on the bookshelf

Fruitless Fall
   by Rowan Jacobsen 

from Publishers Weekly:

With a passion that gives this exploration of colony collapse disorder real buzz, Jacobsen (A Geography of Oysters) investigates why 30 billion honeybees-one-quarter of the northern hemisphere's population-vanished by the spring of 2007. He identifies the convergence of culprits-blood-sucking mites, pesticide buildup, viral infections, overused antibiotics, urbanization and climate change-that have led to habitat loss and the destruction of "the beautiful mathematics of the hive." Honeybees are undergoing something akin to a nervous breakdown; they aren't pollinating crops as effectively, and production of commercial American honey, already undercut by cheap Chinese imports, is dwindling, even as beekeepers truck stressed honeybees cross-country to pollinate the fields of desperate farmers. Jacobsen pessimistically predicts that "our breakfasts will become... a lot more expensive" as the supply of citrus fruits, berries and nuts will inevitably decrease, though he expresses faith that more resilient bees can eventually emerge, perhaps as North American honeybees are crossbred with sturdier Russian queen bees. The author, now tending his own hives, invests solid investigative journalism with a poet's voice to craft a fact-heavy book that soars. (Sept.)

Twelve By Twelve
   by William Powers

from Publishers Weekly:

Powers (Blue Clay People) refers to “wildcrafters,” people who shape their inner and outer worlds to the flow of nature, as heroes. Among these wildcrafters is Dr. Jackie Benton, a physician who lives in a 12'×12' dwelling in the midst of 30 acres on No Name Creek in rural North Carolina. Benton lives a sustainable life off the grid by raising honeybees, growing her own vegetables and preserving them, and harvesting what she might need from the woods around her. As Powers points out, Benton seems to have achieved self-mastery in these confusing times, and his initial meeting with her is a search for clues to this self-mastery. After the two meet, Benton's sobering and often hilarious (taking showers in rain water warmed by the sun, learning that in order to eat chicken for dinner, he himself would have to kill a chicken given to him by his neighbors) narrative of his life in the 12'×12' offers precious insights into the ways that all individuals living in a fast-paced consumer culture might incorporate different ways of thinking about the natural world into their lives.

Farmer Jane
     by Temra Costa

Overview from Barnes and Noble:
 

As nurturers and caretakers of the health of our children and communities, women have the power and ability to transform the way we eat and farm. Farmer Jane profiles twenty-six women in the sustainable food industry who are working toward a more holistic food system in America a system that ensures our health with wholesome natural foods, protects the earth and wildlife, treats farm workers fairly, and stimulates local economies. Leaders like Denise O'Brien are empowering women to take leadership roles in agriculture. Farmers like Dru Rivers of Full Belly Farm are educating kids and growing diverse fruits and vegetables to sell directly to the community. Advocates like Marion Kalb and Anna Lapp are fighting for fresh organic fruits and vegetables in school cafeterias. Activists like Jo Ann Baumgartner are inspiring other farmers to be protectors of natural spaces. And chefs such as Deborah Madison are promoting local seasonal foods as a mainstay of the American meal.

The World in 2050:  Four Forces Shaping Civilization's Northern Future
     by Laurence C. Smith

from Publishers Weekly:

Smith, a UCLA geography professor, explores megatrends through computer model projections to describe "with reasonable scientific credibility, what our world might look like in forty years' time, should things continue as they are now." Laying out "ground rules" for himself--including an assumption of incremental advances rather than big technology breakthroughs and no accounting for "hidden genies" such as a decades-long depression or meteorite impact--he identifies four global forces likely to determine our future: human population growth and migration; growing demand for control over such natural resource "services" as photosynthesis and bee pollination; globalization; and climate change. He sees the "New North" as "something like America in 1803, just after the Louisiana Purchase... harsh, dangerous, and ecologically fragile." Aside from his observations of "a profound return of autonomy and dignity to many aboriginal people" through increasing political power and integration into the global economy, Smith's predictions, limited by his conservative rules, are far from earthshaking, and suspending his rules for a chapter, he admits that "the physics of sliding glaciers and ice sheet collapses" as well as melting permafrost methane release are beyond current models, and that even globalization could reverse, with "political genies even harder to anticipate than permafrost ones." (Oct.)