Island Press Field Notes http://ipfieldnotes.org Island Press Field Notes Wed, 16 May 2012 11:33:46 +0000 en hourly 1 Island Press Staff Picks http://ipfieldnotes.org/island-press-staff-picks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=island-press-staff-picks http://ipfieldnotes.org/island-press-staff-picks/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 11:33:46 +0000 jleppig http://ipfieldnotes.org/?p=2199 This week’s staff pick is from Island Press’s publicity manager, Jaime Jennings.

She writes:

In my almost six years at Island Press, I’ve had the opportunity to work on more than 90 titles ranging from conservation to the built environment. Of those titles, my favorite has been The Unnatural History of the Sea by Callum Roberts. I enjoyed it for many reasons but chief among them was the writing and the story. I’ve always been most drawn and inspired by stories about our oceans and Callum’s vast narrative illuminates a history of how we’ve destroyed them with centuries of disregard and overfishing. I came away from the book both deeply disappointed in human behavior and yet inspired by recent steps to protect the oceans. From chapter 1, he takes the reader on a time-traveling journey where I was immersed in fish markets, stood on the bowels of ships and dove under the frothy ocean surface to discover treasures below. What makes this book special is how Callum’s own voice along with photos paint an illuminating picture of what the oceans once were and what they could be again. With such a prized book, it was rewarding to see this book’s unique qualities recognized when the Washington Post named it one of the ten best books of 2007 saying, “passionate and immensely important…Callum Roberts has issued a powerful, galvanizing call to arms.”

Enjoy the excerpt below!

 

]]> http://ipfieldnotes.org/island-press-staff-picks/feed/ 0 The Responsible Business http://ipfieldnotes.org/the-responsible-business/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-responsible-business http://ipfieldnotes.org/the-responsible-business/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 13:09:48 +0000 lancehosey http://ipfieldnotes.org/?p=2208 On May 4, at the Living Futures conference in Portland, I had the great pleasure of hearing a keynote by the uproarious Carol Sanford. Her latest book, The Responsible Business: Sustainability & Success, voted one of the best business books of last year, outlines stories of 30 companies that became more socially responsible—without ever declaring their intention to do so.

The funny thing about this book on sustainability is that the author hates the term.

“I know nothing about sustainability,” says Sanford. “I don’t even know what that is.” Her publisher encouraged use of the word to boost sales, but Sanford was hesitant. “I don’t work for corporate responsibility. I work to make great businesses.”

Read more

Lance Hosey will chat about his new book, The Shape of Green, tonight, May 15th at 6pm PST at SPUR.

Lance Hosey

Lance Hosey, a nationally recognized architect, designer, and writer, is President & CEO of GreenBlue, a nonprofit that works to make products more sustainable, and previously he held the position of Director with William McDonough + Partners. His most recent book is The Shape of Green.

]]> http://ipfieldnotes.org/the-responsible-business/feed/ 0 Time for British Columbia Provincial Government to Stand Tall on Historic Rainforest Agreements http://ipfieldnotes.org/time-for-british-columbia-provincial-government-to-stand-tall-on-historic-rainforest-agreements/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=time-for-british-columbia-provincial-government-to-stand-tall-on-historic-rainforest-agreements http://ipfieldnotes.org/time-for-british-columbia-provincial-government-to-stand-tall-on-historic-rainforest-agreements/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 10:42:32 +0000 dominickdellasala http://ipfieldnotes.org/?p=2083 British Columbia is endowed with the 7.4 million hectare Great Bear Rainforest and adjacent offshore archipelago of Haida Gwaii, one of the few remaining large blocks of comparatively unmodified landscapes on earth. The Great Bear includes over a quarter of the Pacific Coastal rainforests of North America and is home to spectacular wildlife and prodigious salmon runs that are increasingly rare around the world. However, these productive rainforests have been reduced by 50-75 percent on Vancouver Island in the region’s southern terminus. In 2001 historic agreements—known as the Great Bear Agreements—were reached with First Nations, the British Columbia provincial government, logging companies, and conservation groups. Unfortunately, the government has yet to fully implement them.

After years of protests and market campaigns aimed at shifting timber consumption away from endangered rainforests, the provincial government committed to the agreements. Initially, 2 million hectare of new protected areas were established and “light touch logging”—ecosystem-based management—was agreed to take place outside protected areas.

humbpack-great-bear

Humpback whale along Princess Royal Island, part of the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia (photo credit - Tim Greyhavens)

In 2009, transitional logging regulations enacted by the government resulted in 50 percent of the old-growth forests being designated off limits to logging, but conservationists and scientists would like to see that increased to 70 percent in order to sustain the vital ecosystem benefits these forests will increasingly be relied on to provide in a changing climate.

New information on forest carbon sinks shows that Great Bear rainforest may play an important role in helping to stabilize the global climate, as this rainforest stores an estimated 1.8 billion tonnes of carbon, the equivalent of nearly 100 times the province’s official annual greenhouse gas emissions. When rainforests are cut down, up to 40 percent of their stored carbon is released as a global warming pollutant. Thus, protecting old-growth rainforests is key to the region’s climate change insurance.

The Great Bear agreements are an exemplary model of conservation that hopefully will one day be replicated for all the world’s rainforests. Protecting rainforests of all types is a major part of the efforts to strengthen the sustainable management and conservation of forests that have been inspired by the United Nations 2011 International Year of Forests. Canada has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its global leadership on sustainability; however, it has been slow to enact the milestones reached in 2009 and is approaching the critical March 2013 deadline for full implementation. With imminent threats posed to intact rainforests around the globe, the BC government should be commended for reaching these agreements in the first place but urged to demonstrate their full commitments to the agreements by sealing the deal.

 

Sources: Carbon storage estimates extrapolated from Keith et al. 2009, converted to CO2-equivalents, and then compared to annual greenhouse gas emissions in BC.

Carbon logging loss estimates from: Harmon, M.E., S. L. Garman, and W.K. Ferrell. 1996. Modeling historical patterns of tree utilization in the Pacific Northwest: carbon sequestration implications. Ecological Applications 6:641-652.

Dominick A. DellaSala

Dominick A. DellaSala is Chief Scientist and President of the Geos Institute in Ashland, Oregon, and President of the North American section of the Society for Conservation Biology.

]]> http://ipfieldnotes.org/time-for-british-columbia-provincial-government-to-stand-tall-on-historic-rainforest-agreements/feed/ 0 Introducing #forewordFriday! http://ipfieldnotes.org/introducing-forewordfriday/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=introducing-forewordfriday http://ipfieldnotes.org/introducing-forewordfriday/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 19:44:47 +0000 jleppig http://ipfieldnotes.org/?p=2180 This isn’t exactly the foreword to Seeds of Sustainability, but you get the idea. Enjoy a new foreword (or introduction, preface, chapter…) every Friday.

Download the pdf here.

]]> http://ipfieldnotes.org/introducing-forewordfriday/feed/ 0 From Food Deserts to Healthy Cities http://ipfieldnotes.org/from-food-deserts-to-healthy-cities/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=from-food-deserts-to-healthy-cities http://ipfieldnotes.org/from-food-deserts-to-healthy-cities/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 15:01:25 +0000 admin http://ipfieldnotes.org/?p=2170 This generation of American children is predicted to live shorter lives than their parents–quite a shocking statistic. Even more shocking is that we know the reasons why and unlike epidemics of old they are within our control. At the root of the problem is obesity, inactivity, and unhealthful diets all centered around communities that don’t promote the kind of lifestyle that is necessary for prosperous, healthy lives.

Many of the statistics are discouraging. “Food deserts” are more common in urban areas, leaving communities devoid of anything except convenience stores and packaged, artificial foods (Cheetos and Pop Tarts anyone?). Children’s lives are also lacking exercise like never before. According to New York Times health columnist Jane Brody, “In 1974, 66 percent of all children walked or biked to school. By 2000, that number had dropped to 13 percent.”

These problems are a result of poor urban and community planning. Many children in suburban areas are confined to their neighborhoods because public transport isn’t available or reliable. Urban children also have fewer free spaces to play or (often) safe streets to walk on.

Read more here.

]]> http://ipfieldnotes.org/from-food-deserts-to-healthy-cities/feed/ 0 Rants from the Hill: The silence of desert greetings http://ipfieldnotes.org/rants-from-the-hill-the-silence-of-desert-greetings/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rants-from-the-hill-the-silence-of-desert-greetings http://ipfieldnotes.org/rants-from-the-hill-the-silence-of-desert-greetings/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 19:02:35 +0000 michaelbranch http://ipfieldnotes.org/?p=2159 Desolate as their reputation remains among people who are looking for a handy place to test weapons or dispose of nuclear waste, American deserts have had as allies an impressive bunch of talented, passionate writers. Among these lyrical defenders I’d include Wallace Stegner, Cactus Ed Abbey, Ellen Meloy, Ann Zwinger, Leslie Marmon Silko, Charles Bowden, Gary Paul Nabhan, and Terry Tempest Williams. And at the headwaters of this dry river of sparkling prose I’d place Mary Austin, the early-twentieth-century writer who once described arid landscapes as “forsaken of most things but beauty and madness and death and God.” We don’t need to agree on what God might be to recognize how powerfully this expresses the exhilarating experience of desertness. In her 1903 book The Land of Little Rain, Austin writes of the desert that “There are hints to be had here of the way in which a land forces new habits on its dwellers.”

As a desert dweller myself, I’m fascinated by Austin’s geographical determinism—by her conviction that folks who live in the desert long enough are profoundly shaped by it. Out here in Silver Hills we’re buffeted by uncontrollable desert forces, from aridity, wind, and snow to earthquakes and fire. But we’re also profoundly influenced by the crisp, thin air and the unique quality of the light, by the unforgiving openness of the land and the monstrous silence it engenders. Lately I’ve been thinking about this towering desert silence, and how it might be shaping us even as we speak, or choose not to. I’ve long observed that raven and coyote talk more than we laconic Silver Hillsians do. The few folks scattered along our rural road seem to have tacitly agreed that words are best left in town, and out here we ration them as we do whiskey when we’re snowed in for too long. To illustrate how this desert silence has shaped us, I offer these three small stories of unusual encounters with my rural neighbors.

Read more here.

Michael Branch

Island Press author Michael Branch is Professor of Literature and Environment at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has published five books many articles and essays, including recent environmental creative nonfiction in Utne Reader, Orion, Ecotone, Isotope, Hawk and Handsaw, Places, and Whole Terrain. New installments in his essay and podcast series, Rants from the Hill, appear monthly at hcn.org and iTunes.

]]> http://ipfieldnotes.org/rants-from-the-hill-the-silence-of-desert-greetings/feed/ 0 Introducing Island Press Staff Picks http://ipfieldnotes.org/introducing-island-press-staff-picks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=introducing-island-press-staff-picks http://ipfieldnotes.org/introducing-island-press-staff-picks/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 20:32:50 +0000 admin http://ipfieldnotes.org/?p=2108 The 30 of us here at Island Press work on all stages of book publishing: from concept and manuscript development in the editorial department to outreach and promotions in the marketing and publicity department. Our program and fundraising staff develop initiatives to complement our books and authors. And the finished product can’t happen without the production department designing covers and interiors, proofreading, and typesetting. All of this depends on the financial department, which tells us how much we can and can’t spend.

Everyone at Island Press is personally invested in our books, and we each have our favorites. Beginning with Island Press Editor Emily Davis, we’ll tell you about the books that have affected us most, from changing our personal behavior to the way we see the natural world.

Emily writes:

“Shi-Ling Hsu’s The Case for a Carbon Tax is one of my favorite Island Press books because it tackles a fundamental problem of environmental policy: why don’t we do what is clearly good for us? Hsu not only makes a compelling case for a carbon tax, but explores why the public has been so resistant to this common-sense policy. In chapter five, Carbon Tax Psychology, he explores the social, political, and personal reasons carbon taxes have been shunned, and how we might overcome them.”

Enjoy the excerpt below!

]]> http://ipfieldnotes.org/introducing-island-press-staff-picks/feed/ 0 A Few Minutes with Darrin Nordahl http://ipfieldnotes.org/a-few-minutes-with-darrin-nordahl/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-few-minutes-with-darrin-nordahl http://ipfieldnotes.org/a-few-minutes-with-darrin-nordahl/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 18:49:03 +0000 jleppig http://ipfieldnotes.org/?p=2141 We had a few minutes with author Darrin Nordahl and asked him his thoughts on how to transform transit.

Island Press: Why are Americans so obsessed with driving?

Darrin Nordahl: Cars deliver a sense of freedom and thrill. The former may only be a perception, as traffic choked streets hardly make one feel liberated. But the thrill of driving is undeniably real. Americans love cars because they are part of our collective culture and part of our individual identity.

Island Press: How can stronger transit help a city’s economy?

Darrin Nordahl: Taking transit puts money in people’s pockets. To wit, the American Public Transportation Association found that taking transit saves the average American over $9,000 annually. And car costs, according to the National Resources Defense Council, were a key factor in pushing homeowners into foreclosure. Good news that both Democrats and Republicans can rally behind.

Island Press: Why do you believe transit needs to be more fun?

Darrin Nordahl: People—stubborn as we are—tend to choose positive experiences over lesser ones. Taking transit satisfies many of our rational demands. But it fails to satisfy our emotional needs, namely that we should be given an opportunity to discover joy in anything we do. We cannot browbeat people to take the bus. We should want to. And the best way to excite a desire to take transit is to make it fun.

Island Press: What needs is transit infrastructure not yet meeting? Cycling? Pedestrian?

Darrin Nordahl: Transit isn’t alluring the way the automobile is. It isn’t sexy, or even cool. But it needs to be. We have to erase the pervasive stigma of getting around a city without a car. Transit needs to be more useful, certainly (meaning more convenient). But it cannot be banal—or worse—unsafe. The bike lanes we stripe, the sidewalks we build, and the buses we construct currently do little to offer comfort, safety, and joy.

Island Press: What are some of your favorite examples of ways cities are making getting around without a car more enjoyable?

Darrin Nordahl: Los Angeles has arguably the most creative marketing strategies of any North American municipality. They are serious about making transit cool; and they do that through not-so-serious advertisements. Indeed, it is the humor and whimsy that suffuses each transit ad that makes it difficult to hate transit.

I think the buses used in the Quad Cities—with their audacious orange color, their rounded, Studebaker style-rear ends, and perhaps most importantly, their glass ceilings—are a fine example of creating a public transit vehicle today with allure. Folks can’t help but gawk at these buses, and wonder why more of them can’t be designed this way.

Island Press: How can citizens convince their cities to invest in more enjoyable alternatives to cars?

Darrin Nordahl: It is really the other way around: Cities can convince citizens to drive less by providing them with something everyone desires, an enjoyable experience. If you build infrastructure that is useful and joyful, there is really no need for convincing; citizens will flock to partake in it.

Island Press: Of the places you include in the book, which do you think would be the most surprising? Which places most surprised you?

Darrin Nordahl: I would say Columbia, MO and their biking / riding campaign using the effective whimsical messages surprised me. For one, being a college town, I just assumed biking and walking was common, as it is in most college communities. But I was also surprised at the quality and breadth of media for an otherwise “small town in the Midwest.”

L.A. was a welcome surprise as well. Obviously, given the media attention and fame bestowed on L.A., and its dim views of transit, any transit marketing would have to be stellar to grab attention. And it was. That Metro got this, and employs a 30-person design team just for marketing surprised me.

]]> http://ipfieldnotes.org/a-few-minutes-with-darrin-nordahl/feed/ 0 Water Experts Peter Gleick and Robert Glennon in Last Call at the Oasis http://ipfieldnotes.org/water-experts-peter-gleick-and-robert-glennon-in-last-call-at-the-oasis/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=water-experts-peter-gleick-and-robert-glennon-in-last-call-at-the-oasis http://ipfieldnotes.org/water-experts-peter-gleick-and-robert-glennon-in-last-call-at-the-oasis/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 15:55:27 +0000 jleppig http://ipfieldnotes.org/?p=2126 Island Press authors Peter Gleick and Robert Glennon lend their expertise to this new movie about our most valuable resource. Last Call at the Oasis premiered last weekend and is in theaters nationwide.

]]> http://ipfieldnotes.org/water-experts-peter-gleick-and-robert-glennon-in-last-call-at-the-oasis/feed/ 0 Resilient Design Can Ameliorate Extreme Storm Impacts http://ipfieldnotes.org/resilient-design-can-ameliorate-extreme-storm-impacts-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resilient-design-can-ameliorate-extreme-storm-impacts-3 http://ipfieldnotes.org/resilient-design-can-ameliorate-extreme-storm-impacts-3/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 14:50:22 +0000 joycemaschinski http://ipfieldnotes.org/?p=1998 Variable climate patterns are predicted to be the new norm in today’s changing climate.  No longer can we rely on our normal precipitation levels or temperatures.  Models foretell increased storm frequencies and intensities as sea surface temperatures climb.  The impacts of climate change affect all of us and our planet’s rare fauna and biota.  Yet we often don’t appreciate the immense responsibility we hold until we’ve had personal experience with an extreme event.

Working to build resilience to overcome the impacts of climate change is one of the goals of plant reintroduction and habitat restoration.  And thankfully our experience has been that our efforts do help make a difference.  Working with many land manager partners, Samuel J. Wright, a Field Biologist working with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, has conducted 18 reintroductions of the federally endangered beach jacquemontia (Jacquemontia reclinata) into 12 sites evaluated as appropriate habitat within the historic range of the species.  One such reintroduction at Delray Beach in February 2005, coordinated by local Palm Beach, Florida (USA) landscaper Rob Barron, represents a reintroduction to a restored coastal strand habitat (Fig 1).  Because this species thrives in sunny open locations inland from the foredune, this reintroduction had a high probability of success.

Fig . 2 Storm surge impacts included sand deposition and damage to vegetation.

On November 4th, 2005, one week after Hurricane Wilma hit south Florida, Wright observed severe impacts of storm surge (Fig 2). Immense sand deposits buried some transplants and the entire sidewalk adjacent to the restoration site. All nearby trees and shrubs had brown leaves and dieback from wind and salt spray. A single event killed 48 of 133 transplanted beach jacquemontia.

Thanks to the good topographic design of the restored site, the remaining living reintroduced plants and even some that had been buried thrived in the next six storm-free years. By 2011, a sea of beach jacquemontia could be seen at the site, flowering prolifically and helping stabilize the dunes (Fig 3).

Fig 3. Beach jacquemontia covers the dunes.

The importance of good site design and selection cannot be overstated for those hoping to create sustainable reintroduced rare plant populations.  Plant Reintroduction in a Changing Climate: Promises and Perils provides guidelines for site selection that are intended to improve the probability of reintroduction success.  Although one never can predict the impacts of extreme events, imagining that they may occur and using best reintroduction practice may help ensure a higher probability of population persistence.  We are continuing to track this beach jacquemontia reintroduction, as we are certain our opportunities to learn about resilience and sustainability in the face of climate change will continue to unfold.

Joyce Maschinski

Joyce Maschinski is the conservation ecologist leading the South Florida conservation program at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. With Kristin E. Haskins, she is co-editor of Plant Reintroduction in a Changing Climate: Promises and Perils.

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