Rainforest Warriors is a historical, ethnographic, and documentary account of a people, their threatened rainforest, and their successful attempt to harness international human rights law in their fight to protect their way of life—part of a larger story of tribal and indigenous peoples that is unfolding all over the globe. The Republic of Suriname, in northeastern South America, contains the highest proportion of rainforest within its national territory, and the most forest per person, of any country in the world. During the 1990s, its government began awarding extensive logging and mining concessions to multinational companies from China, Indonesia, Canada, and elsewhere. Saramaka Maroons, the descendants of self-liberated African slaves who had lived in that rainforest for more than 300 years, resisted, bringing their complaints to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 2008, when the Inter-American Court of Human Rights delivered its landmark judgment in their favor, their efforts to protect their threatened rainforest were thrust into the international spotlight. Two leaders of the struggle to protect their way of life, Saramaka Headcaptain Wazen Eduards and Saramaka law student Hugo Jabini, were awarded the Goldman Prize for the Environment (often referred to as the environmental Nobel Prize), under the banner of "A New Precedent for Indigenous and Tribal Peoples." Anthropologist Richard Price, who has worked with Saramakas for more than forty years and who participated actively in this struggle, tells the gripping story of how Saramakas harnessed international human rights law to win control of their own piece of the Amazonian forest and guarantee their cultural survival.

A fascinating tale of one of the first well-known environmental activists, Chico Mendes, who fought tirelessly to save the Amazon rainforest as well as fighting for people's rights. This is the story of Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper and environmentalist. He fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest, and advocated for the human rights of other rubber tappers who lived in the forest. Tragically, he was assassinated for trying to protect these rights. Grippingly written by award-winning author, Anita Ganeri, and vibrantly illustrated by Margaux Carpentier, throughout the story, we see the wonders of the Amazon rainforest and learn why it is so important that global rainforests are protected. Tell this tale and inspire a new generation of environmental heroes who will speak up and take action to protect our natural world. Great support material for children's study of habitats, rainforests and their importance for biodiversity and helping to combat climate change

Even in our hyper-connected world, there are tribes scattered across the far reaches of the globe who still live much the same way that their ancestors did thousands of years ago. Having had minimal contact with the outside world, these peoples currently live in harmony and unison with the environment around them. But as technology grows and the human population expands, the way of life of these tribes becomes increasingly threatened with every passing day. In The Rainforest Survivors, veteran overseas reporter Paul Raffaele recounts his time spent with three unique jungle tribes—the peace-loving Congo Pygmies, New Guinea’s tree-dwelling Korowai cannibals, and the Amazon’s ferocious Korubo. Over months spent living in these three communities, Raffaele experienced firsthand wisdom and mysterious rites forged over many millennia. Resonating with high adventure and remarkable characters, The Rainforest Survivors details the daily lives of these relatively unknown peoples and provides key political and environmental context, showing how outside forces are closing in on them and threatening to change forever their ways of life. Enthralling and unforgettable, this compelling book is the important portrait of indigenous peoples living the way they have for centuries.

In 1965, Mike Peterson, an American Peace Corps volunteer midway through his two-year service in Colombia, is heading into the rainforest with friends. Thanks to a land-reform policy—“land without men for men without land”—his friends intend to claim a parcel of free jungle land to homestead. Mike eagerly accepts the invitation to be a part of this life-changing experience with them. No one could have predicted just how life-changing the experience truly would be. While traveling overnight to the rainforest by chiva—the rustic, open-air buses of the Andes—Mike and his friends are pulled into a situation they can’t fully understand. They attempt to rescue a young woman from her abusive companion, a ruffian who turns out to be an employee and friend of Don Trujillo, the vengeful rancher and smuggler who controls the flow of contraband along the Urabá coast. In payment for their kindness, the homesteaders may have provoked the wrath of the unpredictable Trujillo and his gun-slinging gauchos. The mountainous forest they are heading into is a refuge for Indians, bandits, smugglers, and outlaws, as well as the many camouflaged, lethal creatures that inhabit the woods, swamps, and waterways. Mike and his friends must find the strength and courage to survive the many challenges of their new rainforest home, but the promise of love and hope keeps them going.

In 1945, three young brothers joined and eventually led Brazil's first government-sponsored expedition into its Amazonian rainforests. After more expeditions into unknown terrain, they became South America's most famous explorers, spending the rest of their lives with the resilient tribal communities they found there. People of the Rainforest recounts the Villas Boas brothers' four thrilling and dangerous 'first contacts' with isolated indigenous people, and their lifelong mission to learn about their societies and, above all, help them adapt to modern Brazil without losing their cultural heritage, identity and pride. Author and explorer John Hemming vividly traces the unique adventures of these extraordinary brothers, who used their fame to change attitudes to native peoples and to help protect the world's surviving tropical rainforests, under threat again today.

Alaska has long been a nurturing home for artists, with its stunning natural beauty, rich cultural life, and unique communities. In recent years, artists in Alaska have had an additional source of support: the awarding of annual grants to craftsmen, musicians, performers, visual artists, and writers by the Rasmuson Foundation. Creative Alaska profiles the award winners from 2004 to 2013 in three categories: Distinguished Artists, Fellowships, and Project Awards. Richly illustrated accounts of each of the artists and their work illuminate the challenges and opportunities of the artistic life in Alaska and the powerful impact of the Rasmuson Foundation’s support.

How aluminum enabled a high-speed, gravity-defying American modernity even as other parts of the world paid the price in environmental damage and political turmoil. Aluminum shaped the twentieth century. It enabled high-speed travel and gravity-defying flight. It was the material of a streamlined aesthetic that came to represent modernity. And it became an essential ingredient in industrial and domestic products that ranged from airplanes and cars to designer chairs and artificial Christmas trees. It entered modern homes as packaging, foil, pots and pans and even infiltrated our bodies through food, medicine, and cosmetics. In Aluminum Dreams, Mimi Sheller describes how the materiality and meaning of aluminum transformed modern life and continues to shape the world today. Aluminum, Sheller tells us, changed mobility and mobilized modern life. It enabled air power, the space age and moon landings. Yet, as Sheller makes clear, aluminum was important not only in twentieth-century technology, innovation, architecture, and design but also in underpinning global military power, uneven development, and crucial environmental and health concerns. Sheller describes aluminum's shiny utopia but also its dark side. The unintended consequences of aluminum's widespread use include struggles for sovereignty and resource control in Africa, India, and the Caribbean; the unleashing of multinational corporations; and the pollution of the earth through mining and smelting (and the battle to save it). Using a single material as an entry point to understanding a global history of modernization and its implications for the future, Aluminum Dreams forces us to ask: How do we assemble the material culture of modernity and what are its environmental consequences? Aluminum Dreams includes a generous selection of striking images of iconic aluminum designs, many in color, drawn from advertisements by Alcoa, Bohn, Kaiser, and other major corporations, pamphlets, films, and exhibitions.

The elves have fled to Calius, seeking to escape the overwhelming power of the demonic Garonin. A desperate last stand in their own dimension saved the race, at the cost of 100,000 elves lost to the Garonin. The elf who led that fight, Takaar, is blamed for the losses and has gone into hiding. Now the weakened elf race is tearing itself apart in civil war, human mercenaries have arrived in Calius and are ripping the continent apart. Only one elf can unite the elves. And only one elf believes in him. A young warrior named Auum sets out to bring back the shamed hero and save the elven race. James Barclay's ELVES trilogy will tell the whole story of his immortal elven race, and will appeal to all fans of Tolkien and fantasy - this is a uniquely entertaining take on a fantasy staple perfect to bring new readers to Barclay. And old readers of James Barclay will welcome a return to one of their favourite creations and will also love seeing one of their favourite characters again - the Tai Gethan warriror Auum destined to be one of the Raven.