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Contemporary Poetry Books
Water Drops
In this engaging book, hydrologist Peter E. Black celebrates the wonder of our planet's most precious natural resource. In these brief, nontechnical essays, readers are introduced to water's unique scientific properties, the vital role it plays in Earth's ecology and ecosystems, and the impact it has had on human history, culture, art, law, and economics. At turns educational and inspirational, humorous and reverent, the book also sounds a cautionary note: water is abundant, but it is also scarce. Only three percent of the earth's water is fresh, and only a small percentage of that fresh water is available for human use and consumption. Therefore, it must be managed carefully, and understood, lest we find ourselves with too little, too late.
Water the Shocking Truth That Can Save Your Life!
The water you drink can make or break your health! Water saturated with inorganic minerals, chlorine, fluoride, and oilier contaminants contributes to serious health problems. Learn what kind of water is safe to drink and use. A miraculous transformation occurs within your body when you drink the healthiest water available.
Plastic Water
How and why branded bottles of water have insinuated themselves into our daily lives, and what the implications are for safe urban water supplies. How did branded bottles of water insinuate themselves into our daily lives? Why did water become an economic good- no longer a common resource but a commercial product, in industry parlance a "fast moving consumer good," or FMCG? Plastic Water examines the processes behind this transformation. It goes beyond the usual political and environmental critiques of bottled water to investigate its multiplicity, examining a bottle of water's simultaneous existence as, among other things, a product, personal health resource, object of boycotts, and part of accumulating waste matter. Throughout, the book focuses on the ontological dimensions of drinking bottled water and ways in which this habit enacts new relations and meanings that may interfere with other drinking water practices. The book considers the assemblage and emergence of a mass market for water, from the invention of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle in 1973 to the development of "hydration science" that accompanied the rise of jogging in the United States.
Water from Stone
In Water from Stone, Jason O'Donoughue investigates the importance of natural springs to ancient Floridians. Throughout their history, Florida's springs have been gathering places for far-flung peoples. O'Donoughue finds that springs began flowing several millennia earlier than previously thought, serving as sites of habitation, burials, ritualized feasting, and monument building for Florida's earliest peoples. O'Donoughue moves beyond the focus on the ecological roles of springs and the current popular image of springs as timeless and pristine, approaches taken by many archaeologists and conservationists. He argues for an archaeological perspective that emphasizes the social and historical importance of springs, explaining how this viewpoint creates a bridge between past and present, enhances the intrinsic value of springs, and is vital to the success of contemporary conservation efforts.
Water Realms
Water Realms is a unique book that surveys water management and technologies in ancient societies. From the flushing toilets of ancient Crete to the qanats of Persia, aqueducts of Rome, cascading tank systems of Sri Lanka, and the great baths of the Indus Valley to the eel traps of southern Australia, ancients on all continents were managing water in unique ways. Water Realms explores ancient irrigation projects, urban sanitation, and forgotten technologies employed to bring fresh water to ancient settlements. In the 21st century, the pursuit of fresh water has become one of the most pressing issues of our time. We need to appreciate the ingenious methods of our ancestors to preserve our precious drinking water for future generations. Without adapting to climate change, modern civilization may go the way of the Mayans or Mesopotamian cultures who disintegrated when the water ran out. There are tons of illustrations in this fascinating book!
Thicker Than Water
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 floating garbage dump. Recycling is more complicated than we were taught less than nine percent of the plastic we create is reused, and the majority ends up in the ocean. Plastic pollution isn't confined to the open ocean: it's in much of the air we breathe and the food we eat. In Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis, journalist Erica Cirino brings readers on a globe-hopping journey to meet the scientists and activists telling the real story of the plastic crisis. From the deck of a plastic-hunting sailboat with a disabled engineer to cutting-edge research on microplastic and the chemicals we ingest, Cirino paints a full picture of how plastic pollution threatens wildlife and human health.
Photographing Water
There are 326 million cubic miles of water on earth. That makes for a ton of water photo ops! In this book, author Heather Hummel shows you how to capture condensation on the glass, rainbow-producing rain showers, placid swimming pools, and powerful, crashing waves. You will learn how to choose and use the best tools for the job and how to protect your gear from the elements to maximize your image-making opportunities. You'll learn how to best capture or freeze the motion of water, how to ensure a range of highlights and shadows to show texture, and how to create a feeling of dimension in your photos. You'll also learn how available light impacts the quality of the capture and how to manipulate existing light -- and add artificial light -- to ensure a good range of tones and perfect color. With these strategies, you can add a whole new dimension to your outdoor photography.
Water
An Intellectual History of America's Water Management Philosophy Humans take more than their geological share of water, but they do not benefit from it equally. This imbalance has created an era of intense water scarcity that affects the security of individuals, states, and the global economy. For many, this brazen water grab and the social inequalities it produces reflect the lack of a coherent philosophy connecting people to the planet. Challenging this view, Jeremy Schmidt shows how water was made a "resource" that linked geology, politics, and culture to American institutions. Understanding this philosophy's global spread and evolution is now key to addressing inequalities that exist on a geological scale. Water: Abundance, Scarcity, and Security in the Age of Humanity details the remarkable intellectual history of America's water management philosophy. It shows how this philosophy shaped early twentieth-century conservation in the United States, influenced American international development programs, and ultimately shaped programs of global governance that today connect water resources to the Earth system. Schmidt demonstrates how the ways we think about water reflect specific public and societal values, and illuminates the process by which the American approach to water management came to dominate the global conversation about water.