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Island Press began with a simple idea: knowledge is power—the power to imagine a better future and find ways for getting us there. Founded in 1984, Island Press’ mission is to provide the best ideas and information to those seeking to understand and protect the environment and create solutions to its complex problems.

Showing 151-160 of 322 items.

Structures of Coastal Resilience

Island Press

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 less dependent on traditional approaches to flood control that have relied on levees, sea walls, and other forms of hard infrastructure. Instead, authors Catherine Seavitt Nordenson, Guy Nordenson, and Julia Chapman reimagine how coastal planning might better serve communities grappling with a future of uncertain environmental change. They offer inspiring insights into new approaches to design, engineering, and planning, envisioning an ecological approach to developing adaptive and resilient futures for coastal areas.

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Urban Raptors

Ecology and Conservation of Birds of Prey in Cities

Island Press

Urban Raptors is the first book to offer a complete overview of urban ecosystems in the context of bird‑of‑prey ecology and conservation. This comprehensive volume examines the urban environment, explains why some species adapt to urban areas but others do not, and introduces modern research tools to help in the study of urban raptors. It delves into climate change adaptation, human‑wildlife conflict, and the unique risks birds of prey face in urban areas before concluding with real‑world wildlife management case studies and suggestions for future research and conservation efforts.
  
Among researchers, urban green space planners, wildlife management agencies, birders, and informed citizens alike, Urban Raptors will foster a greater understanding of birds of prey and an increased willingness to accommodate them as important members, not intruders, of our cities.

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The Divided City

Poverty and Prosperity in Urban America

Island Press

In The Divided City, urban practitioner and scholar Alan Mallach presents a detailed picture of what has happened over the past 15 to 20 years in industrial cities like Pittsburgh and Baltimore, as they have undergone unprecedented, unexpected revival. He spotlights these changes while placing them in their larger economic, social and political context. Most importantly, he explores the pervasive significance of race in American cities, and looks closely at the successes and failures of city governments, nonprofit entities, and citizens as they have tried to address the challenges of change. The Divided City concludes with strategies to foster greater equality and opportunity, firmly grounding them in the cities’ economic and political realities. 

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Resilience for All

Striving for Equity Through Community-Driven Design

Island Press

In Resilience for All Barbara Brown Wilson looks at community engagement methods that are less conventional, but often more effective than traditional approaches to make communities more resilient. She takes an in‑depth look at what equitable, positive change through community‑driven design looks like in four communities—East Biloxi, Mississippi; the Lower East Side of Manhattan; the Denby neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan; and the Cully neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. These vulnerable communities have prevailed in spite of serious urban stressors such as climate change, gentrification, and disinvestment. Wilson looks at how the lessons in the case studies and other examples might more broadly inform future practice. She shows how community‑driven design projects in underserved neighborhoods can not only change the built world, but also provide opportunities for residents to build their own capacities. 
 

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The Curious Life of Krill

A Conservation Story from the Bottom of the World

Island Press

"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 are one of most abundant animals on the planet. But few can accurately describe krill or explain their ecological importance. Eminent krill scientist Stephen Nicol wants us to know more about these enigmatic creatures and how we can protect them as Antarctic ice melts. This engaging account takes us to the Southern Ocean to learn firsthand the difficulties and rewards of studying krill in their habitat. From his early education about the sex lives of krill in the Bay of Fundy to a krill tattoo gone awry, Nicol uses humor and personal stories to bring the biology and beauty of krill alive.

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Twenty Years of Life

Why the Poor Die Earlier and How to Challenge Inequity

Island Press

In Twenty Years of Life, Suzanne Bohan exposes the ugly truth that health is largely determined by zip code. Life expectancies in wealthy versus poor neighborhoods can vary by as much as twenty years.
 
Bohan chronicles a bold experiment to challenge that inequity. The California Endowment, one of the nation’s largest health foundations, is upending the old-school, top-down charity model and investing $1 billion over ten years to help distressed communities advocate for their own interests.
 
With compassion and insight, Bohan shares stories of students and parents, former street shooters, urban farmers, and a Native American tribe who are tapping into their latent political power to make their neighborhoods healthier. Their stories will fundamentally change how we think about the root causes of disease and the prospects for healing. 
 
 

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Don't Be Such a Scientist, Second Edition

Talking Substance in an Age of Style

Island Press

In Don’t Be Such a Scientist, Randy Olson recounts the lessons from his own hilarious—and at times humiliating—evolution from science professor to Hollywood filmmaker, sharing the secrets of talking substance in an age of style. The key, he argued, is to stay true to the facts while tapping into something more primordial, more irrational—and ultimately more human. Now, in this second edition of his provocative and groundbreaking book, Olson builds upon the lessons and storytelling of Don’t Be Such a Scientist, providing an epilogue to each chapter for the current times, and adding a fresh introduction and new chapter on the importance of listening for science communicators (and beyond).
Don’t Be Such a Scientist, Second Edition is a cutting and irreverent manual to speaking out and making your voice heard in an age of attacks on science. Invaluable for anyone looking to break out of the boxes of academia or research, Olson’s writing will inspire readers to “make science human”—and to enjoy the ride along the way. 

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Copenhagenize

The Definitive Guide to Global Bicycle Urbanism

Island Press

Urban designer Mikael Colville-Andersen draws from his experience working for dozens of cities around the world on bicycle planning, strategy, infrastructure design, and communication. In Copenhagenize he shows cities how to effectively and profitably re-establish the bicycle as a respected, accepted, and feasible form of transportation. 
 
Building on his popular blog of the same name, Copenhagenize offers entertaining stories, vivid project descriptions, and best practices, alongside beautiful and informative visuals to show how to make the bicycle an easy, preferred part of everyday urban life. 
 

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How to Feed the World

Edited by Jessica Eise and Ken Foster
Island Press

By 2050, we will have ten billion mouths to feed in a world profoundly altered by environmental change. How will we meet this challenge? In How to Feed the World, a diverse group of experts from Purdue University break down this crucial question by tackling big issues one‑by‑one. Covering population, water, land, climate change, technology, food systems, trade, food waste and loss, health, social buy‑in, communication, and equal access to food, the book reveals a complex web of challenges. Contributors unite from different perspectives and disciplines, ranging from agronomy and hydrology to economics. The resulting collection is an accessible but wide‑ranging look at the modern food system.  
 

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Nature's Allies

Eight Conservationists Who Changed Our World

Island Press

It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of big environmental challenges—but we need inspiration now more than ever. In Nature’s Allies, Larry Nielsen presents the inspiring stories of eight conservation pioneers who show that through passion and perseverance we can each make a difference, even in the face of political opposition. Nielsen’s vivid biographies of John Muir, Ding Darling, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Chico Mendes, Billy Frank Jr., Wangari Maathai, and Gro Harlem Brundtland are meant to rally a new generation of conservationists to follow in their footsteps and inspire students, conservationists, and nature lovers to speak up for nature and prove that individuals can affect positive change in the world.

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