Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World by Gary Braasch has been chosen one of the Top 50 Environmental Books & Media — from Thoreau to today — by Vanity Fair (VF.com, “Green Guide” April 200
“This is a dramatically illustrated and fastidiously annotated survey of how climate change is altering the global ecosystem-from melting glaciers to animal migrations, to droughts-not to mention how it is affecting cities and societies. Photographer Gary Braasch, an Ansel Adams Award winner, and writer Bill McKibben go beyond the data of leading climate scientists and attempt to leverage information in the service of education. This may be the most deeply researched photo book of all time.”
– Adam Spangler, Vanity Fair Green Guide
Gary Braasch is presenting his photography capturing global climate change at a special pre-conference event on April 21, in San Francisco. We posted about this here. Congratulations, Gary!
Stephen Schneider is the Stanford University Melvin and Joan Lane professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, co-director at Stanford’s Center for Environmental Science and Policy, co-director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, and professor by courtesy in the Department of Civil Engineering.
Schneider’s current global change research interests include food/climate and other environmental/science public policy issues; ecological and economic implications of climatic change; integrated assessment of global change; climatic modeling of paleoclimates and of human impacts on climate, e.g., carbon dioxide “greenhouse effect” and environmental consequences of nuclear war. He is also interested in advancing public understanding of science and in improving formal environmental education in primary and secondary schools. Schneider has served as a consultant to Federal Agencies and/or White House staff in the Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations. In 1998, he became a foreign member of the Academia Europaea, Earth and Cosmic Sciences Section. He was elected Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences Section on Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences (1999-2001) and was elected to membership in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in April 2002. He was a member of the scientific staff of NCAR from 1973-1996, where he co-founded the Climate Project. Schneider was honored in 1992 with a MacArthur Fellowship for his ability to integrate and interpret the results of global climate research.
In 2007, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore as a member of the IPCC. You can read a little about this achievement at the Stanford website.
Rethink development. “Start approving new housing without any parking and create and expand a car-free street into a car-free district,” said Richard Register, designer, builder and author in ecological city design and planning, who is organizing the Ecocity World Summit in April. “Go for higher density in the mode of very mixed-use with the sort of architectural features I talk about in my books: Rooftop and terraced gardens and cafes up there, bridges between clustered buildings.”
Register, president of Ecocity Builders in Oakland, Calif., pointed to other cities that work with their universities to create new spaces where there were previously none.
“The University of California at Berkeley has nine bridges linking 18 buildings, or in a couple of cases, the building is a bridge with a large open ground level passageway,” he said. “These features could be emphasized and buildings on campuses brought close enough together to create streetscapes in one part of town, and/or campus while opening up other areas for natural and agricultural activities.”
Move away from sprawl. Register’s group, Ecocity Builders, has a mapping system that helps identify “vitality centers” for more development where people can walk to conduct business.
Photographer and author Gary Braasch will be presenting a special pre-conference event on April 21st, the day before Ecocity World Summit 2008. Our friends at treehugger.com have written a great post on Gary and the amazing work he’s done all over the world. Thanks go to Jesse Fox for the write-up and interview. Thanks Jesse!
“Environmental photography is a combination of nature and documentary work that focuses on the world as habitat and biosphere and source of everything. This most strongly includes humans, who as mammals are completely affected by the environment and as technological beings are changing it more and more.”
“The 2900 megawatt John Amos power plant near Charleston West Virginia looms over a neighborhood in Poca, across the Kanawa River. The Amos plant is consistently on the list of dirtiest power plants, its coal burning (2003 figures) makes it 11th in CO2 releases and 12th in SO2. It also emits mercury. Pollution from the 600 coal power plants in the US contribute to up to 30,000 deaths yearly. What to do about CO2 emissions is a severe issue now that the US government has delayed the experimental “FutureGen” sequestering project. It makes efficiency and conservation of energy all the more important.” Read the rest of this entry »
Maria Terezinha Vaz, an Ecocity presenter and special guest, is the producer of A Convenient Truth: Urban Solutions from Curitiba, Brazil, an informative, inspirational documentary aimed at sharing ideas to provoke environment-friendly and cost-effective changes in cities worldwide.
The documentary focuses on innovations in transportation, recycling, social benefits including affordable housing, seasonal parks, and the processes that transformed Curitiba into one of the most livable cities in the world.
Through photography, Maria Terezinha Vaz integrates other passions, some of them lifelong. Trains, train tracks, the patterns and geometry of the rails and the machinery, have always held a fascination for her. She highly values historical and cultural preservation such as the Mayan land in Mexico, especially the sacred city of Chichen Itza. Preservation of the natural environment is also of great importance to her.
Preview:
The film includes interviews from world renowned Curitiba’s mayors Jaime Lerner and Cassio Tanigushi, as well as other brilliant minds who made Curitiba a world class model.
If you are interested in learning more about the specifics of many of Curitiba’s programs, take a look at her web page on the project, organized into the following:
Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World by Gary Braasch has been chosen one of the Top 50 Environmental Books & Media — from Thoreau to today — by Vanity Fair (VF.com, “Green Guide” April 200 
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Climate Change | Tagged: Earth Under Fire, Gary Braasch, Vanity Fair | 
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Posted by andrewfletcher
“The 2900 megawatt John Amos power plant near Charleston West Virginia looms over a neighborhood in Poca, across the Kanawa River. The Amos plant is consistently on the list of dirtiest power plants, its coal burning (2003 figures) makes it 11th in CO2 releases and 12th in SO2. It also emits mercury. Pollution from the 600 coal power plants in the US contribute to up to 30,000 deaths yearly. What to do about CO2 emissions is a severe issue now that the US government has delayed the experimental “
