stakeholders come to the table in an environmental, health, or safety dispute, acrimony often results, leading to expensive and time-consuming litigation. Not only does this waste precious...

346 pages
7 x 10

Land, Culture, and the Community of Life

The engaging writings gathered in this new book explore an important but little-publicized movement in American culture -- the marked resurgence of agrarian practices and values in rural areas, suburbs, and even cities. It is a movement that...

256 pages
6 x 9

A New Century for Natural Resources Management

This book explores the changes that are leading to a new century of natural resources management. It places the current situation in historical perspective, analyzes the forces that are propelling change, and describes and examines the specific...

411 pages
6 x 9

The Influence Of Affluence On The Environment

While overconsumption by the developed world's roughly one billion inhabitants is an abiding problem, another one billion increasingly affluent "new consumers" in developing countries will place additional strains on the earth's...

192 pages
6 x 9

The Quest to Make Conservation Profitable

Why shouldn't people who deplete our natural assets have to pay, and those who protect them reap profits? Conservation-minded entrepreneurs and others around the world are beginning to ask just that question, as the increasing scarcity of...

250 pages
6 x 9

New Geographies of the American West
Land Use and the Changing Patterns of Place

Reconciling explosive growth with often majestic landscape defines New Geographies of the American West. Geographer William Travis examines contemporary land use changes and development patterns from the Mississippi to the Pacific,...

304 pages
6 x 9

Smart Planning for Emerging Transportation Technologies

New transportation technologies can expand our world. During the last century, motorized modes increased our mobility by an order of magnitude, providing large benefits, but also imposing huge costs on individuals and communities. Faster and more...

208 pages
6 x 9
19 figures (including au photo)

New Models for Ecosystem Dynamics and Restoration

As scientific understanding about ecological processes has grown, the idea that ecosystem dynamics are complex, nonlinear, and often unpredictable has gained prominence. Of particular importance is the idea that rather than following an...

366 pages
7 x 10

The New Transit Town
Best Practices In Transit-Oriented Development

Transit-oriented development (TOD) seeks to maximize access to mass transit and nonmotorized transportation with centrally located rail or bus stations surrounded by relatively high-density commercial and residential development. New Urbanists...

272 pages
8 x 9

A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention by Kristina Marusic | An Island Press book
The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention

For more than fifty years, we have been waging, but not winning, the war on cancer. We’re better than ever at treating the disease, yet cancer still claims the lives of one in five men and one in six women in the US. The astonishing news is...

224 pages
6 x 9

Principles for Post-Industrial Public Works

The 2007 bridge collapse in Minneapolis-St. Paul quickly became symbolic of the debilitated interstate highway system—and of what many critics see as America’s disinvestment in its infrastructure. The extreme vulnerability of single-...

264 pages
7 x 10
23 photos, 7 illustrations

No Farms, No Food by Don Stuart | An Island Press book
Uniting Farmers and Environmentalists to Transform American Agriculture

America’s farms are key to the preservation of vital ecosystems and a stable climate. Yet farmers and environmentalists have not always seen eye-to-eye about the best ways to manage agricultural landscapes. Since 1980, American Farmland...

304 pages
6 x 9

Food as a Social Enterprise

In today’s fast-paced, fast food world, everyone seems to be eating alone, all the time—whether it’s at their desks or in the car. Even those who find time for a family meal are cut off from the people who grew, harvested,...

184 pages
6 x 9
3 illustrations

Roads and Motorized Recreation on America's Public Lands

While many of the roads on public lands provide a great service with relatively little harm, others create significant problems -- from habitat fragmentation to noise pollution to increased animal mortality -- with little or no benefit.

...

253 pages
6 x 9

The Decline of the World's Great Animal Migrations

Animal migration is a magnificent sight: a mile-long blanket of cranes rising from a Nebraska river and filling the sky; hundreds of thousands of wildebeests marching across the Serengeti; a blaze of orange as millions of monarch butterflies...

256 pages
6 x 9
12 photos and illustrations

Noninvasive Survey Methods for Carnivores

The status of many carnivore populations is of growing concern to scientists and conservationists, making the need for data pertaining to carnivore distribution, abundance, and habitat use ever more pressing. Recent developments in “...

400 pages
8.5 x 11

Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan

Edited by Eric Yensen and David J. Hafner

The first comprehensive treatment of North American rodents of conservation concern. This action plan summarizes the rodent fauna of North America and provides available information on every rodent taxon that has been considered to be of...

181 pages
8.2 x 10.5

A Northern Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants and Pollinators by Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla | An Island Press book

Few sights are as charming as a hummingbird hovering over cardinal flowers in your backyard or a butterfly lighting on the black-eyed Susans potted on your balcony. Yet pollinators do more than beguile us: they are key to a healthy...

264 pages
8 x 9
4-color illustrations throughout

Not by Timber Alone
Economics And Ecology For Sustaining Tropical Forests

Not by Timber Alone presents the findings of the Harvard Institute for International Development study, commissioned by the International Tropical Timber Organization, that examined the economic value of tropical hardwood forests as...

302 pages
6 x 9

Sustainability in the Global Food System

Mangos from India, pasta from Italy, coffee from Colombia: Every day, we are nourished by a global food system that relies on our planet remaining verdant and productive. But current practices are undermining both human and environmental health,...

272 pages
6 x 9
20 illustrations

Observation and Ecology
Broadening the Scope of Science to Understand a Complex World

The need to understand and address large-scale environmental problems that are difficult to study in controlled environments—issues ranging from climate change to overfishing to invasive species—is driving the field of ecology in new...

232 pages
6 x 9
40 illustrations

The Ocean and Coastal Conservation Guide 2005-2006

Edited by David Helvarg

A new environmental movement is emerging to help combat threats to America's oceans and coasts, with hundreds of local and regional groups as well as dozens of national and international organizations being formed. The Ocean and Coastal...

234 pages
7 x 10

Science, Trends, and the Challenge of Sustainability

Oceans 2020 presents a comprehensive assessment of the most important science and societal issues that are likely to arise in marine science and ocean management in the next twenty years. Sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic...

296 pages
6 x 9

The Oceans and Environmental Security
Shared U.S. And Russian Perspectives

The concept of environmental security, drawing on the widely understood notion of international strategic interdependence (in facing, for example, threats of nuclear war or economic collapse) is gaining currency as a way of thinking about...

350 pages
6 x 9

A Technical Input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment

Edited by Roger Griffis and Jennifer Howard

Prepared for the 2013 National Climate Assessment and a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage, Oceans and Marine Resources in a Changing Climate is the result of a collaboration among numerous local, state,...

288 pages
8 x 10

Old Fields
Dynamics and Restoration of Abandoned Farmland

Land abandonment is increasing as human influence on the globe intensifies and various ecological, social, and economic factors conspire to force the cessation of agriculture and other forms of land management. The “old fields” that...

352 pages
6 x 9

Old Growth in a New World
A Pacific Northwest Icon Reexamined

Old-growth forests represent a lofty ideal as much as an ecosystem—an icon of unspoiled nature, ecological stability, and pristine habitat. These iconic notions have actively altered the way society relates to old-growth forests, catalyzing...

360 pages
6 x 9

The Once and Future Forest
A Guide To Forest Restoration Strategies

Leslie Sauer; Foreword by Ian L. McHarg

Developed by the pioneering landscape design firm of Andropogon Associates, world-renowned for their innovative approach to integrating environmental protection and restoration with landscape architecture and design, The Once and Future Forest...

400 pages
7 x 10

Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future

Named a Notable Book for 2005 by the American Library Association, One with Nineveh is a fresh synthesis of the major issues of our time, now brought up to date with an afterword for the paperback edition. Through lucid explanations,...

464 pages
6 x 9

The Option of Urbanism
Investing in a New American Dream

Americans are voting with their feet to abandon strip malls and suburban sprawl, embracing instead a new type of community where they can live, work, shop, and play within easy walking distance. In The Option of Urbanism visionary...

224 pages
6 x 9
34 illustrations

The Others
How Animals Made Us Human

Paul Shepard has been one of the most brilliant and original thinkers in the field of human evolution and ecology for more than forty years. His thought-provoking ideas on the role of animals in human thought, dreams, personal identity, and other...

384 pages
6 x 9

An Action Plan For Their Conservation

David Stone and Olga Sheean-Stone

These booklets give the general reader facts and information about fur-bearing mammals from a more conservation-oriented perspective than information generally available from other sources. Each is based on the relevant SSC Action Plan, and is...

130 pages
6 x 8.2

Our Common Lands
Defending The National Parks

Edited by David J. Simon; Foreword by Joseph L. Sax

This accessible book explains the complexities of key environmental laws and how they can be used to protect our national parks. It includes discussions of successful and unsuccessful attempts to use the laws and how the courts have interpreted...

582 pages
6 x 9

Our Country, The Planet
Forging A Partnership For Survival

Our Country, The Planet is a wide-ranging discussion of the global environmental crisis that accounts for the positions and perceptions of both developed and developing nations. As president of the World Conservation Union and the only...

312 pages
6 x 9

Our Renewable Future
Laying the Path for One Hundred Percent Clean Energy

One of GreenBiz's Six Best Sustainability Books of 2016  The next few decades will see a profound energy transformation throughout the world. By the end of the century (and perhaps sooner), we will shift from...

248 pages
6 x 9
14 photos, 33 illustrations

Over the Seawall: Tsunamis, Cyclones, Drought, and the Delusion of Controlling Nature by Stephen Robert Miller | An Island Press book
Tsunamis, Cyclones, Drought, and the Delusion of Controlling Nature

In March 2011, people in a coastal Japanese city stood atop a seawall watching the approach of the tsunami that would kill them. They believed—naively—that the huge concrete barrier would save them. Instead they perished, betrayed by...

264 pages
6 x 9
4 photos, 3 illustrations

Overtapped Oasis
Reform Or Revolution For Western Water

Overtapped Oasis analyzes the West's water allocation system from top to bottom and offers dozens of revolutionary proposals for increased efficiency and policy reform. Marc Reisner and Sarah Bates argue that the West's underlying problem...

212 pages
6 x 9

Lessons for a Better Future

Before COVID-19 hit, the biggest problem in the world of travel was overtourism. Crowds threatened to spoil natural environments and make daily life unbearable for residents of popular travel destinations. Then, seemingly overnight, tourism...

400 pages
6 x 9
32 photos

With the highest percentage of threatened sharks and rays in the world, the Mediterranean region is in need of regional planning and policy development for the conservation and sustainable management of chondrichthyan fishes. This third report in...

42 pages
11.4 x 8

A Guide to Legal, Financial, and Practical Matters

Thomas J. McEvoy; Foreword by Carl Reidel

Owning and Managing Forests is both an accessible overview of the privileges, rights, and obligations that accompany forest ownership and a guidebook to help active forest owners and managers use laws to their advantage and avoid the...

328 pages
6 x 9
6 illustrations

Pacific High
Adventures In The Coast Ranges From Baja To Alaska

"Starting out, my mind and spirit were open to the mystery of foreign cultures, the spareness of aridity, the tension of seismicity, the heat of fire, the exuberance of the vast, the abundance of rot and rebirth, the kindness of strangers, the...

488 pages
5.25 x 8

Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems

Creating institutions to meet the challenge of sustainability is arguably the most important task confronting society; it is also dauntingly complex. Ecological, economic, and social elements all play a role, but despite ongoing efforts,...

450 pages
6 x 9
81 photos and illustrations

Panarchy Synopsis
Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems

‘Panarchy’ is a new term coined from the name of the Greek god Pan, a symbol of universal nature and associated with unpredictable change. It represents an alternative framework for managing the issues that emerge from the interaction...

64 pages
6 x 9

The Paris-Lexington Road
Community-Based Planning And Context Sensitive Highway Design

Located in the heart of the Kentucky Bluegrass Region, the "Paris Pike" is a scenic, twelve-mile corridor running between Lexington and Paris. Beginning in 1969, the state of Kentucky sought to widen the road in order to improve safety...

96 pages
8.5 x 10

The average parking space requires approximately 300 square feet of asphalt. That’s the size of a studio apartment in New York or enough room to hold 10 bicycles. Space devoted to parking in growing urban and suburban areas is highly...

256 pages
8.5 x 10
40 photos, 20 illustrations

Parking Reform Made Easy

Richard W. Willson; Foreword by Donald C. Shoup

Today, there are more than three parking spaces for every car in the United States. No one likes searching for a space, but in many areas, there is an oversupply, wasting valuable land, damaging the environment, and deterring development....

272 pages
8.5 x 10
20 photos, 14 illustrations

Parks and Carrying Capacity
Commons Without Tragedy

How much can we use the environment without spoiling what we find so valuable about it? Determining the carrying capacity of parks and related areas is a perennial question whose urgency grows each year as the number of visits continues to...

328 pages
6 x 9

Parks and Recreation System Planning: A New Approach for Creating Sustainable, Resilient Communities by David Barth | An Island Press book
A New Approach for Creating Sustainable, Resilient Communities

Parks and recreation systems have evolved in remarkable ways over the past two decades. No longer just playgrounds and ballfields, parks and open spaces have become recognized as essential green infrastructure with the potential to contribute to...

296 pages
6 x 9
22 photos, 40 illustrations

Passing Strange and Wonderful
Aesthetics Nature And Culture

In this rich and rewarding work, Yi-Fu Tuan vividly demonstrates that feeling and beauty are essential components of life and society. The aesthetic is not merely one aspect of culture but its central core -- both its driving force and its...

288 pages
6 x 9

How Historic Preservation is Reviving America's Communities

At its most basic, historic preservation is about keeping old places alive, in active use, and relevant to the needs of communities today. As cities across America experience a remarkable renaissance, and more and more young, diverse families...

352 pages
6 x 9
11 photos, 15 illustrations

Pathways to Success | Island Press
Taking Conservation to Scale in Complex Systems

As environmental problems grow larger and more pressing, conservationists have had to adapt. With a shrinking window of time to act, they are turning to broad approaches to combat continental- and global-scale crises of biodiversity loss,...

328 pages
7 x 10
135 figures/illustrations

Paving Over the Past
A History And Guide To Civil War Battlefield Preservation

Georgie Boge Geraghty and Margie Boge; Foreword by James M. McPherson

In this exhaustively researched book, Georgie Boge and Margie Boge analyze the issues and controversies surrounding the preservation of Civil War battlefield sites, and offer a pragmatic development program designed to accommodate the needs of...

239 pages
6 x 9

People and Predators
From Conflict To Coexistence

Carnivores provide innumerable ecological benefits and play a unique role in preserving and maintaining ecosystem services and function, but at the same time they can create serious problems for human populations. A key question for conservation...

304 pages
6 x 9

The Life and Legacy of Jan Gehl

“A good city is like a good party—you stay for longer than you plan,” says Danish architect Jan Gehl. He believes that good architecture is not about form, but about the interaction between form and life. Over the last 50 years...

192 pages
8.25 x 10
150 Photos, 20 Illustrations

25 Ways to Think About Greener, Healthier Cities

With over 80 percent of Americans now living in cities and suburbs, getting our communities right has never been more important, more complicated, or more fascinating. Longtime sustainability leader Kaid Benfield shares 25 enlightening and...

304 pages
6 x 9
122 photos and illustrations

Lessons from the Pacific Northwest

We owe much of our economic prosperity to the vast forested landscapes that cover the earth. The timber we use to build our homes, the water we drink, and the oxygen in the air we breathe come from the complex forested ecosystem that many of us...

344 pages
6 x 9
one 16-page color insert, 1 photo, 28 illustrations

People, Planet, Design: A Practical Guide to Realizing Architecture’s Potential by Corey Squire | An Island Press book
A Practical Guide to Realizing Architecture’s Potential

If you were asked to close your eyes and envision where you are happiest, would you picture somewhere inside a building? North Americans are inside buildings for more than 90% of the day. Meanwhile, the indoors are stifling us, sometimes even...

376 pages
6 x 9
50 photos and illustrations

A Pivotal Moment
Population, Justice, and the Environmental Challenge

Through a series of essays by leading demographers, environmentalists and reproductive health advocates, A Pivotal Moment offers a new perspective on the complex connection between population dynamics and environmental quality. It presents the...

432 pages
6 x 9
21 illustrations

Place and Prosperity by William Fulton | An Island Press book
How Cities Help Us to Connect and Innovate

There are few more powerful questions than, “Where are you from” or “Where do you live?” People feel intensely connected to cities as places and to other people who feel that same connection. In order to understand ...

216 pages
6 x 9
15 photos and illustrations

A Wildlands Anthology

Where and what is the place of the wild? Is the goal of preserving biodiversity across the landscape of North America compatible with contemporary Western culture?

Place of the Wild brings together original essays from an exceptional...

340 pages
6 x 9

Placing Nature
Culture And Landscape Ecology

Edited by Joan Nassauer

Landscape ecology is a widely influential approach to looking at ecological function at the scale of landscapes, and accepting that human beings powerfully affect landscape pattern and function. It goes beyond investigation of pristine...

202 pages
11 x 8.5

The Growing Threat Of Species Invasions

The human love of novelty and desire to make one place look like another, coupled with massive increases in global trade and transport, are creating a growing economic and ecological threat. The same forces that are rapidly "McDonaldizing" the...

330 pages
6 x 9

Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves

Human health depends on the health of the planet. Earth’s natural systems—the air, the water, the biodiversity, the climate—are our life support systems. Yet climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of land and freshwater,...

536 pages
7 x 10
Full color throughout, 100 illustrations

Planetizen's Contemporary Debates in Urban Planning

Edited by Abhijeet Chavan, Christian Peralta, Christopher Steins, and Planetizen

Planetizen's Contemporary Debates in Urban Planning is a fascinating review of major topics and issues discussed in the field of urban planning, assembled by editors at Planetizen, the leading source of news and information for the...

208 pages
6 x 9

Governing for Social Equity

American communities are changing fast: ethnic minority populations are growing, home ownership is falling, the number of people per household is going up, and salaries are going down. According to Marc Brenman and Thomas W. Sanchez, the planning...

224 pages
6 x 9
4 photos and illustrations

The Regional Agenda

Across the United States, issues such as sustainability, smart growth, and livable communities are making headlines. Planning for a New Century brings together leading thinkers in the fields of planning, urban design, education, welfare,...

232 pages
6 x 9

Planning for Biodiversity
Issues And Examples

Sheila Peck

A significant consequence of the development of natural landscapes is habitat loss and fragmentation that results in widespread loss of biological diversity. While scientists have made great strides in determining principles and concepts...

232 pages
6 x 9

Planning for Coastal Resilience
Best Practices for Calamitous Times

Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and magnitude of coastal storms around the globe, and the anticipated rise of sea levels will have enormous impact on fragile and vulnerable coastal regions. In the U.S., more than 50% of the...

200 pages
6 x 9
23 illustrations

A Handbook for Reducing Vulnerability to Disasters

How can we plan and design stronger communities? From New Orleans to Galveston to the Jersey Shore, communities struck by natural disasters struggle to recover long after the first responders have left. Globally, the average annual number of...

256 pages
7 x 10
12 photos, 68 illustrations

Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery
A Review of the United States Disaster Assistance Framework

The failure to plan for disaster recovery results in a process of rebuilding that often presages the next disaster. It also limits the collective maximization of governmental, nonprofit, and private resources, including those resources that are...

456 pages
7 x 10
45 photos, 64 illustrations

Plant Reintroduction in a Changing Climate
Promises and Perils

Considered an essential conservation tool, plant reintroductions have been conducted for many of the world's rarest plant species. The expertise and knowledge gained through these efforts constitute an essential storehouse of information for...

432 pages
7 x 10
36 illustrations

An Atlas of Ocean Pollution

Plastics have transformed every aspect of our lives. Yet the very properties that make them attractive—they are cheap to make, light, and durable—spell disaster when trash makes its way into the environment. Plastic Soup: An Atlas...

136 pages
7.76 x 11
Full color throughout

Plastics
America's Packaging Dilemma

Plastics explains what plastics are, how they are made, how they are used, and the problems and opportunities they bring.

133 pages
6 x 9

A Poison Like No Other by Matt Simon | An Island Press book
How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies

“Informed, utterly blindsiding account.” - Booklist, starred review It’s falling from the sky and in the air we breathe. It’s in our food, our clothes, and our homes. It’s microplastic and it’s...

252 pages
6 x 9

Poisoned for Pennies
The Economics of Toxics and Precaution

“Cost-benefit analysis” is a term that is used so frequently we rarely stop to think about it. But relying on it can lead to some dubious conclusions, as Frank Ackerman points out in this eye-opening book. For example, some economists...

352 pages
6 x 9
7 photos and illustrations

The Poisoned Well
New Strategies For Groundwater Protection

Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund

The Poisoned Well offers vital strategies for citizens, community organizations, and public officials who want to fight the battle against pollutants.

436 pages
6 x 9

Polar Bears
Proceedings of the 14th Working Meeting of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group, 20-24 June 2005, Seattle, Washington, USA

Jon Aars, Nicholas J. Lunn, and Andrew E. Derocher

These proceedings provide an overview of the ongoing research and management activities on polar bears in the circumpolar arctic. Together with the previous 13 proceedings, they provide an historic record of international efforts in protecting,...

189 pages
8.25 x 11.75

Polar Bears
Proceedings of the 15th Working Meeting of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group, Copenhagen, Denmark, 29 June-3 July 2009

Martyn E. Obbard, Gregory W. Thiemann, Elizabeth Peacock, and Terry D. DeBruyn

These 15th Proceedings provide an overview of the ongoing research and management activities on polar bears in the circumpolar Arctic. Together with the previous 14 proceedings, they provide an historic record of the international effort in...

235 pages
8.8 x 11.2

Politics, Pollution, and Pandas
An Environmental Memoir

Russell E. Train, was chairman emeritus of the World Wildlife Fund, has led a remarkable life in conservation and environmental politics. Though many of his contributions have been unsung, Train was the catalyst for many of the nation's most...

384 pages
6.25 x 9.25

The Portland Edge
Challenges And Successes In Growing Communities

Edited by Connie Ozawa

Portland, Oregon, is often cited as one of the most livable cities in the United States and a model for "smart growth." At the same time, critics deride it as a victim of heavy-handed planning and point to its skyrocketing housing costs...

344 pages
6 x 9

A Sustainable Approach To Managing Woodlands

Thomas J. McEvoy; Foreword by James Jeffords

Positive Impact Forestry is a primer for private woodland owners and their managers on managing their land and forests to protect both ecological and economic vitality. Moving beyond the concept of "low impact forestry," Thom McEvoy...

288 pages
6 x 9
9 photos, 19 illustrations

Experience from Asia

Edited by Paul Steele, Gonzalo Oviedo, and David McCauley

It is today widely acknowledged both by the development and conservation communities that a vital relationship exists between the sound management of ecosystems, the determinants of poverty and the effectiveness of poverty alleviation efforts....

220 pages
8.5 x 11

Save Money, Improve Health, and Reduce Environmental Impacts

Your building has the potential to change the world. Existing buildings consume approximately 40 percent of the energy and emit nearly half of the carbon dioxide in the US each year. In recognition of the significant contribution of buildings to...

232 pages
6 x 9
15 photos, 15 illustrations

Practical Ecology for Planners, Developers, and Citizens

Practical Ecology for Planners, Developers, and Citizens introduces and explains key ecological concepts for planners, landscape architects, developers, and others involved in planning and building human habitats. The book is tailored to...

328 pages
7 x 10

An analysis of policy and institutional changes enabling community involvement in forest management in eastern and southern Africa

Fred Kigenyi, Peter Gondo, and John Mugabe

There is growing recognition that centralized forest regimes, which exclude local knowledge and customary practices, have not achieved sustainable forest management. Most countries of Eastern and Southern Africa are reviewing and revising...

54 pages
x

A Practitioner's Guide to Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation

A Practitioner's Guide to Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation brings together knowledge and experience from conservation practitioners and experts around the world to help readers understand the global challenge of conserving biodiversity...

408 pages
8.5 x 11

Four Innovations for Well-being

When Bechara Choucair was a young doctor, he learned an important lesson: treating a patient for hypothermia does little good if she has to spend the next night out in the freezing cold. As health commissioner of Chicago, he was determined to...

224 pages
6 x 9
n/a

The pace, intensity, and scale at which humans have altered our planet in recent decades is unprecedented. We have dramatically transformed landscapes and waterways through agriculture, logging, mining, and fire suppression, with drastic impacts...

224 pages
5.5 x 8.75
2 photos, 19 illustrations

Principles of Brownfield Regeneration
Cleanup, Design, and Reuse of Derelict Land

The US. EPA defines brownfields as "idle real property, the development or improvement of which is impaired by real or perceived contamination." The authors of Principles of Brownfield Regeneration argue that, compared to "...

152 pages
6 x 9
39 photos and illustrations

Travis Beck; Foreword by Carol Franklin

Today, there is a growing demand for designed landscapes—from public parks to backyards—to be not only beautiful and functional, but also sustainable. Sustainability means more than just saving energy and resources. It requires...

296 pages
8.5 x 10
75 photos, 75 illustrations

The Progress Illusion:  Reclaiming Our Future from the Fairytale of Economics by Jon D. Erickson | An Island Press book
Reclaiming Our Future from the Fairytale of Economics

We live under the illusion of progress: as long as GDP is going up and prices stay low, we accept poverty and pollution as unfortunate but inevitable byproducts of a successful economy. In fact, the infallibility of the free market and the...

272 pages
6 x 9

Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration

Concern over climate change and the ongoing challenges of managing degraded ecosystems have made the field of ecological restoration a growing focus in the agendas of national and international conservation organizations, including the United...

320 pages
8 x 10
72 illustrations

Alternatives To Public And Private Ownership

Edited by Charles Geisler and Gail Daneker

Property and Values offers a fresh look at property rights issues, bringing together scholars, attorneys, government officials, community development practitioners, and environmental advocates to consider new and more socially equitable...

336 pages
6 x 9

Insights from New York City's Jamaica Bay

Given the realities of climate change and sea-level rise, coastal cities around the world are struggling with questions of resilience.  Resilience, at its core, is about desirable states of the urban social-ecological system and...

304 pages
7 x 10
one 8 page insert; 50 photos

Guidelines for Planning and Mangement

Svetlana L. Kopylova and Natalia R. Danilina

Qualified, competent, and committed staff are central to the success of protected areas. Training of protected area staff is more and more recognized as a vital component of efficient protected area management. These guidelines aim to present the...

102 pages
8.2 x 11.8

How to Save the Creatures that Feed Our World

We should thank a pollinator at every meal. These diminutive creatures fertilize a third of the crops we eat. Yet half of the 200,000 species of pollinators are threatened. Birds, bats, insects, and many other pollinators are disappearing,...

232 pages
6 x 9
15 photos

Protecting Public Health and the Environment
Implementing The Precautionary Principle

Edited by Carolyn Raffensperger and Joel Tickner; Foreword by Wes Jackson

When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. This idea, known as the "Precautionary...

411 pages
6 x 9

A Framework For Resource Management In The Americas

Commons—lands, waters, and resources that are not legally owned and controlled by a single private entity, such as ocean and coastal areas, the atmosphere, public lands, freshwater aquifers, and migratory species—are an increasingly...

328 pages
6 x 9

Conservation Easements Past, Present, and Future

Edited by Julie Ann Gustanski and Roderick Squires; Foreword by Jean Hocker

A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a property owner and a conservation organization, generally a private nonprofit land trust, that restricts the type and amount of development that can be undertaken on that property....

450 pages
6 x 9

Parks and Wilderness, the Foundation for Conservation

Protected natural areas have historically been the primary tool of conservationists to conserve land and wildlife. These parks and reserves are set apart to forever remain in contrast to those places where human activities, technologies, and...

392 pages
6 x 9

A Handbook For Public Interest And Citizen Advocacy Groups

In Public Opinion Polling, Celinda C. Lake and Pat Callbeck Harper draw on years of experience and hands-on work in polling and interpreting public opinion polls for political candidates and public interest organizations. This handbook...

175 pages
x

The New Urban Agriculture

Public Produce makes a uniquely contemporary case not for central government intervention, but for local government involvement in shaping food policy. In what Darrin Nordahl calls “municipal agriculture,” elected officials, municipal...

200 pages
6 x 9
18 photos, 1 illustration

Public Produce by Darrin Nordahl | An Island Press book
Cultivating Our Parks, Plazas, and Streets for Healthier Cities

Plum and pear trees shade park benches in Kamloops, British Columbia. Tomatoes and cucumbers burst forth from planters at City Hall in Provo, Utah. Strawberries and carrots flourish along the sunny sidewalks of a Los Angeles neighborhood....

224 pages
5.5 x 8.25
29 photos, 4 illustrations

Purified: How Recycled Sewage Is Transforming Our Water by Peter Annin | An Island Press book
How Recycled Sewage Is Transforming Our Water

In 2000, a transformative climate-driven “megadrought” swept over the Colorado River watershed. By the early 2020s, levels on the river’s two largest reservoirs were hitting record lows and threatening the water supply for forty...

248 pages
6 x 9
20 photos and illustrations

Redefining Conservation for the Next Economy

Google, Apple, Amazon, Uber: companies like these have come to embody innovation, efficiency, and success. How often is the environmental movement characterized in the same terms? Sadly, conservation is frequently seen as a losing battle, waged...

256 pages
6 x 9
2 photos, 17 illustrations

Race to Save the Tropics
Ecology And Economics For A Sustainable Future

Edited by Robert Goodland; Foreword by Dan Janzen

Race to Save the Tropics documents the conflict between economic development and protection of biological diversity in tropical countries.

225 pages
6 x 9

The Hidden Connection Between Extinction And Your Supermarket

Martin Teitel; Foreword by Jeremy Rifkin

The biodiversity crisis -- the extinction of thousands of species of plants and animals -- is not just a faraway problem for scientists to solve. Instead, the crisis is as close as our backyards, our gardens, and our refrigerator shelves. This...

126 pages
5 x 8

The Rain Forests of Home
Profile Of A North American Bioregion

Edited by Peter Schoonmaker, Bettina Von Hagen, and Edward C. Wolf; Forewords by Jerry F. Franklin and Patricia Marchak

Stretching from the redwoods of California to the vast stands of spruce and hemlock in southeast Alaska, coastal temperate rain forests have been for thousands of years home to one of the highest densities of human settlements on the continent....

447 pages
7 x 10

Dispatches from Earth's Most Vital Frontlines

Rainforests have long been recognized as hotspots of biodiversity—but they are crucial for our planet in other surprising ways. Not only do these fascinating ecosystems thrive in rainy regions, they create rain themselves, and this moisture...

456 pages
6 x 9
Two 8-page color inserts, 97 photographs

Culture, Ecology, and Economics

Recommended by The Nature Conservancy magazine.

Ranching West of the 100th Meridian offers a literary and thought-provoking look at ranching and its role in the changing West. The book's lyrical and deeply felt narratives,...

196 pages
6 x 9

The Rebirth of Environmentalism
Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear

Over the past two decades, a select group of small but highly effective grassroots organizations have achieved remarkable success in protecting endangered species and forests in the United States. The Rebirth of Environmentalism tells for...

304 pages
6 x 9
3 illustrations

Recast Your City: How to Save Your Downtown with Small-Scale Manufacturing by Ilana Preuss | An Island Press book
How to Save Your Downtown with Small-Scale Manufacturing

Too many U.S. cities and towns have been focused on a model of economic development that relies on recruiting one big company (such as Amazon), a single industry (usually in technology), or pursuing other narrow or short-term fixes that are...

192 pages
6 x 9
12 figures

Reconstructing Conservation
Finding Common Ground

In the 1990s, influenced by the deconstructionist movement in literary theory and trends toward revisionist history, a cadre of academics and historians led by William Cronon began raising provocative questions about ideas of wilderness and the...

432 pages
6 x 9

Reconstructing Earth
Technology and Environment in the Age of Humans

The Earth's biological, chemical, and physical systems are increasingly shaped by the activities of one species-ours. In our decisions about everything from manufacturing technologies to restaurant menus, the health of the planet has become a...

224 pages
6 x 9

Recycling and Incineration
Evaluating The Choices

Recycling and Incineration presents information on the technology, economics, environmental concerns, and legal intricacies behind recycling and incineration programs.

261 pages
6 x 9

The Extinction Crisis Face To Face

Patricio Robles Gil

Drawing on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the world’s most objective and authoritative inventory of species at risk of extinction, this publication combines awe-inspiring imagery with solid science and factual accounts. The result...

310 pages
12 x 12

Reducing Toxics
A New Approach To Policy And Industrial Decisionmaking

Edited by Robert Gottlieb

In Reducing Toxics, leading experts address industry, technology, health, and policy issues and explore the potential for pollution prevention at the industry and facility levels. They consider both the regulatory and institutional...

460 pages
6 x 9

History, Ecology, and Conservation of the Coast Redwoods

Save-the-Redwoods League; Edited by Reed F. Noss

Evidence is mounting that redwood forests, like many other ecosystems, cannot survive as small, isolated fragments in human-altered landscapes. Such fragments lose their diversity over time and, in the case of redwoods, may even lose the ability...

366 pages
6 x 9

A Region at Risk
The Third Regional Plan For The New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Metropolitan Area

Regional Plan Association, the nation's oldest regional planning organization, has worked since 1929 to improve the quality of life in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area. The Association has crafted two long-term plans and...

281 pages
8.5 x 11

Most Americans today do not live in discrete cities and towns, but rather in an aggregation of cities and suburbs that forms one basic economic, multi-cultural, environmental and civic entity. These “regional cities” have the...

328 pages
8.5 x 10
328 photos and illustrations

Reinventing Electric Utilities
Competition, Citizen Action, and Clean Power

Edward Smeloff and Peter Asmus; Foreword by Amory Lovins

Traditionally protected as monopolies, electric utilities are now being caught in the fervor for deregulation that is sweeping the country. Nearly forty states have enacted or are considering laws and regulations that will profoundly alter the...

254 pages
6 x 9

New Tools to End Hunger

In the US, there is a wide-ranging network of at least 370 food banks, and more than 60,000 hunger-relief organizations such as food pantries and meal programs. These groups provide billions of meals a year to people in need. And yet hunger still...

280 pages
6 x 9

Reinventing Nature?
Responses To Postmodern Deconstruction

How much of science is culturally constructed? How much depends on language and metaphor? How do our ideas about nature connect with reality? Can nature be "reinvented" through theme parks and malls, or through restoration?

Reinventing...

203 pages
6 x 9

Explorer And Naturalist

When William Beebe needed to know what was going on in the depths of the ocean, he had himself lowered a half-mile down in a four-foot steel sphere to see-five times deeper than anyone had ever gone in the 1930s. When he wanted to trace the...

464 pages
6.5 x 9.25

Remote Sensing and GIS in Ecosystem Management

Edited by Al Sample

Recent advances in remote-sensing technology and the processing of remote-sensing data through geographic information systems (GIS) present ecologists and resource managers with a tremendously valuable tool -- but only if they are able to...

382 pages
6 x 9

Renewable Resource Policy
The Legal-Institutional Foundations

Renewable Resource Policy is a comprehensive volume covering the history, laws, and important national policies that affect renewable resource management. The author traces the history of renewable natural resource policy and management in...

572 pages
6 x 9

Methods and Applications in the Natural Sciences

First developed in the 1880s as a way to monitor glaciers in Europe, repeat photography —the practice of taking photographs at different points in times from the same physical vantage point—remains an essential and cost-effective...

392 pages
8.5 x 11
Two 16-page color inserts, 145 photos, 271 illustrations

The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity

"Nothing is more important to life than water, and no one knows water better than Sandra Postel. Replenish is a wise, sobering, but ultimately hopeful book." —Elizabeth Kolbert"Remarkable." ...

336 pages
6 x 9

Requiem for Nature

For ecologist John Terborgh, Manu National Park in the rainforest of Peru is a second home; he has spent half of each of the past twenty-five years there conducting research. Like all parks, Manu is assumed to provide inviolate protection to...

246 pages
6 x 9

Research Priorities for Conservation Biology

Society for Conservation Biology; Edited by Michael E. Soulé and Kathryn A. Kohm

Research Priorities for Conservation Biology proposes an urgent research agenda to improve our understanding and preservation of biological diversity. The book discusses:

ecosystems conservation ecology of communities population ecology...

109 pages
6 x 9

Development Trends and Opportunities to 2030

Arthur C. Nelson; Foreword by Earl Blumenauer

Nearly half the buildings that will be standing in 2030 do not exist today. That means we have a tremendous opportunity to reinvent our urban areas, making them more sustainable and livable for future generations. But for this vision to become...

168 pages
6 x 9
7 illustrations

Ecology, Ethics, and Economics

Edited by Charles J. Kibert; Foreword by Alex Wilson

Because of the profound effects of the built environment on the availability of natural resources for future generations, those involved with designing, creating, operating, renovating, and demolishing human structures have a vital role to play...

378 pages
6 x 9

Scientists and researchers concerned with the behavior of large ecosystems have focused in recent years on the concept of "resilience." Traditional perspectives held that ecological systems exist close to a steady state and resilience is the...

240 pages
6 x 9

Striving for Equity Through Community-Driven Design

In the United States, people of color are disproportionally more likely to live in environments with poor air quality, in close proximity to toxic waste, and in locations more vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather events.  ...

232 pages
6 x 9

Resilience Practice
Building Capacity to Absorb Disturbance and Maintain Function

In 2006, Resilience Thinking addressed an essential question: As the natural systems that sustain us are subjected to shock after shock, how much can they take and still deliver the services we need from them? This idea caught the...

248 pages
6 x 9
10 tables, 12 illustrations

Resilience Thinking
Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World

Increasingly, cracks are appearing in the capacity of communities, ecosystems, and landscapes to provide the goods and services that sustain our planet's well-being. The response from most quarters has been for "more of the same" that created the...

192 pages
6 x 9
15 photos and illustrations

Creating Businesses That Adapt and Flourish in a Changing World

As managers grapple with the challenges of climate change and volatility in a hyper-connected, global economy, they are paying increasing attention to their organization’s resilience—its capacity to survive, adapt, and flourish in the...

264 pages
6 x 9
34 illustrations

RESILIENT CITIES, SECOND EDITION
Overcoming Fossil Fuel Dependence

What does it mean to be a resilient city in the age of a changing climate and growing inequity? As urban populations grow, how do we create efficient transportation systems, access to healthy green space, and lower-carbon buildings for all...

264 pages
6 x 9
16 photos, 22 illustrations

Resource Guide for Creating Successful Communities

Developed to assist users of Creating Successful Communities, the Resource Guide for Creating Successful Communities includes a detailed outline of the many tax benefits of private land conservation; examples of ordinances covering...

248 pages
8.5 x 11

Restauração Ecológica
Princípios, Valores e Estrutura de uma Profissão Emergente

Publicado originalmente em 2007, Restauração Ecológica se tornou um livro seminal em seu campo. Esta edição completamente revisada e reorganizada apresenta desenvolvimentos e tend...

336 pages
x

Restauración Ecológica
Principios, Valores y Estructura de una Profesión Emergente

Publicado originalmente en 2007, Restauración Ecológica se volvió uno de los libros seminales en su campo. En esta segunda versión totalmente revisada y reorganizada, dos de los líderes...

336 pages
x

Restoring Colorado River Ecosystems
A Troubled Sense of Immensity

Over the past century, humans have molded the Colorado River to serve their own needs, resulting in significant impacts to the river and its ecosystems. Today, many scientists, public officials, and citizens hope to restore some of the lost...

344 pages
6 x 9

Restoring Disturbed Landscapes
Putting Principles into Practice

Restoring Disturbed Landscapes is a hands-on guide for individuals and groups seeking to improve the functional capacity of landscapes. The book presents a five-step, adaptive procedure for restoring landscapes that is supported by proven...

216 pages
8 x 10
One 16-page color insert, 112 photos, 56 illustrations

Restoring Ecological Health to Your Land is the first practical guidebook to give restorationists and would-be restorationists with little or no scientific training or background the “how to” information and knowledge they need...

240 pages
7 x 10
24 photos and illustrations

Restoring Ecological Health to Your Land was the first practical guidebook to give restorationists and would-be restorationists with little or no scientific background the "how to" information and knowledge they need to plan and...

200 pages
8.5 x 10
79 illustrations

Restoring Life in Running Waters
Better Biological Monitoring

Despite nearly three decades of efforts intended to protect the nation's waters, and some success against certain forms of chemical and organic contamination, many of our nation's waterways continue to be seriously degraded. The call of the 1972...

220 pages
6 x 9

Science, Business, and Practice

Edited by James Aronson, Suzanne J. Milton, and James N. Blignaut; Foreword by Peter H. Raven

How can environmental degradation be stopped? How can it be reversed? And how can the damage already done be repaired? The authors of this volume argue that a two-pronged approach is needed: reducing demand for ecosystem goods and services and...

400 pages
7 x 10

Perspectives From The Social Sciences And Humanities

Ecological restoration is an inherently challenging endeavor. Not only is its underlying science still developing, but the concept itself raises complex questions about nature, culture, and the role of humans in the landscape.

Using a recent...

269 pages
6 x 9

Planning, Design, and Construction

Thirty years ago, the best thinking on urban stream management prescribed cement as the solution to flooding and other problems of people and flowing water forced into close proximity. Urban streams were perceived as little more than flood...

288 pages
7 x 10

Restoring Streams in Cities
A Guide for Planners, Policymakers, and Citizens

Conventional engineering solutions to problems of flooding and erosion are extremely destructive to natural environments. Restoring Streams in Cities presents viable alternatives to traditional practices that can be used both to repair...

448 pages
7 x 10

Restoring the Pacific Northwest
The Art and Science of Ecological Restoration in Cascadia

Edited by Dean Apostol and Marcia Sinclair; Foreword by Eric Higgs

The Pacific Northwest is a global ecological "hotspot" because of its relatively healthy native ecosystems, a high degree of biodiversity, and the number and scope of restoration initiatives that have been undertaken there. Restoring the...

506 pages
8 x 10

Restoring Wildlife
Ecological Concepts and Practical Applications

Restoration plans must take into account the needs of current or desired wildlife species in project areas. Restoring Wildlife gives ecologists, restorationists, administrators, and other professionals involved with restoration projects...

368 pages
6 x 9
74 illustrations

Building a 21st Century Economy in America's Older Industrial Areas

In this collection of essays, experts present new frameworks, cutting-edge analysis, and innovative policy solutions through which the nation's government, business, civic, and community leaders can sculpt a sustainable and supportable...

437 pages
6 x 9

Revolution on the Range by Courtney White | An Island Press book
The Rise of a New Ranch in the American West

In the final decade of the twentieth century, the American West was at war. Battle lines had hardened, with environmentalists squarely on one side of the fence, and ranchers on the other. By the mid-1990s, debates over the region’s damaged...

248 pages
6 x 9

An Activist's Guide to the Energy Transition

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, completely upending the energy grid of the small island. The nearly year-long power outage that followed vividly shows how the new climate reality intersects with race and access to energy. The...

224 pages
6 x 9
1 photos, 4 figures

A California Study in Rebalancing the Needs of People and Nature

As the world population grows, so does the demand for food, putting unprecedented pressure on agricultural lands. At the same time, climate change, soil degradation, and water scarcity mean that productivity of many of these lands is...

288 pages
6 x 9
30 figures

A Vision For Conservation In The 21St Century

In Rewilding North America, Dave Foreman takes on arguably the biggest ecological threat of our time: the global extinction crisis. He not only explains the problem in clear and powerful terms, but also offers a bold, hopeful,...

312 pages
6 x 9
5 illustrations

Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America

Angie Schmitt; Foreword by Charles T. Brown

The face of the pedestrian safety crisis looks a lot like Ignacio Duarte-Rodriguez. The 77-year old grandfather was struck in a hit-and-run crash while trying to cross a high-speed, six-lane road without crosswalks near his son’s home in...

248 pages
6 x 9

Rights to Nature
Ecological, Economic, Cultural, and Political Principles of Institutions for the Environment

Edited by Susan Hanna, Carl Folke, and Karl-Goran Maler; Foreword by Kenneth Arrow

Property rights are a tool humans use in regulating their use of natural resources. Understanding how rights to resources are assigned and how they are controlled is critical to designing and implementing effective strategies for environmental...

313 pages
6 x 9

The Rising Sea

On Shishmaref Island in Alaska, homes are being washed into the sea. In the South Pacific, small island nations face annihilation by encroaching waters. In coastal Louisiana, an area the size of a football field disappears every day. For these...

224 pages
6 x 9
38 photos and illustrations

The Rising Tide
Global Warming And World Sea Levels

The Rising Tide is the first analysis of global warming and world sea level rise. It outlines state, national, and international actions to respond to the effects of global warming on coastal communities and ecosystems.

157 pages
6 x 9

Ritual House
Drawing on Nature's Rhythms for Architecture and Urban Design

The houses we dwell in, the cities surrounding our houses, even the clothes we wear—these are all shelters we erect against the elements. They are also the embodiment of intuitive rituals, individual and cultural responses to nature’s...

224 pages
7 x 10

River Futures
An Integrative Scientific Approach to River Repair

Across much of the industrialized world, rivers that were physically transformed and ecologically ruined to facilitate industrial and agricultural development are now the focus of restoration and rehabilitation efforts. River Futures...

328 pages
8 x 10

River Notes
A Natural and Human History of the Colorado

Plugged by no fewer than twenty-five dams, the Colorado is the world’s most regulated river drainage, providing most of the water supply of Las Vegas, Tucson, and San Diego, and much of the power and water of Los Angeles and Phoenix, cities...

176 pages
5.5 x 8.25
5 illustrations

Rivers at Risk
Concerned Citizen's Guide To Hydropower

Rivers at Risk is an invaluable handbook that offers a practical understanding of how to influence government decisions about hydropower development on America's rivers.

229 pages
6 x 9

Rivers for Life
Managing Water For People And Nature

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...

220 pages
6 x 9
38 photos and illustrations

Designing Markets To Allocate Water In California

Brent M. Haddad

The movement to implement market-based approaches to allocating water is gaining ground across California and in other western states. Proponents argue that markets offer an efficient and cost-effective means of promoting conservation -- those...

222 pages
6 x 9

Science and Solutions

A central goal of transportation is the delivery of safe and efficient services with minimal environmental impact. In practice, though, human mobility has flourished while nature has suffered. Awareness of the environmental impacts of roads is...

504 pages
6 x 9

Roadless Rules
The Struggle for the Last Wild Forests

Roadless Rules is a fast-paced and insightful look at one of the most important, wide-ranging, and controversial efforts to protect public forests ever undertaken in the United States. In January 2000, President Clinton submitted to...

192 pages
6 x 9

How cyclists were the first to push for good roads & became the pioneers of motoring

In Roads Were Not Built for Cars, Carlton Reid reveals the pivotal—and largely unrecognized—role that bicyclists played in the development of modern roadways. Reid introduces readers to cycling personalities, such as Henry Ford...

360 pages
8 x 10
one 16-page color insert, 135 illustrations

Roadways for People by Lynn Peterson with Elizabeth Doerr | An Island Press book
Rethinking Transportation Planning and Engineering

Lynn Peterson and Elizabeth Doerr; Foreword by Janette Sadik-Khan

 “Seventy years of a car-only approach—not car-centric, it’s car-only—is actually not just non-driver hostile, it’s driver hostile. No one benefits.” —Beth Osborne, Director, Transportation...

264 pages
6 x 9
27 photos and illustrations, plus 1 au photo

An Ecological Perspective

Edited by Jill Baron; Foreword by Paul R. Ehrlich

The Rocky Mountain West is largely arid and steep, with ecological scars from past human use visible for hundreds of years. Just how damaging were the past 150 years of activity? How do current rates of disturbance compare with past mining,...

352 pages
6 x 9

A world survey of species of conservation concern

This is the first ever publication to consider the global conservation needs for rodents. It is based on the proceedings of the IUCN/SSC Rodent Specialist Group meeting, held in Edmonton, Canada in August 1985.

60 pages
x

Rural Development in the United States
Connecting Theory, Practice, and Possibilities

William A. Galston and Karen Baehler

Rural Development in the United States presents a comprehensive evaluation of the economic, environmental, and political implications of past rural development and a thorough consideration of the directions in which future development...

366 pages
6 x 9

Rural Environmental Planning for Sustainable Communities

Rural Environmental Planning for Sustainable Communities offers an explanation of the concept of Rural Environmental Planning (REP) along with case studies that show how to apply REP to specific issues such as preserving agricultural lands...

272 pages
6 x 9

Rural Renaissance by L. Michelle Moore | An Island Press book
Revitalizing America’s Hometowns through Clean Power

For decades, we’ve heard that local, renewable power is on the horizon, and cheaper technologies will one day revolutionize our energy system. Michelle Moore has spent her career proving this opportunity is already here—and any...

252 pages
6 x 9
25 photos/illustrations

Rush to Burn
Solving America's Garbage Crisis?

One day in March 1987, a barge from Islip, Long Island was evicted from Morehead City, North Carolina, after trying to unload the mountains of trash on its decks. More than five months from the time it began its trip, the unwelcome barge, and it'...

281 pages
6 x 9

The Promise Of Ecological Design

In the late sixties, as the world was waking to a need for Earth Day, a pioneering group founded a small non-profit research and education organization they called the New Alchemy Institute. Their aim was to explore the ways a safer and more...

224 pages
6 x 9
82 photos and illustrations

Highways, Wildlife, and Habitat Connectivity

Safe Passages brings together in a single volume the latest information on the emerging science of road ecology as it relates to mitigating interactions between roads and wildlife. This practical handbook of tools and examples is designed...

424 pages
6 x 9
53 illustrations

Salmon Without Rivers
A History Of The Pacific Salmon Crisis

"Fundamentally, the salmon's decline has been the consequence of a vision based on flawed assumptions and unchallenged myths.... We assumed we could control the biological productivity of salmon and 'improve' upon natural processes that we didn't...

336 pages
6 x 9
8 photos, 14 illustrations

Salvage Logging and Its Ecological Consequences

Salvage logging—removing trees from a forested area in the wake of a catastrophic event such as a wildfire or hurricane—is highly controversial. Policymakers and those with an economic interest in harvesting trees typically argue that...

246 pages
6 x 9

Sampling Rare or Elusive Species
Concepts, Designs, and Techniques for Estimating Population Parameters

Information regarding population status and abundance of rare species plays a key role in resource management decisions. Ideally, data should be collected using statistically sound sampling methods, but by their very nature, rare or elusive...

429 pages
6 x 9
58 illustrations

Searching for the Wild in the Age of Man

In New Mexico's Gila Wilderness, 106 Mexican gray wolves may be some of the most monitored wildlife on the planet. Collared, microchipped, and transported by helicopter, the wolves are protected and confined in an attempt to appease ranchers...

320 pages
6 x 9
9 illustrations

Saving a Million Species
Extinction Risk from Climate Change

Edited by Lee Hannah; Foreword by Thomas Lovejoy

The research paper "Extinction Risk from Climate Change" published in the journal Nature in January 2004 created front-page headlines around the world. The notion that climate change could drive more than a million species to...

432 pages
6 x 9
98 illustrations

Saving All the Parts
Reconciling Economics And The Endangered Species Act

Saving All the Parts is a journalist's exploration of the intertwining of endangered species protection and the economic future of resource dependent communities -- those with local economies based on fishing, logging, ranching, mining...

280 pages
6 x 9

Saving Nature's Legacy
Protecting And Restoring Biodiversity

Reed F. Noss, Allen Cooperrider, and Defenders of Wildlife; Foreword by Rodger Schlickeisen

Written by two leading conservation biologists, Saving Nature's Legacy is a thorough and readable introduction to issues of land management and conservation biology. It presents a broad, land-based approach to biodiversity conservation in...

443 pages
6 x 9

Schools that Heal: Design with Mental Health in Mind by Claire Latane | An Island Press book
Design with Mental Health in Mind

What would a school look like if it was designed with mental health in mind? Too many public schools look and feel like prisons, designed out of fear of vandalism and truancy. But we know that nurturing environments are better for learning....

280 pages
6 x 9
74 figures

Science Magazine's State of the Planet 2006-2007

How often in today's environmental debates have you read that "the science is in dispute"-even when there is overwhelming consensus among scientists? Too often, the voice of science is diminished or diluted for the sake of politics, and the...

216 pages
7 x 10

The Science of Conservation Planning
Habitat Conservation Under The Endangered Species Act

Broad-scale conservation of habitats is increasingly being recognized as a more effective means of protecting species and landscapes than single-species preservation efforts. While interest in the approach has grown tremendously in recent years,...

263 pages
6 x 9

Theory and Practice for Conserving Large, Complex Systems

From the days of the American Frontier, the term "open spaces" has evoked a vision of unspoiled landscapes stretching endlessly toward the horizon, of nature operating on its own terms without significant human interference. Ever since...

272 pages
6 x 9
59 photos and illustrations

Scorched Earth
How the Fires of Yellowstone Changed America

In 1988, forest fires raged in Yellowstone National Park, destroying more than a million acres. As the nation watched the land around Old Faithful burn, a longstanding conflict over fire management reached a fever pitch. Should the U.S. Park and...

288 pages
6 x 9

David Stone

32 pages
6.2 x 8.5

Searching Out the Headwaters
Change And Rediscovery In Western Water Policy

To the uninitiated, water policy seems a complicated, hypertechnical, and incomprehensible subject: a tangle of engineering jargon and legalese surrounding a complex, delicate, and interrelated structure. Decisions concerning the public's waters...

253 pages
6 x 9

Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests
Ecology and Conservation

Though seasonally dry tropical forests are equally as important to global biodiversity as tropical rainforests, and are one of the most representative and highly endangered ecosystems in Latin America, knowledge about them remains limited because...

408 pages
6 x 9
5 photos, 32 illustrations

Lessons from Twelve Years of the Kibale and Semliki Conservation and Development Project

Edited by Puma B. Chhetri, Edmund G.C. Barrow, and Alex Muhweezi

This report is currently available in an electronic format only. To view the report and others published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), please visit...

156 pages
8.4 x 5.8

Leo Braack, Trevor Sandwith, David Peddle, and Thomas Petermann

This report is currently available in an electronic format only. To view the report and others published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), please visit...

73 pages
8.2 x 11.8

Seeds of Sustainability
Lessons from the Birthplace of the Green Revolution in Agriculture

Seeds of Sustainability is a groundbreaking analysis of agricultural development and transitions toward more sustainable management in one region. An invaluable resource for researchers, policymakers, and students alike, it examines...

312 pages
6 x 9
58 photos and illustrations

How to Explore, Observe, and Improve Urban Space

Finalist for a 2018 United Kingdom National Urban Design Award • A 2017 KUOW Public Radio 2017 End-of-Year Book Choice In order to understand and improve cities today, personal observation remains as important as ever....

248 pages
6 x 9
70 photos

The Essential John Wesley Powell

John Wesley Powell was an American original. He was the last of the nation's great continental explorers and the first of a new breed of public servant: part scientist, part social reformer, part institution builder. His work and life...

320 pages
6 x 9

Seeking the Sacred Raven
Politics and Extinction on a Hawaiian Island

Will the 'Alala ever return to the wild? A bird sacred to Hawaiians and a member of the raven family, the 'Alala today survives only in captivity. How the species once flourished, how it has been driven to near-extinction, and how people...

304 pages
6 x 9

and How We Are Causing Them

Epidemiologists are braced for the big one: the strain of flu that rivals the pandemic of 1918-1919, which killed at least 20 million people worldwide. In recent years, we have experienced scares with a host of new influenza viruses: bird flu,...

264 pages
5.5 x 8.25

Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities
Design Strategies for the Post Carbon World

Patrick M. Condon; Foreword by Robert Yaro

Questions of how to green the North American economy, create a green energy and transportation infrastructure, and halt the deadly increase in greenhouse gas buildup dominate our daily news. Related questions of how the design of cities can...

216 pages
8.5 x 10
35 photos and illustrations

Shading Our Cities
A Resource Guide For Urban And Community Forests

American Forestry Association; Edited by Gary Moll and Sara Ebenreck; Foreword by Dale Robertson

Shading Our Cities is a handbook to help neighborhood groups, local officials, and city planners develop urban forestry projects, not only to beautify their cities, but also to reduce energy demand, improve air quality, protect water...

349 pages
6 x 9

Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire

Wade Davis has been called "a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life's diversity." In Shadows in the Sun, he brings all of those gifts to bear on a fascinating examination of...

304 pages
5.5 x 8.25

The Shape of Green
Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design

Does going green change the face of design or only its content? The first book to outline principles for the aesthetics of sustainable design, The Shape of Green argues that beauty is inherent to sustainability, for how things look and...

216 pages
8 x 9
65 photos, 38 illustrations

Issues of Governance

Sharelle Hart

This publication examines the characteristics of successful transboundary resource management. Various cases of different shared resources, from water to fish to air, are described and their strengths and weaknesses analyzed. Successful...

250 pages
6.40 x 9.40

Shifting Baselines
The Past and the Future of Ocean Fisheries

Shifting Baselines explores the real-world implications of a groundbreaking idea: we must understand the oceans of the past to protect the oceans of the future. In 1995, acclaimed marine biologist Daniel Pauly coined the term "...

312 pages
6 x 9
4 photos, 35 illustrations

How the Market Can Mitigate Water Shortages in the American West

The American West has a long tradition of conflict over water. But after fifteen years of drought across the region, it is no longer simply conflict: it is crisis. In the face of unprecedented declines in reservoir storage and groundwater...

40 pages
8.5 x 11
2 illustrations

The Sierra Nevada
A Mountain Journey

This book presents a natural history of the Sierra Nevada that brings the land, the people, and the surrounding communities to life.

339 pages
6 x 9

The Silicon Cycle
Human Perturbations and Impacts on Aquatic Systems

Silicon is among the most abundant elements on earth. It plays a key but largely unappreciated role in many biogeochemical processes, including those that regulate climate and undergird marine food webs. The Silicon Cycle is the first...

296 pages
6 x 9

Simple Pleasures
Thoughts on Food, Friendship, and Life

In Simple Pleasures: Thoughts on Food, Friendship, and Life we have highlighted two chapters from Stephanie Mill’s reflection the pleasures, as well as the virtues and difficulties, of a perhaps simpler than average North American...

60 pages
6 x 9

Site Design for Multifamily Housing
Creating Livable, Connected Neighborhoods

The United States is over eighty percent urbanized, yet over half of the population still lives in suburban settings, characterized by low-density, automobile-dependent development with separated land uses. These disconnected and isolated...

168 pages
8.5 x 11
121 photos, 33 illustrations

West Nile Virus—Mad Cow Disease—HIV/AIDS—Hantavirus—Lyme Disease ... and a new strain of Salmonella. Such modern epidemics have emerged over the past few decades as mysterious, yet significant risks to human health. These...

224 pages
5.5 x 8.25

Skinny Streets and Green Neighborhoods
Design for Environment and Community

Cities are growing at unprecedented rates. Most continue to sprawl into the countryside. Some are only now adopting policies that attempt to control air pollution from vehicles, reduce water pollution from urban runoff, and repair fragmented...

192 pages
8 x 10.5
One 32-page color insert, 160 photos and illustrations

Smaller Cities in a Shrinking World: Learning to Thrive Without Growth by Alan Mallach | An Island Press book
Learning to Thrive Without Growth

Over the past hundred years, the global motto has been “more, more, more” in terms of growth – of population, of the built environment, of human and financial capital, and of all manner of worldly goods. This was the reality as...

336 pages
6 x 9
55 photos and illustrations

Climate Change, the Smart Grid, and the Future of Electric Utilities

Few industries in the U.S. are as stuck in the past as our utilities are. In the face of growing challenges from climate change and the need for energy security, a system and a business model that each took more than a century to evolve must now...

376 pages
6 x 9
9 illustrations

IBM's Climate Solutions

On October 19, 2011, Sharon Nunes participated in The National Climate Seminar, a series of webinars sponsored by Bard College’s Center for Environmental Policy. The online seminars provide a forum for leading scientists, writers, and other...

22 pages
x

The Snake River
Window To The West

Tim Palmer weaves natural history into a comprehensive account of the complex problems that plague natural resource management throughout the West, as well as the practical solutions that are available.

322 pages
6 x 9

So Shall You Reap
Farming And Crops In Human Affairs

So Shall You Reap is a broad-gauged exploration of the intersections of farming and history. Beginning with the prehistorical era, Otto and Dorothy Solbrig describe the evolution of farming. When and how did people learn to irrigate, to...

304 pages
6 x 9

Building Density for Everyday Life

David Sim; Foreword by Jan Gehl

Imagine waking up to the gentle noises of the city, and moving through your day with complete confidence that you will get where you need to go quickly and efficiently. Soft City is about ease and comfort, where density has a human...

256 pages
8 x 10.5
100 color images

Solving Sprawl
Models Of Smart Growth In Communities Across America

Solving Sprawl shines a spotlight on American communities that are applying smart growth principles in successfully addressing the problem of sprawl. It offers examples that illustrate key concepts and tells the story of how this new approach to...

212 pages
6 x 9

Lessons from Faith Traditions in Transforming Conflict

We tend to approach conflict from the perspective of competing interests. A farmer’s interest lies in preserving water for crops, while an environmentalist’s interest is in using that same water for instream habitats. It’s hard...

224 pages
6 x 9
63 figures, 27 boxes, 7 tables

Sprawl Costs
Economic Impacts of Unchecked Development

The environmental impacts of sprawling development have been well documented, but few comprehensive studies have examined its economic costs. In 1996, a team of experts undertook a multi-year study designed to provide quantitative measures of the...

224 pages
6 x 9

Sprawl Repair Manual

There is a wealth of research and literature explaining suburban sprawl and the urgent need to retrofit suburbia. However, until now there has been no single guide that directly explains how to repair typical sprawl elements. The...

304 pages
8 x 10
Full color, 382 photos and illustrations

Inspiring Private and Public Entrepreneurship, Getting Projects Done, and Having Fun

There has been a revolution in urban transportation over the past five years—set off by start-ups across the US and internationally. Sleek, legible mobility platforms are connecting people to cars, trains, buses, and bikes as never before,...

256 pages
6 x 6
Full Color, 95 photos and illustrations

State of the Wild
A Global Portrait of Wildlife, Wildlands, and Oceans

Edited by Sharon Guynup; Foreword by Kent H. Redford

In wild places where nature thrives, humanity prospers; our well-being is inextricably linked with that of the planet's web of life. In fact, one could argue that the state of the world can be measured by the state of the wild.

But how...

344 pages
8 x 10

State of the Wild 2008-2009
A Global Portrait of Wildlife, Wildlands, and Oceans

Edited by Eva Fearn; Foreword by Ward Woods

State of the Wild is a biennial series that brings together international conservation experts and writers to discuss emerging issues in the conservation of wildlife and wild places.   Each volume in the series combines evocative writings...

312 pages
8 x 10
158 photos, 10 illustrations

State of the Wild 2010-2011
A Global Portrait

Edited by Eva Fearn; Foreword by Ward Woods

State of the Wild is a biennial series that brings together international conservation experts and writers to discuss emerging issues in the conservation of wildlife and wild places. Each volume in the series combines evocative writings with a...

264 pages
8 x 10
Full color, 175 photos, 3 illustrations

Environmental Threats of Economic Growth

In this fifteenth edition of State of the World, Lester R. Brown and the Worldwatch research team look at the environmental effects of continuing economic growth as the economy outgrows the earth's ecosystem. As the global economy has...

245 pages
7 x 9.25

Looking Toward a Sustainable 21st Century

Written in clear and concise language, with easy-to-read charts and tables, State of the World presents a view of our changing world that we cannot afford to ignore.

253 pages
7 x 9.25

Building a Sustainable Economy

State of the World 2000 shines a sharp light on the great challenge our civilization faces: how to use our political systems to manage the difficult and complex relationships between the global economy and the Earth's ecosystems. If we...

268 pages
7 x 9.25

The Challenge of a Globalizing World

From the thinning of the Arctic sea ice to the invasion of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, State of the World 2001 shows how the economic boom of the last decade has damaged natural systems. The increasingly visible evidence of...

280 pages
7 x 9.25

Addressing Climate Change and Overpopulation

State of the World 2002 includes chapters on climate change, farming, toxic chemicals, sustainable tourism, population, resource conflicts and global governance.

295 pages
7 x 9.25

Reinventing Human Civilization

The challenges are still immense, of course, as the book also documents, but the building blocks for a historic reinvention of human civilization are now within reach.

254 pages
7 x 9.25

Special Focus: The Consumer Society

With chapters on food, water, energy, the politics of consumption and redefining the good life, Worldwatch’s award-winning research team asks whether a less-consumptive society is possible—and then argues that it is essential.

271 pages
7 x 9.25

Redefining Global Security

In State of the World 2005, Worldwatch researchers explore underlying sources of global insecurity including poverty, infectious disease, environmental degradation, and rising competition over oil and other resources. Find out why...

258 pages
7 x 9.25

Special Focus: China and India

State of the World 2006 provides a special focus on China and India and their impact on the world as major consumers of resources and polluters of local and global ecosystems. The report explains the critical need for both countries to "...

269 pages
7 x 9.25

Our Urban Future

In 2008, half of the Earth’s population will live in urban areas, marking the first time in history that humans are an urban species. State of the World 2007: Our Urban Future examines changes in the ways cities are managed, built,...

277 pages
7 x 9.25

Innovations for a Sustainable Economy

Environmental issues were once regarded as irrelevant to economic activity, but today they are dramatically rewriting the rules for business, investors, and consumers. Around the world, innovative responses to climate change and other...

292 pages
7 x 9.25

Into a Warming World

It's New Year's Day, 2101. Somehow, humanity survived the worst of global warming—the higher temperatures and sea levels and the more intense droughts and storms—and succeeded in stabilizing the Earth's climate. Greenhouse...

283 pages
7 x 9.25

Transforming Cultures From Consumerism to Sustainability

Like a tsunami, consumerism has engulfed human cultures and Earth’s ecosystems. Left unaddressed, we risk global disaster. But if we channel this wave, intentionally transforming our cultures to center on sustainability, we will not only...

266 pages
7 x 9.25

Innovations that Nourish the Planet

A compelling look at the global food crisis, with particular emphasis on global innovations that can help solve a worldwide problem. State of the World 2011 not only introduces us to the latest agro-ecological innovations and their global...

264 pages
7 x 9.25

Moving Toward Sustainable Prosperity

In the 2012 edition of its flagship report, Worldwatch celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit with a far-reaching analysis of progress toward building sustainable economies. Written in clear language with easy-to-read...

272 pages
7 x 9.25

Is Sustainability Still Possible?

Every day, we are presented with a range of “sustainable” products and activities—from “green” cleaning supplies to carbon offsets—but with so much labeled as “sustainable,” the term has become...

464 pages
7 x 9.25

Governing for Sustainability

Citizens expect their governments to lead on sustainability. But from largely disappointing international conferences like Rio II to the U.S.’s failure to pass meaningful climate legislation, governments’ progress has been lackluster...

320 pages
7 x 9.25
29 photos, 10 illustrations

Confronting Hidden Threats to Sustainability

We think we understand environmental damage: pollution, water scarcity, a warming world. But these problems are just the tip of the iceberg. Food insecurity, financial assets drained of value by environmental damage, and a rapid rise in diseases...

184 pages
7 x 9.25
illustrations, tables, boxes

Statewide Wetlands Strategies

Statewide Wetlands Strategies offers comprehensive strategies that draw upon all levels of government and the private sector to focus and coordinate efforts to work toward the goal of no-net-loss of wetlands.

285 pages
8.5 x 11

Helen J Temple and Andrew Terry

Numerous scientific studies show that biodiversity in Europe has been declining rapidly for some time and that this pattern has been matched by the great periods of expansion and intensification of land use. This first assessment of the Red List...

45 pages
8 x 11.2

Ameer Abdulla, Marina Gomei, Elodie Maison, and Catherine Piante

The main aim of this report is to assess progress towards a network of ecologically representative and effectively managed MPAs that meets international obligations for conservation of the Mediterranean Sea. Specifically, results of this survey...

152 pages
11.6 x 8.3

Steady-State Economics
Second Edition With New Essays

First published in 1977, this volume caused a sensation because of Daly's radical view that "enough is best." Today, his ideas are recognized as the key to sustainable development, and Steady-State Economics is universally acknowledged as...

318 pages
6 x 9

Steering a New Course
Transportation, Energy, and the Environment

Steering a New Course offers a comprehensive survey and analysis of America's transportation system -- how it contributes to our environmental problems and how we could make it safer, more efficient, and less costly.

259 pages
6 x 9

Stewardship Across Boundaries

Every piece of land, no matter how remote or untrammeled, has a boundary. While sometimes boundary lines follow topographic or biological features, more often they follow the straight lines of political dictate and compromise. Administrative...

382 pages
6 x 9

Stewardship of the Built Environment
Sustainability, Preservation, and Reuse

When we think of green building, we tend to picture new construction. But Robert A. Young argues that the greenest building is often the one that has already been built. In Stewardship of the Built Environment, he shows how ...

256 pages
7 x 10
87 photos

Straight Up
America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions

In 2009, Rolling Stone named Joe Romm to its list of "100 People Who Are Changing America." Romm is a climate expert, physicist, energy consultant, and former official in the Department of Energy. But it’s his influential blog,...

248 pages
6 x 9
8 illustrations

A Guide to Meaningful Engagement

Industries that drive economic growth and support our comfortable modern lifestyles have exploited natural resources to do so. But now there’s growing understanding that business can benefit from a better relationship with the environment....

280 pages
6 x 9
20 photos

A Multi-Scale Approach

From New York City's urban forest and farmland in Virginia to the vast Sonoran Desert of Arizona and riverside parks in Vancouver, Washington, green infrastructure is becoming a priority for cities, counties, and states across America....

160 pages
8.5 x 11
80 photos, 67 illustrations

A handbook for their planning and implementation

Jeremy Carew-Reid, Robert Prescott-Allen, Stephen Bass, and Barry Dalal-Clayton

Both Agenda 21 and "Caring for the earth : a strategy for sustainable living" recommend that every country should undertake a National Sustainable Development Strategy in order to mobilize and focus society’s efforts to achieve...

160 pages
8.3 x 9.4

Strategies for sustainability
Africa

Edited by Adrian Wood

A series of regional reviews of multi-sectoral strategies for sustainability at the national, provincial, and local levels, complementing the volume on "Strategies for national sustainable development". This volume summarizes the status of...

228 pages
6.1 x 9.2

Strategies for sustainability
Asia

Edited by Jeremy Carew-Reid

A series of regional reviews of multi-sectoral strategies for sustainability at the national, provincial, and local levels, complementing the volune on "Strategies for national sustainable development". The volume summarizes the status of...

144 pages
8 x 9.2

Strategies for sustainability
Latin America

Edited by Arturo Lopez Ornat

A series of regional reviews of multi-sectoral strategies for sustainability at the national, provincial, and local levels, complementing the volume on "Strategies for national sustainable development". This volume summarizes the status of...

180 pages
9.6 x 8.3

The topic of streets and street design is of compelling interest today as public officials, developers, and community activists seek to reshape urban patterns to achieve more sustainable forms of growth and development. Streets and the...

208 pages
7.75 x 9.5

Striper Wars
An American Fish Story

When populations of striped bass began plummeting in the early 1980s, author and fisherman Dick Russell was there to lead an Atlantic coast conservation campaign that resulted in one of the most remarkable wildlife comebacks in the history of...

368 pages
6 x 9

Structural Economics
Measuring Change in Technology, Lifestyles, and the Environment

In all societies, the main causes of environmental degradation are resource extraction and the generation of wastes by households and industries. Realistic strategies for mitigating these impacts require an understanding of both the technologies...

235 pages
6 x 9

Structures of Coastal Resilience presents new strategies for creative and collaborative approaches to coastal planning for climate change. In the face of sea level rise and an increased risk of flooding from storm surge, we must become...

248 pages
8 x 9
Two 16-page color inserts, 40 photos, 40 illustrations

Suburban Remix: Creating the Next Generation of Urban Places by David Dixon and Jason Beske | An Island Press book
Creating the Next Generation of Urban Places

Edited by Jason Beske and David Dixon

The suburban dream of a single-family house with a white picket fence no longer describes how most North Americans want to live. The dynamics that powered sprawl have all but disappeared. Instead, new forces are transforming real estate markets,...

320 pages
7 x 10

Sundressed: Natural Fabrics and the Future of Clothing by Lucianne Tonti | An Island Press book
Natural Fabrics and the Future of Clothing

For conscious consumers, buying clothes has never been more complicated. Even as fashion brands tout their sustainability, the industry is plagued by pollution, waste, and poor working conditions. If our clothes reflect our values, is it possible...

216 pages
6 x 9
1 au photo

The emergent discipline of ecological economics is based on the idea that the world's economies are a function of the earth's ecosystems -- an idea that radically reverses the world view of neoclassical economics. A Survey of Ecological...

423 pages
6 x 9

Social And Economic Dimensions

Edited by Jonathan Harris, Timothy Wise, Kevin Gallagher, and Neva R. Goodwin; Foreword by Amartya Sen

Perpetual economic growth is physically impossible on a planet with finite resources. Many concerned with humanity's future have focused on the concept of "sustainable development" as an alternative, as they seek means of...

448 pages
6 x 9

Overcoming Automobile Dependence

Sustainability and Cities examines the urban aspect of sustainability issues, arguing that cities are a necessary focus for that global agenda. The authors make the case that the essential character of a city's land use results from...

464 pages
7 x 10

Creating the Green Metropolis

Edited by Matt Slavin

"Sustainability" is more than the latest "green" buzzword. It represents a new way of viewing the interactions of human society and the natural world. Sustainability in America's Cities highlights how America's largest...

304 pages
7 x 10
4 illustrations, 9 photos

Sustainability Indicators
A Scientific Assessment

While the concept of sustainability has been widely embraced, it has been only vaguely defined and is exceedingly difficult to measure. Sustainability indicators are critical to making the broad concept of sustainability operational by providing...

448 pages
6 x 9

Sustainability Strategies for Industry
The Future Of Corporate Practice

Edited by Nigel Roome

Sustainability Strategies for Industry contains essays by members of the Greening of Industry Network that examine the emerging picture of sustainability and its implications for industry and for the relationship between industry and other...

332 pages
6 x 9

How to Create Lasting Value through Social and Environmental Performance

The Sustainable Company shows how to create value for shareholders while balancing responsibilities to society and the environment. Its step-by-step approach and tool-kit for managers make this book the solutions manual for the twenty-...

232 pages
6 x 9

A Guide to Green Building Outdoors

Since the publication of the first edition in 2000, Sustainable Landscape Construction has helped to spur a movement towards resilient outdoor environments, in the U.S. and throughout the world. The third edition has been updated to...

502 pages
8.5 x 11
188 photos, 34 illustrations

Urban Design With Nature

Douglas Farr

Written by the chair of the LEED-Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) initiative, Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature is both an urgent call to action and a comprehensive introduction to "sustainable urbanism"--the emerging and...

256 pages
8 x 9

Edited by Diana H. Wall

Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Soils and Sediments brings together the world's leading ecologists, systematists, and evolutionary biologists to present scientific information that integrates soil and sediment disciplines across...

275 pages
6 x 9

Swamplands | Island Press
Tundra Beavers, Quaking Bogs, and the Improbable World of Peat

In a world filled with breathtaking beauty, we have often overlooked the elusive charm and magic of certain landscapes. A cloudy river flows into a verdant Arctic wetland where sandhill cranes and muskoxen dwell. Further south, cypress branches...

312 pages
6 x 9
8 photos, 7 illustrations

Short-term Action for Long-term Change

Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia; Foreword by Andres Duany

In the twenty-first century, cities worldwide must respond to a growing and diverse population, ever-shifting economic conditions, new technologies, and a changing climate. Short-term, community-based projects—from pop-up parks to open...

256 pages
6.5 x 8.375
Full color, 96 illustrations

Taking Back Eden
Eight Environmental Cases that Changed the World

Taking Back Eden is the gripping tale of an idea—that ordinary people have the right to go to court to defend their environment—told through the stories of lawsuits brought in eight countries around the world. Starting in the United...

256 pages
6 x 9
14 photos, 5 illustrations

Taking Out the Trash
A No-Nonsense Guide To Recycling

Taking Out the Trash is a practical and useful guide to how individuals, businesses, and communities can help alleviate America's garbage crisis.

249 pages
6 x 9

For Prairies, Savannas, and Woodlands

Edited by Stephen Packard and Cornelia F. Mutel

The Tallgrass Restoration Handbook is a hands-on manual that provides a detailed account of what has been learned about the art and science of prairie restoration and the application of that knowledge to restoration projects...

504 pages
6 x 9

Voluntary land conservation, resulting from increasingly alluring tax benefits, has significantly changed the face of land use in the United States and promises to have an even more significant influence in the future. There are more than 1,500...

304 pages
6 x 9
10 photos and illustrations

Designing and Implementing Transfer of Development Rights Programs

"Transfer of Development Rights" (TDR) programs allow local governments to put economic principles to work in encouraging good land use planning. TDR programs most often permit landowners to forfeit development rights in areas targeted...

344 pages
8 x 10.5
45 photos and illustrations

Tech to Table | Island Press
25 Innovators Reimagining Food

Imagine eating a burger grown in a laboratory, a strawberry picked by a robot, or a pastry created with a 3-D printer. You would never taste the difference, but these technologies might just save your health and the planet’s. Today,...

296 pages
6 x 9
25 photos

Technology and Sustainability

Carolien Kroeze, Jan Boersema, Egbert Tellegen, and Annemarie Cremers

In ten essays, this book addresses a broad range of issues related to the interplay of sustainability and technology. How do population growth and technology relate to sustainable development? Can globalization be reconciled with sustainable...

116 pages
6 x 9

Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World
Ecology and Conservation

While tropical rainforests have received much conservation attention and support for their protection, temperate and boreal rainforests have been largely overlooked. Yet these ecosystems are also unique, supporting rainforest communities rich in...

336 pages
7 x 10
29 photos and illustrations

Tending Fire
Coping With America's Wildland Fires

The wildfires that spread across Southern California in the fall of 2003 were devastating in their scale-twenty-two deaths, thousands of homes destroyed and many more threatened, hundreds of thousands of acres burned. What had gone wrong? And why...

256 pages
6 x 9

Creating Safe Urban Habitats

How does a bird experience a city? A backyard? A park? As the world has become more urban, noisier from increased traffic, and brighter from streetlights and office buildings, it has also become more dangerous for countless species of birds....

272 pages
6 x 9
53 photos and illustrations

A preliminary evaluation of non-timber forest products, game and freshwater fisheries

Cheikh Ba, Joshua Bishop, Moustapha Deme, Hamet Diaw Diadhiou, Alioune B. Dieng, Omar Diop, Pedro Andres Garzon, Bara Gueye, Moustapha Kebe, Ournou K. Ly, Vaque Ndiaye, Cheikh Mbackй Ndione, Astou Sene, Djiby Thiam, and Ibrahim A. Wade

The contribution of wild plants and animals to human welfare is widely appreciated but not routinely measured. Reliable and up-to-date information on the economic importance of wild resources is needed to ensure that development policies and...

73 pages
x

Smart Policies for Health and the Planet

Producing food industrially like we do today causes tremendous global economic losses in terms of malnutrition, diseases, and environmental degradation. But because the food industry does not bear those costs and the price tag for these losses...

320 pages
6 x 9
38 illustrations

Proceedings of the Second Workshop of the Delos Initiative, Ouranoupolis 2007

Edited by Josep-Maria Mallarach and Thymio Papayannis

This report is currently available in an electronic format only. To view the report and others published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), please visit...

These American Lands
Parks, Wilderness, and the Public Lands: Revised and Expanded Edition

Dyan Zaslowsky and Tom H. Watkins

Over 634 million acres of the United States -- nearly a million square miles -- are federally owned. These American Lands is both a history and a celebration of that inheritance. First published in 1986, the book was hailed by Wallace...

414 pages
6 x 9

The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis

Much of what you’ve heard about plastic pollution may be wrong. Instead of a great island of trash, the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of manmade debris spread over hundreds of miles of sea—more like a soup than a...

256 pages
6 x 9
20 illustrations

Thing: Inside the Struggle for Animal Personhood by Samuel Machado and Cynthia Sousa Machado with Steven M. Wise | An Island Press book
Inside the Struggle for Animal Personhood

Happy has lived at the Bronx Zoo for most of her 48 years, and for more than a decade has remained largely isolated and lonely. Like all elephants, Happy has a complex mind and a deep social, intellectual, and emotional life; she desires to make...

240 pages
7 x 10
Full color throughout

Thinking Like a Mountain
An Ecological Perspective on Earth

In Thinking Like a Mountain, we have excerpted a clear and inviting introduction to the science of conservation biology from Ed Grumbine's previous book, Ghost Bears. Grumbine offers a succinct and evocative description of why...

75 pages
6 x 9
7 photos, 2 illustrations

A New Vision For Governing The West

In the eight states of the interior West (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), 260 million acres -- more than 48 percent of the land base -- are owned by the federal government and managed by its...

224 pages
6 x 9

The Impact of Climate Change on Japan's Biodiversity

Edited by Akiko Domoto and Kunio Iwatsuki

This book focuses on the relationship between climate change and biodiversity. It opens with general perspectives on the main issues, pointing out the need to take an holistic approach and to urge policy makers to take action, even when...

168 pages
8.2 x 11.2

Steering Automated, Shared, and Electric Vehicles to a Better Future

For the first time in half a century, real transformative innovations are coming to our world of passenger transportation. The convergence of new shared mobility services with automated and electric vehicles promises to significantly reshape...

256 pages
6 x 9
25 photos and illustrations

Tibet Wild
A Naturalist's Journeys on the Roof of the World

As one of the world’s leading field biologists, George Schaller has spent much of his life traversing wild and isolated places in his quest to understand and conserve threatened species—from mountain gorillas in the Virunga to pandas...

384 pages
6 x 9
Two 8-page color inserts, 32 photos, 9 illustrations

Tidal Marsh Restoration
A Synthesis of Science and Management

Many coastal tidal marshes have been significantly degraded by roadways and other projects that restrict tidal flows, limiting their ability to provide vital ecosystem services including support of fish and wildlife populations, flood protection...

432 pages
7 x 10
24 photos, 27 illustrations

Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn
The Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine

In parts of Korea and China, moon bears, black but for the crescent-shaped patch of white on their chests, are captured in the wild and brought to "bear farms" where they are imprisoned in squeeze cages, and a steel catheter is inserted into...

312 pages
6 x 9

Tigerland and Other Unintended Destinations

In 1972, Eric Dinerstein was in film school at Northwestern University, with few thoughts of nature, let alone tiger-filled jungles at the base of the Himalayas or the antelope-studded Serengeti plain. Yet thanks to some inspiring teachers and...

296 pages
6 x 9

Timber, Tourists, and Temples
Conservation And Development In The Maya Forest Of Belize Guatemala And Mexico

Stretching across southern Mexico, northern Guatemala, and Belize, the Maya Forest, or Selva Maya, constitutes one of the last large blocks of tropical forest remaining in North and Central America. Home to Mayan-speaking people for more than 5,...

446 pages
6 x 9

To Conserve Unimpaired
The Evolution of the National Park Idea

When the national park system was first established in 1916, the goal "to conserve unimpaired" seemed straightforward. But Robert Keiter argues that parks have always served a variety of competing purposes, from wildlife protection and...

368 pages
6 x 9

To Heal the Earth
Selected Writings Of Ian L. McHarg

Ian L. McHarg's landmark book Design with Nature changed the face of landscape architecture and planning by promoting the idea that the design of human settlements should be based on ecological principles. McHarg was one of the earliest...

394 pages
6 x 9

A Story of Science and Salvation

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • Winner of The New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award A new classic of science reporting.”—The New York Times The true story of a small town...

576 pages
6.125 x 9.25
1 illustration

Wild Plants at the Brink of Extinction and What Is Needed to Save Them

B. de Montmollin

The flora of the Mediterranean islands includes many rare and localized species unique to the islands. Some of these are particularly threatened with extinction due to various pressures caused by people and their activities in Mediterranean...

109 pages
6 x 8.25

Toward Sustainable Development
Concepts, Methods, and Policy

International Society for Ecological Economics; Edited by Jan van der Straaten and Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh

Toward Sustainable Development is a comprehensive and wide ranging exploration of the theoretical and practical aspects of the concept of sustainable development. Internationally known scholars present an in depth critique of traditional...

299 pages
6 x 9

Traces of an Omnivore

Paul Shepard is one of the most profound and original thinkers of our time. He has helped define the field of human ecology, and has played a vital role in the development of what have come to be known as environmental philosophy, ecophilosophy,...

255 pages
6 x 9

Planning, Design, and Management Manual for Multi-Use Trails

Communities across the country are working to convert unused railway and canal corridors into trails for pedestrians, cyclists, horseback riders, and others, serving the needs of both recreationists and commuters alike. These multi-use trails can...

232 pages
11 x 8.5

An Opinionated Atlas of US Transit

What are the best transit cities in the US? The best Bus Rapid Transit lines? The most useless rail transit lines? The missed opportunities? In the US, the 25 largest metropolitan areas and many smaller cities have fixed guideway transit...

264 pages
8.5 x 11
full color, 290 photos, 185 illustrations

Trains, Buses, People, Second Edition | Island Press
An Opinionated Atlas of US and Canadian Transit

“Gets right to the point: put [transit] where the people are...The author combines detailed knowledge and a refreshing frankness...Keep this book within easy reach.”  -Planning In some US and Canadian cities, transit...

344 pages
8.25 x 10.75
340 color photos, 500 color illustrations

A Global Inquiry

Around the world, mass transit is struggling to compete with the private automobile, and in many places, its market share is rapidly eroding. Yet a number of metropolitan areas have in recent decades managed to mount cost-effective and resource-...

480 pages
7 x 10

Transit and cities grow together. As cities work to become more compact, sustainable, and healthy, their work is paying dividends: in 2014, Americans took 10.8 billion trips on public transit, the highest since the dawn of the highway era. But...

260 pages
8.25 x 10.75
Full color, 70 photos and illustrations

No cover image available
Towards a Humane and Diverse World

W. M. Adams and S. J. Jeanrenaud

The environmental movement has made huge progress over the last decades. Among others, it has raised awareness of challenges facing humanity, helped develop a critical mass of policies, and worked towards the implementation of many of these...

102 pages
7.5 x 7.5

Transport Beyond Oil
Policy Choices for a Multimodal Future

Edited by John L. Renne and Billy Fields; Foreword by Gilbert E. Carmichael

Seventy percent of the oil America uses each year goes to transportation. That means that the national oil addiction and all its consequences, from climate change to disastrous spills to dependence on foreign markets, can be greatly reduced by...

344 pages
8.5 x 10
3 photos, 57 illustrations

Issues, Examples, Solutions

Colleges and universities across North America are facing difficult questions about automobile use and transportation. Lack of land for new parking lots and the desire to preserve air quality are but a few of the factors leading institutions...

264 pages
6 x 9

Innovating Our Way to Zero Waste

Trash Backwards: Innovating Our Way to Zero Waste examines the various kinds of trash Americans are producing in staggering quantities, and profiles a range of innovative processes, people, and companies who are thinking creatively about...

80 pages
6 x 9
31 photos, 2 illustrations

Tree Crops
A Permanent Agriculture

A complete reference for growing high-yield fruit- and nut-bearing trees.

422 pages
6 x 9
137 photos, 8 illustrations

Trophic Cascades
Predators, Prey, and the Changing Dynamics of Nature

Trophic cascades—the top-down regulation of ecosystems by predators—are an essential aspect of ecosystem function and well-being. Trophic cascades are often drastically disrupted by human interventions—for example, when wolves...

488 pages
7 x 10
79 illustrations

What Quitting Hair Dye Taught Me about Health and Beauty

Like 75% of American women, Ronnie Citron-Fink dyed her hair, visiting the salon every few weeks to hide gray roots in her signature dark brown mane. She wanted to look attractive, professional, young. Yet as a journalist covering health and the...

200 pages
5 x 8

Turning the Tide
Saving the Chesapeake Bay

In 1991, Island Press published Turning the Tide, a unique and accessible examination of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The book took an indepth look at the Bay’s vital signs to gauge the overall health of its entire ecosystem and to assess...

424 pages
6 x 9

Turning the Tide
The Eradication of Invasive Species: Proceedings of the International Conference on Eradication of Island Invasives

This collection of 52 papers and 21 abstracts focuses on sharing available knowledge to combat the threat of invasive alien species. Turning the tide of biological invasion by eradicating invasive species can yield substantial benefits for...

414 pages
8.5 x 11.8

Why the Poor Die Earlier and How to Challenge Inequity

In Twenty Years of Life, Suzanne Bohan exposes the disturbing flip side of the American dream: your health is largely determined by your zip code. The strain of living in a poor neighborhood, with sub-par schools, lack of parks, fear...

264 pages
6 x 9
32 photos

The Myths And Realities Of A State Divided Against Itself

Two Californias explores for the first time the pervasive folk myth that Northern and Southern California should really be separate states. You hear it all the time in the media and on the street - but is it true? Michael DiLeo and Eleanor...

250 pages
6 x 9

Essential Lessons for Collective Action

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...

256 pages
6 x 9
30 photos

Under Ground
How Creatures of Mud and Dirt Shape Our World

Let's get dirty. In childhood, the back yard, the flowerbed, the beach, the mucky place where land slips into puddles, lakes, and streams are infinitely fascinating. It is a mistake to leave that "childish" fascination with mud and...

248 pages
6 x 9

Understanding Disaster Insurance by Carolyn Kousky | An Island Press book
New Tools for a More Resilient Future

The frequency and intensity of natural disasters—such as wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and storms—is on the rise, threatening our way of life and our livelihoods. Managing this growing risk will be central to economic and social...

214 pages
6 x 9
6 photos and illustrations

Understanding Environmental Administration and Law provides an engaging, introductory overview of environmental policy. Author Susan J. Buck explores the process through which policy is made, the political environment in which it is...

304 pages
6 x 9

Rethinking Our Love of Pets in an Age of Wildlife Extinction

"Highly compelling...page-turning read" — TNC's Cool Green Science We love our pets. Dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, and other species have become an essential part of more families than ever before—in North America...

280 pages
6 x 9
None

Humanity can make short work of the oceans’ creatures. In 1741, hungry explorers discovered herds of Steller’s sea cow in the Bering Strait, and in less than thirty years, the amiable beast had been harpooned into extinction. It...

456 pages
6 x 9
36 photos and illustrations

How We Are Changing Life, Gene by Gene

Gonorrhea. Bed bugs. Weeds. Salamanders. People. All are evolving, some surprisingly rapidly, in response to our chemical age. In Unnatural Selection, Emily Monosson shows how our drugs, pesticides, and pollution are exerting intense...

200 pages
6 x 9

Unquenchable
America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It

In the middle of the Mojave Desert, Las Vegas casinos use billions of gallons of water for fountains, pirate lagoons, wave machines, and indoor canals. Meanwhile, the town of Orme, Tennessee, must truck in water from Alabama because it has...

432 pages
6 x 9
9 photos, 13 illustrations

Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization

Environmental disasters. Terrorist wars. Energy scarcity. Is this the world's fate, a downward spiral that ultimately spells the collapse of society? Perhaps, says acclaimed author Thomas Homer-Dixon—or perhaps these crises can actually...

448 pages
6.125 x 9.25
22 photos, 18 illustrations

During his three terms as mayor of Curitiba, Brazil in the 1970s and ‘80s, architect and urbanist Jaime Lerner transformed his city into a global model of the sustainable and livable community. From the pioneering Bus Rapid Transit system...

160 pages
5.25 x 8.125
Full color, 42 photos, 3 illustrations

The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, Second Edition, is based on the experience of the best cycling cities in the world. Completely re-designed with an accessible, four-color layout, this second edition continues to build upon the...

260 pages
8.25 x 10.75
75 photos, 100 illustrations

The Logic Of Making Plans

Lewis D. Hopkins

With increased awareness of the role of plans in shaping urban and suburban landscapes has come increased criticism of planners and the planning profession. Developers, politicians, and citizens alike blame "poor planning" for a host of community...

312 pages
6 x 9

A Process for Regenerative Places

This trailblazing book outlines an interdisciplinary "process model" for urban design that has been developed and tested over time. Its goal is not to explain how to design a specific city precinct or public space, but to describe...

328 pages
8.5 x 10
Two 8-page color inserts, 55 photos, 64 illustrations

Urban Green
Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities

Peter Harnik; Foreword by Mayor Michael Bloomberg

For years American urban parks fell into decay due to disinvestment, but as cities began to rebound—and evidence of the economic, cultural, and health benefits of parks grew— investment in urban parks swelled. The U.S. Conference of...

208 pages
6 x 9
One 8-page color insert

How those responsible for protected areas can better serve people in large cities and build stronger urban constituencies for nature conservation. Proceedings of a workshop at the Vth World Parks Congress

Thaddeus C. Trzyna

Almost half the world’s people live in cities and this proportion is steadily growing. Protected areas provide important benefits to cities; conversely, conservationists depend on support from voters, leaders, and opinion-shapers largely...

168 pages
8.2 x 11

Ecology and Conservation of Birds of Prey in Cities

Raptors are an unusual success story of wildness thriving in the heart of our cities—they have developed substantial populations around the world in recent decades. But there are deeper issues around how these birds make their urban homes....

320 pages
6 x 9
one 16-page color insert, 43 photos, 7 illustrations

Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities

In Urban Sprawl and Public Health, Howard Frumkin, Lawrence Frank, and Richard Jackson, three of the nation's leading public health and urban planning experts explore an intriguing question: How does the physical environment in...

368 pages
6 x 9
18 photos, 15 illustrations

The NACTO Urban Street Design Guide shows how streets of every size can be reimagined and reoriented to prioritize safe driving and transit, biking, walking, and public activity.  Unlike older, more conservative engineering manuals,...

192 pages
8.25 x 10.75
44 photos and illustrations

Streets make up more than 80 percent of all public space in cities, yet street space is often underutilized or disproportionately allocated to the movement of private motor vehicles. Excess impervious surface contributes to stormwater runoff,...

168 pages
8.25 x 10.75
Full color

Urban Transformation
Understanding City Form and Design

How do cities transform over time? And why do some cities change for the better while others deteriorate? In articulating new ways of viewing urban areas and how they develop over time, Peter Bosselmann offers a stimulating guidebook for students...

336 pages
8 x 10
326 photos and illustrations

Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change

“Cities are green” is becoming a common refrain.  But Calthorpe argues that a more comprehensive understanding of urbanism at the regional scale provides a better platform to address climate change.  In this groundbreaking...

176 pages
7 x 10
Three 8-page color inserts

Reconnecting with First Principles of the City

How do you create inviting and authentic urban environments where people feel at home? Countless community engagement workshops, studies by consulting firms, and downtown revitalization campaigns have attempted to answer this age-old question. In...

177 pages
6 x 9
115 photos

Creating Successful Green Infrastructure Networks

Vacant lots, so often seen as neighborhood blight, have the potential to be a key element of community revitalization. As manufacturing cities reinvent themselves after decades of lost jobs and population, abundant vacant land resources and...

200 pages
7 x 10
63 photos and figures

The Value of Life
Biological Diversity And Human Society

The Value of Life is an exploration of the actual and perceived importance of biological diversity for human beings and society. Stephen R. Kellert identifies ten basic values, which he describes as biologically based, inherent human...

282 pages
6 x 9

Counting and Capturing Ecosystem Water Services for Sustain

Edited by Lucy Emerton

Water ecosystems have long been perceived by decision makers as having little value simply because their economic value is poorly understood and rarely articulated. Calculating the economic value of an ecosystem is a means of providing...

93 pages
8.5 x 11.5

A Handbook for Impact Investing

As the world faces unprecedented challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss, the resources needed far outstrip the capabilities of nonprofits and even governments. Yet there are seeds of hope—and much of that hope comes from...

240 pages
6 x 9
30 illustrations

Science, Politics, and Crime in the Sea of Cortez

"Intrepid conservation detective story." —Nature "A lucid, informed, and gripping account...a must-read." —Science "Passionate...a heartfelt and alarming tale." —Publishers...

320 pages
6 x 9
10 photos, 2 illustrations

A world strategy for conservation and sustainable management of water resources in the 21st century. Compilation of all project documents

This compilation contains all key documents produced during the development of the Vision for Water and Nature, the environment and ecosystems componant of the Vision for Water, Life and the Environment for the 21st Century, generally known as...

223 pages
6 x 9

The Environmental Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

The new Vital Signs 1998 gives you more than 100 charts, graphs and tables that show you the worldwide trends that are changing our lives, for better and for worse. It includes the latest data on critical global trends, presented in simple...

205 pages
7 x 9.25

The Environmental Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

The global trends documented in Vital Signs 1999—from a decline in nuclear power generating capacity to the proliferation of genetically modified crops—will play a large part in determining the quality of our lives and our...

195 pages
7 x 9.25

The Environmental Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

The global trends documented in Vital Signs 2000—from the rapid rise in the sales of energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps to the worldwide overpumping of growndwater—will play a large role in determining the quality of...

190 pages
7 x 9.25

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

The global trends documented in Vital Signs 2001—from the rapid increase in the use of wind power to the continued warming of the planet—will play a large role in determining the quality of our lives and our children's...

160 pages
7 x 9.25

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

The 2002 edition features more than 50 key indicators of long-term trends—from the growth of fish farms and bicycle production to the increase in solar cell and Internet use.

198 pages
7 x 9.25

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

With Vital Signs 2003, you’ll have the cogent analysis you need to prepare for tomorrow’s challenges.

149 pages
7 x 9.25

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

This much-anticipated edition of Vital Signs covers 35 global trends that are shaping our future. From carbon emissions to loss of wetlands, each trend provides a brief status report on the topic plus graphs and charts that offer a visual...

122 pages
7 x 9.25

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

This report tracks and analyzes 44 trends that are shaping our future, and includes graphs and charts to provide a visual comparison over time. Categories of trends include: Food, Agricultural Resources, Energy and Climate, Global Economy,...

148 pages
7 x 9.25

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

This report tracks and analyzes 44 trends that are shaping our future, and includes graphs and charts to provide a visual comparison over time. Categories of trends include: Food, Agricultural Resources, Energy and Climate, Global Economy,...

153 pages
7 x 9.25

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

This sixteenth volume of Worldwatch’s Vital Signs series makes it clear that climate change is both a growing driver of and an increasingly important motivator behind the world’s leading economic, social, and environmental...

123 pages
7 x 9.25

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

This seventeenth edition of the Worldwatch Institute series shows that climate change continues to cast a long shadow over the world’s leading economic, social, and environmental trends.

121 pages
7 x 9.25

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

This eighteenth volume of the Worldwatch Institute series makes it clear that the Great Recession affects many of the world’s leading economic, social, and environmental trends—but that the impact can be very different by country.

130 pages
7 x 9.25

Vital Signs 2012
The Trends that are Shaping Our Future

Just as people schedule regular check-ups with physicians, our planet needs regular check-ups to catch issues as early as possible, before they become more serious and harder to heal. That is the much-needed service provided on a global scale by...

136 pages
7 x 9.25

Vital Signs Volume 20
The Trends that are Shaping Our Future

From meat consumption to automobile production to hydropower, Vital Signs, Volume 20 documents over two dozen trends that are shaping our future in concise analyses and clear tables and graphs. The twentieth volume of the Worldwatch...

168 pages
7 x 9.25

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

Vital Signs Volume 21 is all about growth. From natural disasters to cars to organic farming, the two dozen trends examined here indicate both increasing pressure on natural resources and scaled up efforts to live more sustainably. In...

152 pages
7 x 9.25
7 photos, 91 illustrations

The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future

What we make and buy is a major indicator of society’s collective priorities. Among twenty-four key trends, Vital Signs Volume 22 explores significant global patterns in production and consumption. The result is a fascinating...

152 pages
7 x 9.25
7 photos, 91 illustrations

101 Steps to Making Better Places

“Cities are the future of the human race, and Jeff Speck knows how to make them work.”  —David Owen, staff writer at the New Yorker    Nearly every US city would like to be more walkable—for...

312 pages
8 x 8
120 full-color photos/figures

Foundational Readings for Students and Professionals

Having manipulated water for irrigation, energy, and burgeoning urban centers, humans are facing the reality that although fresh water is renewable, it is as finite as any other resource. Countries, states, and cities are now scrambling to...

320 pages
6 x 9
10 illustrations

Water Follies by Robert J. Glennon | An Island Press book
Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh Waters

The Santa Cruz River that once flowed through Tucson, Arizona is today a sad mirage of a river. Except for brief periods following heavy rainfall, it is bone dry. The cottonwood and willow trees that once lined its banks have died, and the...

304 pages
6 x 9
19 photos, 6 illustrations

and Other Myths about Water in the West

"Illuminating." —New York TimesWIRED's Required Science Reading 2016 When we think of water in the West, we think of conflict and crisis. In recent years, newspaper headlines have screamed, “...

264 pages
6 x 9
6 photos, 4 illustrations

In this concise introduction to water resources, Shimon Anisfeld explores the fundamental interactions between humans and water, including drinking, sanitation, irrigation, and power production. The book familiarizes students with the current...

352 pages
5.5 x 8.75
42 photos and illustrations

Water Security
The Water-Food-Energy-Climate Nexus

The world is on the brink of the greatest crisis it has ever faced: a spiraling lack of fresh water. Groundwater is drying up, even as water demands for food production, for energy, and for manufacturing are surging. Water is already emerging as...

272 pages
6 x 9
16 photos and illustrations

Water War in the Klamath Basin
Macho Law, Combat Biology, and Dirty Politics

In the drought summer of 2001, a simmering conflict between agricultural and environmental interests in southern Oregon’s Upper Klamath Basin turned into a guerrilla war of protests, vandalism, and apocalyptic rhetoric when the federal...

280 pages
6 x 9

Water, Culture, and Power
Local Struggles In A Global Context

Edited by John Donahue and Barbara Rose Johnston

According to some estimates, at least 1.7 billion people do not have an adequate supply of drinking water and as many as 40% of the world's population face chronic shortages. Yet water scarcity is more than a matter of terrain, increased...

408 pages
6 x 9

Information Design for Public Places

David Gibson

Where am I? What can I do here? Where can I go from here? How do I get out of here? Consciously or not, we ask such questions every day as we navigate the places and spaces of our lives. Whether we find ourselves in a museum, hospital, airport,...

152 pages
8 x 7

A Guide To Governing Natural Resources

For 150 years, the American West has been shaped by persistent conflicts over natural resources. This has given rise to a succession of strategies for resolving disputes-prior appropriation, scientific management, public participation, citizen...

256 pages
6 x 9

A Review Of Current Issues And Required Action

Edited by Patrick Dugan

There is today a growing awareness that many wetlands are more valuable in their natural, or only slightly modified state, than if drained, dyked or built upon. Past neglect of wetlands has meant that there is insufficient material available on...

96 pages
8.5 x 12

An Inside Account Of The Struggle To Stop Commercial Whaling

Despite a decades-long international moratorium on commercial whaling, one fleet has continued to hunt and kill whales in the waters surrounding Antarctica. Refusing to let this defiance go unchallenged, the environmental organization...

304 pages
6 x 9

What a Bee Knows: Exploring the Thoughts, Memories, and Personalities of Bees by Stephen Buchmann | An Island Press book
Exploring the Thoughts, Memories, and Personalities of Bees

For many of us, the buzzing of a bee elicits panic. But the next time you hear that low droning sound, look closer: the bee has navigated to this particular spot for a reason using a fascinating set of tools. She may be using her sensitive...

296 pages
6 x 9
19 photos and illustrations

One of Planetizen's Top Planning Books for 2017 • San Francisco Chronicle's 2016 Holiday Books Gift Guide Pick What makes a great city? Not a good city or a functional city but a...

344 pages
8 x 9
215 photos, 37 illustrations

Natural History, Ecology, and the North Woods

John Pastor; Foreword by Bernd Heinrich

How long should a leaf live? When should blueberries ripen? And what should a clever moose eat? Questions like these may seem simple or downright strange—yet they form the backbone of natural history, a discipline that fostered...

336 pages
6 x 9
13 illustrations

When City and Country Collide
Managing Growth In The Metropolitan Fringe

Strips of urban and suburban "fabric" have extended into the countryside, creating a ragged settlement pattern that blurs the distinction between rural, urban, and suburban. As traditional rural industries like farming, forestry, and mining...

382 pages
6 x 9

When Driving is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency by Anna Letitia Zivarts | An Island Press book
Steering Away from Car Dependency

Anna Zivarts; Foreword by Dani Simons

One third of people living in the United States do not have a driver license. Because the majority of involuntary nondrivers are disabled, lower income, unhoused, formerly incarcerated, undocumented immigrants, kids, young people, and the elderly...

240 pages
6 x 9
20 black-and-white illustrations, photographs, line art, and maps.

Where Our Food Comes From
Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine

The future of our food depends on tiny seeds in orchards and fields the world over. In 1943, one of the first to recognize this fact, the great botanist Nikolay Vavilov, lay dying of starvation in a Soviet prison. But in the years before Stalin...

264 pages
6 x 9
One 8-page color insert

Nature and Power in the People's Republic of China

China’s meteoric rise to economic powerhouse might be charted with dams. Every river in the country has been tapped to power exploding cities and factories—every river but one. Running through one of the richest natural areas in the...

256 pages
6 x 9
One 8-page color insert, 17 photos, 2 illustrations

Where We Live
A Citizen's Guide To Conducting A Community Environmental Inventory

Don Harker and Elizabeth Ungar Natter

Where We Live is a practical workbook to help citizens find information concerning their local environment and to use that information in furthering environmental goals. The book includes general information on human impacts on the...

332 pages
8.5 x 11

Which World?
Scenarios For The 21St Century

Allen Hammond

In Which World?, scientist Allen Hammond imaginatively probes the consequences of present social, economic, and environmental trends to construct three possible worlds that could await us in the twenty-first century: Market World, in which...

318 pages
6 x 9

White Pine by John Pastor | An Island Press book
The Natural and Human History of a Foundational American Tree

America was built on white pine. From the 1600s through the Civil War and beyond, it was used to build the nation’s ships and houses, barns, and bridges. It became a symbol of independence, adorning the Americans’ flag at Bunker Hill...

276 pages
6 x 9
12 illustrations

The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science

Rachel Carson Environment Book Award, First Place (2018) IPPY Outstanding Book of the Year: Most Likely to Save the Planet (2018) Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award (2018) "Reads like a mystery novel as Gillam skillfully uncovers...

320 pages
6 x 9

Who Pays the Price?
The Sociocultural Context Of Environmental Crisis

Drawing from a Society for Applied Anthropology study on human rights and the environment, Who Pays the Price? provides a detailed look at the human experience of environmental crisis. The issues examined span the globe -- loss of land and...

265 pages
6 x 9

The Case for a New Corporation in the Next Decade

In Why Corporation 2020?, Pavan Sukhdev examines the many critical planetary boundaries that we are approaching, from greenhouse gas emissions to the nitrogen cycle, freshwater and land use, and food security, and argues that sweeping...

28 pages
x
2 illustrations

Why Do We Recycle?
Markets, Values, and Public Policy

The earnest warnings of an impending "solid waste crisis" that permeated the 1980s provided the impetus for the widespread adoption of municipal recycling programs. Since that time America has witnessed a remarkable rise in public participation...

222 pages
6 x 9

Why Some Like It Hot
Food, Genes, and Cultural Diversity

Do your ears burn whenever you eat hot chile peppers? Does your face immediately flush when you drink alcohol? Does your stomach groan if you are exposed to raw milk or green fava beans? If so, you are probably among the one-third of the world's...

244 pages
6 x 9

Managing Uncertainty and Conflict

"Wicked" problems are large-scale, long-term policy dilemmas in which multiple and compounding risks and uncertainties combine with sharply divergent public values to generate contentious political stalemates; wicked problems in the...

272 pages
6 x 9
11 illustrations

Wild and Scenic Rivers of America

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is one of the most important natural areas protection programs ever established at the federal level. It has resulted in the creation of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System -- a rich American legacy...

338 pages
6 x 9

Strategies for Creating Life-Enhancing Landscapes

Can nature—in all its unruly wildness—be an integral part of creative landscape design? In her beautifully illustrated book, Wild by Design, award-winning designer Margie Ruddick urges designers to look beyond the rules often...

264 pages
8 x 9
Full color, 200 photos, 100 illustrations

Wild Forests
Conservation Biology And Public Policy

Wild Forests presents a coherent review of the scientific and policy issues surrounding biological diversity in the context of contemporary public forest management. The authors examine past and current practices of forest management and...

323 pages
6 x 9

Wild Species as Commodities
Managing Markets And Ecosystems For Sustainability

Curtis Freese

In recent years, some policymakers and conservationists have argued that natural resources will be protected only if economic benefits accrue to those who are responsible for caring for the resources. Such commercial consumptive use of wild...

334 pages
6 x 9

The Wilderness Condition
Essays On Environment And Civilization

Edited by Max Oelschlaeger

This book aims to introduce to a larger audience issues that are too often limited to scholarly circles. A thought-provoking collection of essays by some of the environmental movement's preeminent thinkers, The Wilderness Condition...

345 pages
5.5 x 8.25

Wildfire
A Century of Failed Forest Policy

Wildfires are an awe-inspiring natural phenomenon that have shaped North America's landscapes since the dawn of time. They are a force that we cannot really control, and thus understanding, appreciating, and learning tolive with wildfire is...

350 pages
11.75 x 13.25

The Wildfire Reader
A Century of Failed Forest Policy

The Wildfire Reader presents, in an affordable paperback edition, the essays included in Wildfire, offering a concise overview of fire landscapes and the past century of forest policy that has affected them.

440 pages
6 x 9

Wildlife and Habitats in Managed Landscapes

Edited by Jon Rodiek and Eric Bolen

Americans are having an increasing impact on the rural landscape as development further encroaches in former wilderness areas. This disruptive land use is causing a decline in wildlife and wildlife habitats. Wildlife and Habitats in Managed...

238 pages
6 x 9

Wildlife and Recreationists
Coexistence Through Management And Research

Wildlife and Recreationists defines and clarifies the issues surrounding the conflict between outdoor recreation and the health and well-being of wildlife and ecosystems. Contributors to the volume consider both direct and indirect effects...

389 pages
6 x 9

Wildlife and Society
The Science of Human Dimensions

Winner of The Wildlife Society's 2009 Wildlife Publication Award for outstanding edited book   As human populations around the world continue to expand, reconciling nature conservation with human needs and aspirations is imperative. The...

368 pages
6 x 9

A Primer

Wildlife is an important and cherished element of our natural heritage in the United States. But state and federal laws governing the ways we interact with wildlife can be complex to interpret and apply. Ten years ago, Wildlife Law: A Primer...

344 pages
6 x 9

Wildlife Policies in the U.S. National Parks

This volume presents the results of a five-year study of wildlife-management policies in national parks. It synthesizes interviews with individuals inside and outside the National Park Service, provides a comprehensive review of published and...

251 pages
6 x 9

North American Case Studies

Edited by Stephen H. Schneider and Terry Root; Foreword by Mark Van Putten

Wildlife Responses to Climate Change is the culmination of a three-year project to research and study the impacts of global climate change on ecosystems and individual wildlife species in North America. In 1997, the National Wildlife...

350 pages
6 x 9

Techniques for Habitat Analysis and Animal Monitoring

Michael L. Morrison; Foreword by Paul R. Krausman

Wildlife Restoration links restoration ecology and wildlife management in an accessible and comprehensive guide to restoring wildlife and the habitats upon which they depend. It offers readers a thorough overview of the types of...

215 pages
6 x 9

Wildlife-Habitat Relationships
Concepts and Applications

Wildlife-Habitat Relationships goes beyond introductory wildlife biology texts to provide wildlife professionals and students with an understanding of the importance of habitat relationships in studying and managing wildlife. The book...

520 pages
7 x 9

The Wisdom of the Spotted Owl
Policy Lessons For A New Century

The controversy over the management of national forests in the Pacific Northwest vividly demonstrates the shortcomings of existing management institutions and natural resource policies. The Wisdom of the Spotted Owl explores the American...

458 pages
6 x 9

With People in Mind
Design And Management Of Everyday Nature

Some parks, preserves, and other natural areas serve people well; others are disappointing. Successful design and management requires knowledge of both people and environments.

With People in Mind explores how to design and manage areas...

239 pages
7 x 10
212 illustrations

Creating Livable Communities for All

For five thousand years, human settlements were nearly always compact places. Everything a person needed on a regular basis lay within walking distance. But then the great project of the twentieth century—sorting people, businesses, and...

280 pages
6 x 9
60 photos, 10 illustrations

The Wolf's Tooth
Keystone Predators, Trophic Cascades, and Biodiversity

Animals such as wolves, sea otters, and sharks exert a disproportionate influence on their environment; dramatic ecological consequences can result when they are removed from—or returned to—an ecosystem.   In The Wolf's...

272 pages
6 x 9
5 illustrations

How The Diversity Of Life Sustains Us

The lavish array of organisms known as "biodiversity" is an intricately linked web that makes the earth a uniquely habitable planet. Yet pressures from human activities are destroying biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. How many...

282 pages
6 x 9

A Commodity-By-Commodity Guide To Impacts And Practices

World Agriculture and the Environment presents a unique assessment of agricultural commodity production and the environmental problems it causes, along with prescriptions for increasing efficiency and reducing damage to natural systems....

570 pages
6 x 9

A World Between Waves

Edited by Frank Stewart

A World Between Waves is a collection of essays on the natural history of Hawaii by some of America's most renowned writers. It is a testament to the biological and geological wealth of this unique and threatened island landscape, and a...

318 pages
6 x 9

The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources

The quality and availability of fresh water are of critical importance to human and ecosystem health. Given its central role in the functioning of all living systems, water is arguably the most important of all natural resources.

...

262 pages
8.5 x 11

The World's Water 2006-2007
The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources

Produced biennially, The World's Water provides a timely examination of the key issues surrounding freshwater resources and their use. Each new volume identifies and explains the most significant current trends worldwide, and offers...

392 pages
8.5 x 11
23 photos and illustrations

The World's Water 2008-2009
The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources

Produced biennially, The World’s Water provides a timely examination of the key issues surrounding freshwater resources and their use. Each new volume identifies and explains the most significant  trends worldwide, and offers the best...

432 pages
8.5 x 11
40 illustrations

The World's Water Volume 7
The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources

Produced biennially, The World's Water is the most comprehensive and up-to-to date source of information and analysis on freshwater resources. Each new volume examines critical global trends and offers the best data available on a...

440 pages
8.5 x 11
24 illustrations

The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources

Produced biennially, The World's Water is the most comprehensive and up-to-to date source of information and analysis on freshwater resources. Each new volume examines critical global trends and offers the best data available on a...

496 pages
8.5 x 11
25 illustrations

Globalization And The Environment

Worlds Apart presents a cohesive set of essays by leading thinkers on the subject of globalization, offering a thoughtful overview of the major environmental issues related to globalization in a clear, reasoned style. Framed by Gus Speth...

192 pages
6 x 9