New Items @ the WilmU Library

Infrastructure is a marvel, meeting our basic needs and enabling lives of astounding ease and productivity that would have been unimaginable just a century ago. It is the physical manifestation of our social contract - of our ability to work collectively for the public good - and it consists of the most complex and vast technological systems ever created by humans. A soaring bridge is an obvious infrastructural feat, but so are the mostly hidden reservoirs, transformers, sewers, cables, and pipes that deliver water, energy, and information to wherever we need it. When these systems work well, they hide in plain sight. Engineer and materials scientist Deb Chachra takes readers on a fascinating tour of these essential utilities, revealing how they work, what it takes to keep them running, just how much we rely on them - but also, who they work well for, and who pays the costs. Across the US and elsewhere, these systems are suffering from systemic neglect and the effects of climate change, becoming unavoidably visible when they break down. Communities that are already marginalized often bear the brunt of these failures. But Chachra maps out a path for transforming and rebuilding our shared infrastructure to be not just functional, but also equitable, resilient and sustainable. The cost of not being able to rely on these systems is unthinkably high. We need to learn how to see them - and fix them, together - before it's too late.

We're on the cusp of new era in the great adventure of space exploration. More than a half-century ago, humanity first hurled objects into space, and almost 50 years ago, astronauts first walked on the moon. Since then, we have explored Earth's orbit with shuttles, capsules, and space stations; sent robots to Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus; sampled a comet; sent telescopes into orbit; and charted most of our own planet. What does the future hold? In Space 2.0, space historian Rod Pyle, in collaboration with the National Space Society, will give you an inside look at the next few decades of spaceflight and long-term plans for exploration, utilization, and settlement. No longer the exclusive domain of government entities such as NASA and other national agencies, space exploration is rapidly becoming privatized, with entrepreneurial startups building huge rocket boosters, satellites, rocket engines, asteroid probes, prospecting craft, and even commercial lunar cargo landers to open this new frontier. Research into ever more sophisticated propulsion and life support systems will soon enable the journey to Mars and destinations deeper in our solar system. As these technologies continue to move forward, there are virtually no limits to human spaceflight and robotic exploration. While the world has waited since the Apollo lunar program for the next "giant leap," these critical innovations, most of which are within our grasp with today's technology, will change the way we live, both in space and on Earth. A new space age-and with it, a new age of peace and prosperity on Earth, and settlement beyond our planet-can be ours. Speaking with key leaders of the latest space programs and innovations, Pyle shares the excitement and promise of this new era of exploration and economic development. From NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, to emerging leaders in the private sector such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Moon Express, Virgin Galactic, and many others, Space 2.0 examines the new partnerships that are revolutionizing spaceflight and changing the way we reach for the stars.

When people think about space travel, they usually look skyward. But much of spaceflight history happened down here on Earth. Space Age Adventures presents more than one hundred terrestrial sites across the United States related to space exploration, where enthusiasts can have their own space age adventures. Before astronauts walked on the Moon, they trained at locations you can visit today--from NASA space centers and telescope observatories to impact craters and atomic testing grounds. Inside vast museum hangars, a visitor can walk beneath towering Saturn V rockets left over from the Apollo program or peer inside American and Soviet capsules. Elsewhere visitors can visit historic rocket pads, retired space shuttles, landed SpaceX boosters, and even watch scheduled launches. Mike Bezemek brings the artifacts and spacecraft to life with interwoven true stories that collectively span the entire Space Age. These stories offer a deeper understanding of the adventures behind the famous images. The combination of terrestrial sites and true stories makes this book the perfect guide for having unique adventures and discovering one of the most dramatic eras in human exploration.  

"Informed, utterly blindsiding account." - Booklist, starred review It's falling from the sky and in the air we breathe. It's in our food, our clothes, and our homes. It's microplastic and it's everywhere--including our own bodies. Scientists are just beginning to discover how these tiny particles threaten health, but the studies are alarming.   In A Poison Like No Other, Matt Simon reveals a whole new dimension to the plastic crisis, one even more disturbing than plastic bottles washing up on shores and grocery bags dumped in landfills. Dealing with discarded plastic is bad enough, but when it starts to break down, the real trouble begins. The very thing that makes plastic so useful and ubiquitous - its toughness - means it never really goes away. It just gets smaller and smaller: eventually small enough to enter your lungs or be absorbed by crops or penetrate a fish's muscle tissue before it becomes dinner.   Unlike other pollutants that are single elements or simple chemical compounds, microplastics represent a cocktail of toxicity: plastics contain at least 10,000 different chemicals. Those chemicals are linked to diseases from diabetes to hormone disruption to cancers.   A Poison Like No Other is the first book to fully explore this new dimension of the plastic crisis, following the intrepid scientists who travel to the ends of the earth and the bottom of the ocean to understand the consequences of our dependence on plastic. As Simon learns from these researchers, there is no easy fix. But we will never curb our plastic addiction until we begin to recognize the invisible particles all around us.   

Your non-overwhelming, down-to-earth guide for daily climate action...personalized to your unique strengths.   The climate crisis is the biggest challenge of our time. But the urgency of a warming world creates anxiety and can sometimes cause us to throw our hands in the air and think, How can I possibly make a difference?   Heather White--known as "the Brené Brown of the environmental movement"--will show you how to contribute to the green lifestyle movement through self-discovery and joy. Your personality, interests, and strengths give you a unique role to play in the climate movement. Are you the Influencer? the Beacon? the Spark? the Sage? Once you identify your Service Superpower Profile, it's time to dive into the action and track your progress. One Green Thing is this generation's definitive climate action handbook. In it you'll: Learn your unique strengths of climate service and how to focus those strengths into specific actions. Log the mental health benefits and measure your progress. Reflect on your journey and your "why" for taking action with exercises and journal prompts. Commit to being an awesome ancestor for future loved ones as you inspire your family, friends, and community to work toward a regenerative, sustainable world.   Embark on the journey and find your ONE GREEN THING--your personal action that will contribute to climate healing, ease your eco-anxiety, and create a sense of hope--without becoming overwhelmed.

A short guidebook to understanding and discussing privilege among vegans and vegan organizations in the wake of #metoo, including how to establish accountability while honoring dignity and ways to communicate effectively. In The Vegan Matrix, psychologist, longtime vegan advocate, and organizational head Dr. Melanie Joy explores a serious problem in the vegan movement--unexamined privilege--and looks at the struggle to communicate effectively about this problem in a way that helps offset it. Using simple, straightforward language and a compassionate tone, Joy explains what privilege is, why it's so important for vegans to become aware of it, and how to talk about it in a way that deepens understanding and helps transform it. In so doing, Joy unpacks some of the many privileges that must be acknowledged and addressed, and shows how more inclusivity and diversity within vegan organizations will benefit the movement as a whole. The Vegan Matrix is a call to awareness and action, empowering vegans to reach a broader audience and to help create a more compassionate and just world. "Building on her seminal work with carnism and powerarchy, in The Vegan Matrix Melanie Joy offers another vital treatise that provides crucial guidance for vegan advocates, especially those of us who are privileged. If we truly hope to end oppression, we need to better understand systemic inequity, abuses of power, and embedded traumas experienced by those who are disenfranchised. This cogent book encourages humility, learning, and the radical empathy necessary for healing and for helping to build a powerful vegan movement."--Gene Baur, Cofounder and President of Farm Sanctuary and bestselling author of Farm Sanctuary and Living the Farm Sanctuary Life "The Vegan Matrix offers the ultimate blueprint to empower the vegan movement to become truly inclusive and unified so that we may live up to our core values of universal compassion and respect. This is the big leap on our journey to a vegan world. Every vegan needs to take a deep dive into Melanie Joy's extraordinary work."--Jane Velez-Mitchell, Founder of JaneUnchained News Network "Rather than entrench divisions, Melanie Joy aims to create a stronger movement, literate in the issues of privilege and empowered to create change. Everyone looking to transform the world for the better should read this book."--Leah Garcés, President of Mercy for Animals "This book is a must-read for everyone in the vegan movement and beyond. It has not only helped me question my relationship with my privilege but also opened my eyes to the destructiveness that powerarchy is having on our movement and therefore on our cause: reducing the suffering of animals. The Vegan Matrix is a wonderful tool to support us in becoming more effective activists, while at the same time being more compassionate with each other and more unified as a movement."--Ria Rehberg, CEO of Veganuary "This is a very timely, challenging and convincing book, asking us to deepen and expand our thinking so that we are more effective in our efforts to create a vegan and more compassionate world."--Tobias Leenaert, author of How to Create a Vegan World