Attractive highly-illustrated theme books from Dorling Kindersley — lots of good language and packed with up-to-date information:

Global temperature continue to rise — extreme weather, melting glaciers and loss of biodiversity are just some of the possible results. Are our actions causing climate change? What changes can we make to reduce our impact on the climate? This book looks at the debate surrounding climate change and some possible solutions:
Level: 8.-10. kl./AVUII-III/C-F etc.

World becoming more humid; Instant expert: climate change; Climate change controversies; Why it's green to go vegetarian; What does climate change mean for us?; Biodiversity and climate change: ecosystems; Climate change and cities; UK legislation: Climate Change Bill; Carbon offsetting – FAQs, Activities.

(Replaces The Climate Crisis)

Are man’s actions rather than a natural phenomenon responsible for climate change, and if we alter our behaviour will it make any difference?

Chapter One: Our Changing Climate
Instant expert: climate change; World becoming more humid; Climate changes controversies; Why it’s green to go vegetarian; What does climate change mean for us?; Biodiversity and climate change: ecosystems.

Chapter Two: Climate Politics
Climate change and cities; Climate change denial; The deceit behind global warming; G8 climate change accord elicits mixed reactions; UK legislation: Climate Change Bill; Climate change is like ‘World War Three’; Right to be suspicious; Carbon offsetting – frequently asked questions; Rockin’ all over the world ...

Chapter Three: Climate Solutions? Can algae save the world?; Oceans offer climate cure; Carbon sequestration; Fuelling the future; Sustainable fossil fuels; Climate change and the need for renewable energy; Combat climate change with fewer babies; New eco-towns could help tackle climate change; The inconvenient truth about carbon offsetting; Muck and brass – with carbon credits; Positive energy.

Key Facts;  Glossary Index;  Additional Resources;  Index.

Contents: 1. Introduction: Making Climate Change Understandable; 2. A Primer on Global Climate Change and Its Likely Impacts; 3. Climate-Change Effects: Global and Local Views; 4. The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change: How Do We Know We’re Not Wrong?; 5. Climate Change: How the World Is Responding; 6. Climate Change as News: Challenges in Communicating Environmental Science; 7. Climate Change and Human Security; 8. Climate Change: What It Means for Us, Our Children, and Our Grandchildren; Glossary; Index.

A documentary that warns that the age of abundant oil is over. Taking a similar line to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, the premise behind this documentary is that we're all drinking in the last chance saloon. Featuring testimonies from the world's top experts, the film reaches an ominous yet logical conclusion — the Earth's oil supplies are peaking and a crisis of global proportions looms. Even more alarmingly, industrial societies don't have any plans on how to deal with the shortage, threatening the future of our post-industrial fossil fuel-addicted civilization with disaster. Unless western society re-invents its relation to energy needs, economic meltdown is inevitable.

A major investigation which tackles the problems of the food industry head-on, supported by the latest research and case studies covering India, China, Central America and the Middle East:
Paul Roberts investigates the way we make, market, consume, and even think about food — and how this system is no longer safe for the billions of consumers that it was built to serve. The emergence of large-scale and efficient food production changed forever our relationship with food and ultimately left a vulnerable and paradoxical system in place. Over 1.1 billion people worldwide are ‘over-nourished’, according to the World Health Organization, and are at risk of obesity-related illness, while roughly as many people are starving. Meanwhile, the natural systems all food is dependent upon have been irreparably damaged by chemicals and destructive farming techniques. The pressures of low-cost food production cause contamination and disease, and big food consumers such as China and India are already planning for tightened global food supplies — the era of abundant food seems to be behind us. This book shows just how vulnerable the miracle of modern food economy is. There are clear, stark visions of the future and the book helps us identify the decisions both personal and global that we must make to survive the demise of food production as we know it. (390 pages + Prologue)
Level: 2nd and especially 3rd year of the gymnasium/Good interdisciplinary possibilities

(Replaces The Energy Debate) Our consumption of oil, coal and gas based energy needs to be reduced — but access to energy underpins our modern way of life — various types of renewable energy — how they may meet our needs — how to make homes more energy efficient.

This book looks at the increasing pressure we are placing on our natural environment and the problems we face in creating a sustainable future:
Level: 8.-10. kl./AVUII-III/C-F etc.

What is sustainable development?; Environmental sustainability; Fast facts: environmental sustainability; Sustainable consumption and production; What are natural resources?; Ecological Footprint; Sustainable construction; Activities.

This is Susannah Grant's intelligent and witty complete screenplay of "Erin Brockovich", the Oscar-winning film starring Julia Roberts and Albert Finney and directed by Steven Soderbergh. It is the story of someone on the moral high ground (a case of chemical pollution of local water supplies with terrible human consequences) fighting for what is right in a legal arena that too often favors those who have money to burn. Unlike so many legal dramas this one never declines into melodrama. The film has a sense of balance too. Soderbergh shows how Erin's growing obsession with the case — something that is finally earning her respect — forces her to make sacrifices on the home front. In one of the movie's most poignant scenes, she learns that she missed the first word spoken by her infant daughter. She also becomes deeply, emotionally involved in the plight of the people of Hinkley, California, learning the names, phone numbers, and case histories of more than 600 people by heart. The book includes an introduction by Susannah Grant, as well as Production Notes, stills and full credits.  (139 pages — screenplay = 113 pages)
Level: B

(Replaces Genetic Modification)

Chapter One: GM Trends
What is GM?, Genomics in the UK, Glossary, GM (Genetic Modification), Why GM?, GM labelling, Genetic modification and the environment, Scientists create healthier tomatoes, Biotechnology: growing in popularity, UN upholds moratorium on terminator seed technology, GM contamination, GM drug crops, Modified hens lay eggs to help beat cancer, GM tobacco could save lives.

Chapter Two: The GM Debate
What are the ethics?, What’s the problem?, GM material in animal feed, Supermarkets supporting GM through the back door, International politics, Potato research trials, Farmer quits GM trial after phone threats, EU must wake up from ‘GM food inertia’, Are EU GMO rules starving the poor?, Rice contaminated by GM, Legal challenge to FSA, Out of control?, Developing countries and GM crops, Plans to allow GM farming in secret ‘are irresponsible’, This crop revolution may succeed where GM failed, There’s no chance that this technology will replace GM, Tories rally against Frankenstein foods.

Key Facts;  Glossary;  Additional Resources;  Index

Just the Facts Series:

Global Pollution looks at the way humans are polluting the environment. It considers the main areas of debate about pollution, such as climate change and rising sea levels. The book then explores the arguments made by both sides in the debate and what is being done about global pollution. Finally, students can find out how pollution affects them and what they can do to get more involved. Author: Paul Brown
Level: 1.g/C-D

‘GM Food’ includes information about GM food and the ethical and practical issues involved in the GM debate:
Level: 8.-10. kl./AVUII-III/C-F etc.

Chapter One: GM Background
GM — what is it? Genomics in the UK; Why GM?; GM labelling; Scientists create healthier tomatoes; Genetic modification and the environment; GM contamination; Modified hens lay eggs to help beat cancer; Biotechnology: growing in popularity; GM drug crops; Activities.

Chapter Two: The GM Debate
What are the ethics?; What's the problem?; Supermarkets ‘supporting’ GM; Rice contaminated by GM; GM farming in secret — ‘irresponsible’; Developing countries and GM crops; This crop revolution may succeed; Replace GM? No chance!; Activities.

Key Facts;  Glossary (web links at the end of most articles)

This is a beautiful, quietly provocative book which sets out to understand the human diet by exploring what culturally diverse families eat for a week.. Photojournalist Peter Menzel and writer Faith D'Aluisio began their research for this book on the world's eating habits in 2000, visiting some 30 families in 24 countries. Each family was asked to purchase — at the authors' expense — a typical week's groceries, which were arrayed for a full-page family portrait. This is followed by a detailed listing of the goods, broken down by food groups and expenditures, then a more general discussion of how the food is raised and used, illustrated with a variety of photos and a family recipe. A sidebar of facts relevant to each country's eating habits (e.g. the cost of Big Macs, average cigarette use, obesity rates, life expectancy etc.) raise further questions. The photos are extraordinary and it's the questions they ask that make this volume so gripping. After considering the Darfur mother with five children living on $1½ a week in a refugee camp and then the German family of four spending $500, and a host of families in between, we may think about food in a whole new light.  We see how some people can survive healthily on far less food than others — and end up with less diabetes, heart disease, etc. We learn that diet is determined by largely uncontrollable forces like poverty, conflict and globalization, which can bring change with startling speed. Cultures can suddenly move from traditional diets to the world of global-food production. People have more to eat and, too often, eat more nutritionally questionable food. There are also essays from leading nutritionists, scientists, environmentalists, for instance Diabesity and Slow Foods. The photography and descriptions of the families are brilliant — because the book makes many of its points through the eye, we see, and feel, more than we might otherwise do.
Level: Gymnasiet/HTX etc. — A great resource for projects together with samfundsfag, biologi etc./Library/Depot

This is Al Gore's user-friendly introduction to global warming. An Inconvenient Truth tells us about the urgent need to solve the problems of climate change, presenting comprehensive facts and information on all aspects of global warming in a direct, thoughtful and compelling way, using explanatory diagrams and dramatic photos to clarify and highlight key issues.  This book contains lots of sections that can easily be used for teaching purposes. We also have the film of the same name. Author: Former US Vice President Al Gore. (321 pages)

Documentary following Al Gore as he attempts to make the world aware that global warming is a very real threat to mankind. An impassioned Al Gore trots the globe giving talks to anyone who'll listen on the only topic he's interested in — the environmental consequences of global warming. Footage from the hundreds of speeches Gore delivers on this matter in a year are interspersed with candid interviews with himself and many other authorities on the subject. Steering clear of judging any of the responsible powers, Gore simply puts forward reams of irrefutable facts about how we are harming the environment. This is a rallying cry to protect the one earth we all share.

In the same series as New Technology and Life and Living, which have already proved very popular.
This Australian-made DVD contains 37 short high-quality video units about a multitude of aspects of environmental sciences. Great for introducing new topics, starting class debates etc.
Subjects include: acid rain; global warming; conserving water; bacteria that eat pesticides and herbicides; rainforest research; new crops; deep sea mapping etc.
A booklet is included with details of all the units.
Smart detail: The DVD also includes all the videos as QuickTime files, which can be distributed on your school's network to the individual PCs and played in any player that can display QuickTime fíles. This means that the individual students can do written work or vocabulary work on the units in their own time.
Level: GYM esp. HTX B+ og studieområdet

In this 25th edition of State of the World — long established as the most authoritative and accessible annual guide to the world's progress towards a sustainable future — the studies pay particular attention to the many innovations in economic policy and business practices that lead us towards a more sustainable global economy. State of the World is relied upon by national governments, UN agencies, development workers, lawmakers and students for its authoritative and up-to-the-minute analysis and information. Compiled by: Worldwatch Institute in Washington DC. (288 pages)

Contents: Introduction: The Need and Potential for New Economies; Rethinking Production; Reassessing Consumption; Unleashing the Potential of Renewable Energy; Reforming Seafood and Livestock Production; Protecting Biodiversity; Innovations in the Provision of Water and Protection of Watersheds; Creating Viable Carbon Markets; Strengthening Communities; New Yardsticks for Economics; Rethinking Resource Ownership; Development from the Ground Up; Bibliography, Index. 

(NEW TITLE)

As our stocks of finite resources run dangerously low, levels of production and consumption become ever higher. What will our environmental legacy be?

Chapter One: Defining Sustainability
Environmental sustainability; Fast facts: environmental sustainability; What is sustainable development?; The UK’s ecological debt; Sustainable consumption and production; Securing the future; What are natural resources?; Ecological footprint; Sustainable construction.

Chapter Two: Sustainability Challenges
Population, poverty and the environment; The water crisis: 2.6 billion wait in line for toilets; Plumbing beats penicillin; Environmental migration; Urban growth and sustainable use of space; Sustaining life on earth; Your natural heritage: why it matters; Contaminated land; Britain: the ‘dustbin of Europe’; Intrusion; Agricultural land use; What is organic?; Return of GM; GM food: the solutions; Fisheries; Better buys: what fish can I eat?; Forests; Conservation; EU: top global importer of wildlife; Air pollution; Pollution putting groundwater supplies at risk, warns agency; Why monitor air pollution?; Can shopping save the planet?

Key Facts;  Glossary;  Index;  Additional Resources;  Index.

What are the health effects and moral implications of following a vegetarian or vegan diet? This book looks at vegetarian and vegan diets and explores animal welfare issues:
Level: 8.-10. kl./AVUII-III/C-F etc.

Going vegetarian; Vegetarianism and IQ; Scientists measure red meat cancer risks; We should eat horse meat, says Ramsay; Vegetarian and vegan; Eat less meat — it's costing the earth; Beastly ingredients — to avoid!; Being vegan — a guide; Vegetarian-friendly supermarkets; Activities.

(Replaces Waste Problem)

Waste and reycling have become a political hot potatoe in the UK. The British record on waste disposal is poor. Too much waste is sent to landfill. This book looks at the issues:

Chapter Two: Waste Solutions
Waste at home; Tips to reduce waste; A strategy to cut waste; New powers needed to tackle litter louts; Government wants us to recycle on the go; Recycling facts and figures; Recycling tips; The machine that sorts household rubbish; Recycle and reuse; Steps to successful home composting; How green are we?; Hazardous landfill waste falls; Landfill sites have a green future; Recycling is not enough — we need to consume less; Why recycling isn't really saving the planet; Government ready to act on plastic bags; Consumers oppose nanny state on plastic bags; Waste exports; Time to waste — tackling the landfill challenge; Renewable energy from rubbish is possible.

Key Facts;  Glossary Index;  Additional Resources (websites etc.);  Index.

The decline in available fresh water — what is being done about the crisis around the world