The Solace of Open Spaces
The Solace of Open Spaces

Author: Gretel Ehrlich

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2017-02-21

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 1504042883

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These transcendent, lyrical essays on the West announced Gretel Ehrlich as a major American writer—“Wyoming has found its Whitman” (Annie Dillard). Poet and filmmaker Gretel Ehrlich went to Wyoming in 1975 to make the first in a series of documentaries when her partner died. Ehrlich stayed on and found she couldn’t leave. The Solace of Open Spaces is a chronicle of her first years on “the planet of Wyoming,” a personal journey into a place, a feeling, and a way of life. Ehrlich captures both the otherworldly beauty and cruelty of the natural forces—the harsh wind, bitter cold, and swiftly changing seasons—in the remote reaches of the American West. She brings depth, tenderness, and humor to her portraits of the peculiar souls who also call it home: hermits and ranchers, rodeo cowboys and schoolteachers, dreamers and realists. Together, these essays form an evocative and vibrant tribute to the life Ehrlich chose and the geography she loves. Originally written as journal entries addressed to a friend, The Solace of Open Spaces is raw, meditative, electrifying, and uncommonly wise. In prose “as expansive as a Wyoming vista, as charged as a bolt of prairie lightning,” Ehrlich explores the magical interplay between our interior lives and the world around us (Newsday).

The Science of Open Spaces
The Science of Open Spaces

Author: Charles G. Curtin

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2015-07-23

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 159726993X

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Since the days of the American Frontier, our management policies have promoted a one-size-fits-all mentality for large, complex landscapes. Landscape ecologist Charles Curtin argues that instead we need a science-based approach that accounts for the dynamic nature of complex systems and gives local stakeholders a say in their futures. The Science of Open Spaces proposes that we return to "first principles"--fundamental physical laws of the universe--and think about complex systems from the ground up based on modern scientific theory backed up by practical experience. Curtin walks us through foundational concepts of thermodynamics, ecology, sociology, and resilience theory, applying them to real-world examples from years he has spent designing large-scale, place-based collaborative research programs in the United States and around the world.

Stitching the West Back Together
Stitching the West Back Together

Author: Susan Charnley

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2014-09-10

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 022616585X

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News headlines would often have us believe that conservationists are inevitably locked in conflict with the people who live and work on the lands they seek to protect. Not so. Across the western expanses of the United States, conservationists, ranchers, and forest workers are bucking preconceptions to establish common ground. As they join together to protect the wide open spaces, diverse habitats, and working landscapes upon which people, plants, and animals depend, a new vision of management is emerging in which the conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, and sustainable resource use are seen not as antithetical, but as compatible, even symbiotic goals. Featuring contributions from an impressive array of scientists, conservationists, scholars, ranchers, and foresters, Stitching the West Back Together explores that expanded, inclusive vision of environmentalism as it delves into the history and evolution of Western land use policy and of the working landscapes themselves. Chapters include detailed case studies of efforts to promote both environmental and economic sustainability, with lessons learned; descriptions of emerging institutional frameworks for conserving Western working landscapes; and implications for best practices and policies crucial to the future of the West’s working forests and rangelands. As economic and demographic forces threaten these lands with fragmentation and destruction, this book encourages a hopeful balance between production and conservation on the large, interconnected landscapes required for maintaining cultural and biological diversity over the longterm.

Healing Spaces
Healing Spaces

Author: Esther M. Sternberg MD

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2010-09-30

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0674256832

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“Esther Sternberg is a rare writer—a physician who healed herself...With her scientific expertise and crystal clear prose, she illuminates how intimately the brain and the immune system talk to each other, and how we can use place and space, sunlight and music, to reboot our brains and move from illness to health.”—Gail Sheehy, author of Passages Does the world make you sick? If the distractions and distortions around you, the jarring colors and sounds, could shake up the healing chemistry of your mind, might your surroundings also have the power to heal you? This is the question Esther Sternberg explores in Healing Spaces, a look at the marvelously rich nexus of mind and body, perception and place. Sternberg immerses us in the discoveries that have revealed a complicated working relationship between the senses, the emotions, and the immune system. First among these is the story of the researcher who, in the 1980s, found that hospital patients with a view of nature healed faster than those without. How could a pleasant view speed healing? The author pursues this question through a series of places and situations that explore the neurobiology of the senses. The book shows how a Disney theme park or a Frank Gehry concert hall, a labyrinth or a garden can trigger or reduce stress, induce anxiety or instill peace. If our senses can lead us to a “place of healing,” it is no surprise that our place in nature is of critical importance in Sternberg’s account. The health of the environment is closely linked to personal health. The discoveries this book describes point to possibilities for designing hospitals, communities, and neighborhoods that promote healing and health for all.

Emerging Approaches in Design and New Connections With Nature
Emerging Approaches in Design and New Connections With Nature

Author: Özdamar, Esen Gökçe

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2021-12-03

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 1799867269

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In today’s changing and transforming socio-economic, political, cultural, and technological paradigms, we encounter many methodologies, approaches, proposals, and practices in reconsidering the disappearing or emerging relations in the human/nonhuman-environment-nature interaction. These approaches, proposals, and practices range from new methods of urban gardening to biophilic design and augmented/immersive environments. However, these human-centric approaches, which only aim to meet their needs or emerge as technology-oriented replicas and representations of nature, lead to a departure from a holistic approach to the natural and artificial environment. Therefore, how can new and emerging approaches or methodologies draw a holistic framework for environmental health, sustainability, wellness, and co-existence between environments for all living beings? Emerging Approaches in Design and New Connections With Nature covers a variety of topics related to the intersection between nature, environment, and ways of living and provides a comprehensive guide to biophilic design and the idea of design and nature, including benefits, theories, and effects. Covering topics such as biophilic design and sustainability, soundscapes and landscapes, and urban environments and design, it is ideal for architects, designers, urban planners, landscape designers, policymakers, engineers, interior designers, practitioners, students, academicians, and researchers.

A Universe from Nothing
A Universe from Nothing

Author: Lawrence Maxwell Krauss

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 145162445X

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This is a provocative account of the astounding new answers to the most basic philosophical question: Where did the universe come from and how will it end?

Conservation Design for Subdivisions
Conservation Design for Subdivisions

Author: Randall G. Arendt

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2012-09-26

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 159726850X

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In most communities, land use regulations are based on a limited model that allows for only one end result: the production of more and more suburbia, composed of endless subdivisions and shopping centers, that ultimately covers every bit of countryside with "improvements." Fortunately, sensible alternatives to this approach do exist, and methods of developing land while at the same time conserving natural areas are available. In Conservation Design for Subdivisions, Randall G. Arendt explores better ways of designing new residential developments than we have typically seen in our communities. He presents a practical handbook for residential developers, site designers, local officials, and landowners that explains how to implement new ideas about land-use planning and environmental protection. Abundantly illustrated with site plans (many of them in color), floor plans, photographs, and renditions of houses and landscapes, it describes a series of simple and straightforward techniques that allows for land-conserving development. The author proposes a step-by-step approach to conserving natural areas by rearranging density on each development parcel as it is being planned so that only half (or less) of the buildable land is turned into houselots and streets. Homes are built in a less land-consumptive manner that allows the balance of property to be permanently protected and added to an interconnected network of green spaces and green corridors. Included in the volume are model zoning and subdivision ordinance provisions that can help citizens and local officials implement these innovative design ideas.

Open Space: People Space
Open Space: People Space

Author: Catharine Ward Thompson

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2007-09-07

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 1134120087

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Responds to current need for guidance on inclusive design in outdoor environments Deals with all situations, urban and rural Highly visual presentation Includes contributions from leading names in landscape, architecture and design

Space on Earth
Space on Earth

Author: Charles S. Cockell

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Published: 2006-11-28

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 0230552323

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Many environmentalists think going into space detracts from solving problems here on Earth. Many astrophysicists feel environmentalism hampers their exploration and settlement of space. Actually environmentalism and space exploration have one and the same objective, argues leading astro-biologist Professor Charles Cockell: to ensure humanity has a home. Cockell calls for a fusion of the two movements as the only way forward. The technologies we develop to live sustainably on Earth, such as wind and solar power, will also establish humanity in space. The exploration of space will provide new resources and skills for the protection of the Earth's environment. For example, studying extreme environments on Earth is helping us to look for life on Mars and satellites orbiting Earth are helping track hurricanes and protect people from natural disasters. There are many books on environmentalism and many on space faring. Space On Earth is the first to provide a new vision of humanity's future bringing these two goals together.

Open Spaces
Open Spaces

Author: Penny H. Harrison

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2011-09-01

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0295804130

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Since its beginnings, Open Spaces has been on the cutting edge of thinking about the Pacific Northwest - an intelligent, provocative, beautifully conceived magazine for thoughtful readers who are searching for new ways to understand the region, themselves, and many of the major issues of our time. The Pacific Northwest is known for its innovative solutions. Whether the challenge is integration with the natural world, the relationship of science and policy, learning to use what we know, or simply enjoying a balanced and fulfilling life, these writers, leaders in their respective disciplines, provide the background necessary to understand the issues and move forward. This lasting collection from the magazine is an invaluable resource for students, educators, and practitioners working in various fields as well as decision makers in government, business, and other sectors looking for real-world answers to ongoing conflicts. Collectively, the writers in this volume apply their expertise and talent to provide an intelligent and informed context through which to see public issues and make sense of the changes that continue to shape the region and our world. Individually, they touch on our deepest sense of human experience and continuity and reflect the spirit of the Northwest. Open Spaces enlightens, challenges, and inspires. Featured writers: Bruce Babbitt R. Peter Benner Linda Besant Emory Bundy Jeff Curtis Bob Davison Sandra Dorr Angus Duncan David James Duncan Tom Grant Stephen J. Harris Roy Hemmingway Thomas F. Hornbein William Kittredge Jane Lubchenco Kathleen Dean Moore Lee C. Neff James Opie Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain Jarold Ramsey Richard Rapport Eric Redman William D. Ruckelshaus Robert Sack Edward W. Sheets Scot Siegel Kim Stafford John Struloeff Ann Ware Charles Wilkinson For more information go to: http://www.open-spaces.com