Inevitably Toxic

Inevitably Toxic

Author: Brinda Sarathy

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2018-10-30

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 082298623X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Not a day goes by that humans aren’t exposed to toxins in our environment—be it at home, in the car, or workplace. But what about those toxic places and items that aren’t marked? Why are we warned about some toxic spaces' substances and not others? The essays in Inevitably Toxic consider the exposure of bodies in the United States, Canada and Japan to radiation, industrial waste, and pesticides. Research shows that appeals to uncertainty have led to social inaction even when evidence, e.g. the link between carbon emissions and global warming, stares us in the face. In some cases, influential scientists, engineers and doctors have deliberately "manufactured doubt" and uncertainty but as the essays in this collection show, there is often no deliberate deception. We tend to think that if we can’t see contamination and experts deem it safe, then we are okay. Yet, having knowledge about the uncertainty behind expert claims can awaken us from a false sense of security and alert us to decisions and practices that may in fact cause harm. In the epilogue, Hamilton and Sarathy interview Peter Galison, a prominent historian of science whose recent work explores the complex challenge of long term nuclear waste storage.


Toxic Positivity

Toxic Positivity

Author: Whitney Goodman

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2024-04-02

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0593542754

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A powerful guide to owning our emotions—even the difficult ones—in order to show up authentically in the world, from the popular therapist behind the Instagram account @sitwithwhit. Every day, we’re bombarded with pressure to be positive. From “good vibes only” and “life is good” memes, to endless reminders to “look on the bright side,” we’re constantly told that the key to happiness is silencing negativity wherever it crops up—in ourselves and in others. Even when faced with illness, loss, breakups, and other challenges, there’s little space for talking about our real feelings—and processing them so that we can feel better and move forward. But if non-stop positivity is the answer, why are so many of us anxious, depressed, and burned out? In this refreshingly honest guide, sought-after therapist Whitney Goodman shares the latest research along with everyday examples and client stories that reveal how damaging toxic positivity is to ourselves and our relationships, and presents simple ways to experience and work through difficult emotions. The result is more authenticity, connection, and growth—and ultimately, a path to showing up as you truly are.


The Allure of Toxic Leaders

The Allure of Toxic Leaders

Author: Jean Lipman-Blumen

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 453

ISBN-13: 0195312007

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Toxic leaders, both political, like Slobodan Milosevic, and corporate, like Enron's Ken Lay, have always been with us, and many books have been written to explain what makes them tick. Here leadership scholar Jean Lipman-Blumen explains what makes the followers tick, exploring why people will tolerate--and remain loyal to--leaders who are destructive to their organizations, their employees, or their nations. Why do we knowingly follow, seldom unseat, frequently prefer, and sometimes even create toxic leaders? Lipman-Blumen argues that these leaders appeal to our deepest needs, playing on our anxieties and fears, on our yearnings for security, high self-esteem, and significance, and on our desire for noble enterprises and immortality. She also explores how followers inadvertently keep themselves in line by a set of insidious control myths that they internalize. For example, the belief that the leader must necessarily be in a position to "know more" than the followers often stills their objections. In addition, outside forces--such as economic depressions, political upheavals, or a crisis in a company--can increase our anxiety and our longing for charismatic leaders. Lipman-Blumen shows how followers can learn critical lessons for the future and survive in the meantime. She discusses how to confront, reform, undermine, blow the whistle on, or oust a toxic leader. And she suggests how we can diminish our need for strong leaders, identify "reluctant leaders" among competent followers, and even nurture the leader within ourselves. Toxic leaders charm, manipulate, mistreat, weaken, and ultimately devastate their followers. The Allure of Toxic Leaders tells us how to recognize these leaders before it's too late.


Plastic

Plastic

Author: Susan Freinkel

Publisher: HMH

Published: 2011-04-18

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 0547549148

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“This eloquent, elegant book thoughtfully plumbs the . . . consequences of our dependence on plastics” (The Boston Globe, A Best Nonfiction Book of 2011). From pacemakers to disposable bags, plastic built the modern world. But a century into our love affair, we’re starting to realize it’s not such a healthy relationship. As journalist Susan Freinkel points out in this eye-opening book, we’re at a crisis point. Plastics draw on dwindling fossil fuels, leach harmful chemicals, litter landscapes, and destroy marine life. We’re drowning in the stuff, and we need to start making some hard choices. Freinkel tells her story through eight familiar plastic objects: a comb, a chair, a Frisbee, an IV bag, a disposable lighter, a grocery bag, a soda bottle, and a credit card. With a blend of lively anecdotes and analysis, she sifts through scientific studies and economic data, reporting from China and across the United States to assess the real impact of plastic on our lives. Her conclusion is severe, but not without hope. Plastic points the way toward a new creative partnership with the material we love, hate, and can’t seem to live without. “When you write about something so ubiquitous as plastic, you must be prepared to write in several modes, and Freinkel rises to this task. . . . She manages to render the most dull chemical reaction into vigorous, breathless sentences.” —SF Gate “Freinkel’s smart, well-written analysis of this love-hate relationship is likely to make plastic lovers take pause, plastic haters reluctantly realize its value, and all of us understand the importance of individual action, political will, and technological innovation in weaning us off our addiction to synthetics.” —Publishers Weekly “A compulsively interesting story. Buy it (with cash).” —Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature “What a great read—rigorous, smart, inspiring, and as seductive as plastic itself.” —Karim Rashid, designer


Toxic Heritage

Toxic Heritage

Author: Elizabeth Kryder-Reid

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-07-21

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 1000918017

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Toxic Heritage addresses the heritage value of contamination and toxic sites and provides the first in-depth examination of toxic heritage as a global issue. Bringing together case studies, visual essays, and substantive chapters written by leading scholars from around the world, the volume provides a critical framing of the globally expanding field of toxic heritage. Authors from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and methodologies examine toxic heritage as both a material phenomenon and a concept. Organized into five thematic sections, the book explores the meaning and significance of toxic heritage, politics, narratives, affected communities, and activist approaches and interventions. It identifies critical issues and highlights areas of emerging research on the intersections of environmental harm with formal and informal memory practices, while also highlighting the resilience, advocacy, and creativity of communities, scholars, and heritage professionals in responding to the current environmental crises. Toxic Heritage is useful and relevant to scholars and students working across a range of disciplines, including heritage studies, environmental science, archaeology, anthropology, and geography.


Toxic Exposures

Toxic Exposures

Author: Susan L. Smith

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2017-01-17

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 0813586119

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Mustard gas is typically associated with the horrors of World War I battlefields and trenches, where chemical weapons were responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. Few realize, however, that mustard gas had a resurgence during the Second World War, when its uses and effects were widespread and insidious. Toxic Exposures tells the shocking story of how the United States and its allies intentionally subjected thousands of their own servicemen to poison gas as part of their preparation for chemical warfare. In addition, it reveals the racialized dimension of these mustard gas experiments, as scientists tested whether the effects of toxic exposure might vary between Asian, Hispanic, black, and white Americans. Drawing from once-classified American and Canadian government records, military reports, scientists’ papers, and veterans’ testimony, historian Susan L. Smith explores not only the human cost of this research, but also the environmental degradation caused by ocean dumping of unwanted mustard gas. As she assesses the poisonous legacy of these chemical warfare experiments, Smith also considers their surprising impact on the origins of chemotherapy as cancer treatment and the development of veterans’ rights movements. Toxic Exposures thus traces the scars left when the interests of national security and scientific curiosity battled with medical ethics and human rights.


Ocean Dumping

Ocean Dumping

Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Subcommittee on Oceanography

Publisher:

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK


Behavioral Measures of Neurotoxicity

Behavioral Measures of Neurotoxicity

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1990-02-01

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0309040477

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Exposure to toxic chemicalsâ€"in the workplace and at homeâ€"is increasing every day. Human behavior can be affected by such exposure and can give important clues that a person or population is in danger. If we can understand the mechanisms of these changes, we can develop better ways of testing for toxic chemical exposure and, most important, better prevention programs. This volume explores the emerging field of neurobehavioral toxicology and the potential of behavior studies as a noninvasive and economical means for risk assessment and monitoring. Pioneers in this field explore its promise for detecting environmental toxins, protecting us from exposure, and treating those who are exposed.


New Perspectives in Public Health

New Perspectives in Public Health

Author: Sian Griffiths

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2017-11-22

Total Pages: 483

ISBN-13: 1315345722

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The General Practice Jigsaw provides comprehensive and up-to-date information on the future of education training and professional development in general practice and primary care. It is an anthology of work produced by many of the leading figures in general practice across the United Kingdom. General practice now faces challenges that could be seen as threatening the way it traditionally operates but can also be seen as presenting opportunities. This book provides inspiration and guidance to its readers and fuel for the challenges ahead. It shares knowledge and best practice on education teaching and professional development drawing on examples from local regional and national projects. It is essential reading for general practitioners involved in education and training for everyone who needs to know how revalidation and professional development will influence them and for all members of primary health care teams who want to be involved in shaping the primary care organisations of the future.


History Of Aids

History Of Aids

Author: Glanz Veronika

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2013-11-09

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1304609413

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The young were once considered relatively safe from HIV/AIDS. Today, more than half of all new infections strike people under the age of 25. Girls are hit harder and younger than boys. Infant and child death rates have risen sharply, and 14 million children are now orphans because of the disease. The world's two billion children and adolescents are at the center of the HIV/AIDS crisis. And yet they are the ones who offer the greatest hope for defeating the epidemic.