Charlemont - Tyler Memorial Library

A conservationist explores various global regions to investigate examples of environmental degradation and renewal while identifying a link between environmental dangers and human rights issues.

"As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on "a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise.""-- Provided by...

While everything appears to be collapsing around us-ecodamage, genetic engineering, virulent diseases, the end of cheap oil, water shortages, global famine, wars-we can still do something about it, and create a world that will work for us and for our children's children. The inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio's web movie The 11th Hours, Global Warning, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight details what is happening to our planet, the reasons for our culture's...

"The Sacred Balance has a beautiful spirit."-E.O. Wilson With a new foreword from Robin Wall Kimmerer, New York Times-bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass-and an afterword from Bill McKibben-this special 25th anniversary edition of a beloved bestseller invites readers to see ourselves as part of nature, not separate. The world is changing at a relentless pace. How can we slow down and act from a place of respect for all living things? The Sacred...

"A dominant, human-centered worldview has brought us to the brink of social, ecological, and climate collapse. Braiding poetic storytelling, deep cultural and climate justice analyses, and knowledge of Earth-centered cultures, The Story is in Our Bones opens a portal to restoration and justice beyond the end of a world"--Provided by publisher.

A radical approach to the environment which argues that by harnessing the power of science for human benefit, we can have a healthier planet As a prizewinning theoretical physicist and an outspoken advocate for scientific literacy, James Trefil has long been the public's guide to a better understanding of the world. In this provocative book, Trefil looks squarely at our environmental future and finds-contrary to popular wisdom-reason to celebrate. For...

"As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively...

"How do we understand the agency and significance of material forces and their interface with human bodies? What does it mean to be human in these times, with bodies that are inextricably interconnected with our physical world? Bodily Natures considers these questions by grappling with powerful and pervasive material forces and their increasingly harmful effects on the human body. Drawing on feminist theory, environmental studies, and the sciences,...

This overview of Joanna Macy's innovative work combines deep ecology, general systems theory, and the Buddha's teachings on interdependent co-arising. A blueprint for social change, World as Lover, World as Self shows how we can reverse the destructive attitudes that threaten our world, with concrete suggestions on how to address "An Inconvenient Truth".
The essays are based on the Buddha's teachings of "Paticca samuppada" (interdependent...

"An award-winning ecology writer goes looking for the wilderness we've forgotten. Many people believe that only an ecological catastrophe will change humanity's troubled relationship with the natural world. In fact, as J.B. MacKinnon argues in this unorthodox look at the disappearing wilderness, we are living in the midst of a disaster thousands of years in the making--and we hardly notice it. We have forgotten what nature can be and adapted to a...