World's Environments – serie

A concise yet thorough overview of the environmental issues, problems, and controversies facing the vast and diverse continent that is North America.North America, tells the story of this environmental awakening and the continuing problems that the continent faces. It tackles the tough issues, the complex problems, and the political controversies of the North American environment.According to some estimates, one out of every nine barrels of oil used in the world every day is consumed by a North American motorist. In 1996, World Wildlife Fund Canada estimated that the country was losing wilderness to development at a rate of more than one acre every 15 seconds. Today, this pace of destruction has been faulted for eroding much of the continent's fabulous natural wealth, and new emphasis is being placed on finding a more appropriate balance between development and conservation.Interesting sidebar articles, tables and figures, and photographsOverview maps of the continent and a listing of environment-related organizations on the Internet

A concise yet thorough overview of the environmental issues, problems, and controversies facing the world's most densely populated continent—Europe.Europe, one of six titles in The World's Environments series, tackles the tough issues, the complex problems, and the political controversies surrounding the continent's environmental past, its complicated present, and its uncertain future. Europe looks at the catastrophes—in January 2000, a massive spill of cyanide and heavy metals from a gold mining operation in Romania destroyed all biological life in the Tisza, Hungary's second biggest river. The poisons traveled 1,000 kilometers through Hungary and Yugoslavia, where they wreaked havoc on the Danube. It also examines the progress—European society has shown a greater interest in renewable energy technologies than most other industrialized regions in the last 30 years. Serving as both a blueprint for the future, as well as a roadmap of the past, this book offers a gripping look at Europe's ecological history.Interesting sidebar articles, tables and figures, and photographsOverview maps of the continent and a listing of environment-related organizations on the Internet

A concise yet thorough overview of the environmental issues, problems, and controversies facing the world's largest and most populous continent—Asia.Asia tackles the tough issues, the complex problems, and the political controversies surrounding the environment of this vast landmass. This volume encompasses everything from economics, land use, energy and transportation, to air pollution, rivers and lakes, oceans, and species and habitat protection.In Malaysia, unchecked discharges of industrial waste and human sewage led the government to label 42 of its rivers officially "dead." According to some estimates, Southeast Asia alone accounts for more than half of the world's total transport of sediment to the oceans. In the Philippines, the Chico River dam project, which would have subjected 100,000 tribespeople to relocation, was canceled when the World Bank withdrew funding after fierce resistance from the indigenous people. This fascinating book offers a comprehensive look at how the most populated continent on earth contends with its complicated environment.Interesting sidebar articles, tables and figures, and photographsOverview maps of the continent and a listing of environment-related organizations on the Internet

A concise yet thorough overview of the environmental issues, problems, and controversies facing Latin America and the Caribbean—from the tip of South America to the Windward Islands.Home to Earth's longest mountain range, largest river, and greatest rainforest, no region boasts greater geographic extremes, faces greater environmental dangers, and enjoys more economic potential from its biodiversity than Latin America and the Caribbean.What are the political and economic factors affecting the Amazon's rapidly disappearing rainforest? What is being done to harvest life-saving drugs from the plants of the Orinoco? And what lies behind the mysterious disappearance of Central America's frogs? The work includes essays, tables and figures, and an appendix titled International Environmental and Developmental Agencies, Organizations, and Programs on the World Wide Web. Latin America & the Caribbean examines a region waking up to its environmental problems and possibilities.Interesting sidebar articles, tables, and figuresPhotos illustrating environmental resources and threats

A concise yet thorough overview of the environmental issues, problems, and controversies facing the continent of Africa and the Middle East.Examining both the rich biological heritage of the world's second largest continent and the very serious human threats to it, Africa and the Middle East explores the impact global pollution and a burgeoning population are having on landscape and wildlife alike. How is global warming responsible for the rapidly expanding Sahara Desert? Can local populations be recruited to preserve threatened species?Over 80 percent of Madagascar's species are endemic, the highest percentage of any major ecological region in the world, such as the highly endangered aye-aye which resembles a cross between a monkey, a bat, and a woodpecker, and the giraffe-necked weevil, a red rainforest insect with a neck like a fire truck rescue ladder. Readers will learn all about these fascinating species and much more.