Books, Outdoors & Nature, Ecosystems, Arctic

Page 1 of 3 | next

Fredrik Granath
Vanishing World: The Endangered Arctic
by Abrams Books (Hardcover)

Published to coincide with the International Polar Year, Vanishing World is an unprecedented visual record of life in the Arctic. Five years in the making, this book is both a celebration of the wildlife that inhabits this harsh and unforgiving climate and a cautionary tale of global warming. Rising temperatures have put areas such as the Artic at risk and the livelihoods of the animals that live there are increasingly threatened. Set against a dramatic landscape of ice floes and ragged mountains, readers will see the polar bears, foxes, seals, walruses, and reindeers who now struggle to live in this vulnerable climate. Images of a polar bear mother as she takes her newborns out for their first hunt, a seal pup only hours old, the spectacle of the polar night, and the majesty of the glaciers and pack ice are a reminder of what is at risk. Mireille de la Lez’s stunning photographs are accompanied by text that explains the precarious nature of life in this dramatic climate. No ...

Antarctica: Secrets of the Southern Continent
by Firefly Books (Hardcover)

The geology, ecology and biology of the "continent for peace and science." This comprehensive, fully illustrated and reader-friendly book honors the International Polar Year (2007-08) with a spectacular range of information on Antarctica and the Antarctic Islands, the world's harshest environment. Antarctica features up-to-date material from an expert team of scientists, expeditioners and historians. Included are more than 600 photographs, illustrations and maps. Among the topics covered are: Prehistory of Antarctica Geology and geography Flora and fauna Climate and the nature of ice The Antarctic ozone hole The explorers Current scientific research Conservation issues The impact of global warming The Sub-Antarctic Islands. Detailed information is found on current issues of land, law and treaties, shipping, resource exploitation, and tourism. Also included are the Antarctic Treaty, a gazetteer and a bibliography. Front-page news reports cover the relative ...

Donnali Fifield
Arctic Tale: Official Companion to the Major Motion Picture
by National Geographic (Hardcover) (Release Date: 2007-07-24)

Arctic Tale accompanies a new Paramount Vantage motion picture from the producers of March of the Penguins, the 2005 Academy Award winner and highest-grossing natural history film of all time. The film, narrated by Queen Latifah, follows the dual drama of Seela and Nanu, a walrus calf and polar bear cub, as they embark on their astonishing journey from infancy to maturity amidst the stark beauty of the Arctic landscape. Protected by mothers who will stop at nothing to ensure their safe passage to adulthood, both cubs romp in their cold playground as ever-present threats of starvation, predators, and a harsh homeland are overcome in an unrelenting life-and-death struggle to survive.Each year in the unforgiving, frozen wilderness the two giants of the North Pole—the walrus and the polar bear–begin the cycle anew, of birth and death; of love and life; and of self-sacrifice and great danger.Adapted and deeply expanded from a sweeping screenplay, Arctic Tale features 150 stunning, ...

George Wenzel
Animal Rights, Human Rights: Ecology, Economy and Ideology in the Canadian Arctic
by University of Toronto Press (Hardcover)

The campaign to ban seal hunting in Canada won international headlines and achieved its aims to a large extent. Most observers felt instinctively that the campaigners were "right" but little thought was given to the cataclysmic consequences the ban would have on the way of life and economy of a traditional people, the Inuit of Arctic Canada.A distinguished anthropologist who has spent over twenty years living and working with the Inuit Community, George Wenzel provides a reasoned, in-depth, coolly written but powerful critique of this received interpretation and shows how the campaigners 'own cultural prejudices and questionable ecological imperatives brought hardship, distress and instability to an ecologically balanced traditional culture.This book is both a careful academic study and a disturbing comment on how environmental activity may oppress a whole society, which raises serious questions about the motives and methods of the animal rights' movement in a much wider context ...

Jonathan Scott, Angela Scott
Antarctica: Exploring a Fragile Eden
by HarperCollins UK (Hardcover)

Over their many journeys to Antarctica over the past 15 years, Jonathan and Angela Scott have observed and photographed a huge array of emblematic creatures. Each year, a spectacular number of birds flock to this remote wildlife sanctuary, whales gather in the southern oceans to feed, and the emperor pigeons make the long journey back to their breeding colonies. But in recent years, a worrying trend has emerged, and the Scotts' travels have forced them to take a closer look at the state of our planet and its last wild places. Global warming in Antarctica is just one effect of man's dramatic influence on this vast icy wilderness. Weaving together the discovery stories of explorers such as Cook, Shackleton, Scott, and Amundsen, with the ecological stories of whaling and sealing, fishing and climate change, the Scotts reveal man's impact on this magnificent continent. For such an austere, frozen, and inhospitable environment, Antarctica turns out to be a surprisingly fragile Eden.

Gretel Ehrlich
The Future of Ice: A Journey Into Cold
by Vintage (Paperback) (Release Date: 2005-11-08)

This book was written out of Gretel Ehrlich’s love for winter–for remote and cold places, for the ways winter frees our imagination and invigorates our feet, mind, and soul–and also out of the fear that our “democracy of gratification” has irreparably altered the climate. Over the course of a year, Ehrlich experiences firsthand the myriad expressions of cold, giving us marvelous histories of wind, water, snow, and ice, of ocean currents and weather cycles. From Tierra del Fuego in the south to Spitsbergen, east of Greenland, at the very top of the world, she explores how our very consciousness is animated and enlivened by the archaic rhythms and erupting oscillations of weather. We share Ehrlich’s experience of the thrills of cold, but also her questions: What will happen to us if we are “deseasoned”? If winter ends, will we survive?

Contested Arctic: Indigenous Peoples, Industrial States, and the Circumpolar Environment
by University of Washington Press (Paperback)

The Arctic may be the last frontier of colonialism, where industrial societies are aggressively exploiting the resources and undermining the social cohesion of indigenous peoples. In fact, this colonization of the circumpolar north is only now reaching its full momentum. Among the new conquistadores are oil company geologists, loggers, even resource biologists, bringing not only industrial pollution but also cultural pollution in their wake. For centuries, the aboriginal Arctic population has efficiently used resources to meet modest human needs, developing a special relationship to the land, water, and wildlife. But at the intersection of national ambitions and arctic ecosystems, native communities are being relentlessly squeezed between the ravages of resource extraction and the often naive agendas of environmentalists in urban centers far away. This volume explores some of the major threats to the Arctic environment and indigenous peoples' responses to these threats. Case ...

Patrick Hook
The Frozen World
by Chartwell Books (Hardcover)

Joyce A. Quinn
Arctic and Alpine Biomes (Greenwood Guides to Biomes of the World)
by Greenwood Press (Hardcover)

This volume in the Greenwood Guides to Biomes of the World: series covers the biomes at high altitudes and near the poles, including the arctic tundra biomes, the Mid-Latitude Alpine Tundra Biome (found in the mountain ranges of North America, Asia, and South America), and the tropical alpine tundra biome (for example, Hawaii). It examining all aspects that define these biomes: Vegetation Geographical Distribution Soil Challenges posed by the environment Adaptation of the plants and animals to the environment Conservation efforts Maps, photos, diagrams, drawings, and tables accompany the text, as do sidebars that highlight habitats, species, and ecological relationships. The volume includes a bibliography of accessible resources for further research.

Ecology of Arctic Environments: 13th Special Symposium of the British Ecological Society (Symposia of the British Ecological Society)
by Cambridge University Press (Hardcover)

Current concerns about the effects of global warming are driving research in a number of fields. Recently, there have been predictions that the Arctic will be subject to major climatic change as a result of global warming - it may be that the first ecological changes attributable to global warming will be detected in this region. With research interest and activity in arctic ecology ever increasing and new arctic regions of the former USSR now accessible, the British Ecological Society organised a Special Symposium on Arctic Ecology in 1995. This Symposium Volume contains 12 of the papers presented at the meeting - providing a synthesis of current knowledge. Beginning with a description of the physico-chemical environment and a discussion of microbial and lower plant communities, the book then goes on to examine how arctic plant communities influence ecosystem, regional and global processes in the context of climate change.

Page 1 of 3 | next