Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2023 -

Written and edited by McCabe (US Environmental Protection Agency) and a team of leading environmental scientists variously associated with the Indiana University system and its Environmental Resilience Institute, this collection explores climate change in Indiana through the lens of resilience. The focus is on solutions for the state featured in the title, but the framework could be adapted to other states and regions to provide improved assessment of likely changes in climate and pursue associated mitigation/adaptation strategies that address critical environmental, economic, and social issues. Many previous assessments have considered the nature of physical climate change effects in various US regions. These authors instead provide state-specific climate information from the Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment (INCCIA) and use an impacts-based perspective to explore resilience across key areas of the state, such as water, forests, biodiversity, agriculture, and built environments. A significant contribution beyond these insights is their focus on the role of communication and personal action. Throughout the text, the authors provide guidance on what individuals can do, from how to get involved politically or as volunteer scientists to how to better understand resilience within specific communities. The book is rich with references that explore various aspects of environmental science and related policy especially as developed in the Hoosier State.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. General readers.

Climate change is a topic of conversation across all sectors of society, and intense discussions about its potential impact on society in the future emerge frequently. Climate change will entail not only a physical change in the environment but also a sociological change in how people view food, consume energy, and build housing in the future. Pindyck (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) describes in detail the impact of changing carbon dioxide levels on Earth's temperature and why greenhouse gases have this effect on the environment. The premise of his argument is to examine what policies at the national and international levels could avert the temperature increase and what potential strategies exist for adapting to the changing climate. Pindyck clearly shows that no single policy or strategy will change the climate trajectory and that a comprehensive approach across all sectors of the economy that includes reducing emissions and energy demand, adopting conservation practices that reduce energy demand, and utilizing different forms of energy is required. These are not easy solutions to envision let alone implement; however, understanding how the components link to one another is an initial step toward discussing and evaluating potentially helpful policies and strategies.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. Students in two-year technical programs. General readers.

A typical North American response to environmental problems is expressed by a mechanistic question--"How can we fix it?"--without considering the social and cultural origins and implications of either the problems or the proposed actions. The discipline of environmental humanities, foregrounding narrative storytelling as an important mechanism to strengthen social resilience in the face of environmental problems, has often been missing. So also has the inclusivity and equity of the environmental justice body of knowledge often been left out. To address this lacuna, Henry (Univ. of Wyoming) offers a short but comprehensive collection of four case studies written "as a settler descendant" (p. xi), revealing that writers and artists are at the forefront of water-related environmental justice movements. These studies describe, respectively, Indigenous communities of the lower Colorado River basin in their struggle to obtain a just share of river water; the Flint, Michigan, community in their engagement with natural resource governance; the Appalachian community of West Virginia in their efforts to leave behind the dominant extractive industry of the region; and a series of marginalized communities heavily exposed to sea level rise as a result of climate change. These studies should enrich the discussion of how to prepare communities to grapple with energy and climate challenges in an equitable way.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Summerhayes (emer., Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge Univ.) is among the world's leading experts in polar marine geology, working especially on climate history from sedimentary records, among other topics. His experience has made him a proponent of recognizing the Anthropocene, a new geologic epoch in which humans are the primary agent of change at Earth's surface. In this book, Summerhayes focuses on the cryosphere, the frozen water in Earth's climate system, which includes everything from the large ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica, mountain glaciers, sea ice, and permafrost to the more familiar seasonal snow cover. The text combines an overview of these systems and their physical drivers with details revealing their history derived from paleoclimatic studies. This discussion provides the backdrop for considering contemporary cryospheric changes and their potential impacts, which range from climate system feedbacks that produce additional warming to coastal impacts associated with sea level rise. Summerhayes refers to the cryosphere as "Earth's refrigerator"--a relatable notion but, in this reviewer's opinion, one that doesn't fit particularly well. Nevertheless, the book provides an excellent, well-referenced overview of Earth's cryosphere, including valid concerns about its near-term evolution.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

This expert committee report, part of the publisher's "Consensus Study Report" series, updates a previous report released in 2003. Petroleum products are acknowledged to provide more than 50 percent of global energy supply, and growing populations demanding higher living standards increase the demand. Oil extraction followed by processing and shipping "product" are huge industries. Damages from occasional high-profile and preventable tanker tragedies are supplemented by natural seeps, probably beyond human control. Oil and seawater don't mix well. Various chapters address world energy supply and demand, petroleum composition, analytic approaches, and behavior of petroleum products in the sea. Inputs from spills, wrecks, and disasters are the public face of oil in the sea, as in the much-discussed cases of the Exxon Valdez (1989) and Deep Water Horizon (2010). Prevention and mitigation of spills, fate of oil in the sea, containment and cleanup technologies, and effects on marine ecosystems (benthic, water column, coral reefs, salt marshes) and human health are examined. This 500-page technical work is clearly written and richly illustrated, intended for public consumption (i.e., "no equations"). Its recommendations provide a framework for prevention, mitigation, and research aiming for a "restorative and sustainable state." Available free from the publisher's website, this book is appropriate for both general and technical audiences.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

This is a cautionary tale of epic proportions. As the subtitle makes clear, the text is about climate change and its potential to cause mass migration in the US. Although it is a disaster book, it is also a book of hope. Weaving together stories of tragedy, loss, and devastation, climate and energy journalist Bittle offers a desperate plea for reducing carbon emissions, creating reform policies, investing in post-disaster aid, and, above all, for everyone to take responsibility for climate change. While climate change is a global problem, Bittle focuses his text on a selection of people and places located in the US, specifically in the states of Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. Thus, the book is an illustration of how to think globally and act locally, an imperative that ought to be picked up throughout the globe, and not just in book form. By highlighting the impact on specific people and places, Bittle makes the abstract aspect of climate change more concrete and accessible. This is no easy task, and Bittle should be commended for treating such an important and pressing issue in a digestible way. The book is very well researched and also very well written. As such, it deserves a wide audience.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Many readers are interested in absorbing more information about the issue of climate change--quite possibly the most significant challenge facing the world today. For those readers particularly interested in climate change adaptation and resiliency, Verchik's The Octopus in the Parking Garage is just the ticket. This accessible volume incorporates great details for undergraduates interested in environmental policy and practitioners who want to dig into resiliency. Verchick (Loyola Univ. New Orleans; Tulane Univ.) challenges readers to think about the implications of climate change in the US and abroad and the mechanisms by which we might struggle to limit its impact on human communities. His wide-ranging coverage of resiliency and climate change serves to inform readers about impacts, policy options, and political commitments. His focus on the power grid is engaging, on the lowlands of Louisiana edifying, on wildfires enlightening, and on oceans deeply felt. Finally, his discussion of creating a climate relocation program is both bold and saddening--bold because it would mean doing what we should to protect communities; saddening because we lack the political will. Resiliency is necessary for a future with a changing climate, and reading Verchick's book can help readers see this more clearly.Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers, lower-division undergraduates, and professionals.

The negative impacts of mining sand and the extreme damage it causes to river and coastal processes, to nearshore landforms, and to ecosystems cannot be overstated. Vanishing Sands, written by a team of highly regarded geologists, an administrative law judge, and a developing-state researcher in sustainable development, reveals how far-reaching are the repercussions of removing sand. International in scope, the subject matter of this text ranges from the physical geology of sand, engineering and concrete formation, to climate change and related activism. Color photos demonstrate how destruction of beaches, combined with sea level rise and more intense storms, wreaks havoc on coastlines everywhere. The demand for sand continues to rise with deadly consequences for those who get in the way of illegal operations. The authors make a compelling case for international agreements and legislative solutions to control sand-mining operations, and to regulate sand as a common good, like air and water. They observe with regret a "widespread lack of will, often amplified by corruption" that forestalls progress. Dozens of references in each chapter and a detailed index make this an important addition to academic collections that support work in geology, socioeconomics, politics, ecology, and environmental justice.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Gies, an independent science journalist, argues that we humans have disrupted water's flows through rivers and coastal lands as well as its repose in aquifers and wetlands. As climate change intensifies, we can mitigate water's impact only by respecting its natural habits and habitats. In her introduction, the author calls for a slow water movement--comparable to the slow food movement--that emphasizes local people, traditional methods, and a conservationist land ethic. In the first chapter, Gies describes how watery ecosystems support biodiversity, absorb carbon emissions, and minimize extreme drought and flood. Then, taking the reader on a global tour ranging from India to Mississippi, Kenya to the Netherlands, and Peru to China, she visits sites where experts from various disciplines--hydrologists, biologists, anthropologists, urban planners--are implementing slow water solutions by restoring ecosystems and reviving ancient water management techniques. Sometimes, Gies observes, the best solution is human retreat from lands threatened by droughts and floods because, as the title declares, "water always wins." Although the author's tendency to anthropomorphize water may irritate some readers, her diverse, research-based examples should prompt consideration of slow water solutions.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.