The author dismantles racially based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors he feels are responsible for history's broadest patterns.

"From the author of Losing Earth, a deeply reported and beautifully told exploration of how we live in a post-natural world"--

A celebrated storyteller-poet-naturalist explores a year of dawns, drawing on sources as diverse as meteorology, world religion, etymology, art history, poetry, organic farming, and beekeeping.

"A book for middle-school-aged children about previous extinctions and possible threats to humans, from volcanoes, to asteroids, to pollution and diseases"--

Have you ever wondered why we stop to watch the orange glow that arrives before sunset, or why we flock to see cherry blossoms bloom in spring? Is there a reason that people -- regardless of gender, age, culture, or ethnicity -- are mesmerized by baby animals, and can't help but smile when they see a burst of confetti or a cluster of colorful balloons? We are often made to feel that the physical world has little or no impact on our inner joy. Increasingly,...

"In an alternate past--or possible future--a mighty tree stands on the banks of a winding river, bearing silent witness to the flow of time and change. A family farms the fertile valley. Soon, a village sprouts, and not long after, a town. Residents learn to harness the water, the wind, and the animals in order to survive and thrive. The growing population becomes ever more industrious and clever, bending nature itself to their will and their ambition:...

This book introduces communities with diverse environments and describes the various resources these communities have.

" How we come to feel at home in our towns and cities is what Warnick sets out to discover in This Is Where You Belong. She dives into the body of research around place attachment--the deep sense of connection that binds some of us to our cities and increases our physical and emotional well-being--then travels to towns across America to see it in action. Inspired by a growing movement of placemaking, she examines what its practitioners are doing to...

The next time you see a bee buzzing around, you might pause to think that around a third of the food we eat is thanks to their efficient and crucial act of pollination. Bees transfer pollen between plants to allow fertilization. Through interviews with beekeepers in Vietnam and London, this video explores solutions to challenges posed by climate change.

Steve Backshall looks at the Scottish Highlands, home to some of the most iconic wildlife in the British Isles. The two contrasting landscapes of open moor and Caledonian forest are both crucially important to their wild inhabitants and yet the history of the Highlands shows that they shouldn't exist side by side. Steve guides us through the landscape and reveals the surprising part that humans have to play in allowing both habitats to thrive, thereby...