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Saving America's Amazon : the threat to our nation's most biodiverse river system / text and photos by Ben Raines ; foreword by E. O. Wilson.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Montgomery, AL : NewSouth Books, [2020]Description: 128 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), color maps ; 25 x 27 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781588383389
  • 1588383385
Subject(s):
Contents:
Saving America's Amazon -- Meet America's Amazon -- not always fresh, but never frozen -- Behold the Zeuglodon! -- A desert but for the rain -- Where the rivers meet the sea -- The bog -- a real-life little shop of horrors -- The fertile crescent -- Harnessing nature's bounty -- Dam it all! -- A delta dimmed -- Protecting the edges.
Summary: Though almost no one knows it, the most diverse forests and aquatic systems in the nation lie in Alabama. Described as America's Amazon, Alabama has more species per square mile than any other state. Its rivers are home to more species of fish, crayfish, salamanders, mussels, snails and turtles than any other aquatic system in North America. And the contest isn't even close. California, for instance, has nine species of crayfish, while Alabama has 84. The 11 states that are drained by the Colorado River system are collectively home to 26 species of fish, while Alabama is home to 350 species of fish. But the wild places of the state are also under siege. Alabama has suffered more aquatic extinctions than any other state. In fact, more than half of all extinctions in the United States since the 1800s happened in Alabama, which has been logged, mined, and poisoned by a succession of industries. In this compelling portrait of the rough history of Alabama's rivers and the lands they flow through, Raines makes a case that more has been lost in Alabama than any other state thanks to the destructive hand of man. The version of Alabama that exists in the mind of the public - lynchings and fire hoses, cotton fields and steel mills - comes from things we've done to Alabama, and has for too long overshadowed the stunning natural splendor of the place. Saving America's Amazon highlights this other Alabama, a wild place of incredible diversity, of ancient gardens and modern edens. The ascendant view among scientists today is that Alabama's wild places should be treasured and protected as one of the richest and most diverse regions on the globe, an internationally important "biodiversity hotspot." But that is not what is happening on the ground in Alabama, which spends less on environmental protection than any other state. Instead, the constant stream of newly discovered species struggles to keep pace with the number of creatures being declared forever lost. The time of reckoning is here for the people of Alabama, who must decide whether their state will wear the crown for being the most diverse place on the continent, or the crown for the place with the most extinctions. One thing is certain, Alabama cannot lay claim to both crowns forever.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 333.954 R155 Available 33111010472716
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Though almost no one knows it, the most diverse forests and aquatic systems in the nation lie in Alabama. Described as America's Amazon, Alabama has more species per square mile than any other state. Its rivers are home to more species of fish, crayfish, salamanders, mussels, snails and turtles than any other aquatic system in North America. And the contest isn't even close. California, for instance, has nine species of crayfish, while Alabama has eighty-four. The Colorado River system, which drains seven Southwestern states, is home to 26 species of fish, while Alabama's rivers are home to 350 species.

But the wild places of the state are also under siege. Alabama has suffered more aquatic extinctions than any other state. In fact, nearly half of all extinctions in the United States since the 1800s happened in Alabama, which has been logged, mined, and poisoned by a succession of industries. In this compelling portrait of the rough history of Alabama's rivers and the lands they flow through, Raines makes a case that more has been lost in Alabama than any other state thanks to the destructive hand of man. The version of Alabama that exists in the mind of the public - lynchings and fire hoses, cotton fields and steel mills - comes from things we've done to Alabama, and has for too long overshadowed the stunning natural splendor of the place.

Saving America's Amazon highlights this other Alabama, a wild place of incredible diversity, of ancient gardens and modern edens. The ascendant view among scientists today is that Alabama's wild places should be treasured and protected as one of the richest and most diverse regions on the globe, an internationally important "biodiversity hotspot." But that is not what is happening on the ground in Alabama, which spends less on environmental protection than any other state. Instead, the constant stream of newly discovered species struggles to keep pace with the number of creatures being declared forever lost. The time of reckoning is here for the people of Alabama, who must decide whether their state will wear the crown for being the most diverse place on the continent, or the crown for the place with the most extinctions. One thing is certain, Alabama cannot lay claim to both crowns forever.

Includes index.

Saving America's Amazon -- Meet America's Amazon -- not always fresh, but never frozen -- Behold the Zeuglodon! -- A desert but for the rain -- Where the rivers meet the sea -- The bog -- a real-life little shop of horrors -- The fertile crescent -- Harnessing nature's bounty -- Dam it all! -- A delta dimmed -- Protecting the edges.

Though almost no one knows it, the most diverse forests and aquatic systems in the nation lie in Alabama. Described as America's Amazon, Alabama has more species per square mile than any other state. Its rivers are home to more species of fish, crayfish, salamanders, mussels, snails and turtles than any other aquatic system in North America. And the contest isn't even close. California, for instance, has nine species of crayfish, while Alabama has 84. The 11 states that are drained by the Colorado River system are collectively home to 26 species of fish, while Alabama is home to 350 species of fish. But the wild places of the state are also under siege. Alabama has suffered more aquatic extinctions than any other state. In fact, more than half of all extinctions in the United States since the 1800s happened in Alabama, which has been logged, mined, and poisoned by a succession of industries. In this compelling portrait of the rough history of Alabama's rivers and the lands they flow through, Raines makes a case that more has been lost in Alabama than any other state thanks to the destructive hand of man. The version of Alabama that exists in the mind of the public - lynchings and fire hoses, cotton fields and steel mills - comes from things we've done to Alabama, and has for too long overshadowed the stunning natural splendor of the place. Saving America's Amazon highlights this other Alabama, a wild place of incredible diversity, of ancient gardens and modern edens. The ascendant view among scientists today is that Alabama's wild places should be treasured and protected as one of the richest and most diverse regions on the globe, an internationally important "biodiversity hotspot." But that is not what is happening on the ground in Alabama, which spends less on environmental protection than any other state. Instead, the constant stream of newly discovered species struggles to keep pace with the number of creatures being declared forever lost. The time of reckoning is here for the people of Alabama, who must decide whether their state will wear the crown for being the most diverse place on the continent, or the crown for the place with the most extinctions. One thing is certain, Alabama cannot lay claim to both crowns forever.

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