Environments
Pat Lowe with Jimmy Pike
You call it desert - we used to live there
In a marvellous collaboration, Pat Lowe's photographs interact with Jimmy Pike's striking paintings to make us see the Australian desert landscape with new insight. Jimmy Pike was a well-loved Aboriginal artist who was brought up with his family in the Great Sandy Desert in north-western Australia. Pat Lowe describes with great clarity what Jimmy Pike has told her about the way his family and community used to live in the Great Sandy Desert. (10 years up)
Upside Down World Map
Drawn from the perspective of those living in the southern hemisphere, this very simple Upside Down World Map is centred round the Pacific Ocean, thereby giving Asia and Australia a prominent position and relegating Europe to a small group of countries in the far top left hand corner of the map. It promotes some interesting discussion about the history of cartography and how this has affected our perspective of the world. (8 years up)
If the World were a Village: A book about the World’s People by David J Smith illustrated by Shelagh Arstrong
This is such an important book, especially for students trying to gain some comprehension of the huge numbers of people living on our planet. As of January 2005, there were 6 billion 400 million people. David Smith imagines the whole population of the world in just one village of 100 people. In this global village, each person represents 64 million people. He then takes us through this village showing us more about the people living there. In this global village, 61 are from Asia, 13 from Africa, 12 from Europe, 8 from South and Central America, 5 from Canada and the US and 1 from Oceania. He looks at the beliefs, languages and ages of these people as well as the food they eat. If the food they eat was divided equally, there would be no shortage of food in this global village but it isn’t and so 50 people are hungry some of the time and 20 are severely malnourished. He also looks at water, electricity, money and possessions and also how many people lived in this village in the past and will live there in the future. The text is very simply written and I am sure that it would spark spontaneous discussion. This is very much a book with an interdisciplinary world-view which links geography, environment and human rights. (9 - 14 years)
* Our World Our Future by Sharon Dalgleish
This title was originally published as six individual titles Saving water, Cleaning the Air, Managing the Land, Renewing Energy, Protecting Forests and Caring for Wildlife in 2002. The information from those six titles has now been updated (2007) and published as one hardback volume. It looks at the problems of sustaining the environment round the world and also our responsibility to contribute to the protection of our planet. There are suggestions throughout the book on what we can do to have an effect on improving the environment. (10 – 13 years)
* Protecting Ecosystems (World Heritage series, 2010)
The main interest of this series consists of the thirteen world heritage sites round the world which have been chosen because of their remarkable ecosystems. Although some are well known such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Yellowstone National Park, most are not well known (or not well known to me) and are located in countries such as Panama, Madagascar, Seychelles and Brazil. A simple map of each world heritage ecosystem and photographs showing the area and descriptions provide a helpful introduction to these fascinating ecosystems. Students can then do more research themselves for further information. A timeline for each ecosystem is included as well as an Index. The full range of titles in the series are:
Protecting Ancient Heritage 9781420273854
Protecting Ecosystems 9781420273861
Protecting Earth’s History 9781420273892
Protecting Human Masterpieces 9781420273885
Protecting the Human Story 9781420273908
Protecting Threatened Animals 9781420273878
Sustainable Homes (Sustainable Futures series) (published in 2009) pb $24.95
Looks at sustainable homes round the world, including traditionally built houses using natural local materials and also homes using modern technology (some of which also use local natural materials.) The book also discusses the most efficient ways of heating and cooling homes in order to save energy and also the most efficient ways of using water. There is a section on reducing waste and pollution and on recycling. The last chapter discusses the importance of building sustainable communities, not just houses. The book also looks at the impact our houses have on the environment and on our quality of life. (10 – 15 years)
The full range of titles in the series is:
Conserving Fresh Water 9780237539184
Energy 9780237539207
Food for Life 9780237539191
Healthy Seas 9780237539214
Sustainable Homes 9780237539221
Waste, Recycling and Reuse 9780237539177 (10 – 15 years)
You call it desert - we used to live there
In a marvellous collaboration, Pat Lowe's photographs interact with Jimmy Pike's striking paintings to make us see the Australian desert landscape with new insight. Jimmy Pike was a well-loved Aboriginal artist who was brought up with his family in the Great Sandy Desert in north-western Australia. Pat Lowe describes with great clarity what Jimmy Pike has told her about the way his family and community used to live in the Great Sandy Desert. (10 years up)
Upside Down World Map
Drawn from the perspective of those living in the southern hemisphere, this very simple Upside Down World Map is centred round the Pacific Ocean, thereby giving Asia and Australia a prominent position and relegating Europe to a small group of countries in the far top left hand corner of the map. It promotes some interesting discussion about the history of cartography and how this has affected our perspective of the world. (8 years up)
If the World were a Village: A book about the World’s People by David J Smith illustrated by Shelagh Arstrong
This is such an important book, especially for students trying to gain some comprehension of the huge numbers of people living on our planet. As of January 2005, there were 6 billion 400 million people. David Smith imagines the whole population of the world in just one village of 100 people. In this global village, each person represents 64 million people. He then takes us through this village showing us more about the people living there. In this global village, 61 are from Asia, 13 from Africa, 12 from Europe, 8 from South and Central America, 5 from Canada and the US and 1 from Oceania. He looks at the beliefs, languages and ages of these people as well as the food they eat. If the food they eat was divided equally, there would be no shortage of food in this global village but it isn’t and so 50 people are hungry some of the time and 20 are severely malnourished. He also looks at water, electricity, money and possessions and also how many people lived in this village in the past and will live there in the future. The text is very simply written and I am sure that it would spark spontaneous discussion. This is very much a book with an interdisciplinary world-view which links geography, environment and human rights. (9 - 14 years)
* Our World Our Future by Sharon Dalgleish
This title was originally published as six individual titles Saving water, Cleaning the Air, Managing the Land, Renewing Energy, Protecting Forests and Caring for Wildlife in 2002. The information from those six titles has now been updated (2007) and published as one hardback volume. It looks at the problems of sustaining the environment round the world and also our responsibility to contribute to the protection of our planet. There are suggestions throughout the book on what we can do to have an effect on improving the environment. (10 – 13 years)
* Protecting Ecosystems (World Heritage series, 2010)
The main interest of this series consists of the thirteen world heritage sites round the world which have been chosen because of their remarkable ecosystems. Although some are well known such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Yellowstone National Park, most are not well known (or not well known to me) and are located in countries such as Panama, Madagascar, Seychelles and Brazil. A simple map of each world heritage ecosystem and photographs showing the area and descriptions provide a helpful introduction to these fascinating ecosystems. Students can then do more research themselves for further information. A timeline for each ecosystem is included as well as an Index. The full range of titles in the series are:
Protecting Ancient Heritage 9781420273854
Protecting Ecosystems 9781420273861
Protecting Earth’s History 9781420273892
Protecting Human Masterpieces 9781420273885
Protecting the Human Story 9781420273908
Protecting Threatened Animals 9781420273878
Sustainable Homes (Sustainable Futures series) (published in 2009) pb $24.95
Looks at sustainable homes round the world, including traditionally built houses using natural local materials and also homes using modern technology (some of which also use local natural materials.) The book also discusses the most efficient ways of heating and cooling homes in order to save energy and also the most efficient ways of using water. There is a section on reducing waste and pollution and on recycling. The last chapter discusses the importance of building sustainable communities, not just houses. The book also looks at the impact our houses have on the environment and on our quality of life. (10 – 15 years)
The full range of titles in the series is:
Conserving Fresh Water 9780237539184
Energy 9780237539207
Food for Life 9780237539191
Healthy Seas 9780237539214
Sustainable Homes 9780237539221
Waste, Recycling and Reuse 9780237539177 (10 – 15 years)
