The Emerald Planet

Author: David Beerling
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192529781
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 381

Book Description
Plants have profoundly moulded the Earth's climate and the evolutionary trajectory of life. Far from being 'silent witnesses to the passage of time', plants are dynamic components of our world, shaping the environment throughout history as much as that environment has shaped them. In The Emerald Planet, David Beerling puts plants centre stage, revealing the crucial role they have played in driving global changes in the environment, in recording hidden facets of Earth's history, and in helping us to predict its future. His account draws together evidence from fossil plants, from experiments with their living counterparts, and from computer models of the 'Earth System', to illuminate the history of our planet and its biodiversity. This new approach reveals how plummeting carbon dioxide levels removed a barrier to the evolution of the leaf; how plants played a starring role in pushing oxygen levels upwards, allowing spectacular giant insects to thrive in the Carboniferous; and it strengthens fascinating and contentious fossil evidence for an ancient hole in the ozone layer. Along the way, Beerling introduces a lively cast of pioneering scientists from Victorian times onwards whose discoveries provided the crucial background to these and the other puzzles. This understanding of our planet's past sheds a sobering light on our own climate-changing activities, and offers clues to what our climatic and ecological futures might look like. There could be no more important time to take a close look at plants, and to understand the history of the world through the stories they tell. Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.

An Emerald Earth

Author: Felicia Norton
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0615235468
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Book Description
An Emerald Earth celebrates a natural spirituality rooted in everyday life. Drawing upon the universal teachings of the Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan on the "natural self," this book calls us to clarify the mirror of the heart and to restore our deep connection with all of creation. It likens the unfolding of our being to the process of cultivating a field or garden to bring forth fruitfulness. Incorporating meditation practices, rich teaching stories and poetry from Sufi, Buddhist and other mystic traditions, An Emerald Earth affirms the infinite power of the heart, pointing the way to an uplifted world and a spirituality that is grounded in service to all of life. "An Emerald Earth celebrates Sufi wisdom that, since its very beginning, has held the sacred green earth at its center. Today this wisdom guides us toward restoring ourselves and our relationship with the natural environment." -The Very Reverend James Parks Morton, pioneer in sacred ecology

The Emerald Mile

Author: Kevin Fedarko
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439159866
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
The epic story of the fastest boat ride in history, on a hand-built dory named the "Emerald Mile," through the heart of the Grand Canyon on the Colorado river.

Making Eden

Author: David Beerling
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192519212
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Book Description
Over 7 billion people depend on plants for healthy, productive, secure lives, but few of us stop to consider the origin of the plant kingdom that turned the world green and made our lives possible. And as the human population continues to escalate, our survival depends on how we treat the plant kingdom and the soils that sustain it. Understanding the evolutionary history of our land floras, the story of how plant life emerged from water and conquered the continents to dominate the planet, is fundamental to our own existence. In Making Eden David Beerling reveals the hidden history of Earth's sun-shot greenery, and considers its future prospects as we farm the planet to feed the world. Describing the early plant pioneers and their close, symbiotic relationship with fungi, he examines the central role plants play in both ecosystems and the regulation of climate. As threats to plant biodiversity mount today, Beerling discusses the resultant implications for food security and climate change, and how these can be avoided. Drawing on the latest exciting scientific findings, including Beerling's own field work in the UK, North America, and New Zealand, and his experimental research programmes over the past decade, this is an exciting new take on how plants greened the continents.

Eating the Sun

Author: Oliver Morton
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0007163657
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 74

Book Description
Wherever there is greenery, photosynthesis is working to make oxygen, release energy, and create living matter from the raw material of sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Without photosynthesis, there would be an empty world, an empty sky, and a sun that does nothing more than warm the rocks and reflect off the sea. Eating the Sun is the story of a world in crisis; an appreciation of the importance of plants; a history of the earth and the feuds and fantasies of warring scientists; a celebration of how the smallest things, enzymes and pigments, influence the largest things, the oceans, the rainforests, and the fossil fuel economy. Oliver Morton offers a fascinating, lively, profound look at nature's greatest miracle and sounds a much-needed call to arms—illuminating a potential crisis of climatic chaos and explaining how we can change our situation, for better or for worse.

Emerald Labyrinth

Author: Eli Greenbaum
Publisher: University Press of New England
ISBN: 1512601209
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 366

Book Description
Emerald Labyrinth is a scientist and adventurer's chronicle of years exploring the rainforests of sub-Saharan Africa. The richly varied habitats of the Democratic Republic of the Congo offer a wealth of animal, plant, chemical, and medical discoveries. But the country also has a deeply troubled colonial past and a complicated political present. Author Eli Greenbaum is a leading expert in sub-Saharan herpetology - snakes, lizards, and frogs - who brings a sense of wonder to the question of how science works in the twenty-first century. Along the way he comes face to face with spitting cobras, silverback mountain gorillas, wild elephants, and the teenaged armies of AK-47-toting fighters engaged in the continent's longest-running war. As a bellwether of the climate and biodiversity crises now facing the planet, the Congo holds the key to our planet's future. Writing in the tradition of books like The Lost City of Z, Greenbaum seeks out the creatures struggling to survive in a war-torn, environmentally threatened country. Emerald Labyrinth is an extraordinary book about the enormous challenges and hard-won satisfactions of doing science in one of the least known, least hospitable places on earth.

5 Worlds Book 5: The Emerald Gate

Author: Mark Siegel
Publisher: Random House Graphic
ISBN: 0593120604
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
Oona and her friends face their ultimate challenge in the final installment of the graphic sci-fi fantasy series that's Star Wars meets Avatar: The Last Airbender! In the epic conclusion to the 5 Worlds series, the final battle looms as Oona, Jax, and An Tzu travel to the treacherous world of Grimbo (E)! There, Oona must light the last beacon to save the 5 Worlds, but first she has to find it! When Jax saves an old friend, Oona is given a clue to the green beacon's location. Unfortunately, the journey to lighting it on this strange, watery planet is the most dangerous yet. Meanwhile, Stan Moon has one more trick up his sleeve as his frightening powers and mysterious connection to An Tzu continue to grow. How can Oona ever hope to beat him? Can she count on her friends or will a terrible betrayal mean the 5 Worlds will be lost to evil forever? The 5 Worlds series: #1: The Sand Warrior, #2: The Cobalt Prince, #3: The Red Maze, #4: The Amber Anthem, #5: The Emerald Gate

The Planet in a Pebble

Author: Jan Zalasiewicz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199645698
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 251

Book Description
"Every pebble has many stories to tell. Its particular atoms, its crystals, its minerals, its grains, its textures, its strata, its tiny fossils bear evidence to a history that stretches back billions of years."--Book flap.

The Emerald Atlas

Author: John Stephens
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0375899553
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 434

Book Description
"A strong . . . trilogy, invoking just a little Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events along the way."—Realms of Fantasy Siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma have been in one orphanage after another for the last ten years, passed along like lost baggage. Yet these unwanted children are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about. Until now. Before long, Kate, Michael, and Emma are on a journey through time to dangerous and secret corners of the world . . . a journey of allies and enemies, of magic and mayhem. And—if an ancient prophesy is true—what they do can change history, and it's up to them to set things right. "A new Narnia for the tween set."—The New York Times "[A] fast-paced, fully imagined fantasy."—Publishers Weekly "Echoes of other popular fantasy series, from "Harry Potter" to the "Narnia" books, are easily found, but debut author Stephens has created a new and appealing read . . ."—School Library Journal, Starred Review

The 12th Planet (Book I)

Author: Zecharia Sitchin
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1591439191
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 411

Book Description
Over the years, startling evidence has been unearthed, challenging established notions of the origins of Earth and life on it and suggesting the existence of a superior race of beings who once inhabited our world. The product of thirty years of intensive research, The 12th Planet is the first book in Zecharia Sitchin's prophetic Earth Chronicles series--a revolutionary body of work that offers indisputable documentary proof of humanity's extraterrestrial forefathers. Travelers from the stars, they arrived eons ago, and planted the genetic seed that would ultimately blossom into a remarkable species...called Man. The 12th Planet brings to life the Sumerian civilization, presenting millennia-old evidence of the existence of Nibiru, the home planet of the Anunnaki and of the landings of the Anunnaki on Earth every 3,600 years, and reveals a complete history of the solar system as told by these early visitors from another planet. Zecharia Sitchin's Earth Chronicles series, with millions of copies sold worldwide, deal with the history and prehistory of Earth and humankind. Each book in the series is based upon information written on clay tablets by the ancient civilizations of the Near East. The series is offered here, for the first time, in highly readable, hardbound collector's editions with enhanced maps and diagrams.