In the Feb 2011 edition of ACRL’s College & Research Library News, Spencer Acadia, a psychology and sociology librarian at Texas Woman’s University, writing a Ph.D. dissertation on Arctic health, published a list of internet resources on the Arctic research - environment, health, and culture of the circumpolar north. This annotated list of resources from scientific research to arctic health, offers a plethora of information on useful links and websites worth linking to from your library’s website to offer your patrons.
Environmental Policy Collection Online April 29, 2010
Be sure to check out the University of North Texas digital library collection of Environmental Policy online resources. Search, browse, share, view, read online! They have other digital collections of resources as well worth checking out and sharing with your patrons.
New green blog on energy & environment April 25, 2010
The New York Times has a blog called Green: a blog about energy and the environment. In honor of Earth Day’s 40th anniversary, the NYT is taking it up a notch from their original Green Inc blog to now blog about “not just the business end of environmental concerns but also politics and policy, environmental science and consumer choices.” Be sure to check out the latest post on the Existential Crisis of the Plastic Bag – including the 18 min video (by Ramin Bahrani) on the impact consumerism has “in a world that treats it like trash.” Be sure to read the side bar listing the amazing lists of expert writers & contributes to this blog!
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Resource: State Blogs on Environmental Issues March 17, 2010
Sustainablog has a post listing 5 state’s blogs on environmental issues. Does your state have one? a worthy resource to promote for your patrons and staff if so; if not, bug your local or state government to get one up!
- Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Conversations: The Great Outdoors
- Missouri Conservation Department’s Fresh Afield
- Washington Department of Ecology’s ECOconnect
- Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality blog
- Nevada Department of Conservation & Natural Resources News
Wired Science: Time-Lapse Videos of Massive Change on Earth August 18, 2009
I thought it was worth sharing these interesting (hmmm??) videos from NASA’s Earth Observatory satellites capturing (over time) human destruction of the planet from deforestation, irrigation and urbanization. Here is one called Sucking Out the Aral Sea:
In the 1960s, central Asia’s Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world. As a result of irrigation and damming, it had shriveled to 10 percent of its original size (marked by the thin black line) by 2007. It is now three separate, highly salinic, lakes.
Watch more at Wired Science or check out NASA’s Earth Observatory site.
Books May 27, 2009
Books worth adding to your collection (of course that is if you have a budget at all in your library right now!)
RealClimate suggested two titles:
Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat–and How to Counter It
by Wallace S. Broecker & Robert Kunzig
Their review: This is a book written in a particular style – a number of recent advances in relevant paleo-climate (abrupt changes, mega-droughts, etc.) are examined through the lens of a single scientist and their one key measurement or observation. This makes for a good narrative, but without wishing to take anything away from the great science discussed or the individual insights, it’s only a partial picture of how these interesting ideas actually took root and got validated by the wider community. The climate fix the book ends up backing is a scheme for the air capture of CO2 (discussed here, and more recently here). The technology is fascinating, but at over a couple of hundred $/per ton CO2, the economics are a long way from being viable.
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The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change (2nd edition)
by Richard C. J. Somerville
Their review: It is definitely worth paying attention to books that may have been out for a while, or in a new edition. We were particularly impressed with Richard Somerville’s award-winning introduction to understanding environmental change.
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Ice, Mud and Bloog: Lessons from Climates Past
By Chris Turney
Their review: Also dwelling on paleo-climate is Chris Turney’s Ice, Mud and Blood. Eric reviewed this for Nature, noting that “Turney is by no means the first to try to articulate the point that paleoclimatology has lessons for our future. Richard Alley’s The Two-Mile Time Machine and Mark Bowen’s Thin Ice, to name just two, have made the same basic arguments. But Turney’s book is the most up to date, and I would certainly recommend it to colleagues, who will enjoy it and may well learn something new, as I did.”
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Also check out books Real Climate has been involved with since 2005:
- Our Threatened Oceans Stefan Rahmstorf and K. Richardson (2008)
- Climate Change: Picturing the Science. Gavin Schmidt and Joshua Wolfe, W.W. Norton (2009)
- The Long Thaw: How Humans are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate. David Archer, Princeton University Press (2009)
- Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming Michael Mann and Lee Kump, DK/Pearson (2008)
- Wie bedroht sind die Ozeane? Stefan Rahmstorf and K. Richardson (2007, in German)
- Global warming: Understanding the Forecast, David Archer (2006)
- Der Klimawandel Diagnose, Prognose, Therapie, Stefan Rahmstorf and H. J. Schellnhuber (2006, in German, Korean, Vietnamese; Arabic version forthcoming)
- Solar Activity and Earth’s Climate, Rasmus Benestad (2006, 2nd Edition)
- Paleoclimatology: Reconstructing Climates of the Quaternary, Ray Bradley (2005, 2nd Edition)
And a recommendation from Green Today, Green Tomorrow blog:
Environmenal Issues in American History: A Reference Guide with Primary Documents
by Chris J Magoc
Their review: discusses key environmental battles from the founding of our country to the present day. Importantly, this book includes primary documents, so that the reader can “hear” from the people who are locked in these battles.
Environment & Resource Management Division of SLA April 3, 2009
Did you know about the Environment & Resource Management Division (ERMD) of SLA? They offer a discussion list, a Green Award, a newsletter, and support green initiatives and presentations at conferences. If you are lucky enough to be able to attend the SLA 2009 Annual Conference, it will be June 14-17, 2009, in Washington, DC and be sure to check out these ERMD sessions: Building your Green Library – From Information to Legislation: Silent Spring and its impact on anti-pollution law and policy – REACH and the Future of Toxics Legislation – Socially Responsible Decision-Making: Ethics at work – Toxicology Round Table: Environmental resources of the National Library of Medicine using innovative web technology. ERMD will also be co-sponsoring sessions on Food Safety and on Climate Change. (Detailed Schedule)
Oh and ERMD is on Facebook too.
ecoBrain: green books for green living October 13, 2008
Have you checked out ecoBrain? The company was started by two families both in the publishing arenas, living in the US and Canada, passionate about the environment and living more green. They offer eBooks and mp3 audio books about the environment and environmentally-friendly living. Not only do they offer electronic books but in doing so they allow new publishers to produce material much more quickly, cheaply, and profitably. They allow employees to work from home and purchase carbon offsets for their business operations. ecoBrain hopes to grow their online community to be the largest provider of educational resources for eco-friendly living.
All content on EcoBrain is in downloadable, digital format, so you can buy green with zero use of forest-pulping paper and only a minimal amount of expended energy.
College Library – Green Blogging January 14, 2008
Moraine Valley Community College (IL) with a Sustainability Initiative and the library’s One Book, One College program has started a blog called Green Today, Green Tomorrow.
The blog posts will include new items in the library’s collection, information about programs related to the One Book events, and items related to the campus-wide sustainability initiative. Check it out: http://ext.morainevalley.edu/green/
Are there more libraries going green and blogging? I’d love to hear about them!
Altered Books January 8, 2008
Altered Books - a creative way to reuse discarded books AND provide programming for youth (or adults). There is even an International Society of Altered Books! Try it with old card catalog cards or find other ideas by searching on Flickr.
