A unique introduction to how understanding archaeology can support modern-day sustainability efforts, from restoring forested land to developing fire management strategies An essential and hopeful book for climate-conscious readers The world faces an uncertain future with the rise of climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, overfishing, and other threats. Understanding Imperiled Earth meets this uncertainty head-on, presenting archaeology and history as critical guides to addressing the modern environmental crisis. Anthropologist Todd J. Braje draws connections between deep history and today's hot-button environmental news stories to reveal how the study of the ancient past can help build a more sustainable future. The book covers a diverse array of interconnected issues, including: how modern humans have altered the natural world conservation work of Indigenous communities extinction of megafauna like dire wolves and woolly rhinoceros the risk of deforestation highlighted by Notre Dame's destruction the extinction crisis reflected by endangered bird species in Hawai'i fish scarcity driving demand and price, like the single blue-fin tuna fish that sold for three million dollars importance of "action archaeology" Braje examines how historical roots offer a necessary baseline for a healthier Earth, because understanding how the planet used to be is fundamental to creating effective restoration efforts moving forward through urban forests, sustainable food webs, and more. Understanding Imperiled Earth offers an illuminating, hopeful, and actionable approach to some of the world's most urgent problems.

A unique introduction to how understanding archaeology can support modern-day sustainability efforts, from restoring forested land to developing fire management strategies An essential and hopeful book for climate-conscious readers The world faces an uncertain future with the rise of climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, overfishing, and other threats. Understanding Imperiled Earth meets this uncertainty head-on, presenting archaeology and history as critical guides to addressing the modern environmental crisis. Anthropologist Todd J. Braje draws connections between deep history and today's hot-button environmental news stories to reveal how the study of the ancient past can help build a more sustainable future. The book covers a diverse array of interconnected issues, including: how modern humans have altered the natural world conservation work of Indigenous communities extinction of megafauna like dire wolves and woolly rhinoceros the risk of deforestation highlighted by Notre Dame's destruction the extinction crisis reflected by endangered bird species in Hawai'i fish scarcity driving demand and price, like the single blue-fin tuna fish that sold for three million dollars importance of "action archaeology" Braje examines how historical roots offer a necessary baseline for a healthier Earth, because understanding how the planet used to be is fundamental to creating effective restoration efforts moving forward through urban forests, sustainable food webs, and more. Understanding Imperiled Earth offers an illuminating, hopeful, and actionable approach to some of the world's most urgent problems.

For advanced undergraduate structural geology courses.

The biosphere refers to the parts of Earth where life exists or where known life has existed in the past. The biosphere is comprised of the atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere because life exists in each of those three spheres, from birds in the sky to fish in the water to worms in the dirt. Food chains represent interconnected life cycles in the biosphere. Energy is transferred from one organism to the next and, as apex predators die, nutrients are returned to the soil. Readers will learn how people affect the biosphere and how life and energy are maintained in the biosphere.

Earth's geosphere is made up of the planet's interior, rocks and minerals, landforms, and the processes that shape Earth's surface. The interior is comprised of many different sections, including Earth's core and crust. Readers will learn about types of rock, including igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, and how they come together to form the rock cycle. There are many different types of minerals found inside Earth, some of which form the world's most precious gems, such as diamonds. The movement of tectonic plates inside Earth creates mountain ranges as well as drives the rock cycle. This book will help you fulfill standards in the earth science curriculum.

On a life raft in the Mediterranean, a teenager from Ghana wonders whether he will reach Europe alive. A young chef disappears from a cruise ship, leaving a mystery for his friends and family to solve. A water-squatting community battles eviction from a harbor in a Pacific Northwest town, raising the question of who owns the water. Imperiled Ocean is a deeply reported work of narrative journalism that follows people as they head out to sea. What they discover holds inspiring and dire implications for the life of the ocean, and for all of us back on land. As Imperiled Ocean unfolds, battles are fought, fortunes made, and lives are lost. Behind this human drama, the ocean is growing ever more unstable, threatening to upend life on land. We meet a biologist tracking sturgeon who is unable to stop the development and pollution destroying the fish’s habitat, he races to learn about the fish before it disappears. Sturgeon has survived more than 300 million years on earth and could hold important truths about how humanity might make itself amenable to a changing ocean. As a fisher and scientist, his ability to listen to the water becomes a parable for today. By eavesdropping on an imperiled world, he shows a way we can move forward to save the oceans we all share.