Following The Water

A nature journal of New Hampshire wetlands life, from an author Annie Dillard calls “a national treasure.” Following the Water is the intensely observed chronicle of a naturalist’s annual March-to-November wetlands immersion—from the joy of the first turtle sighting in March to the gorgeously described, vibrant trilling of tree frogs in late May to the ancient sense of love and loss experienced each autumn, when it is time once again to part with open water. Illustrated with the author’s fine pen-and-ink drawings, Following the Water is a gorgeous evocation of nature, illuminating the ecology and life histories of hawks, foxes, rare wood and spotted turtles, and more, from an author who was a recipient of a MacArthur “genius grant” as well as a John Burroughs Medal for his book Swampwalker’s Journal.

Water reflects culture. This book is a detailed analysis of hydrological change in Australia’s largest inland waterway in Australia, the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria, in the first 70 years of white settlement. Following air, water is our primal need. Unlike many histories, this book looks at the entire hydrological cycle in one place, rather than focusing on one bit. Deftly weaving threads from history, hydrology and psychology into one, Following the Water explores not just what settlers did to the waterscape, but probes their motivation for doing so. By combining unlikely elements together such as swamp drainage, water proofing techniques and temperance lobbying, the book reveals a web of perceptions about how water ‘should be’. With this laid clear, we can ask how different we are from our colonial forebears.

This thesis explores a new approach to writing the environmental history of settler societies through an explicit focus on ecological processes, as distinct from the more commonly used landscape or geographic units. In this case, I focus upon the hydrological cycle and four key processes that constitute it. The processes are precipitation; flow above and below ground in rivers, creeks and aquifers; stored or still water in lakes, ponds and wetlands; and evaporation.

Water is always flowing, from a brook to a stream, to a river to the ocean. Read and find out more about how water shapes the earth and why it is important to keep our water clean.

The town of Welby is surrounded by a high wall, erected in long-forgotten days when people remembered their magic and Immortals walked the earth. Oren and Carah grew up together in Welby, but when Oren makes a mistake that could get Carah exiled, he has no choice but to climb over the wall and enter the unknown world beyond, following a river and looking for a necklace. The world is full of creatures and people Oren never dreamed of, but friend and foe alike offer him the same advice: Don't follow the water. Oren's journey leads him to an impossible castle, and inside, Oren finds the necklace, and a reason to never go back home.

In To Follow the Water, critically acclaimed author Dallas Murphy artfully recasts the story of human expansion and cultural development with the ocean playing the central role. Applying a novelist's eye for detail and a historian's drive for perspective, he connects the great ages of ocean exploration from Columbus, Magellan, and Cook to the development of modern oceanography. Taking the reader aboard the research vessels Oceanus and Ronald H. Brown, Murphy observes and participates in the practice of ocean science. Whether demonstrating the proper way to don a survival suit in an abandon-ship drill, actually operating oceanographic instruments, or just sitting down for a breakfast of Dramamine and blueberry pancakes, Murphy humorously evokes daily-life aboard these research vessels, unique amalgams of floating laboratories, heavy industry, delicate measurements, and brute force. By following the water, he and the reader discover that ocean currents, flowing on the surface and in the abyss like giant blood vessels, transport heat around the globe, thereby stabilizing and moderating our climate. The Gulf Stream, the best-known ocean current, is but one among many, each inseparable from the others and all inextricably linked to the atmosphere in determining the condition of our climate. There can be no sensible concept of climate that ignores the oceans, yet they have been largely left out of the climate and climate-change discussion. Letting scientists speak for themselves at sea and ashore, Murphy learns that oceanographers are not only observing and explaining the ocean's dynamic, global circulation, but also employing their skills, tools, and techniques to predict climate change. Their brilliant work is largely unknown outside of professional circles even though the role of the ocean is crucial to our understanding of global warming and climate change. To Follow the Water is an enlightening and entertaining voyage of discovery spanning the evolution of our relationship to the ocean, first as an impediment to human ambition, then as the pathway for Western expansion, and now, most important, as a subject of scientific study with immediate relevance to our future.

In The Water Walkers, S. D. Campbell weaves a golden staircase of steps that will start the readers on their ways to change. Love for humanity caused the author to open her life in an effort to show that no matter where you started or where you are now, you can change. By purchasing this book, you are taking the first step to becoming a water walker.

Winner of the 2021 Caldecott Medal #1 New York Times Bestseller Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption—a bold and lyrical picture book written by Carole Lindstrom and vibrantly illustrated by Michaela Goade. Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all . . . When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth And poison her people’s water, one young water protector Takes a stand to defend Earth’s most sacred resource.