From My Land To The Planet

The Salt of the Earth is an award-winning documentary by Wim Wenders, inspirated by From my Land to the Planet.

Sebastião Salgado's photographs have been shown around the world. In From My Land to the Planet the photographer tells us the story of his most famous reportages: from the black and white portraits of unknown men and women, workers or refugees, to the more recent Genesis project, a portrait of the most incontaminated places of our planet. With a kindness and a disarming simplicity, Salgado rebuilds his path, exposes his beliefs, makes us witnesses of his emotions. In this volume his talent as a storyteller and the authenticity of a man who knows how to combine activism and professionalism, talent and generosity, clearly emerge. The reader will discover fascinating stories of every corner of the world, both near and remote, from Africa to the Americas, and then again the birth of the Instituto Terra, of the Genesis project, of Magnum Photos and Amazonas Images.

You don't have to be a student of geography or cartography to have an interest in the world around you, especially with globalization making our planet seem smaller than ever. Now you can IM someone in Alaska, purchase coffee beans from Timor-Leste, and visit Dubai. But what do we really know about these lands? Who Owns the World presents the results of the first-ever landownership survey of all 197 states and 66 territories of the world, and reveals facts both startling and eye-opening. You'll learn that: Only 15% of the world's population lays claim to landownership, and that landownership in too few hands is probably the single greatest cause of poverty. Queen Elizabeth II owns 1/6 of the entire land surface on earth (nearly 3 times the size of the U.S.). The Lichtenstein royal family is wealthier than the Grimaldis of Monaco. 80% of the American population is crammed in urban areas. The least crowded state is Alaska, with 670 acres per person. The most crowded is New Jersey, with .7 acres per person. 60% of America's population are property owners. That's behind the UK (69% homeownership). And much, much more! With its relevance to contemporary issues and culture, Who Owns the World makes for fascinating reading. Both entertaining and educational, it provides cocktail party conversation for years to come and is guaranteed to change the way you view the U.S. and the world.

"This beautiful book can completely change how we approach science, using both Indigenous and Western perspectives, and how we can work collaboratively to help foster balance in nature." —Suzanne Simard, bestselling author of Finding the Mother Tree A farm kid at heart, and a Nlaka'pamux woman of mixed ancestry, Dr. Jennifer Grenz always felt a deep connection to the land. However, after nearly two decades of working as a restoration ecologist in the Pacific Northwest, she became frustrated that despite the best efforts of her colleagues and numerous volunteers, they weren't making the meaningful change needed for plant, animal and human communities to adapt to a warming climate. Restoration ecology is grounded in an idea that we must return the natural world to an untouched, pristine state, placing humans in a godlike role—a notion at odds with Indigenous histories of purposeful, reciprocal interaction with the environment. This disconnect sent Dr. Grenz on a personal journey of joining her head (Western science) and her heart (Indigenous worldview) to find a truer path toward ecological healing. In Medicine Wheel for the Planet, building on sacred stories, field observations and her own journey, Dr. Grenz invites readers to share in the teachings of the four directions of the medicine wheel: the North, which draws upon the knowledge and wisdom of elders; the East, where we let go of colonial narratives and see with fresh eyes; the South, where we apply new-old worldviews to envision a way forward; and the West, where a relational approach to land reconciliation is realized. Eloquent, inspiring and disruptive, Medicine Wheel for the Planet circles toward an argument that we need more than a singular worldview to protect the planet and make the significant changes we are running out of time for.

The History of modern West Africa is largely the history of five centuries of trade with European nations commerce was the fundamental relationship that bound Africa to Europe - Kenneth Onwuka Dike. African Tales Of a Green Planet is a fictional work set in the Niger Delta area of West Africa roughly between 1730-1850, among the Igbo speaking peoples of the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta area of Nigeria is an area blessed in economic terms and has played a pivotal role in the economic history of Africa as a whole. It is an area, which in the first 400 years of trade with Europe produced, first gold, then slaves during the period of the slave trade, and palm oil after the prohibition of the slave trade, and finally crude oil in modern times. This tale explores one mans attempt (Nwosisi) to preserve the African way of life in the Sacred Forest away from all foreign intrusion. He falls deeply in love with a very beautiful girl (Ugonma) and that changes not only the course of his life but that of his environs as well, a metaphor for Africa. This tale is recounted by an old Iroko tree five hundreds of years old. In true oral tradition it captures a story of love, trade and politics, power struggles, foreign intruders, mysticism, and the daunting task of one mans attempt to preserve a way of life in danger of extinction. This attempt seemed doomed from the onset; just as the notion of preserving a green planet is doomed in the context of so-called modern civilization.

A practical, bipartisan call to action from the world’s leading thinkers on the environment and sustainability Sustainability has emerged as a global priority over the past several years. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and the adoption of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals through the United Nations have highlighted the need to address critical challenges such as the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, water shortages, and air pollution. But in the United States, partisan divides, regional disputes, and deep disagreements over core principles have made it nearly impossible to chart a course toward a sustainable future. This timely new book, edited by celebrated scholar Daniel C. Esty, offers fresh thinking and forward-looking solutions from environmental thought leaders across the political spectrum. The book’s forty essays cover such subjects as ecology, environmental justice, Big Data, public health, and climate change, all with an emphasis on sustainability. The book focuses on moving toward sustainability through actionable, bipartisan approaches based on rigorous analytical research.

The Earth is drifting ever further from the Sun and humanity is collapsing into collective madness. In this series of short stories we watch as ordinary people struggle to cling to life on a planet that is slowly dying. Humans become monsters, desperate to survive people burrow underground and are changed. Others try to preserve a light on this dying world. Humanity dissolves as it struggles to live on a dead planet.