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Power metal : the race for the resources that will shape the future / by Beiser, Vince,1965-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."How the metals we need to power technology and energy are spawning environmental havoc, political upheaval, and murder -- and how we can do better. An Australian multimillionaire's plan to mine the ocean floor. Garbage pickers in Nigeria risking their lives to salvage e-waste amid nightmarish pollution. A Bill Gates-backed entrepreneur harnessing artificial intelligence to find metals in the Arctic. Train-robbing copper thieves in Chile. These are some of the people in the intensifying global competition to locate and extract the minerals essential for two critical technologies that will shape humanity's future: the internet and renewable energy. It's a race that will create new industries, generate enormous wealth, and destabilize the global balance of power. It could propel us to a more sustainable future -- or plunge us into an environmental nightmare. In Power Metal, journalist and author Vince Beiser explores the Achilles' heel of green power and digital technology: that the manufacturing of our computers, cell phones, electric cars, solar panels, and wind turbines requires enormous amounts of increasingly rare materials -- lithium, cobalt, copper, and others -- the demand for which is skyrocketing. Around the world, businesses and governments are scrambling for new places and new ways to get those metals, at enormous cost to people and the planet. Beiser crisscrossed the world to witness this race, reporting on the damage it is already inflicting, the ways it could get worse, and the ways in which we can minimize that damage. The result is a book that is both a gripping read and a sobering account of the battle between what civilization demands and what the planet can withstand. Power Metal is a compelling and important glimpse into this new, disturbing, and exciting world"--
Subjects: Mineral industries; Mines and mineral resources; Rare earth metals; Strategic materials; Sustainable development;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Leech / by Ennes, Hiron,author.;
"In an isolated chateau, as far north as north goes, the baron's doctor has died. The doctor's replacement has a mystery to solve: discovering how the Institute lost track of one of its many bodies. For hundreds of years the Interprovincial Medical Institute has grown by taking root in young minds and shaping them into doctors, replacing every human practitioner of medicine. The Institute is here to help humanity, to cure and to cut, to cradle and protect the species from the apocalyptic horrors their ancestors unleashed. In the frozen north, the Institute's body will discover a competitor for its rung at the top of the evolutionary ladder. A parasite is spreading through the baron's castle, already a dark pit of secrets, lies, violence, and fear. The two will make war on the battlefield of the body. Whichever wins, humanity will lose again"--
Subjects: Science fiction.; Apocalyptic fiction.; Gothic fiction.; Medical fiction.; Novels.; Future, The; Imaginary wars and battles; Parasites; Secrecy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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What the wild sea can be : the future of the world's ocean / by Scales, Helen,author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-290) and index."The acclaimed marine biologist and author of The Brilliant Abyss examines the existential threats the world's ocean will face in the coming decades and offers cautious optimism for much of the abundant life within. No matter where we live, "we are all ocean people," Helen Scales emphatically observes in her bracing yet hopeful exploration of the future of the ocean. Beginning with its fascinating deep history, Scales links past to present to show how the prehistoric ocean ecology was already working in ways similar to the ocean of today. In elegant, evocative prose, she takes readers into the realms of animals that epitomize today's increasingly challenging conditions. Ocean life everywhere is on the move as seas warm, and warm waters are an existential threat to emperor penguins, whose mating grounds in Antarctica are collapsing. Shark populations -- critical to balanced ecosystems -- have shrunk by 71 per cent since the 1970s, largely the result of massive and oft-unregulated industrial fishing. Orcas -- the apex predators -- have also drastically declined, victims of toxic chemicals and plastics with long half-lives that disrupt the immune system and the ability to breed. Yet despite these threats, many hopeful signs remain. Increasing numbers of no-fish zones around the world are restoring once-diminishing populations. Astonishing giant kelp and sea grass forests, rivaling those on land, are being regenerated and expanded. They may be our best defense against the storm surges caused by global warming, while efforts to reengineer coral reefs for a warmer world are growing. Offering innovative ideas for protecting coastlines and cleaning the toxic seas, Scales insists we need more ethical and sustainable fisheries and must prevent the existential threat of deep-sea mining, which could significantly alter life on Earth. Inspiring us all to maintain a sense of awe and wonder at the majesty beneath the waves, she urges us to fight for the better future that still exists for the Anthropocene ocean"--
Subjects: Marine ecology.; Marine ecosystem health.; Nature; Ocean.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Save our seeds : protecting plants for the future / by Normandeau, Sheryl.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Part of the nonfiction Orca Footprints series for middle-grade readers, this book examines the importance of seeds to all living things, the threats they face and why we have to preserve and conserve seeds for the future. Illustrated with photographs throughout"--
Subjects: Plant conservation; Seeds;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The new silk roads : the present and future of the world / by Frankopan, Peter,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A revelatory vision of the world today, as it is seen by the rising powers of the East. "All roads used to lead to Rome. Now they lead to Beijing." So argues Peter Frankopan in this timely and visionary new book about the present and future of a world that is changing dramatically before our very eyes. In this age of Brexit and Trump, the West is buffeted by the tides of isolation and fragmentation. Yet to the East, this is a moment of optimism as a new network of relationships takes shape along the routes of the ancient trade routes. In The New Silk Roads, Peter Frankopan takes us on an eye-opening journey through the region, from China's breathtaking infrastructure investments to the flood of trade deals among Central Asian republics to the growing rapprochement between Turkey and Russia. This important book asks us to put aside our preconceptions and see the world from a new -- and ultimately hopeful -- perspective"--
Subjects: Asian cooperation.; East and West.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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How to speak whale : a voyage into the future of animal communication / by Mustill, Tom,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."What if animals and humans could speak to one another? Tom Mustill--the nature documentarian who went viral when a thirty ton humpback whale breached onto his kayak--asks this question in his thrilling investigation into whale science and animal communication. "When a whale is in the water, it is like an iceberg: you only see a fraction of it and have no conception of its size." On September 12, 2015, Tom Mustill was paddling in a two-person kayak with a friend, just off the coast of California. It was cold, but idyllic--until a humpback whale breached, landing on top of them, releasing the energy equivalent of forty hand grenades. He was certain he was about to die, but both he and his friend survived miraculously unscathed. In the interviews that followed the incident, Mustill was left with one question: What could this astonishing encounter teach us? Drawing from his experience as a naturalist and wildlife filmmaker, Mustill started investigating human-whale interactions around the world. When he met two tech entrepreneurs, who told him they wanted to use artificial intelligence (AI) to decode animal communication, Mustill embarked on a journey where big data meets big beasts, using animal eavesdropping technologies to train AI--originally designed to translate human languages--to discover patterns in the conversations of animals. There is a revolution taking place in biology, as the technologies we've developed to explore our own languages are turned to nature. From seventeenth-century Dutch inventors, to the whaling industry of the nineteenth century, to the cutting edge of Silicon Valley, How to Speak Whale looks at how scientists and start-ups around the world are decoding animal languages. Whales, with their giant mammalian brains, offer one of the most realistic opportunities for this to happen. But what would the consequences of such human-animal interaction be? We're about to find out"--
Subjects: Animal communication.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Making sense : conversations on consciousness, morality, and the future of humanity / by Harris, Sam,1967-author.;
"A dozen of the best conversations from the podcast Making Sense, on topics that range from the nature of consciousness and free will, to politics and extremism, to acting ethically"--
Subjects: Social change.; Social history.; Social problems.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Billion dollar burger : inside big tech's race for the future of food / by Purdy, Chase,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The riveting story of the entrepreneurs and renegades fighting to bring lab-grown meat to the world. The trillion-dollar meat industry is one of our greatest environmental hazards; it pollutes more than all the world's fossil-fuel-powered cars. Global animal agriculture is responsible for deforestation, soil erosion, and more emissions than air travel, paper mills, and coal mining combined. It also, of course, depends on the slaughter of more than 60 billion animals per year, a number that is only increasing as the global appetite for meat swells. But a band of doctors, scientists, activists, and entrepreneurs have been racing to end animal agriculture as we know it, hoping to fulfill a dream of creating meat without ever having to kill an animal. In the laboratories of Silicon Valley companies, Dutch universities, and Israeli startups, visionaries are growing burgers and steaks from microscopic animal cells and inventing systems to do so at scale--allowing us to feed the world without slaughter and environmental devastation. Drawing from exclusive and unprecedented access to the main players, from polarizing activist-turned-tech CEO Josh Tetrick to lobbyists and regulators on both sides of the issue, Billion Dollar Burger follows the people fighting to upend our food system as they butt up against the entrenched interests fighting viciously to stop them. The stakes are monumentally high: cell-cultured meat is the best hope for sustainable food production, a key to fighting climate change, a gold mine for the companies that make it happen, and an existential threat for the farmers and meatpackers that make our meat today. Are we ready?"--
Subjects: Meat; Meat industry and trade; Meat substitutes.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The audacity of relevance : critical conversations on the future of arts and culture / by Sarian, Alex,author.;
"The 2009 economic recession exposed the fragility and declining relevance of the arts world. Ten years later, the COVID-19 pandemic proved that we hadn't learned our lesson. When -- not if -- we experience the next seismic shift, will we know how to lead or will we be held hostage by antiquated ways of thinking and ultimately witness the self-inflicted demise of our institutions? At the core of Alex Sarian's career is the conviction that cultural organizations must embrace a greater civic mandate and be humble enough to sustain a new kind of business model -- one based on relevance. Throughout The Audacity of Relevance, Sarian and leaders from across industries discuss the democratization of philanthropy, the dangerous disregard of modern consumer behavior, the urgent need to commit to social justice and reconciliation, and other topics that need our immediate attention if we are to reverse the historical gatekeeping of arts organizations. Whether you are a seasoned arts executive or an aspiring museum professional, a casual theater-goer or a regular at the ballet, the principles and anecdotes in these conversations will inspire you to see the world of culture's endless possibilities for reinvention."--
Subjects: Arts; Leadership.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Raising Lazarus : hope, justice, and the future of America's overdose crisis / by Macy, Beth,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Journalist Beth Macy brings us to the next frontier of the opioid crisis, telling the story of the everyday heroes fighting to stem the tide of drug overdose in communities that are too often left to fend for themselves, and of the activists and relatives of the dead who are still struggling for accountability in America's courts"--
Subjects: Medication abuse; Medication abuse; Opioid abuse; Opioid abuse;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 91 to 100 of 2,315 | « previous |