Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  The Rights of Nature - A Legal...

  David R. Boyd

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  Winner of the Green Prize for Sustainable Literature
  		 
  A growing body of law around the world supports the idea that humans are not the only species with rights; and if nature has rights, then humans have responsibilities.
  		 
  “Expertly written case studies in which legalese is accessibly distilled … empowering reminders that the seemingly inevitable slide toward planetary destruction can be halted.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
  		 
  Palila v Hawaii. New Zealand’s Te Urewera Act. Sierra Club v Disney. These legal phrases hardly sound like the makings of a revolution, but beyond the headlines portending environmental catastrophes, a movement of immense import has been building — in courtrooms, legislatures, and communities across the globe. Cultures and laws are transforming to provide a powerful new approach to protecting the planet and the species with whom we share it.
  		 
  Lawyers from California to New York are fighting to gain legal rights for chimpanzees and killer whales, and lawmakers are ending the era of keeping these intelligent animals in captivity. In Hawaii and India, judges have recognized that endangered species — from birds to lions — have the legal right to exist. Around the world, more and more laws are being passed recognizing that ecosystems — rivers, forests, mountains, and more — have legally enforceable rights. And if nature has rights, then humans have responsibilities.
  		 
  In The Rights of Nature, noted environmental lawyer David Boyd tells this remarkable story, which is, at its heart, one of humans as a species finally growing up. Read this book and your world view will be altered forever.

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  The Spirit of the River - A...

  Declan Murphy

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  The new book from critically acclaimed nature writer, Declan Murphy.
  'As I study the birds, animals and plants around me, I cannot help but see the patterns all living things seem driven to create.'
  Declan Murphy's childhood encounter with a kingfisher in Wicklow was unforgettable. Returning to the rivers years later, he embarks upon a journey to study this most elusive of birds during its nesting season. Yet as dippers, goosanders, grey wagtails and great spotted woodpeckers all yield their hidden habits to the author's patient pursuit, the kingfisher continues to elude him.
  When an unexpected incident threatens to shatter a delicate balance between the natural and workaday, the author is thrown into crisis. His retreat into the natural world, however, is not simply a distraction: its shapes, rhythms and sounds become a lifeline essential in navigating an emotional landscape. Faced with the prospect of a catastrophic loss, he harnesses the power of nature to fight for all that he holds dear, as the kingfisher becomes his Holy Grail.
  With a foreword by global youth activist and environmentalist Lilly Platt, Declan Murphy brings the beauty and mystery of the animal kingdom into the light. Writing with hallucinatory clarity and awareness of man's fragility, The Spirit of the River follows the mould of the great contemporary nature writers Robert Macfarlane, Helen Macdonald and Tim Robinson. Here the author's quest becomes the reader's through this visceral articulation of an 'Unaccommodated man'.

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  What to Expect When You're...

  Laura Major, Julie Shah

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  The next generation of robots will be truly social, but can we make sure that they play well in the sandbox? 
  Most robots are just tools. They do limited sets of tasks subject to constant human control. But a new type of robot is coming. These machines will operate on their own in busy, unpredictable public spaces. They'll ferry deliveries, manage emergency rooms, even grocery shop. Such systems could be truly collaborative, accomplishing tasks we don't do well without our having to stop and direct them. 
  This makes them social entities, so, as robot designers Laura Major and Julie Shah argue, whether they make our lives better or worse is a matter of whether they know how to behave. 
  What to Expect When You're Expecting Robots offers a vision for how robots can survive in the real world and how they will change our relationship to technology. From teaching them manners, to robot-proofing public spaces, to planning for their mistakes, this audiobook answers every question you didn't know you needed to ask about the robots on the way.

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  Best of British Buses

  Gavin Booth

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  Bus design is often taken for granted, yet from the earliest days of motorbuses coachbuilders have worked hard to produce vehicles that are both attractive and practical. From the 1950s, bus builders and operators have faced the challenges of new shapes and layouts with the widespread adoption of underfloor and rear-engine designs and there was recognition that passengers expected something rather better than a basic bus if they were to leave their cars at home.
  This new ebook looks at the development and evolution of bus design and covers the years from 1950 to the present day to reveal just how the UK's bus builders have risen to the challenge and produced buses with the elusive 'wow factor'. The book is packed with photographs, many of which are professionally-taken official bodybuilders' or operators' views as these show the many important design features clearly and in detail. These photographs are supported by in-service views, showing the bus in its working environment.
  This beautifully designed and illustrated book will appeal not only to ardent road transport enthusiasts, but will also be of interest to bus manufacturers and designers, and anyone interested in industrial design.

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  The Wall-Less Rooms Of Nature...

  Patrice Vecchione

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  Nature and art share the quality of perseverance and optimism. Vecchione illustrates this when she says, “Art is optimistic. No matter what emotions a piece of art may convey, art-making itself is a refusal to be plowed under by doubt, political systems, poverty or any number of other things.” She goes on to point out that nature shares those same qualities. “Determined plants push up between the slivery cracks in the concrete, making their leafy way to the light where they thrive. If nature is curtailed in one way, it does it’s best to find another. Over and over again.” She describes how the act of being in nature expanded her imagination, which made the act of doing art more meaningful. When our creative spirit is in touch with the natural world, the boundaries and walls are removed. She believes that encouraging creativity requires both structure and the freedom to imagine. As she points out, “The imagination wants to grow by its very nature and the same is true with nature. If water comes to a wall, it doesn’t pack up its bag and say forget about it. Water finds a way around. Imagination does the same thing. They’re both life sustaining, life-giving aspects of this planet.” Nature, she says, offers us a perfect place to daydream. Vecchione also explains how she and others help to preserve and care for a little bit of the earth, and how we can all do the same. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

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  A Woman in the Polar Night

  Christiane Ritter, Sara Wheeler

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  This rediscovered classic memoir tells the incredible tale of a woman defying society's expectations to find freedom and peace in the adventure of a lifetime.In 1934, the painter Christiane Ritter leaves her comfortable life in Austria and travels to the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen, to spend a year there with her husband. She thinks it will be a relaxing trip, a chance to "read thick books in the remote quiet and, not least, sleep to my heart's content," but when Christiane arrives she is shocked to realize that they are to live in a tiny ramshackle hut on the shores of a lonely fjord, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, battling the elements every day, just to survive.At first, Christiane is horrified by the freezing cold, the bleak landscape the lack of equipment and supplies . . . But as time passes, after encounters with bears and seals, long treks over the ice and months on end of perpetual night, she finds herself falling in love with the Arctic's harsh, otherworldly beauty, gaining a great sense of inner peace and a new appreciation for the sanctity of life.

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