Clear Water Blue Skies

Food, consumption, demand, agricultural research, fertilizer, land, water resources, infrastructure, domestic grain, international grain market, economy, business, markets, tariffs, environment, health, productivity, pollution, energy, industry, water, urban transportation, pension reform, elderly, education, employment, rural, urban, income, poverty.

The prize-winning, “exceptionally moving” memoir of a family boat trip, an IRA bombing, and a teenager’s loss of his twin brother (The Telegraph). Christopher Ewart-Biggs Literary Award Winner and PEN/JR Ackerley Prize Nominee On an August weekend in 1979, fourteen-year-old Timothy Knatchbull joined his family on a boat trip off the shore of Mullaghmore in County Sligo, Ireland. By noon, an Irish Republican Army bomb had destroyed the boat, leaving four dead. The author survived, but his grandparents, family friend, and twin brother did not. Lord Mountbatten, his grandfather, was the target, and became one of the IRA’s most high-profile assassinations. Knatchbull and his parents were too badly injured to attend the funerals of those killed, which only intensified their profound sense of loss. Telling this story decades later, Knatchbull not only revisits these terrible events but also writes an intensely personal account of human triumph over tragedy—a story of recovery not just from physical wounds but deep emotional trauma. From a Clear Blue Sky takes place in Ireland at the height of the Troubles and gives compelling insight into that period of Irish history. But more importantly, it brings home that while calamity can strike at any moment, the human spirit is able to forgive, to heal, and to move on. “A minute by minute story of what happened that day, and what happened afterwards.” —Daily Mail “This is an extremely moving book. Beyond providing a phenomenally detailed evocation of his own family’s trauma, Knatchbull has lots of wise things to say about how we survive horrors—of all kinds—in our lives.” — Zoë Heller, author of the Booker Prize finalist Notes on a Scandal “A very poignant, clearsighted, heartbreaking but ultimately positive account.” —Hugh Bonneville, The New York Times

Winner of the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Literary Award, and nominated for the PEN/JR Ackerley prize. The powerful memoir of a Mullaghmore bombing survivor ___________________________________ On the August bank holiday weekend in 1979, 14-year-old Timothy Knatchbull went on a boat trip off the shore of Mullaghmore in County Sligo, Ireland, with many members of his family. By noon, an IRA bomb had destroyed the boat, leaving four dead. The author survived, but his grandparents, a family friend, and his 14-year-old twin brother did not. Lord Mountbatten, his grandfather - and uncle to the Duke of Edinburgh - was the target, and became one of the IRA's most high-profile assassinations. In telling this story for the first time, Knatchbull is not only revisiting the terrible events he and his family lived through, but also writing an intensely personal account of human triumph over tragedy. It is a story of recovery, not just from physical wounds but deep emotional trauma. Knatchbull and his parents were too badly injured to attend the funerals of those killed, a sadness that intensified their profound sense of loss. Taking place in Ireland at the height of the Troubles, it gives a compelling insight into that period of Irish history. But more importantly it brings home that although tragedy can strike at any moment, the human spirit is able to forgive, to heal and to move on. It will resonate with readers the world over. ___________________________________ 'From a Clear Blue Sky is a minute by minute story of what happened that day, and what happened afterwards. It is a proper four-hanky bawler, and the exactitude of the story is what makes it so moving ... He provides a convincing account of the extent to which he has been able to accept, forgive and move on. His narrative power is such that the reader can't always share his equanimity. It is a book that is as saddening as it is sad - but much more angering than it is angry' Daily Mail 'This is an extremely moving book. Beyond providing a phenomenally detailed evocation of his own family's trauma, Knatchbull has lots of wise things to say about how we survive horrors - of all kinds - in our lives. He writes with great tenderness and an admirable lack of sentimentality' Zoe Heller 'Affecting and intimate' Mail on Sunday 'Testament to a remarkable, benevolent soul ... With this public love letter he has found a way to say goodbye' The Sunday Times

World Bank Technical Paper No. 373. Air pollution caused by motor vehicles is a major environmental problem in many Latin American urban centers. If appropriate measures are not taken soon, vehicular air pollution in the region is likely to worsen, posing a great threat to human health and welfare. This report analyzes the pollutants emitted by motor vehicles, their effects, and pollutant-control measures targeted at vehicles, fuels, and transport management. Case studies for Mexico City, Mexico, Santiago, Chile, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Santafe de Bogota, Colombia, illustrate how these measures have been used in the region and how they can be strengthened. Also available in Spanish : Contaminacion atmosferica por vehiculos automotores: StoExperiencias recogidas en siete centros urbanos de America Latina Stock no. 14017 (ISBN 0-8213-4017-4).

The purpose of the China Energy Technology Program (CETP) has been to take a holistic view of electricity generation in China with special emphasis on the economic and environmental impact of technology. The program is a collaborative effort involving industry, as leader and manager of the program; researchers from academia and national research institutes; and the stakeholders--users or planners of the electricity market. A power plant, no matter of what kind, is not a solitary unit, which may be considered independently from its environment. Modem society has been built on easy access to power; it is now asking for environmentally clean power. Clean power is the pathway that will lead to sustainability, an extension of the concept of an environmentally clean future. Progress toward a sustainable technical solution must include an evaluation of the environmental, economic, and societal impact of electrical power generation. To achieve the goals of the CETP program, we wanted to go beyond what had been done in similar programs in the past. Its organizers wanted the program not only to evaluate the overall impact of electricity generation, but also do it in such a way that program results could be applied and adapted to different circumstances, including countries other than China. For this purpose we have developed a methodology and presented it on a DVD disc, which the reader will find inside the back cover of this book. The methodology is conceived to allow insights into the function of the program on various levels.

This economic history examines the changes in the structure and operation of the Chinese coal industry from the mid nineteenth century to the present, concentrating on the years of reform.

Like many of us, Mark Hertsgaard has long worried about the declining health of our environment. But in 1991, he decided to act on his concern and investigate the escalating crisis for himself. Traveling on his own dime, he embarked on an odyssey lasting most of the decade and spanning nineteen countries. Now, in Earth Odyssey, he reports on our environmental predicament through the eyes of the people who live it. From the gilded boardrooms of Paris to the traffic-clogged streets of Bangkok, we travel from the deep human past to our still unfolding future. Much of the story revolves around people like Zhenbing, Hertsgaard's charismatic interpreter in China, whose desire to escape poverty leaves him indifferent to his country's horrific air and water pollution. We also meet Garang, a proud Dinka tribesman whose response to Sudan's famine shows the difficulty of building an environmentally sustainable future without bridging the gap between rich and poor. Drawing on interviews with Václav Havel, Al Gore, Jacques Cousteau, and numerous other prominent figures, Hertsgaard offers fresh insight into such complex issues as humanity's growing addiction to the automobile, the insidious spread of nuclear technology, and the inevitable tension between unfettered capitalism and the health of the biosphere. Earth Odyssey is a vivid, passionate narrative about one man's journey around the world in search of the answer to the most important question of our time: Is the future of the human species at risk? Combining first-rate reportage with irresistible storytelling, Mark Hertsgaard has written an essential--and ultimately hopeful--book about the uncertain fate of humankind.

This book lays bare the reality behind China's efforts at economic modernization by showing: (1) what is happening to the industrial forces that help shape the economy; (2) how economic agents have behaved; (3) what government intentions really are; and (4) how the transition from a centralized to a market-oriented economy has been filled with contradictions and difficult choices. The author examines issues such as China's WTO membership; the Three Gorges Project; the widening differences between the urban and rural areas; the government's efforts to protect its own interests and maintain stability; the impact of reform; and the situation facing state enterprises, the banking system, the agricultural sector, and the environment.