Book
The last forest : the future of the Amazon in the age of globalization / Mark London and Brian Kelly.
Summary:
Record details
- ISBN: 9780679643050
- ISBN: 0679643052
- Physical Description: xiv, 312 p. : 25 cm.
- Edition: 1st ed.
- Publisher: New York : Random House, 2007.
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Formatted Contents Note: | Preface -- Map -- 1. An unexpected beginning -- 2. Myth gives way to science -- 3. The frontier within -- 4. National security and international environmentism -- 5. Natural wonders of this world -- 6. Voices of experience -- 7. There's someone in our garden -- 8. The legacy of El Dorado -- 9. Oil : spoiler or savior? -- 10. Where dreams no longer die -- 11. From poverty to sovereignty -- 12. Opening the rain forest -- 13. And then come the cows -- 14. The breadbasket of tomorrow -- 15. Those left behind -- 16. Land, violence, and hope -- 17. A way to save the Amazon -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Rain forests > Amazon River Region > Management. Forest management > Amazon River Region. Rain forest ecology > Amazon River Region. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Camosun College Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Circulation Modifier | Holdable? | Status | Due Date | Courses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lansdowne Library | SD 418 A53 L66 2007 (Text) | 26040002745566 | Main Collection | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2006 December #1
"Save the rain forests" is a cry heard round the world, and there is no doubt that the viability of the Amazon is key to a healthy biosphere. Yet the rain forests must also sustain the people of Brazil, making preservation a complicated undertaking. London and Kelly (Amazon, 1984) present an eye-opening and many-faceted twenty-first-century report on Amazon politics and innovation, crime and poverty. In a superb work of journalism, London and Kelly profile environmentalists, politicians, ranchers, and ordinary citizens; shrewdly consider the impact of new roads and wireless technology; and chronicle the ongoing destruction of forests and displacement of forest people to make way for cattle ranches and soybean fields. Appalling stories about corruption, illegal logging, bloodshed over land titles, and murdered activists abound. For Brazilians, the Amazon is not only "nature's last great preserve," it is also a "land of opportunity," and while many individuals are committed to finding ways to both preserve the forest and support people's livelihoods, the obstacles are daunting, and the rain forest is disappearing at an accelerated rate. ((Reviewed December 1, 2006)) Copyright 2006 Booklist Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2006 December #1
An overview of the vast and much-transformed region where more than 20 million people now live: an opportunity-filled frontier akin to the American West.Twenty-five years after their first extensive visits (chronicled in Amazon, 1983), the authors returned to find that the once-"untouchable" area, which contains half of Earth's remaining forest, is changing rapidly. In the early 1980s, three percent of the Amazon's 2.5 million square miles of forest had been destroyed to make way for logging, farming and cattle ranching. Today, 20 percent of the land is deforested, despite efforts by environmentalists to save its unparalleled biological riches. London, an attorney, and Kelly, executive editor of U.S. News & World Report, draw on months of travel, interviews and other research, including recent scholarly findings showing that humans lived in the Amazon 10,000 years ago, apparently in harmony with the environment. With its endless supply of heat, sun, rainfall and usable land, the Amazon has attracted more and more pioneers (including many young professionals) since the founding of Brasilia in 1960, they write. And access to information and technology is spurring still more development: At Grupo Maggi, a huge agribusiness, employees communicate by cellphone and Internet with port managers, barge captains, Chicago grain dealers and shipping companies in Rotterdam and Shanghai. Like it or not, "the Amazon is occupied and will remain so." The book brims with anecdotes about efforts to exploit the environment, from gold-mining and illegal logging of mahogany ("green gold") to the efforts of responsible farmers like Jaime Luiz Demarchi, who, rather than pursue slash-and-burn agriculture, has spent years mastering the soil and crop rotation needed to make a success of three farms. The authors note that the TransPacific Highway and other new roads will bring still more change, since most deforestation occurs near roads. Any effort to "save" the species-rich Amazon, they conclude, must now take into account human populations.An incisive, information-packed update on man and nature in our greatest rainforest.Agent: Raphael Sagalyn/Sagalyn Literary Agency Copyright Kirkus 2006 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2006 December #1
London, a trial lawyer practicing in Washington, DC, and journalist Kelly (executive editor, U.S. News & World Report ) collaborated on Amazon (1983) and The Four Little Dragons (1989). In The Last Forest , they revisit the Brazilian Amazon, reciting much of its political, social, and military history in a straightforward, compelling, and captivating voice. They offer the unvarnished story of Brazil's coming to grips with the utilization vs. the preservation of its natural resources. However, contrary to the doom and gloom we have heard from other quarters, London and Kelly tender some hope, noting that the deforestation efforts, among other wounds to Amazonia, are not irreparable and that there is a growing awareness in both the government and the population that preservation is a priority. This is an essential read for environmentalists, historians, economists, and those who are just awestruck by the Amazon's ecosystem. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries.ââ¬"Margaret F. Dominy, Drexel Univ. Lib., Philadelphia
[Page 160]. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2006 November #2
The conventional wisdom is that the Amazon River basin and the unique flora and fauna of its fecund rainforestsââ¬"half of the remaining forest on earthââ¬"are on the brink of ecological disaster. Not necessarily so, say the authors of this combination of wonkish policy paper, astute reporting and firsthand adventure narrative, who revisited Brazil's forested middle provinces 25 years after writing their first book, Amazon . Vast swaths of rainforest have indeed fallen to road development, cattle ranching, soy farming and clear-cut logging (including the decimation of mahogany trees). An estimated 3% of the forest was gone in 1980, when London and Kelly made two 100-day journeys through the Amazon. Now, 20% is gone. But there's still hope for "good things to happen," they say, as Brazil's 20-year-old democracy tries to balance economic growth with international environmental concerns. Leading sustainable rainforest development is Brazilian environment minister Marina Silva, who rose from unschooled peasant daughter of an impoverished rubber-plant tapper to win a Senate seat, then became "the most important person in the Amazon" after the 2002 election of Brazil's current president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The portrait of her humble beginnings and thoughtful activism humanizes this fact-filled, sometimes dry book. (Feb. 6)
[Page 43]. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
