· 2013
President John F. Kennedy officially dedicated the Pinchot Institute for Conservation Studies on September 24, 1963 to further the legacy and activism of conservationist Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946). Pinchot was the first chief of the United States Forest Service, appointed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. During his five-year term, he more than tripled the national forest reserves to 172 million acres. A pioneer in his field, Pinchot is widely regarded as one of the architects of American conservation and an adamant steward of natural resources for future generations. Author Char Miller highlights many of the important contributions of the Pinchot Institute through its first fifty years of operation. As a union of the United States Forest Service and the Conservation Foundation, a private New York-based think tank, the institute was created to formulate policy and develop conservation education programs. Miller chronicles the institution's founding, a donation of the Pinchot family, at its Grey Towers estate in Milford, Pennsylvania. He views the contributions of Pinchot family members, from the institute's initial conception by Pinchot's son, Gifford Bryce Pinchot, through the family's ongoing participation in current conservation programming. Miller describes the institute's unique fusion of policy makers, scientists, politicians, and activists to increase our understanding of and responses to urban and rural forestry, water quality, soil erosion, air pollution, endangered species, land management and planning, and hydraulic franking. Miller explores such innovative programs as Common Waters, which works to protect the local Delaware River Basin as a drinking water source for millions; EcoMadera, which trains the residents of Cristobal Col—n in Ecuador in conservation land management and sustainable wood processing; and the Forest Health-Human Health Initiative, which offers health-care credits to rural American landowners who maintain their carbon-capturing forestlands. Many of these individuals are age sixty-five or older and face daunting medical expenses that may force them to sell their land for timber. Through these and countless other collaborative endeavors, the Pinchot Institute has continued to advance its namesake's ambition to protect ecosystems for future generations and provide vital environmental services in an age of a burgeoning population and a disruptive climate.
· 2003
"Andrew Berg was miner, hunter, trapper, fisherman, warden, and Alaska's first licensed hunting guide. More than a biography, this is a well-documented history of the early American settlement of the Kenai Peninsula."
· 2021
Lemba Adula is the perfect 15-year-old--brilliant, hardworking and polite to his elders. He excels at flying drones and coaxing new tricks out of smartphones and computers. But murderous Congolese rebels kidnap Lemba and force him to kill. He also must train other child soldiers and even help hijack a giant container ship. Drone Child is a powerful thriller and adventure story recommended for mature readers aged 18 and above. Younger readers should receive guidance and engage in dialogue with parents, teachers or librarians due to the book's mature content. Sex traffickers kidnap Lemba's sister, a gifted rumba singer, highlighting a real-life crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Also, Drone Child contains elements of violence. The novel includes satirical passages that critically address the inhumanity of violence-loving individuals. Lemba is a crack shot both on the firing range and when hunting for food. At the same time, he's far from the typical action hero and empathizes with the families of the people he must kill. For authenticity and cultural sensitivity, author David H. Rothman enlisted the expertise of two Congolese fact-checkers. Junior Boweya is a translator, software localization expert, and businessman. Jean Felix Mwema Ngandu is a former Mandela Washington Fellow and prominent civic activist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Both experts endorse the book and hope for translations into Lingala and French. Rothman has long been interested in issues affecting developing countries, especially technological ones. Positive reviews have appeared in Kirkus, The Midwest Book Review, and the American Library Association's Booklist. "A hefty tapestry interwoven with the possibilities for change," says the African American Literature Book Club. "In the context of our current times, this is a hope worth having." The second edition includes a new cover and a discussion guide for book clubs, parents, teachers and librarians. Drone Child also offers an informative section that compares events in the book with real happenings in the Congo. Additionally, the war in Ukraine makes this thriller more relevant than ever due to the moral questions that arise regarding drones and war in general, including atrocities against civilians. Don't miss out! Read Drone Child and root for Lemba and the other Adulas.
· 2024
The Wild East explores the social, political, and environmental changes in the Great Smoky Mountains during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This revised edition is updated with information about new research and initiatives that are restoring native plants and wildlife populations in the twenty-first century.
· 2004
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, millions of black and white southerners left farms and rural towns to try their fate in the region's cities. This transition brought about significant economic, social, and cultural changes in both urban centers and the countryside. Focusing on Nashville and its Middle Tennessee hinterland, Louis Kyriakoudes explores the impetus for this migration and illuminates its effects on regional development. Kyriakoudes argues that increased rural-to-urban migration in the late nineteenth century grew out of older seasonal and circular migration patterns long employed by southern farm families. These mobility patterns grew more urban-oriented and more permanent as rural blacks and whites turned increasingly to urban migration in order to cope with rapid economic and social change. The urban economy was particularly welcoming to women, offering freedom from the male authority that dominated rural life. African Americans did not find the same freedoms, however, as whites found ways to harness the forces of modernization to deny them access to economic and social opportunity. By linking urbanization, economic and social change, and popular cultural institutions, Kyriakoudes lends insight into the development of an urban, white, working-class identity that reinforced racial divisions and laid the demographic and social foundations for today's modern, urban South.
· 2011
Through a unique seven-step process, administrators and literacy leaders will gain a solid understanding of how to assess and build instructional capacity, overcome roadblocks, develop professional growth opportunities, and create a balanced literacy program. Learn how to identify the look-fors that provide evidence of effective literacy instruction, and bring all students to grade level or well above.
No author available
· 2004
No author available
· 2003