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.

Irrigation came to the arid West in a wave of optimism about the power of water to make the desert bloom. Mark Fiege’s fascinating and innovative study of irrigation in southern Idaho’s Snake River valley describes a complex interplay of human and natural systems. Using vast quantities of labor, irrigators built dams, excavated canals, laid out farms, and brought millions of acres into cultivation. But at each step, nature rebounded and compromised the intended agricultural order. The result was a new and richly textured landscape made of layer upon layer of technology and intractable natural forces—one that engineers and farmers did not control with the precision they had anticipated. Irrigated Eden vividly portrays how human actions inadvertently helped to create a strange and sometimes baffling ecology. Winner of the Idaho Library Association Book Award, 1999 Winner of the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Award, Forest History Society, 1999-2000

From scouting reports of Native American tribes to Money Magazine's declaration that it was the best place to live in America, Eden Prairie has a history that commands attention. Few can rival Marie Wittenberg's dedication to telling this story or match her intimate knowledge of her hometown's changing landscape, from early sheep barns to modern megachurches. In this brief history, she describes how Eden Prairie got its name, visits with pioneer families and points out the local places and critical moments that shaped this beloved community's identity.

"There is a conflict in every life called Love. A conflict as old as Eden itself........ A contest between right and wrong. Within this battle of Love, every human being has a part. Eden Buckley is about to find hers....... A Modern and Heart-warming Ecology Romance about two single parent families and second-chance love set in Harlan County, Kentucky featuring country music band Ward Thomas. Review 5 stars; To generate that level of emotion in a reader in respect of a fictional character is a brilliant achievement on the part of the author Review 5 stars; An entertaining read which I highly recommend if you want a charming romance that is a little bit different. Eden Buckley is a gutsy, capricious and brogue speaking Harlan county school teacher with a temper as stubborn as a superpower but an honest heart of gold. Just divorced from her ex- teenage sweetheart and coming to terms with being a single parent, raising her partially invalid son Jamie. Until today, she'd only had to wage a battle against her alcoholic and abusive husband Kyle. Now, she has a bigger focus for all of her caustic and vicarious energies................. Fighting for the rights of the local community of young and elderly Harlan folk to stop the machiavellian and insidious Tennessee construction company boss Langdon Stanley Dainty or Mr Acid from wreaking total havoc and demolishing their houses to build a link road to the 1-75 highway, promised by the government for over twenty years. In the fight to save the houses, Eden's fastidious path accidentally crosses with World ecologist and widower James Ustinov from England. A thoroughly driven man who believes he has to reach his goal sooner than later, before it's all too late. What Eden and James believe to be the good and right, brings them together as one. Alone they are just one voice. Together they are Saving Eden. Ward Thomas country music band appear courtesy of themselves (Catherine & Lizzy) and Ward Thomas Music. Harlan campground, cabins & kayaking appear courtesy of CEO Mr Stephen Foster.

This work analyzes the social and environmental impact of colonial conquest and pacification of Africa through a case study of the Angolan-Namibian borderlands. This work analyzes the social and environmental impact of colonial conquest and pacification of Africa through a case study of the Angolan-Namibian borderlands. These areas were exposed to three different systems of colonial expansion: German, Portuguese, and British (South African). This study demonstrates the interactions between social and environmental factors, structures and processes and shows that colonial conquest needs to be acknowledged as a major problem. It includes in-depth analysis of the late 19th to 20th century processes of social and environmental change at the village, household, and individual levels. It illustrates how refugees managed to restore a workable environment without massive outside aid and despite colonial exactions.