High-Impact, Low-Carbon Gardening

Author: Alice Bowe
Publisher: Timber Press
ISBN: 1604693118
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Book Description
The environmental benefits of gardens are well-known: trees and plants capture carbon emissions, help to moderate the urban climate, promote health and well being, and help reduce energy consumption. But some garden practices are downright damaging, like using leaf blowers and other power tools, installing impermeable paving, and choosing plants that require excessive water or artificial fertilizers. High-Impact, Low-Carbon Gardening is a one-stop reference for making a garden more green. From simple actions like composting household waste, installing a water barrel, or eliminating pesticides to more long-term investments like choosing permeable, locally sourced paving, and planting the most water-wise plants, there are hundreds of large and small choices home gardeners can make to reduce the environmental impact of designing, planting, and tending a garden. High-Impact, Low-Carbon Gardening goes beyond organics and compost and gives serious gardeners all the information they need to make their garden truly green.

Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land

Author: Gary Paul Nabhan
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603584544
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
How to harvest water and nutrients, select drought-tolerant plants, and create natural diversity Because climatic uncertainty has now become "the new normal," many farmers, gardeners and orchard-keepers in North America are desperately seeking ways to adapt their food production to become more resilient in the face of such "global weirding." This book draws upon the wisdom and technical knowledge from desert farming traditions all around the world to offer time-tried strategies for: Building greater moisture-holding capacity and nutrients in soils Protecting fields from damaging winds, drought, and floods Harvesting water from uplands to use in rain gardens and terraces filled with perennial crops Delecting fruits, nuts, succulents, and herbaceous perennials that are best suited to warmer, drier climates Gary Paul Nabhan is one of the world's experts on the agricultural traditions of arid lands. For this book he has visited indigenous and traditional farmers in the Gobi Desert, the Arabian Peninsula, the Sahara Desert, and Andalusia, as well as the Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Painted deserts of North America, to learn firsthand their techniques and designs aimed at reducing heat and drought stress on orchards, fields, and dooryard gardens. This practical book also includes colorful "parables from the field" that exemplify how desert farmers think about increasing the carrying capacity and resilience of the lands and waters they steward. It is replete with detailed descriptions and diagrams of how to implement these desert-adapted practices in your own backyard, orchard, or farm. This unique book is useful not only for farmers and permaculturists in the arid reaches of the Southwest or other desert regions. Its techniques and prophetic vision for achieving food security in the face of climate change may well need to be implemented across most of North America over the next half-century, and are already applicable in most of the semiarid West, Great Plains, and the U.S. Southwest and adjacent regions of Mexico.

Introduction to Energy and Climate

Author: Julie Kerr
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1498774423
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 792

Book Description
The purpose of this textbook is to provide a well-rounded working knowledge of both climate change and environmental sustainability for a wide range of students. Students will learn core concepts and methods to analyze energy and environmental impacts; will understand what is changing the earth’s climate, and what that means for life on earth now and in the future. They will also have a firm understanding of what energy is and how it can be used. This text intends to develop working knowledge of these topics, with both technical and social implications. Students will find in one volume the integration and careful treatment of climate, energy, and sustainability.

The Rodale Book of Composting

Author: Deborah L. Martin
Publisher: Rodale
ISBN: 9780878579914
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Book Description
Explains what composting is and how it works, provides instructions for making and using compost, and offers ecologically sound solutions to waste disposal problems

The Intelligent Gardener

Author: Steve Solomon
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 0865717184
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 339

Book Description
Presents advice on how to improve growing soil, discussing some of the current misconceptions about soil and providing the best methods for adding enhancements that will produce nutrient-dense foods.

The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate

Author: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781009157971
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 755

Book Description
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of human-induced climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the observed and projected changes to the ocean and cryosphere and their associated impacts and risks, with a focus on resilience, risk management response options, and adaptation measures, considering both their potential and limitations. It brings together knowledge on physical and biogeochemical changes, the interplay with ecosystem changes, and the implications for human communities. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Sustainable Horticultural Systems

Author: Dilip Nandwani
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319069047
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Book Description
Sustainable horticulture is gaining increasing attention in the field of agriculture as demand for the food production rises to the world community. Sustainable horticultural systems are based on ecological principles to farm, optimizes pest and disease management approaches through environmentally friendly and renewable strategies in production agriculture. It is a discipline that addresses current issues such as food security, water pollution, soil health, pest control, and biodiversity depletion. Novel, environmentally-friendly solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from sciences as diverse as agronomy, soil science, entomology, ecology, chemistry and food sciences. Sustainable horticulture interprets methods and processes in the farming system to the global level. For that, horticulturists use the system approach that involves studying components and interactions of a whole system to address scientific, economic and social issues. In that respect, sustainable horticulture is not a classical, narrow science. Instead of solving problems using the classical painkiller approach that treats only negative impacts, sustainable horticulture treats problem sources.

Sustainable Development Goals

Author: Pia Katila
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108486991
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 653

Book Description
A global assessment of potential and anticipated impacts of efforts to achieve the SDGs on forests and related socio-economic systems. This title is available as Open Access via Cambridge Core.

Building Soils for Better Crops

Author: Fred Magdoff
Publisher: Sare
ISBN: 9781888626131
Category : Humus
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Book Description
"'Published by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, with funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture."

North Carolina Extension Gardener Handbook

Author: Kathleen A. Moore
Publisher: NC State Extension
ISBN: 9781469669731
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 728

Book Description
This national award winning book, now in its second edition, was developed especially for Master Gardener volunteers and home gardeners and is a primary source for research-based information on gardening and landscaping successfully in North Carolina and the Southeast. A fundamental reference for any seasoned gardener, the North Carolina Extension Gardener Handbook is also written to appeal to beginners just getting their hands dirty. It explains the "why and how" basics of gardening from soils and composting to vegetable gardening and wildlife management. Advice on garden design, preparation, and maintenance covers all types of plantings including lawns, ornamentals, fruits, trees, and containers. This handbook provides color images, detailed graphics, diagnostic tables, case studies, frequently asked questions, and specific management strategies for insects, diseases, weeds, and other pests. Written by a team of the state's leading horticulture experts, it contains a wealth of information to support you in creating and managing thriving gardens, lawns, and landscapes. The North Carolina Extension Gardener Handbook is an essential book for serious gardeners in North Carolina and the Southeast. Want to learn more? * Visit go.ncsu.edu/eg-handbook to view information contained in this book in an open access format. * Access free gardening resources from NC State Extension by visiting gardening.ces.ncsu.edu. * Find the Extension center in your county to speak with local experts by visiting www.ces.ncsu.edu/directory. * Become a Master Gardener volunteer and join an outstanding group of life-long learners working together to change the world. Learn how at ncemgv.org.