FRED PEARCE

Pearce, FredPocos de nosotros nos paramos a pensar alguna vez en la cantidad de agua que utilizamos habitualmente. Puede que no bebamos más de 5 litros al día y que, incluso añadiendo al recuento la colada, la higiene personal y el funcionamiento de los inodoros, sigamos consumiendo solamente 150 litros; alimentar a una vaca como para que produzca carne suficiente para una hamburguesa de 115 gramos, 11.000 litros; y se podrian llenar 25 bañeras con el agua necesaria para producir el algodon contenido en una camiseta. De esta forma, cada dia consumimos en agua nuestro propio peso multiplicado varios cientos de veces.

Imágenes impactantes de un mundo que cambia.A través de documentos impresos, imágenes y agencias espaciales, La tierra ayer y hoy muestra los impactantes cambios que se han producido en nuestro planeta en los ultimos cien años. Cada pareja de fotografias o imagenes de satelite ha sido seleccionada con especial cuidado para ilustrar los devastadores impactos que afectan actualmente al mundo: el cambio ambiental, la urbanizacion, la transformacion del territorio, las fuerzas de la naturaleza, la guerra y los conflictos y el ocio y la cultura. Las imagenes se acompañan de textos en los que reputados especialistas medioambientales comentan tales transformaciones y sus factores determinantes.

Fred PearceDesde la última glaciación, los humanos han prosperado gracias a un clima estable y predecible. Nuestra generación, sin embargo, será la última que disfrutará de tales bondades climáticas. Harian bien los ciudadanos en prestar atencion, nos dice Fred Pearce, porque lo que se avecina va a ser duro. Para empezar, el cambio climatico no sera gradual. En contra de lo que suele sostenerse, no nos estamos deslizando por una suave pendiente. Segun explica el autor en esta magistral obra nos hallamos, en verdad, a punto de precipitarnos por un abismo. Especialmente incomprensible resulta la ceguera que caracteriza aun a la sociedad si se considera el hecho de que quienes advierten del peligro no son cuatro agoreros milenaristas, sino la practica totalidad de los popes de la ciencia. Ya en el pasado, el clima europeo paso de ser artico a tropical en un periodo de entre tres y cinco años. Y ello podria ocurrir de nuevo... Segun Pearce, sera mejor que olvidemos aquel viejo paradigma de acuerdo al cual la naturaleza es fragil. La verdad es justamente lo contrario. La naturaleza es una bestia indomita, iracunda y llena de recursos. La hemos provocado, hemos agotado su paciencia y ahora esta a punto de vengarse.

At a moment when a new generation of power stations and weapons are being developed, Fallout is a measured and fascinating exploration of our most misunderstood energy source and asks: what can we learn from our past mistakes, and what role should nuclear play in our future? Hiroshima. Bikini Atoll. Windscale. Chernobyl. Fukushima. These names no longer denote a place, but a disaster. In a few syllables, they evoke the heights of human ingenuity clashing with the worst of human error. Individually, each place has its own sobering story to tell; together, they form a timeline of the nuclear age. In this compelling and deeply researched book, Fred Pearce investigates the greatest nuclear incidents and accidents of the past 80 years by visiting their now iconic landscapes. He tours former power stations and abandoned testing sites in the company of scientists and engineers, and in previously toxic wastelands, where radioactive wolves now stalk the streets and genetically-malformed flora blooms, he witnesses the surprising resilience of nature. As well as the physical legacy, Pearce also considers the psychological impact of these disasters. Amid rumours of state cover-ups, corporate deception, and hushed-up medical epidemics, Pearce weighs the evidence on either side of the argument to disentangle the facts from the fear.

Climate change is not a matter of gradually increasing temperatures. New scientific findings about how our planet works show that it does not do gradual change. Under pressure, it lurches into another mode of operation. Man-made global warming is on the verge of unleashing unstoppable planetary forces. Biological and geological monsters are being woken, and they will consume us. Virtually overnight Nature''s revenge will be sudden and brutal, like a climatic tsunami sweeping across the globe. No question, we are the last generation to live with any kind of climatic stability. In this impassioned report, Fred Pearce travels the world on the story to end them all. Most troubling, while visiting the places where the action may start: deep in the Amazon, high in the Arctic and among the bogs of Siberia, he uncovers the first signs that nature''s revenge is already under way.

Climate change is not a matter of gradually increasing temperatures. New scientific findings about how our planet works show that it does not do gradual change. Under pressure, it lurches into another mode of operation. Man-made global warming is on the verge of unleashing unstoppable planetary forces. Biological and geological monsters are being woken, and they will consume us. Virtually overnight Natures revenge will be sudden and brutal, like a climatic tsunami sweeping across the globe. No question, we are the last generation to live with any kind of climatic stability.In this impassioned report, Fred Pearce travels the world on the story to end them all. Most troubling, while visiting the places where the action may start: deep in the Amazon, high in the Arctic and among the bogs of Siberia, he uncovers the first signs that natures revenge is already under way.

Veteran environmental journalist Fred Pearce used to think of invasive species as evil interlopers spoiling pristine natural ecosystems. Most conservationists would agree. But what if traditional ecology is wrong, and true environmentalists should be applauding the invaders? In The New Wild, Pearce goes on a journey to rediscover what conservation should really be about. He explores ecosystems from Pacific islands to the Australian outback to the Thames estuary, digs into the questionable costs of invader species, and reveals the outdated intellectual sources of our ideas about the balance of nature. Keeping out alien species looks increasingly flawed. The new ecologists looking afresh at how species interact in the wild believe we should celebrate the dynamism of alien species and the novel ecosystems they create. In an era of climate change and widespread ecological damage, we must find ways to help nature regenerate. Embracing the new wild is our best chance.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Ever wondered if declaring support for fair-trade and then chucking Kenyan beans from your shopping trolley to reduce food miles really added up? Or whether the women in Bangladeshi sweatshops really want you to stop buying the clothes from their sewing machines? Or how the system works when you dump stuff but never buy from a charity shop? While none of us should stop trying, it was never easy being green. Mindful of his footprint, Fred goes in search of the source of the cotton in his shirt, the prawns in his curry and the people who grew, mined or made all his stuff in an attempt to discover the true story behind our everyday things. This compelling story of his travels moves green thinking on to a new, more sophisticated plane.

DEEP JUNGLE is an exploration of the most alien and feared habitat on Earth. Starting with mans earliest recorded adventures, Fred Pearce journeys high into the canopy - home to two-thirds of all the creatures on our planet, many of whom never come down to earth. During his travels he encounters all manner of fantastic flora and fauna, including a frog that can glide from tree to tree, a spider that can drag live chickens into its burrow and a flower that smells of decaying flesh.It is in the jungle that Pearce discovers secrets about how evolution works, the intricate links that connect us all, and maybe even clues to where humans came from - here is the key to our future foods and medicines, our climate and our understanding of how life works. At the start of a new millennium Pearce asks why we continue to waste precious time - and billions of dollars - looking for signs of life elsewhere in our universe when the greatest range of life-forms that have ever existed lies right here on our doorstep. Today environmentalists say we are on the verge of destroying the last rainforests, and with them the planets evolutionary crucible, and maybe even its ability to maintain life on Earth. But nature has a way of getting its own back. The Mayans and the people of Angkor went too far in manipulating nature and paid the ultimate price. Their civilisations died and the jungle returned. Nature reclaimed its own and it may do so again ...

What do City speculators, Gulf oil sheikhs, Chinese entrepreneurs, big-name financiers like George Soros and industry titans like Richard Branson buy when they go shopping? Land. Parcels the size of Wales are being snapped up across the plains of Africa, the paddy fields of Southeast Asia, the jungles of the Amazon and the prairies of Eastern Europe. Why? The money men will tell you that their investments will bring an end to world famine. But is this more about fat profits and food security for the few?The race is on to grab the worlds most precious and irreplaceable resource. In this brilliant piece of investigative journalism Fred Pearce moves from boardroom and trading floor to goat-herders hut and flooded forest. The result is an eye-opening, extraordinarily important examination of the most profound ethical and economic issue in the world today.

Wherever we look, population is the driver of the most toxic issues on the political agenda. But the population bomb is being defused. Half the worlds women are having two children or fewer. Within a generation, the worlds population will be falling. And we will all be getting very old. So should we welcome the return to centre stage of the tribal elders? Or is humanity facing a fate worse than environmental apocalypse?Brilliant, heretical and accessible to all, Fred Pearce takes on the matter that is fundamental to who we are and how we live, confronting our demographic demons.

Where water meets land, life abounds. This is the story of the nature and people of the wetlands of the world. From Wetlands International comes Water Lands, a beautifully illustrated book about this life-giving, global ecosystem. From the peat bogs of Ireland to the bayous of Louisiana; from the flooded forests of Cambodia to the permafrost of Siberia; from the mangroves of the Ganges Delta to the everlasting swamps of the Nile; and from the marshes of the Brazilian Pantanal to the boggy upland pastures of Tibet, wetlands are in-between and ever-changing worlds. Sometimes wet and sometimes dry, sometimes land and sometimes water, sometimes saline and sometimes fresh; they change character with the seasons, or may lie dormant for decades before bursting into life. Through this highly accessible book, the authors tell intriguing and untold stories of how people interact with wetlands around the world, from the mountains to the sea. They emphasise how wetland communities have shaped and nurtured natural resources over the centuries and how vital this knowledge and practices are in shaping future plans for managing land and water. They assert a positive narrative for wetlands and their role as climate buffers and in preventing and reducing droughts, floods and human conflicts over water. Water Lands brings together a world of experience and presents a new vision as well as real-life examples, to inspire and influence actions to revive wetlands. Wetlands International is the global not-for-profit organisation dedicated to safeguarding and restoring wetlands for people and nature. Their vision is a world where wetlands are treasured and nurtured for their beauty, the life they support and the resources they provide. With 20 offices around the world, Wetlands International has a strong global presence and a wealth of experience.