When The Tree Falls

Every day more of the world’s forests disappear. Trees are cleared for agriculture, lost in wildfires and harvested for the valuable products they supply. Called the lungs of the planet, forests play a critical role in climate moderation. What happens when they’re gone? Are replanting and afforestation efforts helping? In If A Tree Falls: The Global Impact of Deforestation, author Nikki Tate gives an accessible and balanced look at forest practices throughout history, the growth of industry and the fight for preservation. Global deforestation affects us all. Find out what you can do to protect forests today and keep them healthy for future generations.

When the Tree Falls is Jane Clarke's second collection. These lyrically eloquent poems bear witness to the rhythms of birth and death, celebration and mourning, endurance and regrowth. An elegiac sequence, inspired by the loss of her father, moves gracefully through this second collection.

Kirsten's world is crumbling. Her parents are barely speaking to each other and her 'best-friend' has fallen under the spell of queen bee, Brianna. For Walker the goal is simply to survive in the private school his mother has moved him to because she doesn't want him to mess up with most of the kids in his old school. Then Kirsten discovers something that has a big impact on both her and Walker's lives.

A revealing memoir of a family and a “wrenching journey into deafness from the standpoint of a mother, a wife, a daughter, a philosopher, and a Jew” (Ilan Stavans, author of On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language). When her daughters were born deaf, Jennifer Rosner was stunned. Then she discovered a hidden history of deafness in her family, going back generations to the Jewish enclaves of Eastern Europe. Traveling back in time in her mind, she imagined her silent relatives, who showed surprising creativity in dealing with a world that preferred to ignore them. Here, in a “gentle meditation on sound and silence, love and family” Rosner shares her journey into the modern world of deafness, and the controversial decisions she and her husband made about hearing aids, cochlear implants and sign language (Publishers Weekly). Punctuated by memories of being unheard, Rosner’s imaginative odyssey of dealing with her daughters’ deafness is at its heart a story of whether she—a mother with perfect hearing—can ever truly hear her children.

Predictions of the coming collapse of Chinese politics are today commonplace, however this thought-provoking book explores a radically different alternative. China, it argues, is a one-party-dominated political system whose surprising levels of public support and resilience in the face of serious economic, environmental and social problems suggest that it is more durable than most outside observers suppose. China is not an ailing 'autocracy', a case of 'crony capitalism' or a blindly repressive 'authoritarian regime'. The rulers of China are in fact experimenting with a wide range of locally-made democratic tools designed to win the trust and loyalty of their subjects. Examples probed in this book include the injection of accountability mechanisms into state bureaucracy, the toleration of independent public opinion leaders, the growing reliance of Party officials and corporate executives on public opinion polls and 'democratic style', and the calculated use by Party officials of digitally networked media as early warning devices. Written for students and teachers, researchers and general readers fascinated by the rising global power of China, When Trees Fall, Monkeys Scatter shows why locally-made democratic practices often favour one-party rule and why China is becoming a globally significant political laboratory: a 21st century testing ground for a new type of top-down popular government at odds with power-sharing democracy as it was known during the past generation.

In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.

One-hundred years after one of the most severe ecological and economic disasters in US history began, environmentalist Douglas Buege returns to the scene of the crime to uncover modern attempts to right the terrible wrong. The American chestnut, once dominant throughout Appalachia, faced near extinction from a fungal blight likely introduced on foreign stock imported at Long Island. Its future lies in the hands of a variety of groups and individuals striving to bring the tree back. The American Chestnut Foundation and the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation, with radically different approaches, use current understanding of genetics, ecology, mycology, and botany in their efforts to save a beloved species. The big question remains, Will it ever be enough? The Twenty-First Century has already been termed "the Age of Extinction," promising immense reductions in Earth's biodiversity. One-tenth of tree species across the globe face extinction in our lifetimes. Buege sets out to teach us the strengths and weaknesses of plans to save American chestnut in hopes that other species hemlocks, ashes, oaks, butternuts, and other threatened trees may benefit. Perhaps humanity can undo some of its damage before it's too late.

Andrew, an English programmer, living alone in Bulgaria, finds out he is the next evolution of humanity and has to save the world before a mysterious being slows down time into a single dull moment. Andrew is forced on a quest through time and alternative realities to find God, whose true name is Jeff. Guided by his Holy Guardian Angel, Tigger, the patron angel of computers and things that are designed to blow up, his journey goes through Hell and out the other side. He meets demons, the Triple Goddess, finds out the secret of Avebury, Jeff's reason for creating the universe and above all the answer to the question "if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?" An archaic romp through time, space and philosophy reminiscent of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, or a bloke who has eaten too many strange mushrooms on an empty stomach.